The Galil and Golan: 14 Tammuz (Monday, July 17)

They were true to their word. Our tour guide Gershon picked up the nineteen of us from the Sheraton Plaza Hotel at 8 am. From there we drove east past Ma'ale Adumim and towards Yericho. Bypassing that PA-controlled city we headed north and were treated to see the Jordan Valley communities as well as the fence that is the border between Israel and Jordan.

Further north we took a right at Yam Kinneret and headed into the Golan Heights. I have vivid memories of Brovender's tiyul to Nachal Yehudiyah in the Golan seven years ago. Everything was colored yellow and green and purple and black. On this visit I didn't see any purple, but I was particularly excited to be back in the Golan. Gershon explained that the black rock is actually volcanic.

We stopped in the Golan city of Katzrin. There we saw a "sound and light show" which included scenic pictures of the Golan, and of course an explanation of all the reasons why it is crucial for Israel to maintain control of the region. After the show we entered the excavated ancient Talmudic village of Katzrin. Jews have been living in the Golan since biblical times. Here, we learned why it is that we affix our mezuzahs to our doorposts at a slant. Some homes in Katzrin had a vertical groove for the mezuzah, while others had a horizontal groove. Evidently there was a machlokes as to the proper positioning of a mezuzah! Nowadays we compromise by affixing the mezuzah halfway between horizontal and vertical - at a slant.

Okay. After Katzrin we went to Tzfat. Brovender's had taken us for a shabbos in Tzfat but it had been a very hot day and I had stayed behind when everyone went out for a walk through the old city. Now I got to see what I had missed before. We visited the (handmade) candle factory and walked through Tzfat's streets. We visited the Abouhav synagogue.

Images of Tzfat:

Back onto the bus, we were taken to a picnic area in a gorgeous forest where we ate a quick lunch. This was between Tzfat and Meron. Next we drove around Har Meron (which evoked good memories of Lag B'Omer) and then along the Lebanese border to the coast.

The city of Rosh Hanikra sits with the Meditteranean Sea to its west and the Lebanese border at its north end. We rode bright red and yellow cable cars from the top of a cliff down to a rocky, white section of beach. Here are beautiful grottoes carved into the chalk stone. Pirates and smugglers used to hide out in them. Cool!

The cable cars and grottoes at Rosh Hanikra (source: Rosh Hanikra Tourist Attractions)

By now it was getting late so the bus begain the long drive back to Yerushalayim. We drove down the coastal plain and caught some nice views of the sunset over the Mediterranean. Overall, it was quite a day: A whirlwind ride across the length and breadth of the country.

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