#50

So as I was surfing my BlackBerry this morning and reading all the nice birthday greetings which were sent to me via Facebook (including the operating system of Facebook itself!) I imagined what it must have been like 50 years ago today when I was born. Was my father surfing his blackberry too checking out all those mazal tov greetings to him? Oh yeah! Back then a blackberry was a wild fruit and a smile came across your face when you read a good book. Thank G-d for progress. The world is such a better place. And by the way, how come Lincoln got a new penny for his birthday and I didn't even get an agurah? My beard is just as long as his!

All is well. Tuesday was a national holiday here in Israel. Election Day. No wonder they have elections so often here. You get a paid vacation day every time there's another election! No wonder so many people are hoping coalition talks fail and then there will be another day off... I mean election. This is a really great country. I was given 33 choices at the voting booth. 33! So Jewish. Sort of like living in a community with 300 families ... and 12 synagouges. (My place.)

I've been busy guiding. Had a great time with the students from Swathmore here on Birthright. Enjoyed a most meaningful time with a group visiting Sderot and its environs. In another week I'll be guiding a Federation mission from Houston, and then after Purim another Birthright group.

My latest learning curve here has been trying to navigate the Israeli tax system. And each time I think that I'm getting close to getting a handle on it ... WHAM!!!! I find out about another agency ... form .... regulation .... don't ask! Baruch Hashem.

Chanukah Travel

• Shiur Times

(Maccabees I, Chapter 6, verses 32-46)

When writing about different locations associated with Chanukah, some obvious places would be Modiin, where the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Greeks all began, and Jerusalem. Alternatively, one could write about the different battle sites such as Wadi Haramia, near modern day Ma'ale Levona, Beth Horon, Emmaus or Beth Zur north of Hebron, Adasa or Elasa near Ramallah. For your enjoyment, I have decided to write about a battle site which did not have a happy ending for the Jewish rebels— the Battle of Beth-Zechariah located just outside Alon Shvut in Gush Etzion.
In 164 BCE, Yehuda HaMaccabee (Judah the Maccabee) defeated the Syrian Greeks at the Battle of Beth Zur, and restored the Beit Hamikdash in Jerusalem. However, Seleucid forces still controlled the Acra, a strong fortress within the city that faced Har HaBayit (the Temple Mount) which served as a symbol to remind the Jews that their land was still occupied [by the Greeks]. Two years later, in 162 BCE, Yehuda HaMaccabee laid siege to the fortress. The Syrian Greeks then took the field against the Maccabean army.
With an army of about 50,000 infantry and thirty war elephants, along with cavalry and chariots, the Greeks approached Jerusalem from the south and besieged Beth-Zur eighteen miles from the city. Yehuda HaMaccabee lifted his own siege on The Acra, and led his army south. The Jewish force of about 20,000 positioned itself on the high ground across the road to Jerusalem — directly in the path of the Syrian-Seleucid army.
After the Syrian Greeks captured Beth-Zur, they then marched on to Beth-Zechariah. Yehuda HaMaccabee used traditional field tactics and fought the Syrians in their own fashion. The result was a defeat for the Jews.
The war elephants unnerved Yehuda’s troops. As the Jews began to break for the rear, the Maccabee's younger brother, Elazar, attempted to show his fellow men that the elephants were vulnerable. Charging into the mouth of the Syrian assault, he spotted a large elephant bearing the royal seal. Elazar cast himself under the animal and thrust his sword into its soft belly. The elephant died immediately and fell onto Elazar, killing him.
Today you can visit the settlement of Elazar located in Gush Etzion just across from Efrat. The site of the Maccabean battle where elazar the Maccabbee was crushed by an elephant is located nearby in Hirbet El Zachariah. A wonderful place to visit there is the Path of the Patriarchs which runs between Rosh Tzurim and Neve Daniel.
In all probability, the Romans built on this existing path that has been around for many generations earlier. This is the most logical path to take according to the landscape of the region. The book of Braishit is filled with stories about the forefathers walking between Beer Sheva and Nablus. This would be the path they travelled on. Abraham and Sarah walk from Nablus passing Bet El and then southwards on this path.

And then there is the story of the binding of Isaac, where Abraham takes his son and they travel three days from Beer Sheva to ‘that place’, the Temple Mount. On the beginning of the third day, they are able to see ‘that place’ from a distance. On the hills at the top of modern day Neve Daniel, it is approximately 60 km. from Beer Sheva, which is two days’ travel and it is also a place where you can see on the horizon the Mount Moriah.

