Another trip to the Golan

Today was a beautiful warm sunny day, so we decided to take another trip to one of our favorite area -- The Golan.

We started by driving down and across the Hula Valley, crossing the Jordan River, driving up to the Golan on the other side, continuing through Katzrin, and following the Road of the Falls.

Spring is in full swing here, especially in the Golan. There are gorgeous wild flowers everywhere! We stopped at the first parking lot, and walked a short distance to Ayit Falls. I began taking pictures of the lovely flowers. Here's a slightly cropped version of the second picture I took. It wasn't until I got home, loaded the pictures into my computer, and looked at them that I noticed the lizard you see in the upper right!

Here's a close-up view of another nice flower. There were LOTS of these there all over the place:

Here's a view of the falls itself. It was in the shade but all around it was sun. My camera adjusted for the shade so that everything else around is a little washed out. But it gives us a great view of the falls:

Here's an interesting white-on-green flower:

I have seen lots of these flowers every year. It wasn't until I looked in my iPhone app guide to the flowers of Israel today that I learned that it is called a "Great stork's bill":

This is the view from right next to our car in the parking lot there (you can see a little of it in the lower right) looking directly back towards the mountain we live on!

This is a zoomed view of a reservoir in Syria that has just been built within the last couple of years. You can see that there's a town on the far side and also on this side, including a minaret at the extreme right of the picture:

This is another zoomed view towards Syria. In the foreground, you can see the ruins of the city of Kuneitra. This was a major Syrian base before the Yom Kippur War (1973), and that's how it got destroyed. As part of the cease-fire agreement, Israel returned it to Syria and Syria promised to rebuild it. As you can clearly see, they did NOT keep their promise. Instead, the re-built the city of Kuneitra some distance to the east, as you can also see in the background of this picture. It's important to keep this picture in mind when you hear talk about Israel giving back the Golan to Syria in exchange for a "promise" of peace.

Before leaving the Golan, we drove north to the Druze city of Mas'ade and ate a delicious lunch at מסעדת השלום Misadat HaShalom ("The Peace Restaurant"). Note that, although the Druze speak Arabic, the name of the restaurant was ONLY shown in Hebrew, as are MOST of the signs there.

We drove down the road from the Golan that ends up next to Gonen. From there, we could choose to drive a little distance north and then across the Hula Valley and south on Highway 90, the nice, 4-lane road on the west side of the valley; or we could choose to drive south on the small road on the east side of the valley. At the last minute, I decided to take the latter, and, boy, was I glad I had! On a few kilometers down the road, we came to whole fields of fabulous blue lupens! I pulled over where the shoulder was wide enough and walked back a short distance to take pictures. Here's the general view looking north:

Here's a close-up, zoomed view of a single lupen with sky in the background:

Here are two pictures of two different bees doing their work on two different lupens:

After this, we returned home. We must be sure to make as many more trips to the Golan and other places in northern Israel as we can over the next month or two. The flowers are really great this Spring!

Adventures in Public Transportation

David is having a lot of dental work done in Tel Aviv (the only place that will do it for him because of his various medical issues). So, we've been trying to save wear and tear on our car and go there by public transportation. Usually, they can do the necessary work on Sundays (when I don't teach), but this week we had to go on both Sunday and Monday (so I took a Berlitz vacation day).

The most comfortable way to get to Tel Aviv on public transportation is to take the bus from Tsfat to Akko, take the train from Akko to Tel Aviv, and take a local bus out to the dental clinic (at the Asuta Hospital in the Atidim area of Tel Aviv). In fact, we're actually cheating just a little, since we drive our car into town in Tsfat and park near the Central Bus Station rather than riding the local bus in.

The train ride between Haifa and Tel Aviv is really very beautiful. Most of the way, the train passes through idyllic farm country, with green fields (thanks to the recent rains) and pleasant fruit orchards and even banana groves. In several places there are soaring eucalyptus trees near the tracks. In Herzliya, there are some lovely large houses (called "villas" here in Israel) not far away.

Here are a few vignettes from the 2 trips this week.

Yesterday as pulled out of Karmiel on our way down, I happened to notice a sign on the back of the Egged bus that was right in front of ours. It read ואהבת לנהגך כמוך. I immediately caught the Torah reference. The line translates to "And thou shalt love thy driver as thyself." I deliberately used the King James English here to give you a little flavor of how this must sound to Israeli ears.

