Our journey through Israel continued on Friday and then on Sunday. On Friday, we visited the holy city of Tzfat. This is a very ancient city – and it looks it. It sits very high on top of a mountain. The poor weather continued on Friday, and a huge, thick cloud covered the entire city. It was basically impossible to fulfil my promise to take more pictures.
In Tzfat, the boys visited the men’s Mikveh (ritual bath) built by the “Arizal”, one of the greatest Kabbalists in the history of the Jewish people. His made his Mikveh inside a cave, where fresh water was flowing. This water is still flowing the mountain, and that pure water is FREEZING! Of our 16 boys, 15 followed me into the frigid water… We continued from there to the tomb of this great man, just across the mountain.
In the meantime, the women went for a special visit to a women’s Mikveh and a talk about the greatness of the woman.
Our Shabbos was spent in the holy city of Tiberius. We had the opportunity to teach and educate about the importance and beauty of Shabbos. We also had the opportunity to answer many questions these students have about Judaism. On a personal note, our daughter, Leah, who is studying in Jerusalem, came to spend Shabbos with me. Now that was a treat!
The weather has cleared up, and my luggage finally arrived as well, as Sunday appeared. We spent a large portion of the day on the most beautiful Golan Heights.
Here are a couple of pictures taken this morning. Seeing these pictures, we can well understand why Israel must have this part of its land, for safety and strategic purposes:
Notice the fields at the shores of the Kineret, the Sea of Galilee.
Israel looks great…
We later visited a synagogue that was built during Talmudic times, and was destroyed in the eighth century by an earthquake. Israel is painstakingly rebuilding this synagogue now, very close to the Syrian border on the Golan Heights. While we were visiting there, we clearly heard the gunfire of Israel, destroying five Hezbollah terrorists over the border.
The sunlight was too strong to get a good shot. Here is a picture I took of this synagogue, followed by a picture of the pillars which will find their place in there on of these days.
We later visited a major olive oil press. Here they do not merely make olive oil. With incredible creative ingenuity, they have developed cleaning elements, and even cosmetic products, from crushed and wasted olives!
Tomorrow we head to Tel-Aviv for the day, and will spend the night in the Kibbutz. From there, we travel to the south, to include Masada and the Dead Sea. We will be back in Jerusalem on Wednesday night. I do not know whether I will have internet access until we arrive in Jerusalem.
I will do my best to keep you up to date. Be well and all the best. -RYL
