Free Weekend

After almost six weeks of work and travel throughout Israel, the team was ready for some down time and relaxation! For some of us, that meant an opportunity to travel to other destinations both in Israel (not included in the main agenda) and abroad (e.g. Europe), while for others the weekend was time to catch up on sleep and visits to the beach.

Three members of the team - Stephen, Sean, and Kristin - decided to visit Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and the West Bank. Departing early on Friday morning, the group arrived in Jerusalem after about an hour and a half. In Jerusalem the three went to the local bus station for transfer into the West Bank. The trip south was relatively without incident - though there were two brief stops by the Israeli military - who checked Palestinian work permits. In Bethlehem, the group stayed overnight at a hostel located in the Dheisheh Refugee Camp. Established in 1949, this camp is currently home to about 14,000 residents. 

Photo by Sam Mugraby (photos8.com)

 

On Saturday the group visited the Church of the Nativity, the Mosque of Omar, as well as other local historical sites - before returning to Jerusalem late that evening. In Jerusalem they stayed at the Citadel Youth Hostel - which had an amazing view of Jerusalem's Old City. Sunset on the roof was quite spectacular! Late on Sunday - after some more exploring - the group caught the late bus back to Haifa. All in all, this trip was a pretty cool experience!

Photo by Stephen Kushner

For me, this weekend was an opportunity to see my wife, Kim. After changes to Kim's work schedule, we decided last-minute to meet up in Europe during my free weekend. I flew out from Tel Aviv early Friday morning, arriving in Zürich, Switzerland around 8am (Kim had arrived from the US the previous day). After renting a car, I drove to my wife's hotel. We had a quick breakfast and then hit the road for Lausanne. I opted to take us through the Swiss Alps - from Zürich to Luzern and then on to Gstaad via Interlaken. Once we came down from the mountains, we drove along Lac Léman, arriving in Lausanne around 5pm.

Photo by Daniel Branscome

On Saturday, Kim and I went to Broc and Gruyères - the chocolate and cheese capitals of Switzerland respectfully. After lunch in the town of Charmey, we toured the Cailler factory. Now a subsidiary of Nestlé, Cailler was the first Swiss chocolate company, founded near Vevey in 1819. Afterwords we toured Gruyères Castle and sampled some local cheeses. Dinner was back in Lausanne. On Sunday, we had a pretty casual morning, then an afternoon BBQ at a family friend's place in Lutry. Monday found us on the road to Chamonix-Mont-Blanc - where we had an hour long hike to a beautiful alpine glacial lake.

Photo by Daniel Branscome

On our final day we departed Lausanne after lunch for the drive back to Zürich. This time, we went though the Jura past Lake Neuchâtel. Since we had some time before our flights, we decided to bypass Zurich proper and drive north into Germany to the Rhine Falls. After some time touring the site - Europe's largest waterfall - we returned to Zürich and grabbed dinner. Late that evening, I caught my flight back to Israel. Upon landing in Tel Aviv, I caught the train to Haifa, arriving at our house in Ramat Eshkol around 5am. What a weekend!

Galilee To Golan, pt3

Sunday morning and we were off to another adventure! From our hotel, we drove to Nahal Yehudia off Highway 87. Nahal Yehudia is part of a reserve, which includes 11 trails, such as Nahal Zavitan, the Meshushim and the Gamla, which includes the remains of the Jewish town that fought against Vespasian during the Jewish Revolt in 66 CE. 

Photo by Stephen Kushner

The Nahal Yehudia hike was not extraordinarily difficult - but it definitely required some skill - as there was a place where we had to descend down a shear rock face next to a waterfall and swim across a deep pool before continuing on the trail. The flowers were in bloom and the water was cool. All in all, it was about a three hour trek, but well worth the effort!

Photo by Stephen Kushner

Some of the team had opted out of the hike. That being said, we had already coordinated to meet up that afternoon at Keshet Yonatan, a moshav in the Golan Heights. Keshet has a very interesting history. Established in 1974 shortly after the Yom Kippur War by Hapoel HaMizrachi near the Syrian city of Quneitra, the community is a thriving community in an otherwise uninhabited area.

Photo by Kristin Thompson

Asher and his friend (whose house we were now at) had coordinated over the previous months for a shochet - a religious Jew who is duly licensed and trained - to prepare and slaughter a sheep for a traditional kosher BBQ (shechita). The fire pit had been dug the preceeding day. Upon our arrival, the boy scouts on our team (me included) quickly went to work erecting a tent for the shochet to perform his duty.

Photo by Kristin Thompson

While we waited, our guide, Meni, took most of the team for a tour of the moshav and the surrounding area. I opted to stay back and call my dad - since it was Father's Day. Those that did go, said it was well worth the trip. Located nearby was an abandoned Syrian military outpost - a spooky reminder of the conflicts that have not to distantly plagued these lands. In the distance, the team could see smoke - which was apparently from army maneuvers by the IDF. Interestingly, the team also saw a UN truck while out - as the UN still administers a cease-fire boundary zone between Israel and Syria.

Photo by Kristin Thompson

Back at the moshav, once the shochet arrived he gave the assembled guests a brief overview of kosher laws and traditions. We then relocated to the outdoor tent. The killing itself was almost instaneous. The preperation took another 45 minutes - and quite a few on the team helped in this process.  After the shochet confirmed the animal as kosher, we put the carcass on a spit and began the BBQ. Sean Luke did an admirable job tending the fire.