On our return trip yesterday, when we arrived at the train station and saw a northbound train that was going to Binyamina. I said, "Let's get on this train. We can get off at Binyamina and then catch the next northbound train from there." It was only AFTER we were well underway that I remembered that many of the express trains do not STOP at Binyamina. While we were pondering this, I heard some announcement about getting off at Beit Y'hoshua to catch a train to points further north. However, I must have misunderstood the announcement, because, after watching 2 or 3 northbound trains blow through the station, I checked the schedule and it looked like there might be no more trains from there to Akko that day! We went under the tracks (in the pedestrian tunnel) to catch a southbound train back to Tel Aviv, but then we heard at announcement that the next northbound train would go to Binyamina from where we could catch a train further north. This announcement was very clear, so we rushed back through the tunnel to the other side and managed to get on the train in time. Sure enough, when we got to Binyamina and got off that train, the next train arrived almost immediately, and we continued our journey back to Akko. All in all, my mistake probably got us home 30-60 minutes later than we would have if we had just waited for the next express train in Tel Aviv. The one good thing is that I'm getting pretty good at catching train announcements in Hebrew!

Today (Monday) was a rainy day. Just after we got off the train at the University Station in Tel Aviv, there was a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder and it began to rain. When we emerged from the tunnel linking the train station, which is in the middle of the Ayalon Freeway, to the east side, we had to put up our umbrellas for the walk to the bus stop, which has a roof. Just as we got there, a motor scooter pulled up and parked, and the rider came in under the roof, as well. A few seconds later, a second motor scooter rider also joined us under the bus stop roof. At this point a fairly friendly argument ensued between one of the other people waiting for a us and one of the scooter guys. I really didn't get much of the topic except to hear some mention about fuel and, I think, fuel prices. I did have to chuckle to myself when I heard the obviously secular rider (no kipah) say כתוב בתורה ("It's written in the Torah ...")!

Today, we had learned well from our experiences yesterday, and so we caught the express train with no problem and had an uneventful ride to Akko, and from there home by bus. Although we arrived back home rather tired, we felt good that we had managed well today. Public transportation is not so bad!

The Doric String Quartet at Kibbutz Ein HaShofet

Every other Shabbat morning, there is a concert of classical chamber music at Kibbutz Ein HaShofet. Our friend Ruth had been telling us about these, but we had never quite put together plans to get there until today. We arranged to meet Ruth at the Akhihud Junction so we could follow her from there, since we didn't know where it was.

The performers today were the Doric String Quartet, from London, England. The concert consisted entirely of string quartets by Robert Schumann. Unfortunately, he only wrote three of them, but we got to hear all of them this morning, performed by one of the best string quartets in the world! It was glorious!

The auditorium at Ein HaShofet is a nice, not-too-large amphitheater with acoustics that are just right for chamber music. As Ruth had warned us, the place was packed. Virtually every seat was already filled when we got there about 15 minutes before it started. However, they had also placed chairs on the stage on either side of the performers, and they were still available. What fabulous seats! I was sitting right behind the violist and a little to the left, David was on my left, and Ruth on my right.

Their playing was absolutely wonderful! Not only did they make no mistakes, they made it look easy (which I'm SURE it wasn't!). Much more importantly, however, was the way they played so musically together. It was as though they were one person, and an exceedingly musical one, at that. Every phrase, every nuance, was spot on. If you EVER get a chance to hear these guys play, do NOT miss it!

Here's a link to their website.

Visiting another synagogue in Haifa

As I mentioned in a previous post, I also received information about the other Reform synagogue in Haifa, אהל אברהם Ohel Avraham ("Abraham's Tent"). So, last night we decided to visit it. We got there WAY early and simply sat in the sanctuary waiting for more people to show up. Sure enough, they did, and the prayers got underway within 15-20 minutes of the scheduled starting time (5:30 p.m.).

This congregation seems very Israeli. I think I only heard people talking among themselves in Hebrew, unlike any other Reform or Conservative congregation we've attended here. Usually, ones hears quite a bit of English, and maybe a little Spanish or Russian. I rather like hearing only Hebrew conversations around us, since it made it a truly Israeli experience. At the kiddush afterwards, the main leader, who I assume was the rabbi, came up and greeted us. He asked us where we were from, and it turns out that HE is originally from Khatzor HaGlilit, the town just below us next to Rosh Pinna. He was a very nice guy with a big smile, and I managed to carry on the whole conversation in Hebrew.

The prayers themselves were also very enjoyable. There was a guy who played the guitar very well, unobtrusively but supportively. It was a great spiritual experience. Many of the melodies were familiar to us even though we don't use them at Emet V'Shalom, our home congregation in Nahariya, but there were also a few new ones. All in all, we were very happy that we had gone.

Another trip to Agamon Hula

Today was a beautiful, sunny day here in Israel even though the temperatures are a little low. So we decided to take another trip to Agamon Hula, one of the nature preserves for migrating birds in the Hula Valley. We did the usual and rented a golf cart to make the tour around the lake. Here are a few of the pictures I took.

