Two Holy Cities of Israel
Like those back in Denver, classes are finally starting for the year. As I previously mentioned, our ulpan ended on Wednesday. That night we had a celebration dinner at Abraham's well which was really fun. After dinner, there 
was lots of dancing. In one of these pictures is a group of students dancing Israeli-style, very fun even if you don't know the steps! Although ulpan is finished and half of the students that were here have left, we will be continuing Hebrew throughout the semester. Which is really good, because there is so much more for me to learn! We barely got into past tense, and my vocabulary is still pretty small.
With an extra day in our weekend (since we didn't have ulpan on
Thursday), Becca, Becky & I decided to trek it up north. It is fairly easy to travel around Israel, as the train goes straight from BeerSheva up the coast of the Mediterranean (through Tel Aviv, Haifa, etc). We took the train north, then a bus to Sefat (or Safed, its spelled so many different ways, its ridiculous). Sefat is considered one of the four holy cities in Israel in Judaism, and a major center for Jewish Mysticism or Kabbalah. For the 24 hours that we were here, the number of religious/orthodox Jews was remarkably higher than in other cities/towns we have been in. Sefat is also known for its artists, as there is a whole Artists Quarter in the old city. Throughout the old city we noticed the highly creative and colorful electrical boxes, as seen in this picture. We mainly explored the town, visiting the shops and galleries that were open. Sefat was hit by katyushas in July, and we were able to see a few of the places that were hit. The war has officially been over for a month now, but it was a reminder that there is still aftermath and unresolved conflict.
From Zefat, we took a sherut (only after waiting at the bus station for an hour) to Tiberias which is on the cost of the Sea of Galilee, or Kenneret. This is also one of the four holy Jewish cities of Israel. Here's Becca & I with the beautiful Galilee. We also walked around quite a bit, both along the coast and through the streets (not as old city-isc as Sefat). We visited the tomb of Maimonides, the famous Jewish philosopher and St. Peter's church, which was originally built by the Crusaders. The church was extremely hard to find, and when we finally discovered it, we realized we had probably passed the entrance at least 5 times. The sanctuary of the church was shaped like an overturned boat, to represent a fishing boat overturned at the edge of the sea. The booklet that I picked up about the church, said that the boat represented Peter leaving fishing behind to follow Christ. We were able to swim some in the sea, although swimming beaches were rare (and not free!), it is mostly a rocky coast. We believe we experienced the bountiful fish of the sea, as something kept tickling our feet in the water.
Up north, the terrain is much different than down here in the
Negev. Both towns, Sefat & Tiberias were built on hills or mountain tops, unlike the flatness of BeerSheva. Which, I am thankful now, being back here. It is quite the workout walking up and down those hills in the heat of the sun! This picture is of the view from Sefat, Israel's highest city, or so my travel book tells me. This is also near one of the katyusha hittings. Beauty & destruction all in one shot. One of the themes of this past weekend was in the people that befriended us. In Sefat, we stopped to get a snack at a small shop, and the older man who worked there sat down with us and chatted with us, then offered his assistance in helping us find the place we were staying. He spoke very little English, so it was fun to be able to communicated, but mostly understand what he was saying. Becky, was our Hebrew speaker for the weekend, and she did a terrific job. Later that night, we were walking to get some dinner and came across an older woman feeding these randomly placed horses & goats. As we began to leave her, she asked if we could help her carry her bags up the hill. Once up the hill, she continued to guide us throughout that part of town, explaining different buildings, asking us questions, and then preceding to make sure we found exactly what we wanted for dinner. Even away from BeerSheva and Dotan (who we call 'aba' because he is always looking out for us) we managed to find a replacement aba and ima.
