Touring and A Friend’s Bar Mitzvah in Jerusalem
Last week we did some touring. On Wednesday we went rafting on the Jordan River up in Kfar Blum. It was nice and cool and the kids had a blast. We ate dinner at a very good Indian restaurant in Kiryat Shmona on the way home.
On Thursday we attended the Bar Mitzvah of a family friend from Phoenix. It was located at Trotner park in Jerusalem, which overlooks the old city and the Temple Mount. The view is absolutely stunning. We davened shacharit (morning services) and the Bar Mitzvah boy read Torah, there were speeches which were very nice, very emotional, etc. I think I had been to that spot when I was here in high school on a camp ramah summer trip, but to have the opportunity to daven (pray) at that spot, in full view of the Western Wall and Temple Mount was really special. (For one thing, you don’t have to face East – you just face the Temple Mount)
After the Bar Mitzvah we stayed in Jerusalem and took the kids to Ammunition Hill, a tourist site that memorializes the battles for Jerusalem in the 1967 war. There’s a great 20 minute movie with a big relief map in front of the screen with moving lights marking what took place and where. It has first person narratives from soldiers who fought in the war. Outside they have left over tanks, armoured cars, and actual trenches with bunkers preserved from that time. Most of the touring we had done on our past trips to Israel have centered around biblical narratives – now that the kids are getting older, this was the first time we took them to some of the more recent sites.
A few days later we did another trip up North, this time to Rosh Hanikra, right on the border with Lebanon. There are very beautiful sea cliffs and sea grottos carved out by the water and the wind, etc. There’s a tram to take you down to the bottom, a short movie which explains the geology, and then a stunning pathway which takes you through the grottos and several scenic overlooks.
If you’re thinking, “it seems like they’re just on vacation…” you’d be mostly correct. In fact, that’s sort of how it feels. But to be fair, we did plan it that way – to arrive before school starts so we’d have time to get settled, do some ulpan/language classes, and have time to tour before things get busy; which i’m sure they will in just another two weeks….