By Emily Belowich
Yesterday, we arose for our second full day at Kibbutz Affik. After having some delicious breakfast filled with fresh fruit, shachar, and of course, Israeli salad, we boarded the bus and headed toward Mount Arbel. We drove around the Kinneret through one of Israel's most historic cities, Tiberias. On the bus we learned about the meaning of our Hebrew word of the day, yalla, which is actually an Arabic word that Arabs and Israelis alike use as a way to say "Let's go!" On our short climb up to the top of Mount Arbel, we started to see the amazing view overlooking the Kinnerit and mountains of the Golan Heights. We took some group selfies, but more importantly we took in the breathtaking views of the Kinnerit, which Omer informed us is the lowest sweet water lake on Earth. We continued our hike walking toward the ancient ruins of a synagogue at Mount Arbel. We stopped here to listen to Omer discuss more about israel's religious history, particularly in the specific way the synagogue was built that helped Jews pray toward the South toward the Old City of Jerusalem.
After our discussion, we headed to our next destination, the mystical city of Tzfat. Our first stop was of course a "shirutim break" and then lunch at some of the local spots where the group tried schnitzel, falafel, and shawarma. We walked afterward to Avraham Levitan's gallery, a famous Kaballah artist whose personal connection to Kaballah and Israel is reflected in his art. Avraham quickly grabbed the attention of the group with his personal story of growing up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as "Robert" and then having a complete transformation after reading Aryeh Kaplan's "Jewish Meditation" including a legal name change to "Avraham." He told us that our Hebrew names are the "names of our soul."
Avraham gave us an introduction to Kaballah, describing it as all of the inner spiritual meanings and teachings of Judaism. He told us that one of the main teachings of Kaballah is that everything and anything does not happen by coincidence. Everything in life happens for a reason according to the Kaballah, and every little decision that is made, even the bad, helps us to make sense of our spiritual self. Another main teaching he told us about is that the Kaballah believes that every soul is born with an ability to care for the self and to care for others. This in some way is connected to our ability to give and to receive. In Kaballah, we learned that we try to move closer to giving to the greater goodness in the world, as well as our work in repairing the world or "tikkun olam." Avraham shared with us how this is reflected in his pieces of art--through color, letters and words of the Hebrew alphabet, and symbols such as the "hamsa"-- all that help us understand more about the spiritual teachings behind Judaism. We had a chance to ask some questions, purchase some smaller prints of his art, and hear more about his deeper connection to Tzfat and to the state of Israel. Many members of the group were moved by his words, his art, and his strong sense "ruhaniut" or "spirituality."
After our time with Avraham, we headed over to the "Abuhav", one of Tzfat's famous synagogues. It was Modern Orthodox temple with lots of blue color, correlated with one of the four elements "air" in one of the four holy cities of Israel. Here we had a brief follow up discussion on Avraham's talk, and we had a chance to debrief on some of the meanings behind Kaballah, as well as how some of the meanings might pose controversy.
Our final organized activity in Tzfat was having the chance to learn more about Tallis making. We learned that they still use the same machine that they used years ago, with a few updates in technology that help to make beautiful handmade tallit. These take anywhere from 3-7 days to make just one. After this activity, we had some free time in Tzfat to walk around some of the jewelry and artist shops.
We headed back to our kibbutz late in the afternoon but first we stopped at the lookout to have some more amazing views of the Kinnerit right before sunset. We had a brief discussion about the water controversy in Israel, particularly why the north of Israel continues to be the most important water source in the country. We did a little bit of yoga to stretch our bodies from the hikes and then headed back to the Kibbutz.
Our evening activity was a big hit! We gathered in small groups and interviewed our Israeli friends. We presented our friends through a mix of creative pieces - poems, raps, dances and more! Many of us ended the evening at the lookout near the kibbutz, playing guitar and singing songs with our Israeli friends. Onto tel aviv tomorrow!!! #TaylorSwift #Taglit #Shorashim #Bus512
