The "Stairmaster"

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Waking up at 6:00 am after a long journey can be tough as the mind doesn't have time to adapt to the time change. Oh, and not sleeping for 24-plus hours before a 3 hour hike doesn't help. Luckily, the combination excitement of the day to come mixed with the Turkish coffee makes for a nice morning stimulant. Post breakfast, we set off on the bus for our first destination- the Gilabun, a hike in the north. The Gilabun is a long stream that runs off the Jordan River. It flows through the jungle-like terrain draining itself again and again through misty waterfalls. At the end of the hike one must climb what our tour guide, Elaun, refers to as the "stair master", a collection of stone steps from the base of the mountain to the top. From the Gilabun we travel via bus to Mount Bental on the border of Israel, Syria and Lebanon in the distance. While looking into Syria we hear stories about the numerous conflicts in recent years over the piece of land on which we stood. UN vehicles drove up and down the roads monitoring and scouting, to keep the peace. The experience
was sobering for both our American and Israeli travelers alike as we realized what Israel had been fighting for. We leave Har Bental for
the mystical city of Tzfat...The group meets up with a artist and student of the Kabbalah named Avraham. Avraham is an American, originally from Michigan who moved to Sahal to spiritually find himself- he got lost in the search and is still in Tzfat to this day. We discussed the inner teachings of the Kabbalah and deciphered the schism between the Jewish religion and heritage. Then Taglit spent the rest of the day touring the city visiting sites like Synagogues and other landmarks.

We are having so much fun and learning a great deal. Looking forward to the continuation of our journey - stay tuned for more :-)