Rewind to Pesach Break--Take 1: the North

So now that life is settling into its regular rhythm again, its time to back up and tell you about my Pesach break.

Pardes had a 3-day tiyul in the Golan (the little "finger" sticking up into Lebanon and Syria in the northern part of Israel). It was beautiful, and full of wildflowers--most of the year the Golan is completely brown, so our tour guides kept reminding us how lucky we were to see everything in full bloom. Like the last tiyul, it was so nice to be outdoors for several hours a day, in breathtaking scenery. (pictures: Iris is a rare Golan Iris, with a turtle in the background. City on a hill is the ancient city of Gamla. The rest is hiking scenery.)



























































After the tiyul, I traveled around the Galilee (northern) region for several days. Natalie (one of my roomates) and I went to Tiberias for a night; its the city where Jesus is believed to have walked on water, and where the Rambam (Maimonides) and several Tannaim (rabbis from the Mishnaic period) are supposedly buried. Visiting these graves was certainly more meaningful now that I have taken a class on the Rambam and have spent a year studying the Mishna. (I'm pretty sure when visited these graves on the Birthright trip I led last year, I didn't know what a Tanna was.)

Natalie and I then met up with our friend Emily, and traveled to Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu, where we spent Shabbat. Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu is part of the religious kibbutz movement, which means that unlike on other kibbutzim, most of the kibbutz members are modern orthodox and keep Shabbat. We spent most of our time with the kibbutz volunteers and ulpan (Hebrew program participants). It was nice to get a glimpse into Kibbutz life...it reminded me a lot of camp, except with families.

Saturday night we headed to Haifa, and Sunday our friend Marcie joined us and my grandfather's cousin Dina showed us all around the city. I really liked Haifa, it's beautiful! The city is on a mountain, with the ocean at the bottom and the Baha'i gardens right in the middle of the city. It was also really refreshing to be in a city that's not Jerusalem--this could be my naivete at being a visitor for just a day, but I felt like Israelis and Arabs and Baha'i volunteers were all just going about their daily lives and it was no big deal, without the tension and self-segregation that occurs in Jerusalem.

Monday, we headed to Rosh HaNikra, limestone grottoes/caves carved out of the rock by the ocean, and then to Akko (Acre), where we wandered around the old city. Tuesday, we took a tour of the Baha'i gardens and went for a walk in Mt. Carmel national park, then headed back to Jerusalem! (Pictures: Baha'i gardens, Haifa bay, Rosh HaNikra, inside and outside of mosque in Akko, funky flowers in Mt. Carmel park, Khan al-Umdan, Akko)