And so here you have the path, travelled by our forefathers as well as the Maccabees. On June 7,1967, during the Six Day War, Israeli forces advanced on the Path of the Patriarchs towards the Etzion Bloc and entered the abandoned Jordanian army camp on the site of Kfar Etzion. By Rosh Hashana, some of the Gush Etzion survivors from 1948 were granted permission and returned back to Kfar Etzion.

To visit the Kfar Etzion Memorial museum call 02 993-8308.

Abraham and Lot

• Shiur Times

Parshah Lech-Lecha
Chapter 13
1. And Abram came up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that was his, and Lot with him, to the south. 3. And he went on his journeys, from the south and until Beth el, until the place where his tent had been previously, between Beth el and between Ai.
7. And there was a quarrel between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and between the herdsmen of Lot's cattle, and the Canaanites and the Perizzites were then dwelling in the land. 8. And Abram said to Lot, "Please let there be no quarrel between me and between you and between my herdsmen and between your herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. 9. Is not all the land before you? Please part from me; if [you go] left, I will go right, and if [you go] right, I will go left." 10. And Lot raised his eyes, and he saw the entire plain of the Jordan, that it was entirely watered; before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as you come to Zoar.

Throughout Jewish history in the Holy Land, geography has played a crucial role. And so it is with the separation between Abraham our forefather, the very first Jew, and his nephew Lot. To appreciate the significance of this event, knowledge of the geography of the area where this event took place is necessary.

Here we have Abraham and Lot standing together as Abraham says to Lot "Please let there be no quarrel between me and between you…". Where exactly was this conversation taking place? The Torah tells us; "between Beth el and between Ai". The Torah is not an AAA triptik. If the Torah deems it important for us to know the specific location of an event, it is in order to teach us a lesson.

Abraham travelled together with his family from Egypt, from the south, up into the central mountain range of the then land of Cannan. Both Abraham and Lot have herds of cattle. Abraham is especially careful to keep his herds off the property of others. Abraham needs to make some type of arrangement with Lot to keep their herds separate from each other.

And here we come to the central question. Was it the intention of Abraham to completely separate from Lot? Let's not forget, eventually it will be a descendant of Lot, Ruth the Moabite, who will convert to Judaism and from her lineage King David and ultimately Moshiach will be born from.

In fact, by understanding the geography of the area, we can see how it was actually not Abraham's intention to have Lot completely separate from him.

Abraham uses an interesting phrase while addressing Lot; " if [you go] left, I will go right, and if [you go] right, I will go left".

To where is left? To where exactly is right? Abraham and Lot are standing on a mountain hilltop near Beth el. And what does the Torah tell us? "And Lot raised his eyes, and he saw the entire plain of the Jordan".

In ancient times, maps were drawn with the direction east being the primary direction, the direction from whence the sun rose. In Hebrew, the word "kedem", sometimes used for the word east, can be translated as moving forward. (Hence the connection between the phrase "to orient oneself" and the "Orient", located in the east.)

Abraham and Lot are standing on the mountain range facing eastward, in the direction of the Jordan Valley. Abraham is not looking to completely disassociate himself from Lot. Abraham himself states; "We are kinsmen".

What Abraham is suggesting is for Lot to stay in the mountains with him, either going north or south. But the key is that Abraham wants Lot to stay in the mountains. Why? Because the Jordan Valley below is "like the land of Egypt".

Abraham and Lot had come from Mesopotamia, a land flowing with the waters of the Euphrates. In Egypt, watered flowed freely through the Nile. It was only here in this land, up in the mountains of the land of Cannan, where a person had to depend and pray for rain.

The nation which would come forth from Abraham would be very different from the peoples Abraham had lived with before. Because here in the Holy Land, In the land of Israel, a Jew knows that one is completely dependant upon G-d. Our daily prayers for rain are a crucial element of our prayers to G-d, an expression of our faith. That is what makes the Jewish nation different.

Lot chose differently; "And Lot raised his eyes, and he saw the entire plain of the Jordan, that it was entirely watered; before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah,…". Lot was attracted to the Jordan Valley before him, a place which reminded him of home, a place "entirely watered". And in fact, instead of heading north or south as Uncle Abraham had suggested, Lot heads east, to the area of Sodom and Gomorrah. And we know what happens there ultimately.

Abraham on the other hand is blessed by G-d and heads south, to the area of Hebron, in the mountains.

