over sukkot break (yes this was weeka ago and I haven't written about it yet...oops:) I went up north. Now, those pictures I posted before are now labled. so, here i go. this won't be a beautiful piece I have to warn you, but i will bring up highlights, where I went, etc, but i have to wake up too soon to mention to go on a tiyyul in the negev (the desert in the south of Israel) for three days) i am excited for the tiyul, the time with my classmates and the time out of the city, but the 5AM wake up call from my alarm i am not so much looking forward to. anyway...
so, myself and four other pardes students rented a car and set out for the north of Israel...not so far a drive, but we drove through tel aviv on accident and I was navigating through unknown territory so it took a while although it was quite an adventure:) we drove up the coast and got into acco, which is right above haifa on the coast. it is an arab city, but haifa and acco, unlike jerusalem, are very mixed cities where Jews and Arabs are neigbors and their lives are much less segregated. which was a relief to see, to be honest. being in a place like jerusalem which is so very segragated grates on me after a while...well, right away really. one of the hardest things about living here, other than missing things due west, is coming face to face with Israel's not-so-appealing realities, facts, etc. So, we went to acco where there was a theatre festival going on and we drank some wine, watched some acts, and had a grand time being goofy and tipsy:) then we went to our hotel in haifa, about a half hour drive away, when we had to sneak some of our crew into the hotel because we rented one room in that we-are-poor-20-somethings-and-can't-afford-one-room kind of way. we slept in our clost quarters and woke up early for breakfast and our day in haifa. we decided to go to the bahai gardens, which were gorgeous. i learned about the religion, which i knew pretty much nothing about before. walked the gardens and around the shrine of The Bab, an important person in the history of the faith. you can also see it at night, it is lit up in the most ornate and beautiful way...unbelievable...all to give followers a place to go and contemplate.
then we drove to Tiberius, on the other side of the country and about an hours drive from where we were. We ate lunch on the promenade, looking out over the sea of galilee. while we were eating i noticed a boat of people doing funny things that was getting closer and closer to the shore...we soon realized that it was a group of christians singing and dancing...did you know that when the second intifada broke out in 2001 Jewish people visiting Israel plummeted, but the number of Christian tourists didn't? I didn't. Christians apparently love this area and there are groups all year round singin and dancin away. you gotta love their ruach (spirit)!:)
we drove around Tiveria for a while looking for Rabbi Akiva's tomb. It is kinda odd I think. Rabbi Akiba is a great Jewish sage during the time when the Mishna (the first part of the oral law) was codified and written down. His kever overlooks the kinneret and when we were there it was crowded with several groups who were praying there and even - gasp! - kissing the grave....it seemed a bit like avod hazara (idol worship) to me, but if one of yall can explain it to me otherwise I would love to hear your explanations. I will ask my teacher, and if I remember, I will let ya know:).
After that we drove to the top, the northern tip, of the kineret and met up with some other friends from school and otherwise at a park called Jordan park, which is in an area with at least one tributary to the Jordan river. We got there, set up shop, busted out some wine and got silly singing any kind of song you can imagine. the pictures i think tell a better story than i can.
the next day i was the first to wake up and i took a walk around, prayer book in hand. I got to an area that was just letting in a few beams of light in a small open area...and i started to daven (pray). it was peaceful and nice to be praying outside. i went my own pace (which is slow) rather than feeling rushed to get to classes on time and it felt really really good.
after the group was up and packed we headed out for a short hike. we went to a park with several hikes and we did one which took the least effort for the most reward:). it was about a 25 minutes hike and then we came to clean, cold water in a natural spring, complete with waterfall. we spent about an hour swimming and diving in. i got to teach one of my friends how to dive. my first swimming lesson that i tought since 2001....yikes. but he did it...kind of:)
our trip ended later that day with a ride through backroads to tel aviv (we wanted to see more of the country than the highway) and a dip into the mediterranean as the sun set.
for 2.5 days it was more laughter and more exhausting than i had anticipated. we did a lot and my trip mates had me laughing at all times....just the way i like to be:). I REALLY need to hit the sack, but here are some pictures. enjoy!
hugs, kisses, all that good stuff.
