Wednesday, November 6, 2013
So today really was Tsfat.
Raffi said he had re-arranged the order of things for the day to minimize dealing with steps and hills. This sounded really good to me!
But, our first stop - a candle factory - wasn't quite open for business yet at that early hour. They were very nice about it, and let us in
to take a look. But because we were so early, the artisan wasn’t there and we
didn’t get to ask him/her how the candles (especially the elaborate ones) were
made.
Here’s a masterpiece of beewax:
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| Noah's Ark in Beeswax |
Isn’t it amazing?
We then visited 3 synagogues in a row.
Rabbi Yitzchak Luria Ashkenazi was known as the “Elohi Rabbi
Ashkenazi” (the “G0dly Rabbi Ashkenazi” - “Elohi” starting with the letter
“aleph” in Hebrew), which became the acronym “A-R-Y”. Rabbi Ashkenazi lived in
Tsfat in the mid-1550’s and became known for his development of kabbalah, the
mystical side of Judaism. He pondered questions like:
If G0d fills the universe, how is there room for anything
else? The Ari’s answer: G0d shrank G0dself, to make room.
If G0d is the source of everything, how is there evil in the
world? Because G0d’s power is so great, parts of the universe can
shatter, sending shards of evil everywhere. It is then every Jew’s
responsibility to repair the universe (tikkun olam).
The synagogue’s bima was beautifully ornate:
The second synagogue was the Caro Synagogue, founded by
Rabbi Yosef Caro, who wrote and published the Shuchan Aruch. The Shulchan Aruch
is the “Readers’ Digest” version of Jewish law accepted as authoritative by
both Ashkenazi (eastern European) and Sephardim (Spanish and Mediterranean)
decent.
The third and last synagogue we visited was the Abuchav,
which has 3 arks: One for retired Torah scrolls, one for the currently used
Torah scrolls, and one for the 600 year old Torah scroll – it is said that
Rabbi Abuchav wrote it himself. It is only used 3 times a year.
The synagogue’s domed ceiling was beautifully hand painted,
including an illustration of the Dome of the Rock mosque in Jerusalem. Our tour
guide told us to look closely at the mosque – we could see that the paint was
newer than the rest of the ceiling as if in repair. And it had been repaired –
a couple of years ago the synagogue had been vandalized to destroy the painting
of the mosque. But the congregation decided it was important to not cave in to
extremists and had the mosque put back – though the new version is in black and
white:
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| Close up of the Dome of the Rock |
We then proceeded to a lane of shops and artists galleries, and guided specifically to the weaver’s shop.
Their products were gorgeous – especially the spectacular
tallitot (prayer shawls). Four of us huddled around the racks, entranced – the
tallitot blazing with color, so soft to the touch.
We all did the same thing: we saw the price (750), failing
to note the currency, assuming it was in shekels. You could hear the wheels and
cogs turning in our heads as we all, silently and simultaneously, calculated
how many U.S. dollars that worked out to be….let’s see, about 3 shekels to the
dollar (give or take), divide 750 by 3 comes to what, $250? Hmmm….$250 for a
tallit, hmmm …. A bit much, but it IS hand woven and look how GORGEOUS that
thing is and so SOFT…hmmmm….supporting local artists….get the VAT back at
Customs brings it down another 18%, so what is that?...let’s see….
When abruptly the spell was broken when the sales person
loudly announced: “THAT’S IN DOLLARS, ladies, U.S. DOLLARS.”
Oh.
$750. Seven-hundred-and-fifty-DOLLARS.
We all simultaneously took one giant step AWAY from the
rack.
Ok. Then. Very nice. Very nice indeed, we’re sure worth
every penny, but yeah we think we’ll pass this time.
Whoa.
While I was entranced by the beautiful tallitot, Andy picked out a beautiful pair of silver
tallit clips, a bit more within our spending range.
