Day Two

We awoke at some unGodly hour about an hour before the wakeup call was to come. GOt dressed and packed for our trip up north and an overnight at Kibbutz Lavi.

Breakfast was it's usual spectacular display of salads etc.

By 8:30AM we were on our way up to Tzfat or Safed, however we Americans spell it. There it's Tzfat and that's how you pronounce it too.

We drove through the West Bank. I think I was afraid for about a minute before I realized we were perfectly safe, the country side is beautiful, there are Bedouins herding their goats all over the place, skinny camels on the sides of the road in fields of who knows what growing there and the occasional oasis. Or what I believe to be an oasis. In the dry Judean desert where we were, all of a sudden you'd see a rather large clumping of tall palm trees and some greenery. Then it was gone. You had passed by and you were back to desert. I would equate this desert to what I have seen in the high desert here in Oregon. A little rocky, flat for stretches with hills or mountains beyond that. There were also occasional farms where there were VERY green plots of land (wheat) and we also passed a few banana orchards. Banana's grow on these palm trees that look kind of short. Usually, bananas are grown in more humid, jungle like settings. So in Israel, in the desert, they BAG the growing bananas on the trees so the heat from the sun makes it humid WITHIN the bag and they grow beautifully. Pretty cool!

Here's the bit of Dead Sea we could see from the bus. That was about it.

We saw lots of Bedouin shacks, some equipped with satellite dishes, and lots of towns along the way, both Arab and Israeli. Not usually mixed together, but close to each other. Normal. Just living their lives. Arab towns are so interesting because I noticed how they all looked like they were partially deserted or empty. But really what happens is that they build houses or buildings for the family and then they build up or out and get the building about half done and leave it like that. The goal is to have living space available for family when it's needed. When the family grows big enough, they move into this already available space and the building or house is finished, painted, and windows are put in. Ready made quarters! It's amazing and very much a part of their lives to have this space available to the family. EVERY Arab town looked just like this. Some of these buildings and houses are HUGE. They must be expecting a lot of family. :-)

The drive to Tzfat is 3 hours. We saw a good portion of the central part of the country from the tip of the dead sea to the East of Jerusalem, up along the Jordan river to the Sea of Galilee or Kinneret (it's a lake). We drove almost up one whole side and then in West a bit to Tzfat.

Our first stop was at the Zahal Absorption Center. This is where many Ethiopian immigrants come once they get to Israel. Here they are taught many many things, not the least of which is what electricity is, what a bathroom is for, what a stove is for etc. These are people that traveled four hours and 2000 years into what is their future and our present day. The absorption center seems to be a series of apartment buildings built into (onto?) the side of a cliff. We entered at the top floor.

We were ushered straight downstairs. Down, down, down we went. Four twisted flights down, darkening as we went, passing many doors and smelling the smell of spices I had never smelled until we entered into a room with thick walls and heavy doors. It was a bomb shelter, freshly painted, freshly cleaned with bleach you could still smell, and it was the only room big enough to host a meeting with the 35 people or so that we were that day.

I had noticed that there were these weird valves in the walls and the door was thick and on a track of some kind. But I was in denial that it was a bomb shelter until it was confirmed for us. It was both comforting and unnerving at the same time.

We were told that most immigrants get learning through JAFI to the tune of 5 hours per day, 5 days of the week for 5 months (learning Hebrew and about Israel and how to get around etc.). But with the Ethiopians, it's a special case where they are getting taught for 10 months. Starting with their native language of Amharek (sp?) since so many are illiterate and some never even held a pen before arriving in Israel. The learn Amharek and Hebrew and how to EXIST in modern society. For instance, they learn to cook on a stove, they learn that a refridgerator is for keeping your food cool. Some originally thought it was for putting your clothing in to keep it cool during the Israeli summers. Volunteers spent HOURS and days covering up electical outlets so that the new immigrants wouldn't electrocute themselves until they learned what it was for.

Yonatan (Jonathan), the manager of the center, told us about what he does there, his experiences there and primarily of their combined experiences there during the war this past summer. The center WAS hit with rockets. Tsfat was well within bombing range. We heard his heroic stories and those of the people living there at the time.

As the first bombs started to fall 200 families crammed into this bomb shelter and others like it at the absorption center. 200 families and 400 children. I can GUARANTEE you, it was a horrific scene. We were only 35 people or so and we "filled" the room. Can you even imagine?

The stories we heard that day from Yonatan were simply amazing. He is a wonderful man, this is a wonderful program and we got to meet some of its recipients, drink some Ethiopian coffee made specifically for us, share in some special bread made just for us (the bread they use on Shabbat...looks like it's made in a large round pan and it's tall and thick and tasty), and have a handful of popcorn which is a traditional Ethipoian thing to share with guests. As I understand it popcorm comes to us from Ethiopia. It was their idea!

Here's a photo of Yonatan (on the left), one of his trusted assistants (standing center, an Ethiopian immigrant herself), and a lovely gentleman (on the right, next to her), a recent immigrant and a community leader among his people. He wanted to talk to us and tell us about his experiences there. Which he did. Im Amharek, which she listened to and translated into Hebrew, which Yonatan listened to and gave to us in English. I captured some of this in video because his voice and his language were so different from anything I had heard before. It was an AWESOME experience.

Here's the special bread they baked for us. This is the traditional bread they use on Shabbat.

Here's the popcorn we shared. It sat in a handmade Ethiopian basket which was just beautiful.

We left the Zahal Center and drove through more of Tzfat to the home of Genine and Chef Ronen Bar El. These two folks are amazing and I'll let you click on that link there to the left so you can read about their business. But someday, ask me to tell you the story of how these two found each other and their time with the Chabad Rabbi in Hong Kong. It's an awesome story.

The basics: Genine is a nice Jewish girl from the upper west side of Manhattan. She made aliyah (moved to Israel) in her late teens. Discovered her Judaism, traveled the world, and in the process, met Ronen who is a native Israeli who was traveling the world learning about Buddhism. The story of how they met is great.

Now he is a big time Chef and they own this business in Tzfat and they cater. And apparently they make a living catering out of their beautiful home which is a beautiful, historic, vaulted 150 year old Arab house which they lovingly restored. He made us a lunch that will not soon be forgotten. About 14 cold salads, soup, and 4 hot dishes. Plus 3 desserts afterwards. Even with the full buffet breakfasts we had available to us each day, this was, by far, the largest and best meal we had on the trip. You just HAD to taste as much as you could. It was unbelievable.

After the gorging, we (thankfully) walked through Tzfat to the Kna'an Gallery and Bistro, which overlooked the valley below and it was close to sunset and it was breathtakingly beautiful from this vantage point (and many others like it along the way). We got to meet several small business owners from Tzfat and neighboring towns who were recipients of grants given to them by the UJC Israel Emergency Campaign to restart their small businesses after the war. They spoke with us, told us their unbelievably moving stories and THANKED us for the work we do in our communities without which they would not be able to rebuild their livelihoods. It was a great experience to meet them, talk to them, and see the work they do.

We had a little bit of time to shop in Tzfat and then it was off to Kibbutz Lavi for a workshop, dinner and an overnight stay in their guesthouse. Which is really more like a large motel/hotel.

Here's a shot of the room Nicole and I shared. Pretty basic. We watched 45 minutes of Kibbutz promotional TV. All in Hebrew and amazingly entertaining. The WORST powerpoint presentation we had ever seen. We laughed nonstop. :-)

Then off to bed and up REALLY EARLY for our next day. Day Three - Tuval and Eliza Olmert!