Day Four in Israel by Conor

Jan 15

This Sunday we had an early morning as we had to be up at 6:50am which was relatively difficult considering jet lag hadn't quite faded yet. After a hearty Kibbutz Hukuk breakfast, we headed out for Sfat, a lovely city in the Golan Heights, and one of Judaism's most holy sites. Upon arrival, a street vendor was more than happy to serve us fresh squeezed pomegranate, grapefruit, or orange juice, a delicious
and refreshing change from the processed American products I am used to. We headed through the twisting alleyways of Sfat before the city woke to find Ha’Ari Ha’Ashkenazi Synagogue. My favorite part of that temple was the miracle that happened there during the independence war. A missile landed just outside the temple where Jews were praying, but they had just bowed during a prayer and a piece of shrapnel lodged itself into the bima instead of into some poor soul. After that, we visited another Abuhav Synagogue, which had its own style of miracle. When an earthquake hit the city of Sfat in 1837, one wall remained, the wall that pointed to the holiest city Jerusalem, the city Jews all face to pray. Some might say that a bigger miracle would be that the whole temple would be left standing, but in a city where Kaballah got its start, we are supposed to find God's presence in every detail of life, so we'll take what we can get. By the time we were done there, the city had awoken and we were able to walk through artists selling their wares, and I wandered up to the top of the Fig Tree Courtyard terrace where I enjoyed my Yemeni style spicy cheese pita. I was able to capture the valley below in sweeping panoramas as the sun poked through the clouds with my new camera (thanks Mom and Dad!)

After that, we headed to an Israeli Air Force base which was a real treat considering we got special permission because one of our awesome Israelis, Maya, works there. We met a navigator (whose name I am unable to release) and I was awed by the tactical excellence of the IDF and of the air-force in particular as they showed us some videos of precision bombing. He also brought us to an F-16 up close! He was so charming, I never wanted to leave, but it was lunch time. We stopped at a modern Israeli roadside stop and I got some McDonald's, just to see what was different. Not a lot it turns out. Still it was actually very clean and much more efficient than any McDonald's in America I've ever been to.

Then we headed to another Kibbutz, Kibbutz Ein Shemer. They were founded by an artist and over the years the colony had developed many ideas about sustainability and environmental conscientiousness and that became their primary focus. We did an activity building different and simple water filtration systems, aqua-phonics, and algae bio-fuels. We took turns presenting them to each other when we had a special surprise: The Palestinian Minister of Water from Gaza was learning about sustainability and he was working together with the Kibbutz to help create desalinization plants in Gaza bringing jobs and fresh water to those who need it as well as exploring other avenues of sustainability. The representative for the Kibbutz compared the Israelis and Palestinians to the components of the Hydro-Phonics system. How the fish and the plants help each other live and thrive using the same limited resources. We arrived in Tel Aviv late at night and made a quick visit to Independence Hall, which is where the State of Israel was first declared. The room has been preserved since that fateful day over fifty years ago and it was filled with the presence of those who came before us. Now we are headed to dinner and then out to a night on the town. I can't wait to go dancing with all my new friends!