Nature, Mystics, and Rabbis
Day 2
Upon arriving at our Kibbutz on the first night of our trip, things couldn't have been better. For starters, we were staying in air-conditioned rooms (frankly exceeding my humble expectations) with very clean showers (of which I have never needed one more out of respect for my new friends). Most everyone was three to a room, and both of my roommates are very cool guys that I'm finding very easy to talk to. It certainly helps that we're all from Chicago, so having the Bulls as common ground is a great ice-breaker. Oddly enough, one of my roommates in the Kibbutz is a guy I went to pre-school with and knew very well, but whom I haven't spoken with in almost two decades. Small world. I digress.
In the kibbutz, we had a phenomenal dinner with the only issue being my compulsive overeating, but that's my own fault. If you can get sick from eating too much hummus, I'm concerned for the forthcoming days. After some pretty effective name games which were very fun, we all were able to grab a few Israeli beers (Gold Star) while catching one of the Euro 2012 (European soccer championships) games and truly just hang out with our new friends. Very cool. Very appropriate.
Day 1 of actual activity kicked off with a lovely hike in the Mediterranean Brush (i.e. Israeli woods). It was extremely surprising. Contrary to what my pre-conceived notion of Israeli terrain was, the hike looked a lot more like Colorado trails than traditional desert landscape. Perhaps I was naive/ignorant, but I expected flat, dry land as opposed to the fairly mountainous, green hiking grounds. As we found out when we stopped by the Sarach Cave, Israeli forests can grow and sustain up to 25% of all plant life. This includes animals and plants of all kinds, which again was way different than I anticipated. Given the relatively tiny portion of the world's land that Israel occupies, that's rather startling. In addition this cave houses bats, which we were not allowed to disturb. As we were told by our guide Lior, Israel is a country where all three continents (Asia, Europe, Africa presumably) actually connect as one. That answers the question of what continent Israel is technically a part of...sort of. Between knowledgeable guidance and seven Israeli nationals in our group, we were all fortunate enough to learn a plethora of valuable knowledge regarding Israeli culture and lifestyle along the way.
The schlep back up from the creek bottom was just challenging enough to get a serious contest of sweatiest back going between everyone. Blame it on that desert climate. In all candidness, it was a great bonding experience. While that sounds cliche, I'm being honest. Despite a significant language barrier between the Israelis and us Americans, we were able to connect on multiple levels and learn a lot about one another's culture.
Directly following the leisure hike, we stopped by the Holy city of Safed (Tzfat) (prounouced more like S-vatt than 'saved'). After grabbing some spot-on Schwarma and doing some people-watching/meeting, we all met up to go to an old, famous, Orthodox Synagogue. The synagogue was designed differently than the traditional Ashkenazi/US synagogues as the pulpit from which the Rabbi preaches is directly in the center (of the much smaller than what I'm accustomed to) temple as opposed to on a bima directly in front of the congregation. Pardon my ignorance, but I was genuinely intrigued to learn that a significant perecntage of the Israeli population was not tradtionally orthodox (i.e. weekly attendance at synagogue, strict kosher diet, etc.). Again, perhaps this speaks more to my ignorance than anything, but I was under the impression that the high majority of Israelites were traditional Orthodox Jews. Turns out that is not the case at all.
Following our stay and education in the temple, we saw some of the masterful artistry the holy city offers. First, we stopped in a candle shop where we learned some of the actual tactical maneuvers that are used to create some of the beautiful candles we see on Shabbat tables across the world. This also served as a great stop which many of us used to complete our gift-buying portion of the trip. You're welcome, Mom. Not only did several of the men on the trip (myself included) say some prayers while having a Rabbi wrap some tefillin (sp?) around our arms and head, but one of my closest friends on the trip did it for the first time and was 'Bar Mitzvah'd". It was both entertaining and exciting. Mazel tov.
After a brief lesson and discussion regarding some of the elements that make up a 'holy' city, we were all given some time to explore the art vendors that the city has to offer. To say there were some beautiful examples of Jewish art would be the understatement of a lifetime. Paintings, sculptures, and pottery only highlighted the myriad of wonderful pieces we were able to observe and purchase. Perhaps most importantly for me, we were afforded the opportunity to walk around and meet some people. One of the more interesting men I met was a fellow from Chicago that actually moved to Israel in order to further study the Kaballa. Having some cultural upbringing where we all grew up, he was both extremely insightful and easy to understand (fluent English speaker went further than you'd think) as it pertains to the strict interpretation of the Jewish faith. Between signing my name in order to have a scribe write it in an upcoming torah, wrapping tefillin, and offering tzedakah at the first temple, I can safely say I am crossing off more mitzvahs per day than I ever have.
After leaving the holy city of Safed, we swung by a phenomenal viewpoint that offered a gorgeous panoramic view of the city. It was extremely close to Israeli borders (which are obviously extremely sensitive/volatile), so it was as neat as it was beautiful. After taking some memorable photos, we swung back to our Kibbutz for another meal where we all indulged in far too much hummus. Shocking. Few laughs later, and we're on to Day 3. See you in the AM, Golan Heights! Should be the most interesting day of the trip for me as I'm deeply interested in the ongoing border conflicts.
Blake Hochberger