Today was the first day of our semester classes. I will be taking five classes: Hebrew, Visual Culture in Ancient & Medieval Judaism, Critical Decisions in the State of Israel, Faith & Reason in Jewish Philosophy, and Terrorism & Guerilla Warfare in the International Arena. I had two of them today, and it looks like they will be interesting. It will perhaps take a little while to get used to a new schedule, a little sad that I won't have my free afternoons anymore. However, there are many Jewish holidays approaching, which means days off from class. The first up: Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
was lots of dancing. In one of these pictures is a group of students dancing Israeli-style, very fun even if you don't know the steps! Although ulpan is finished and half of the students that were here have left, we will be continuing Hebrew throughout the semester. Which is really good, because there is so much more for me to learn! We barely got into past tense, and my vocabulary is still pretty small.With an extra day in our weekend (since we didn't have ulpan on
Thursday), Becca, Becky & I decided to trek it up north. It is fairly easy to travel around Israel, as the train goes straight from BeerSheva up the coast of the Mediterranean (through Tel Aviv, Haifa, etc). We took the train north, then a bus to Sefat (or Safed, its spelled so many different ways, its ridiculous). Sefat is considered one of the four holy cities in Israel in Judaism, and a major center for Jewish Mysticism or Kabbalah. For the 24 hours that we were here, the number of religious/orthodox Jews was remarkably higher than in other cities/towns we have been in. Sefat is also known for its artists, as there is a whole Artists Quarter in the old city. Throughout the old city we noticed the highly creative and colorful electrical boxes, as seen in this picture. We mainly explored the town, visiting the shops and galleries that were open. Sefat was hit by katyushas in July, and we were able to see a few of the places that were hit. The war has officially been over for a month now, but it was a reminder that there is still aftermath and unresolved conflict.
From Zefat, we took a sherut (only after waiting at the bus station for an hour) to Tiberias which is on the cost of the Sea of Galilee, or Kenneret. This is also one of the four holy Jewish cities of Israel. Here's Becca & I with the beautiful Galilee. We also walked around quite a bit, both along the coast and through the streets (not as old city-isc as Sefat). We visited the tomb of Maimonides, the famous Jewish philosopher and St. Peter's church, which was originally built by the Crusaders. The church was extremely hard to find, and when we finally discovered it, we realized we had probably passed the entrance at least 5 times. The sanctuary of the church was shaped like an overturned boat, to represent a fishing boat overturned at the edge of the sea. The booklet that I picked up about the church, said that the boat represented Peter leaving fishing behind to follow Christ. We were able to swim some in the sea, although swimming beaches were rare (and not free!), it is mostly a rocky coast. We believe we experienced the bountiful fish of the sea, as something kept tickling our feet in the water.Up north, the terrain is much different than down here in the
Negev. Both towns, Sefat & Tiberias were built on hills or mountain tops, unlike the flatness of BeerSheva. Which, I am thankful now, being back here. It is quite the workout walking up and down those hills in the heat of the sun! This picture is of the view from Sefat, Israel's highest city, or so my travel book tells me. This is also near one of the katyusha hittings. Beauty & destruction all in one shot. One of the themes of this past weekend was in the people that befriended us. In Sefat, we stopped to get a snack at a small shop, and the older man who worked there sat down with us and chatted with us, then offered his assistance in helping us find the place we were staying. He spoke very little English, so it was fun to be able to communicated, but mostly understand what he was saying. Becky, was our Hebrew speaker for the weekend, and she did a terrific job. Later that night, we were walking to get some dinner and came across an older woman feeding these randomly placed horses & goats. As we began to leave her, she asked if we could help her carry her bags up the hill. Once up the hill, she continued to guide us throughout that part of town, explaining different buildings, asking us questions, and then preceding to make sure we found exactly what we wanted for dinner. Even away from BeerSheva and Dotan (who we call 'aba' because he is always looking out for us) we managed to find a replacement aba and ima.Today was the first day of our semester classes. I will be taking five classes: Hebrew, Visual Culture in Ancient & Medieval Judaism, Critical Decisions in the State of Israel, Faith & Reason in Jewish Philosophy, and Terrorism & Guerilla Warfare in the International Arena. I had two of them today, and it looks like they will be interesting. It will perhaps take a little while to get used to a new schedule, a little sad that I won't have my free afternoons anymore. However, there are many Jewish holidays approaching, which means days off from class. The first up: Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
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