First, a picture of David on a little bridge. Just to the right of him, you can see the golf cart that we rented. A little further to the right, by the tops of the trees, you can see the snow-capped Har Khermon (Mt. Hermon, the highest point in Israel):

Of course, the main attraction of Agamon Hula is the birds. Here's a nice flock of them:

Here's a group of them in flight. It's hard to get these pictures of moving objects on my camera. Basically, I have to point in the general direction, shoot, and see what I get. Of course, ALL of the pictures I'm posting (except the one of David, above) are cropped somewhat. This one and the next are SERIOUSLY cropped:

Here's a lucky shot of a single large bird in flight:

The birds, however, are not the only animals there. This large rodent (about the size of a cat), sometimes called a coypu and sometimes called a nutria, is native to South America. It was introduced to Israel by farmers hoping to create a fur business, but, alas, in the warm climate it didn't produce the nice fur that it had in its native lands. So, the farmers released them into the wild, and they have become an invasive species. There are LOTS of them at Agamon Hula, and they are rather cute, I think:

A busy week

Last week was a very busy week.

On Sunday, we left home before sunrise in order to get to an appointment for David at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa at 9:15. The appointment was with an ophthalmologist. After that, we headed down to Tel Aviv, where David had an appointment at 1:00 with the dentist. After returning home to Tsfat, I did my weekly shopping at ShuferSal, our favorite supermarket in town.

Monday through Friday, it was one of the busiest weeks I've had in a long time with Berlitz. Lessons are measured in units, each of which is 40 minutes with a 5-minute break. Last week, I talked a total of 39 units, which is nearly 30 hours of actual teaching.

The variety of countries represented is also quite interesting. For example, on Tuesday I taught a student in Slovenia (formerly part of Yugoslavia -- she lives only a few hundred meters from Austria!) in the morning. In the afternoon, I taught a student in Norway. Then, in the evening, I had a student in France, followed by a class with 2 students, one in Germany and the other in Spain. I ended the evening teaching another French student.

Another interesting example is Friday. I only had 3 students, but all of them currently live in different countries from where they were born. The first was a Vietnamese woman who now lives in France. The second was a Czech student who now lives in Slovakia (well, actually the two countries were no doubt one, Czechoslovakia, when she was born!). The third student was a Belgian guy (from the French-speaking part of Belgium) who now lives in Luxembourg.

Besides all of this work, I also spent some time the past week preparing for the end of the current term at my other job, University of the People, and I wrote some Hebrew lyrics for a song that a good friend of mine is planning to record in the States.

So, it was a busy week but quite productive, I think. The coming week will also be busy, at least at Berlitz.

Visiting a synagogue in Haifa

Our rabbi at Emet V'Shalom, our Reform congregation in Nahariya, is on sabbatical for 6 months. Normally, we are still attending there, of course, and, in fact, I often participate in leading. But this past Friday night, we decided to check out one of the 2 Reform synagogues in Haifa. On Friday morning, I wrote to both of them. Of course, I should have written a day or two earlier. Anyway, one of them, אור חדש Or Chadash ("New Light"), managed to write back to me the same day, and so that's where we went. We'll check the other one out another time, since they, too, have now answered my e-mail to them.

Or Chadash has a beautiful building with a spectacular view of Haifa Bay, and they sponsor many activities going on all the time. It's not the sort of place that appeals that much to us, but we still enjoyed our visit. Groups of people from 2 different congregations in the States were visiting there that evening, together with their respective rabbis. Both visiting rabbis spoke, partly in Hebrew but mostly in English. One of them was quite fluent in Hebrew and had relatively little American accent. The other had a really bad American accent! At any rate, I was pleased to find that I understood virtually ALL the Hebrew, from the American rabbis AND from the rabbi of the congregation.

The most moving part of the evening for both of us was the welcoming of a couple of new converts to Judaism. They live in Katzrin, the city in the Golan that we can see from our house. They were a middle-aged to older couple, and by their names we could tell that they were Russian. They had traveled for something like a year, every week, all the way to Haifa (a drive of at LEAST an hour and a half to two hours!) to study at Or Chadash for their conversion. According to the rabbi, a full 2% of all people converting in Israel study at Or Chadash! However, they all have to appear before and be approved by an orthodox Beit Din (religious court). After introducing them and reading the official proclamation, the rabbis led us in welcoming them by saying 3 times:

את אחותינו at akhoteinu ("You are our sister.")

אתה שחינו ata akhinu ("You are our brother.")

What a wonderful way to welcome new Jews! Both David and I were moved to tears.