Photo by Kristin Thompson

Four hours later, the meat was finally ready to eat. Don Mayer took over the carving duties and people started to chow down. We had fresh pita, potatoes, fried onions and other fixings. Everything was amazing! In an already busy and exciting weekend, this BBQ was the highlight for many in the group.

Photo by Kristin Thompson

That evening that team was back at the Ha'On guesthouse for our final night in the Galilee. The next morning, Monday, the team departed back to Haifa. Along the way we had a few final stops before our weekend trip concluded. The first stop was in Nazareth. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," Nazareth is extremely important to Christians, as it the childhood home of Jesus. In Nazareth we visited the Church of the Annunciation, which marks the site where the Archangel Gabriel announced the future birth of Jesus to the Virgin Mary. We also visited The Church of St. Joseph's Carpentry, which occupies the traditional location for the workshop of Saint Joseph.

Photo by Kristin Thompson

Next we stopped in Daliat el-Carmel, which is one of the largest Druze settlements. Home to The Abu Ibrahim Shrine, this was definitely an interesting stop. Just on the outskirts of Haifa, our final visit was to the Morad Winery. Not to be confused with a traditional grape winery, Morad is unique in that it focuses on producing wine spirits from many other fruit sources - e.g. honey, pomegranates, apple, melons, dates, etc. It wasn't for everyone, but the free samples went a long way towards allaying people's concerns.

As we pulled back into our house in Haifa, everyone was happy to be home. That being said, we all felt that it had been an amazing weekend. Looking back, it's hard to believe everything we'd seen and done. Awesome, but exhausting.

Galilee To Golan, pt2

We awoke early on Saturday morning for another day of touring in the Galilee region. In particular, the plan for the day was to tour the many sites of primary importance to Christianity - as this was the land in which Jesus lived for much of his adult life. After a quick, but tasty, breakfast at our hotel, we were off to our first stop of the day, Capernaum, situated right along the northwestern coast of the Sea of Galilee.

Photo by Kristin Thompson

Our tour guide, Meni, brought us first to the ruins of Capernaum's ancient synagogue, where he gave us a very detailed description of the sites history. Afterwords, we walked to House of Saint Peter. Now in ruins, the village of Capernaum has a long and complex history. Dating originally to 150 BCE, Capernaum factors into the New Testament in numerous places. In the Gospel of Luke it was reported to have been the home of the apostles Peter, Andrew, James and John, as well as the tax collector Matthew. According to Luke 4:31-44, Jesus taught in the synagogue in Capernaum on the Sabbath. In the Gospel of Matthew the town was reported to have been the home of Jesus. According to Matthew 8:5-13, it was where a Centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant.

Photo by Kelley Harris

From Capernaum we once again returned to the Jordan River - for the second time in two days - this time to the river south of the Sea of Galilee. This is an area that holds significance to Christians - especially many of the evangelical denominations. It was in this area that Jesus was supposedly baptized by his cousin John the Baptist. After a brief stop here, we stopped at a nearby fresh food market (definitely not a normal tourist stop) where we picked up dates, olives, spices, and my personal favorite - halva. For those not familiar, halva is a sesame based snack - that is often combined with other things like pistachios, coffee, and cocoa. It is a staple of Israeli life and is just plain delicious!

Photo by Kristin Thompson

We then hit the road back to the city of Tiberias. Our activity for the afternoon was an hour long cruise on the Sea of Galilee. The weather was fantastic - clear blue skies - hot, but not totally uncomfortable, especially with the light breeze on the water. Honestly - as an aside - the weather since we've arrived in Israel has been nothing sort of amazing. No rain, sunny every day. To be sure, it's been hot - though nothing a southern boy like myself can't handle. Following the cruise, we stopped for lunch at Kibbutz Ein Gev and then returned to our hotel.

Photo by Kristin Thompson

After a change and a short rest, some people elected to stay at the resort and relax. Most of the team however, departed for the Hamat Gader Springs. These are natural hot springs located in a small sliver of Israeli controlled territory right at the territorial junction of Syria, Jordan, and Israel. To get there you drive down a very steep and winding road - on both sides are the remains of the many battles that have been fought there in the Six-Day War and Yom Kippur War. Signs warning about land mines were everywhere.

Once one arrives at the hot springs, one quickly forgets the dangers surrounding it. Used as a natural spring even during Roman times (the ruins are on site) the current springs is a more modern facility constructed in the late 1970s. Smelling slightly of sulfur, the pools were almost 120+ Fahrenheit - over 20 degrees warmer than the current outside temperature. Interestingly, strange as it may seem, once one gets into the water, it quickly becomes very comfortable. I really liked it - and I'm pretty certain I wasn't alone among the team.

For dinner that evening, the team hopped into the bus back to Tiberias. This time, we had an opportunity to see a little bit of the town as we searched for a restaurant. We eventually settled on a hole-in-the-wall kabab shop. Unbelievably smokey, the place was a real find! The place didn't really have any good options for us to sit together, but Meni and Gil, our two Israeli experts said, "grab tables and set 'em up on the sidewalk." A few minutes later and we were ready to go. A great end to another terrific day!