Golan and Tzfat

July 7, 2008

Boker tov (Good morning)! We began day 5 in Golan Heights and Hula Valley below with the Banias as our first destination. Banias is one of the 3 springs that come together to form the source of the Jordan river. The other two are the Dan and The Khatzbani. On our way, we learned (and observed from the bus) that a significant portion of the hills of the Golan Heights are home to the Druze, a split off from Islam. Druze people inhabit the north of Israel and the south of Lebanon. They live as loyal citizens in Israel and serve in the Israeli army. At Banias, we observed the ruins of a Roman temple to Pan (the god who accompanied and protected humans in nature and in battle). Who knew that when Pan was called upon to rout the enemy, Pan put the enemy into a “panic” – an etymology unknown to this blogger hitherto.
Water was scarce here given the lack of rains this year and we did not even get our feet wet. We also learned that the ancient columns were constructed of plaster, and not marble (on a tight budget even then). The temple had fallen in, but niches in the wall and ruins strewn upon the ground filled in the story, along with Yakov’s commentary.

From Banias, we traveled via the Druze town of Mas’ada to Har Bental, site of Israeli bunker from the Yom Kippur War in October, 1973. Passing the omnipresent bathroom icons and cold drink kiosk, we walked up an incline to the edge of the mountain to a large bunker, reputed to hold up to 140 soldiers at a time. Yakov shared his personal story serving in the Yom Kippur war, infusing life into the empty bunker. At the time, he was called up to this area as an individual to help in a most heroic and humanitarian effort – to find, assist and rescue Israeli soldiers caught in bunkers in areas already overrun by Syrians. If the Syrians had found the wounded and isolated soldiers first, the result would be unimaginable torture for them. Later, Yakov moved to a more southern post in the north to be with his company. We entered the bunker to view the communications room, sleeping room, and outlook. To think that prior to our capturing the Golan Heights in the June, 1967 Six Day War, Syrians had a close, expansive view of the many kibbutzim and Israeli settlements in the Hula Valley below.

Next stop – jeeps! We divided up into 6 open jeeps (quite dated, but certainly dependable), run by individuals working for Ayelet Hashachar, kibbutz in the valley below. The one-hour ride took us along the lower slopes of the southern Golan Heights overlooking the kibbutzim of Ayelet Hashachar and Gadot. The latter was utterly shelled in the 60’s, reflected in a touching poem read by Rabbi in the bus, a dialogue between a mother and child. The ride was a tad bumpy, and the breeze was thankful. We did stop to view close up a Syrian bunker, the main command post of the Syrian bunkers, the razed houses that the Syrian officers took from their own people as headquarters terrifyingly close to the kibbutzim fields, and a natural grove of stream and trees further in the valley (favorite spot of Noam, one of the jeep drivers). Before exiting onto the main road, we drove on a 2-month old pebbled road that was built and dedicated to a kibbutz member who had died of cancer and who had loved to be in this area. Israelis (perhaps we can say this about all Jews) are passionate about building memorials to preserve memory of history, family, and the land.

We stopped at Tzomet Makhanayim, the Makhanayim Junction, a small shopping center, for lunch and/or glida (ice cream – gelato). After putting on our long skirts, pants, sleeved shirts, we headed for Tzfat on the mountain west of the valley, making sure we were modestly attired for the 3 synagogues of (1) the kabblalists Ha’ari, Rabbi Isaac Luria (2) Rabbi Isaac Abuhav who was expelled from Spain, and (3) Rabbi Joseph Karo the compiler of the Shulchan Arukh, the code of Jewish law . Since the Ari synagogue was not yet open for the afternoon, we headed to the Tzfat candle factory for “shopping.” At the Abuhav synagogue, where the Aron Hakodesh was brought from Spain, the caretaker told us about the special Chair of Elijah there where barren women and single women sit, in order to fulfil their dreams. Coincidentally, our youngest single female had been sitting in this chair during Yakov’s talk – we wish her well!

The group was then “let free” to shop, drink coffee, and wander around for the next 2 hours, until our departure time at 5:00 p.m. Guess what? The economy of Tsfat had a good day with our purchases of new artwork, tallitot (plural of “tallit”), jewelry and other items. The narrow alley ways, filled with shops, were a delightful conclusion to a day of natural beauty, history, and mystical synagogues.

Upon returning to Kfar Blum most of the group enjoyed the pool. Rabbi and Jan were picked up by a friend originally from the Modi’in P2K education bridge. Meira Shem Tov and her family moved north to a former kibbutz now changing into a different style of small community called Maayan Baruch. They built a lovely home with two tzimmers, i.e. small cottages that they use as a bed and breakfast. Meira took us to see Metulla, a village of 200 families, on the northernmost point of Israel right at the border with Lebanon and to the Tel Hai monument to Joseph Trumpeldor and the other eight defenders of their settlement, killed by Arabs in 1920. Trumpeldor’s last words were, “It is good to die for our own country,” a powerful commitment to building the future homeland of Israel.

The evening ended with another delicious smorgasbord and even some Israeli dancing.