A North Country Road

It’s been over a week and a half since I last sat down and wrote and a lot has happened. As I mentioned in my last post me and the Aish Pre-Intermediate class spent last week in northern Israel and it was a great time. Our days were spent going to classes in the morning (largely a waste of time) and exploring in the afternoons, with our nights spent talking, laughing and having a good time. It was really nice to get to hang out as one big group, because we’re a fairly tight class but in the day ins and day outs of yeshiva life we form our own little groups and stick to them. So it was an excellent opportunity to spend time together without distractions.
Highlights of our vacation: Our first stop was Beit Sha’an it’s an old city that has some of the most spectacular ruins I’ve ever seen. It’s a vast site, the coolest part was one of the members of our class is training to be a tour guide and showed us the whole site. After that we stopped off at the Golan Winery for a wine tasting before pulling into our residence for the next week Moshav Hispin. With that we unpacked, drank a few beers and went to bed. The next day was Friday and erev Shabbos, we had a relaxing day wandering around Hispin, it’s a beautiful rural down in the Golan Heights, there isn’t a whole lot going on but its just incredibly beautiful, check out all my pictures on Facebook, if your not my friend just send me a request. Rabbi Zeldman joined us with his family, it was really nice getting to meet his wife and kids, they’re wonderful we stayed up late into the night talking with them. In one of the weirder experiences of my life we ended up meeting a birthright group that night, so we hung out with them as well. They we’re with Mayanot which is the very same group I went with almost two years ago, I found myself talking with them, listening to what they had to say. It was incredibly strange if you had told me then that two years from now I’d be studying at yeshiva, I’d have told you, you we’re crazy and yet here I am, good times. Shabbos day was uneventful largely due to Friday night being so much fun.

The next day we spent in Tzfat, Tzfat is one of the four holy cities in Israel, its represents air and it is where the Kabbalah masters of ancient times wrote down the texts. It’s very high up in the mountains and has a mysterious aura around it that’s hard to explain. with our fearless leader Y.D leading the way our first stop was Livnot Ulihibanot which is a volunteer organization that Americans come to, to live, learn and volunteer for. We spend an hour helping to dig out a house that was buried in the last earthquake. It was an incredibly satisfying experience getting to help shape and change the physical land of Israel, with 27 yeshiva boys working hard we were told that our hour plus of work was equal to almost a week’s worth of effort put in by the regulars. Then we went to the cheese factory where I fell asleep and then to a local artist’s studio who does Kabbalah inspired art. He was very interesting to listen to and he had some wonderful pieces. Last stop of the day was the Ari’s Mikveh is the holiest mikveh in the world supposedly, eight dunks later very cold but very spiritually clean I jumped out and tried to warm up. I have to say it was an amazing experience and in my top two or three for the entire trip. Tzfat just has a special energy about it, being there is inspiring. The next day we went ice skating at the Canada Center, after a few laps around the rink I found an edge and spent the next hour chasing / being chased around and generally annoying the rink attendants.

The last two days of our trip we were treated to the most spectacular views of our journey Rosh HaNikra and Tiberias. Rosh HaNikra was a two hour bus ride from Hispin all the way up and right on the edge of the Israel / Lebanese border. It’s also in the Mediterranean side of Israel, the rocks jut out over cliffs and the ocean seems to go on forever. It was well worth the long ride. Tiberias is another holy city in Israel, it’s associated with earth, because its home to the graves of many of Judaism’s greatest sages: Rambam, Ramchal, R. Akiva among others are all buried there. It is located on the edge of the Kinneret and is one of the few places in Israel I can imagine myself living. It has everything you could want out of life, a relatively modern and diverse city, with lots to do and great scenery. And with that our trip came to a close, our last stop was in the very forgettable deaf museum in Tel Aviv, nothing more needs to be said about that. So with that we headed home, it was a great experience going away and coming back we all agreed it was nice to get away, to get a chance to know each other and some of the older students at Aish better. And of course to really get an appreciation for what we have in the Old City. After all how many people get to live and study in the Old City right across from the Western Wall. Sometimes we lose our perspective on what an amazing opportunity we all have and it was great to be reminded of that.