Saying L'Hitraot to Israel

It is our last full day in Israel, and we have tried to make the most of it. This morning we went to Tiberias, to meet with the Jewish Agency's Sovev Kinneret branch. This is the partner agency to the UJFC (St. Paul Federation) through the Partnership 2000 program. They took us on a tour of a marvelous high school that includes special classes for at-risk teens, teaching them life skills and vocational trades. We had lunch with several lay leaders and discussed how we can strengthen the relationship between our communities. We also went through the oldest kibbutz in Israel and saw how it is modernizing. But the best part of the day was going to the chocolate factory on the kibbutz, where we got to see them making chocolate candies and then got to make some of our own. It was a very fun way to end a very fun trip.

We have had a wonderful time and don't want to leave, although it will be nice to sleep in our own beds again. We are already looking forward to our next trip back here. L'hitraot! See you again soon!

Visit to the Clandestine Immigration and Naval Museum (blog by Avery)

We went to the Clandestine Immigration and Naval Museum and the Maritime Museum. The Clandestine Museum is about Israel’s navy and the illegal immigration of Jews into Israel, before it became a country. The Maritime Museum is about the history of boating within Israel and the Mediterranean.

In 1939, the British government issued a policy, known as the White Paper, which allowed only 75,000 Jews to immigrate to Palestine for the next five years, after which Jews would only be allowed to immigrate if permission was given by the Arabs. In response to the persecution by the Nazis and the immigration limit imposed by the British, European Jews were forced to enter Palestine illegally. Even though the British blockaded the Palestine coast, tens of thousands of Jews were smuggled in.

At the Clandestine Museum, we saw an exhibit about the ships used to bring Jews into Palestine. Some of the boats used contained thousands of people, with the largest carrying over 7,600 people.

We saw a model of the Exodus, which held over 4,500 people. Of all the boats, only seven were sunk. However, many of the boats were stopped by the British, and the Jews onboard sent to prison camps, primarily in Cyprus.

Elsewhere in the museum, we saw sculptures made by the Jewish prisoners in the Cyprus prison camps.

Also in the Clandestine Museum was an exhibit about Israel’s navy. The exhibit told about how Israel converted old passenger ships and World War II ships purchased as salvage. They combined these ships with weapons acquired by purchasing scrap parts from naval ships of other countries into a navy which it used to defend itself from the surrounding countries after it declared its independence. They even sneaked 5 warships out of France when the French reneged on a deal to sell them.

Outside on the grounds of the museum, we walked through a submarine and a destroyer. The boats were very cool.

The Maritime Museum was less interesting. It was mainly a history of boating in the Mediterranean Sea. However, there was an exhibit about pirates downstairs, which was more interesting. According to the exhibit, the pirate Jean LaFite was Jewish as were a few other captains and a small percentage of crew members.

The Clandestine and Maritime Museums were, for the most part, fun to visit.

The exhibit on illegal immigration was interesting, the boats were cool, and the exhibit on pirates was okay. I liked going to the museums.

We went to a kibbutz (blog by Noah)

"A kibbutz is a form of communal living that combines Socialism and Zionism" (see explanations below). Ein HaShofet is among the oldest kibbutzim in Israel. Actually, Ein HaShofet began in 1937, eleven years before Israel became a state. The kibbutz has over 700 people, including its members and those studying in ulpan. Unlike many of the kibbutzim in Israel today, Ein HaShofet remains very traditional in its communal organization.

Other than food, laundry and electricity, everything remains largely communally funded. At the same time, the kibbutz is building beautiful new townhouses for its members with new families.

Originally, the kibbutz used children's homes. The children would live separate from their parents and barely see them. Instead, the children now live at home and go to school on the kibbutz.

Ein HaShofet operate two factories, one manufacturing screws and the other electronic appliances. It also has a large farm with dairy and meat cows, a large dairy producing cheese and ice cream, and a poultry farm. As we left, we watched the dairy cows being led into the barns for their afternoon milking.

New members can still join the kibbutz. Some start in the ulpan and wish to stay. Others wish to join the community. If you want to join the kibbutz, there is a vote by all its members to see if you will be invited to join.

קיבוץ קִבּוּץ kibbutz

A kibbutz is a form of communal living that combines socialism and Zionism. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities and have gradually embraced a more "scientific" socialist approach. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Less than five percent of Israelis live on kibbutzim. A member of a Kibbutz is called a Kibbutznik (Hebrew: קִבּוּצְנִיק‎).

(Wikipedia)

אולפן ulpan

An ulpan is an institute or school for the intensive study of Hebrew. Ulpan (אולפן, plural ulpanim - אולפנים) is a Hebrew word meaning basically studio or teaching, instruction.

The ulpan is designed to teach adult immigrants to Israel the basic language skills of conversation, writing and comprehension. Most ulpanim also provide instruction in the fundamentals of Israeli culture, history, and geography. The primary purpose of the ulpan is to help new citizens to be integrated as quickly and as easily as possible into the social, cultural and economic life of their new country.

