Northern Tiyul

Once we arrived home from Jacob’s Ladder, we showered, did some last minute packing, slept for about 5 hours, and then were on the bus at 7:15 the following morning to leave for Northern Tiyul. Because Yerucham is very far south, it took us a very long time to get up north – which was fine by me, because I slept for most of the bus ride.

When we arrived up north, we split into groups based on a survey we had filled out the week before in which we selected which activities we’d like to do that day. My group headed off to the Druze village for lunch. Druze are an Arab minority in Israel, but they’re their own religion and actually a very interesting people. They believe strongly in reincarnation, and at the age of 15 young Druze have to choose between a religious life and a secular life. If they choose religious, they are allowed no fun – no music, DVDs, drinking, or parties, ever. If they choose secular, they are never allowed to pray or step foot into a house of worship again. Also, the price for marrying a non-Druze is strict excommunication, where you’re cut off from your family and community for life. While we learned about this, we were served a traditional, delicious Druze lunch, consisting of flavored pita and many small dishes served family-style on a huge tray for groups of five.

After lunch our visit at the Druze village was over and we headed over to Caesaria for a tour. Caesaria is an ancient port city that today is home to a wealth of luxurious vacation homes and fancy restaurants. We had a tour that was fairly boring but we all enjoyed the sunshine and being next to the water, and we even got a little bit of free time to play on the beach.

We got back to our youth hostel where we would be spending the night, ate dinner, and settled down. I roomed with Ashley, Becky, and Sarah – as much as we try and branch out sometimes our apartment can’t help but end up together. We played a few rounds of taboo and then got to bed fairly early, since we would be starting in the wee hours of the morn the following day.

The next day started off with a hike that was really more of an easy walk that only took an hour or two. After that the girls donned sleeves and skirts in preparation for our tour of Tzfat. Tzfat is one of my favorite cities in Israel, and is an extremely religious town famous for an especially large population of Kabbalistic mystics. Much of what we talked about in my first semester class “Intro to Jewish Mysticism” centered around writings or prophets that originated in Tzfat. We had a brief tour of the city and then we had free time, during which I explored the artists’ quarter. I also took this time to buy myself something special (Dad doesn’t actually know about this part yet…), since living here for so long means that we rarely make touristy purchases anymore. Those of you that know me probably know that I always wear the same gold necklace, never taking it off. It just has a simple gold Jewish star, and Grandma and Grandpa gave it to me who knows how long ago, and I haven’t taken it off since before my Bat Mitzvah. I decided it might be nice to find something else to go on that necklace from my year in Israel, especially from Tzfat. So after hunting awhile I found a very pretty gold filigree “Chai” (life in Hebrew) charm that I bought and put on my necklace…for me it was just very appropriate to have something from Israel to wear all the time with my Jewish star.

That night we went to our new youth hostel, where we would be staying for the remainder of the week. This hostel was GORGEOUS – all white stone, right on the Kinneret, with an open-air courtyard in the center. I roomed with Misha, Emily, and my friend Ilana, and we all enjoyed leaving the windows open and looking outside at the Kinneret. That night, after dinner, we had a bonfire for Lag B’Omer (the day in the middle of the holiday the omer on which you can do all sorts of things, like shave and have a wedding, that you can’t do during the Omer). It was really fun and we all enjoyed just hanging out with each other and relaxing after our day.

The next morning started off with a choice of hikes. I chose the hard one, and it was a really nice hike that had a lot of climbing over boulders and navigating through a dry riverbed, which is always fun. Misha and I enjoyed hiking up front with Yossi and playing one of our favorite hikings games: ‘would you rather’ (example: “Yossi, would you rather be covered in birdseed in a park with a lot of pigeons or have to eat pudding with every meal for the rest of your life?”). Yossi is surprisingly good at thinking up questions for that game. The hard hike truthfully wasn’t that hard, there was only about ten minutes of uphill at the end, and after Yam L’Yam nothing looks too hard anymore, especially not when you couple it with the fact that at the end of the hike there’s a lovely air-conditioned bus waiting for me, and I never have to try and figure out where I’m supposed to go next and how I’m going to get there.

