Day 6

Day 6: Driving The Rift – A Day of Spirit and Ascension
June 18, 2010

(this was written in pieces by each of us in the Rich family- Liddy, Charlie, Robin & Rebecca. Each of the “I’s” is one of us. You can guess which one…)

Kinnert Cemetary
The site is beautiful – surrounded by date palm groves, shaded by trees, on the banks of the Sea of Galilee, canopied by blue sky, with the Golan cliffs across the Sea, and many bird songs in the air. The beauty of the location is difficult to capture in words; the spirit of the place is equally indescribable.
They came early in the 20th century, leaving houses and families to build a vision into reality. The vision was one of egalitarian worker communities, educated and independent. These women and men worked to reclaim the land as agronomists and farm laborers, newspaper and literary publishers, nurses, and poets. Berl Katsenelson and Rachel are among those honored here.
It was especially meaningful for several of us who work in the Labor movement. These were the mothers and fathers of moving thought into worker action by forming an early settlement kibbutz. The welfare of the whole community was agreed to be the priority, not the welfare of the individual.
Rachel’s poetry is kept and read by the side of her grave. Her poetry has been set to music. Many of her dreams were denied her in life, but her words live on.
While their bodies rest in this place of peace their spirits have led the way for many in thought, expression, and action.

Beit Alpha Synagogue

We pulled off the main highway to go to the national park of Beit Alpha to see the 1500 year old floor mosaic from the ancient synagogue. It featured a huge zodiac which you wouldn’t normally see in a synagogue and we watch a movie which simulated the fund-raising and production for the floor-and possible explanation for why the Zodiac, as well as other more traditional Jewish symbols, were included. (Simplest explanation: it was hip at the time!)
The most impressive thing to me was the short news-reel clip showing the kibbutzim who were uncovering the mosaic while digging in the earth. What a find! How amazing to be involved in building a new land, and continually uncovering an incredibly ancient land. Like the hippodrome we saw in Caesaria, which Muki told us wasn’t even there 20 years ago when he worked on that kibbutz, the “everyday-ness” of these archaeological wonders…is pretty wild.
Around this time we started looking at our map and realized we were about to enter the Palestinian or occupied territories/West Bank/Judea & Samaria (among the many names given this area). We saw how close we were to Jordan, Jericho and Jenin, to settlements, to many things we read about in the papers and now it was real. Also making it real were Muki’s stories of patrolling this area while in the reserves, including the scary Pesach night they thought a terrorist had come through the fence, and it turned out to be an animal and a fish caught in the Jordan…well it’s a long pretty funny story that Muki tells well.

We prepared for our entry into Jerusalem by stopping on Mt. Scopus. With the beautiful Hebrew University and its enormous rooftop menorah at our backs, and our first panoramic view of Jerusalem before us, we celebrated with the Shehecheyanu, Kiddush, and ate traditional fruits and nuts. Most of us tried to photographically capture this very specific moment in time, in a timeless place with ageless sites and enduring spirituality. Rabbi and Muki asked us to see Jerusalem with our eyes in the following days, but to also see and feel with our hearts. We came down from Mt. Scopus, and ascended into the city, with our hearts very full.



(Note: I have been reading the Amos Oz memoir during this week and just got to the parts about the siege of Jerusalem. Lots of tears while reading as well as experiencing these places and feeling the history. Highly recommend the book.)

Jerusalem Market

A group of us climbed the 5 flights to where Daniella has an apartment on the roof overlooking Jerusalem, only a block from the marketplace. In addition to a great view, the roof is cool because like most Israeli roofs it has lots of solar panels for the water heaters. Over 90% of the water heaters in the country (I think!) are heated by the sun!

After visiting Daniella’s apartment we were all released into the outdoor market. There were two sections of the market, outdoor and covered (which was still outside, but had a roof). Our family immediately went over to the covered side. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip so far. There was so much real, every-day Israeli life. Everyone was bustling around and smells were incredible. We had some great food and a great time.

Jerusalem & the Mount Zion Hotel

The front of our bus has a banner that reads “Mount Zion Temple Tour led by Rabbi Adam Stock Spilker. “ After a full day of experiencing the land, this bus pulled up at the Mount Zion Hotel overlooking Mount Zion.

I was particularly excited because after arriving more than 32 hours later on this trip than planned (major Delta Airlines snafu), I was expecting our luggage to finally catch up to us. (Charlie & I have been wearing borrowed clothes, bathing suits, and sandals from many of our fellow travelers.) Word was that luggage had arrived, just in time for Shabbat. The good news is that my bag had arrived. The bad news is that we still don’t know where Charlie’s bag is. So we had to knock on a few doors and add “Shabbat clothes” to things that we’ve borrowed.
As always, Muki, our tour guide and the Rabbi, gave us instructions on the proper dress for Shabbat. While everyone is clean and neat, people are quite casual. Men wear pants, or perhaps shorts, and most wear white shirts. Women wear skirts or pants and also white. Muki predicted that while the dress is casual, we’d noticed many with hair that has that “just washed” look.
So, dressed for services in our Israeli casuals we met at the hotel lobby. Our bus delivered us to Kehukkat Kol Haneshema, a progressive movement synagogue, 2 blocks from the apartment where the Spilker family lived during their sabbatical.
A member of the board greeted us and talked a bit about the congregation. The Kabbalat Shabbat service was spirited. Everyone sang. Everyone. Though there wasn’t much English in the service, there also wasn’t much talking. Our prayer books did have English translation. And many of the tunes were from our Mt. Zion repertoire.

One of the wonderful aspects of the service was Rabbi Weiman-Kellman leading us in closed- eyed reflections on our last Shabbat ending, the week since, and the day leading up to Shabbat, helping us to separate from the week behind us, to truly make it a holy evening and day. Also very meaningful was the ending of the service, a song and prayer for peace in Hebrew and Arabic.

Shabbat Walk & Dinner

Shabbat in Jerusalem truly means peace. After exiting the shul we found most traffic was gone and our bus driver had headed home. Israelis walk the streets with flowers and challah for Shabbus visits. We walked about 20 minutes back to Mt. Zion Hotel, enjoying the neighborhoods, beautiful plants, Israeli recycling bins (!) (huge metal cages for plastic bottles) and running into old friends of Adam and his children. (Rabbi seems to know everyone in Jerusalem!) And then…dinner! Truly our meals have been more like huge feasts and this was the most amazing of all, very delicious and full of unidentified but wonderful tastes. It’s very hard not to eat too much and feel too full. What was very powerful for me was singing the Birchat Hamazon after the meal. I read the translation: “May Jerusalem, You holy city, be restored to all its former glory soon and in our time. Blessed are you, Lord, who in Your mercy will rebuild Jerusalem.” This prayer has been chanted for 1800 years. And now, June 2010, here we are.