(Wikipedia)

Elijah's Cave

We went to see Elijah's Cave, one of the few religious sites in Haifa. Nestled at the foot of Mount Carmel, next to the sea, it is in this cave that the Prophet Elijah came to pray before challenging the prophets of Baal and calling down fire from heaven. This cave is also said to be where the Prophet Elijah lived in hiding while fleeing from the wrath of King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel.

Like Elijah himself, the cave has been sacred to Christians, Druze and Muslims as well as Jews, and one wall inside is covered with ancient Greek inscriptions, and as well as some in Hebrew. Today the cave has become a synagogue of sorts, with an Ark hewn into the front wall for the Torah, a mechitza down the middle (separating the men from the women) and many spaces in the ceiling and walls where visitors insert prayer notes, like at the Kotel.

A courtyard outside the cave has several memorial altars where you can light candles, strangely like a Catholic church, and I decided to light in memory of Sasha, whose Hebrew name is Eliyahu (Elijah), so it seemed appropriate.

Yarden Winery - a Parent's Perspective

Avery's post (immediately below) does a very nice job describing the process at the winery, but the highlight of the visit was the wine tasting. Yarden uses its own name for its premium wines and has won a great many awards since it opened in 1982 - on the heels of the official (but not quite complete) annexation of the Golan Heights into Israel. The middle-priced labels use the Gamla name, while the relatively less expensive table wines use the name Golan.

Many within Israel suggest that Yarden transformed the Israeli wine industry, pushing all the other wineries to improve their quality. As a result, there are a tremendous number of high quality wines available, ranging in price from under $10.00 to well over $75.00 in the local grocery stores.

As a special treat, the Yarden Vintner brought out a bottle of the 2005 Yarden Cabernet Sauvignon which had just received the top prize in a French wine competition.

Both Noah and Avery were served tastings along with the others on the tour. Avery was not impressed by the wines, and really did not like the complex taste of the award winning wines.

Noah shared some of Avery's attitude regarding the Cabernet Sauvignon , but enjoyed the Golan "ice wine" traditionally made by allowing the grapes to remain on the vine and freeze until harvested in February. Israel has no winter freeze, so Yarden picks the grapes and stores them frozen, resulting in a very sweet, thick dessert wine.



Noah has quickly developed a sophisticated palate, though I think that the similarities between Ice Wine and Grape Juice are sufficient to keep him off the alcohol at least until his bar mitzvah. Avery has learned to appreciate Coke Zero and I can happily report he will be staying away from the red wines for a long time to come.

Cheers,
Jon

Yarden Winery (by Avery)

On Sunday, we went to a winemaking company, called Yarden, in the Golan Heights. We learned about the process used to make wine, and then we tasted various types of wine.

The first step in making wine is the crushing of the grapes. We were not able to see any grape-crushing, because we were in between harvesting times. After the juice is extracted, it is placed in giant steel barrels to ferment. After the first fermentation, the wine is cleaned and placed into air-tight oak barrels.

Inside the building containing the oak barrels, the air was chilled to near freezing. We saw rows and rows of barrels, stacked upon each other, stretching all the way to the ceiling. A man on the floor was transferring wine from one barrel to another, and a different man was driving a forklift, stacking the barrels.

After fermenting and aging (anywhere between a few months and twenty years), the wine is poured out of the barrels. The wine is tasted and blended, until the wanted taste is acquired. The wine is filtered once more, and bottled.

The bottling process is completely automated, with a machine that fills the bottles, a machine that corks them, a machine that labels them, a machine that packages them, a machine that stacks the boxes, and a machine that wraps the boxes together. It was very cool watching all the machines working in unison (for the most part).

After our tour of the factory, our guide brought out a cart with different wine bottles on it. We finished the day with a tasting of some of their wines. My parents liked the wines, although I did not like most of them.

Our trip to the Yarden wine company in the Golan Heights was interesting. We saw how wine is made, and then we went to a wine tasting. It was very fun.

Tzefat (Safed)

This past Sunday, we went to Tzefat, or Safed, the highest city in the Galilee. (It is located next to Mt. Meron in the Golan Heights, the highest point in Israel.)

Safed rose to fame in the 16th century as a center of Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism. After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, many rabbis found their way to Israel, although they were not permitted to go to Jerusalem. These rabbis included Isaac Luria (teacher of the Zohar, the original book of the Kabbalah) and Joseph Caro (author of the Shulchan Aruch, the Code of Jewish Law, written in Safed). The beautiful hymn "L'chah Dodi," sung on Friday night to welcome the Sabbath, was written in Safed: standing in the courtyard of the Ari Ashkenazi Synagogue, the rabbis could look out to the west, see the sun setting over Mt. Meron, and know exactly when Shabbat was coming.

Safed has many beautiful synagogues, both old and new, and is known for its Artist's Quarter. In fact, we met famous microcalligrapher Leon Azoulay, whose seriograph "Bereshit" adorns our dining room. We now are proud to own his "Bamidbar" as well.