After the hike, we had a quick lunch and then went to the Golan Winery, where we got a tour of the building, a lesson on wine-making, and a wine-tasting session, which we all enjoyed very much. After that we jumped back on the bus and drove over to the Jordan river for rafting. There were four to six people in a raft, and the rules were very carefully explained to us at the beginning: no getting out and swimming, no standing up, no splashing other people with the paddles, no jumping from raft to raft. It only took about thirty seconds of being on the river unsupervised before war broke out. I was thrown in the water trying to stop another boat from taking Emily, I watched Misha brutally jump on another boat and pick up a girl much smaller then her and chuck her overboard, and I watched Ashley jump in another raft, grab the paddle, and yell “GUYS I’VE GOT ANOTHER RAFT, NOW WE’RE A FLEET!!!” Everyone was being splashed, thrown overboard, or jumping from boat to boat. It was only minimally dangerous and a TON of fun.

After everyone had a chance to dry off a little bit it was back on the bus to our hostel, where we had a quick dinner and then promptly left again for the hot springs in Tiberias. We arrived at the spa, which had both an indoor and an outdoor full sized swimming pool filled with warm, green sulphur water. After lounging around in those for a little while, we would jump out and run over to the regular swimming pool to cool down. At this point in the year we really just enjoy all being together, so we had a good time just splashing around and alternating between the sulphur pools, the regular pool, and the sauna. After that it was the end of a very long, but very fun, day.
The following day was the hike that most of us had been waiting for all week – the water hike. We didn’t know very much about it, except that we could only take things that we didn’t mind getting wet, since all of our stuff would be soaking by the end of the day. The majority of people chose this hike, even though it was the hard one, so we had quite a large group, but Misha and I vowed to stay in front the whole time regardless. The hike began with a steep descent into a valley, where we were met right away by a tumbling waterfall that fed into a clear stream. The hike was extremely beautiful, and Misha and I played our various hiking games as we walked along. After a short while, the group came to a stop as we had reached our first ladder. Being near the front, Misha and I were somewhere around the fourth and fifth people to descend. The ladder was metal and was connected directly to the side of a steep cliff, and about 25 rungs down was nothing but water. We descended, backpacks and all, jumped into the cold water, and swam across the large pool to reach the rocks and the continuation of the hiking trail on the other side – there was no other way to get across. For the entire group to do this took a little under two hours, so we had plenty of time to lay in the sun and dry off while we waited for the rest of the group to descend and swim. We then continued hiking for a little while (luckily it was sunny and the perfect amount of warm so we dried quickly) before we came to the next pool. At this pool there were handles inserted into the rock wall and you had to maneuver yourself around the edge of a cliff, with a huge pounding waterfall below you to your right. Being right up front, Misha and I were the first Nativers to navigate the rock and come out by the pools on the other side, which were appropriately named the “Pools of Paradise.” In addition to a large waterfall that led into the pool, one side of the pool was flanked by a steep rock wall, from which dripped large droplets of water, rather like a shower spray. There was moss everywhere, and you could go stand on the rocks under this shower or even behind it. When Misha and I first arrived there, I immediately said “Let’s go swimming!” It was at this point that Yossi pointed to a rock some twenty feet above the water and said “jump.” I looked at him nervously, hesitated for a second, and then before I could think about it too much, I jumped. It was SO MUCH FUN! Soon everyone else was coming around the bend and jumping into the water, and we spent about two hours there swimming, jumping in, standing under the spray, and lounging on rocks in the sun. It really made sense to me why it was called the Pools of Paradise. After that there was just one more pool we had to swim through, although this time most of us opted for jumping in rather than using the ladder. The hike then finished with a steep uphill out of the valley that left us all tired but feeling accomplished. I can easily say that this was the coolest, most fun hike I ever did.

That night, sick of hostel food, we were given stipend for dinner and two free hours in Tiberias. Since that day was Keren’s birthday, about 14 girls ended up going out for dinner to celebrate at a Thai restaurant on the pier of the Kinneret. The food was delicious, and we ordered Keren cheesecake complete with a sparkler. I think that she had a really nice evening, and it was great that all the groups were together so that we could all celebrate with her.

The next morning started off with a meeting with Yossi in which we discussed some of the logistics for packing and leaving our respective locations for Jerusalem, which was nothing but depressing for me. Although sometimes I can’t wait to go home and see my family and friends (and eat pancakes at the diner), it’s always sad for me to think about leaving Israel, especially since I don’t know when I’ll be coming back next. After the talk we gathered our things and boarded the buses for our final activity of tiyul – swimming in the Sachne pools. These pools were GORGEOUS, a huge park with giant pools of sparkling blue, warm water, complete with stone steps, ledges, caves, and even a few waterfalls. It was perfect weather out, and we all enjoyed eating outdoors, swimming, and relaxing. It was a perfect ending to what had been a really amazing tiyul: something I will definitely remember as one of the highlights of my Nativ experience.