Obviously, the tour company gets a kickback from this shop,
because we were encouraged to spend there, but then all of a sudden there’s no
time to look at any of the other shops. This was very frustrating, because the
other artists’ wares were equally appealing – beautiful paintings, micrography
(illustration using Hebrew writings), metal work, etc.
We were herded down to the shawarma/felafel shop for a quick
lunch – this shop’s game was not to tell you the price of your sandwich until
you had it in your hand – and all too quickly our visit to Tsfat was over and
back in the bus we went.
A bit unsatisfying.
But our itinerary was aggressive, so off to the Golan we go:
Back in 2003, it wasn’t even possible to go up to the Golan
because tension with Lebanon was so high.
Back on the bus, where we wound our way through Katsrin
following Raffi’s phone GPS (and requiring a couple of phone calls and a couple
of “nope, that ain’t it”) to see a well-done Golan promotion movie with special
effects (cool breezes, spritzing water) – very refreshing! Followed by a
history of the Golan’s importance to Israel’s defense illustrated and narrated
on a 3-D model.
Our last stop of the day was at the Yarden winery for wine
tasting. Because Raffi had rearranged our itinerary for the day to minimize
step and hill climbing, we were now a bit ahead of schedule (which and a couple
of us wondering why we had to rush out of Tsfat? Possibly we could have spent
more time in those lovely shops?...).
So instead of doing the tour first followed by the wine
tasting, we did the wine tasting first. Not really a wine fan here, but
following the wine-guy’s instructions I found I liked the red and of course the
Muscat (a sparkling wine – so far I’ve found that the only wine I really like
is a Muscat). And a freebie wine bottle opener! And then wine on sale! Which
hopefully do ok in our suitcase buried in dirty laundry.
The “tour” of the winery was simple a visit to the room
where all the barrels sit:
After the “tour”, Raffi collected us all together in the
store. We figured he was going to tell us what we were doing next.
Nope. Well, yeah, but not what we expected.
He said, “I need to tell you that I will be leaving you
after this. I will bring you to your hotel at the kibbutz, where you will meet
your new tour guide for the rest of your time in Israel. I have enjoyed being
with you tremendously.”
Um. What?
So he repeated it. A couple of times. Took a moment or two
or three for it to set in.
Apparently the email back to the tour company had a rather
strong result.
The ride to the kibbutz was rather quiet. Andy and I were a
bit upset, since we rather liked Raffi and not really thinking that any of his
foibles were worthy of being replaced.
Once at the kibbutz, I made sure to shake Raffi’s hand and
tell him how much I enjoyed learning from him for the last week. I could tell
he appreciated the gesture, and all those that followed from the rest of the
group.
He then introduced us to Gila, who immediately took charge
by telling us that we would meet at 6:10 p.m. (40 minutes later) for our boat
ride on the Kinneret (Sea of Gallilee), followed by dinner (though we thought
we had agreed on dinner first then boat ride?). AND – she had arranged for wake
up calls at 6:30 a.m. promptly, so that we would be up and ready to go on time.
Seriously? She arranged for wake-up calls? Are we not grownups who can
get themselves up and about in the morning all by themselves?
Already a bit resentful of the way this was handled, the
business with the wake-up call did NOT help. Though we could cancel it. Why did
we have to do that?
Andy later pointed out that Gila had lead Birthright trips,
which meant she was used to dealing with a horde of unruly teenagers and young
adults. Which we were not.
Whatever. Grumping wasn’t going to help, but it was tough.
The boat ride was very nice, but only about 30 minutes:
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| Tiberias at night from the Kinneret |
Dinner was at “Decks” – the restaurant at the dock. Huge
quantity of endless food kept coming – all of it excellent, especially the
steaks.
The group dynamic was changed with the tour guide swap, as
we all repeated our histories to Gila and she told us about herself. Unlike
Raffi whose tour guide work was only part-time and intermittent, Gila was a
full time guide and had been for 17 years. She came from Southern Africa right
after college sometime in the 1980’s.
Back at the kibbutz, the wifi only worked in the lobby. Of
course.
A good day ended on a sour note.
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