Today you can head north on route 60 from Jerusalem to modern day Beth el and enjoy the beautiful views from the lookout situated within their community. Or take road 457 just after the turnoff for Psagot to road 458 north and enjoy the spectacular lookout facing the Jordan Valley located in Kochav Hashachar.

Travelling South

Well, first the bad news. It doesn't look like we'll be visiting the ancient site of Sukkot this year. Archaeologists suspect that the location known as Deir Alla, east of the Jordan River, is in fact the location of Biblical Sukkot. This is where Yaakov Avinu on his return from Padan-aram after his meeting with Esav, built a house for himself and made sukkot (booths) for his cattle A series of excavations made its most dramatic discovery there in 1967 when an ink wall inscription relating a hitherto-unknown prophecy of Balaam was discovered.
And so I figured instead of visiting Sukkot, I'd visit the area of Kadesh Barnea down in the Negev. It was from Kadesh that the 12 spies were sent to survey the Land of Canaan. Forty years later, the tribes of Israel were a second time gathered together at Kadesh. At that time, Miriam died and was buried. Following Miriam's death, the Israelites complained to Moshe Rabeinu about the lack of water.
Moshe subsequently sent envoys to the King of Edom from Kadesh, asking for permission to let the Israelites pass through his terrain. The Edomite king denied this request.
The modern day settlement of Kadesh Barnea, also known as Nitzanei Sinai, was founded in 1980. It is located near Nitzana on the border with Egypt.
In Kadesh Barnea itself there's a wonderful family attraction; The House of Honey. You can learn all about the process of making honey and enjoy some tastings as well. Phone ahead: 08 655-8992, 052 899-1807, 052 392-7085.
In addition, be sure to visit the Kadesh Barnea Winery, a Negev Desert winery established in 1999. 052 267-2552.
Nearby is Tomato-picking in Kemehin. In the hothouse, you can hear an explanation about tomato-growing and pick some for home or for a picnic. 08 655-1524, 052 8450201.
In Nitzana, be sure to visit the solar park. The giant exhibits at the solar park protrude from the desert like colorful amusement-park rides. Here you'll find a classroom covered with wing-like panels that convert the solar energy into electricity; nets that collect the night dew; an enormous installation that focuses the intensity of the sun's rays; and other structures that demonstrate to children and adults the ecological and economical use of the main resource with which this area is blessed in abundance: sunlight. The visit also includes a guided tour of a garbage-collection center for recycling, and a small archaeological museum. Nitzana Youth Village, 08-656 1468/35, www.nitzana.org.il
For a more detailed listing of events in the Negev, visit www.negev-tour.co.il

Mount Bental

• Shiur Times

HAR BENTAL AND THE VALLEY OF THE TEARS

Mount Bental, an inactive volcano, is located in the Golan Heights on route 98, nearby to Kibbutz Merom Hagolan. A short but steep drive brings one to the parking lot and a brief stroll leads to the summit. On the summit there are remnants of the Six Day War - with bunkers and trenches, and a free recorded vocal explanation relating to the ’67 war.

The expansive panoramic view at the summit provides an excellent observation point overlooking valleys and parts of the Golan and Hermon, spreading from Israel into Syria. A clear view is offered of both the new and old towns of Kuneitra – located on the Syrian side of the border. Clearly visible is the disengagement strip that exists along the Syrian-Israeli border – which is controlled and patrolled by UNDOF – the United Nations Disengagement Observation Force. As the name suggests, it is a purely observational force.

The border between Israel and Syria reflects the sensitivity of their political relations. In spite of periods of heightened tension, this border still represents Israel’s quietest border with its neighbors – in terms of border related incidents since the Yom Kippur War, 1973.

Mt Bental, provides a very good site to recall the events of the Six Day War, especially the last two days that precipitated in the capture of the Golan and Mt Hermon, The conflict between Israel and Syria had its antecedents following the War of Independence, 1948, and primarily relating to the establishment of DMZ’s –demilitarized zones along their mutual borders, and issues related to development of agricultural areas, and water-related resources. Numerous international incidents had taken place on both sides, generally followed by Syrian artillery barrages on Israeli civilian settlements or Israeli air responses or Israeli naval activity on the Kinneret.

An audacious breakthrough by Israeli infantry into Syria’s most fortified position on the Golan Heights, at Tel Fajar, sent shockwaves through the Syrian Army and almost overnight resulted in the routing of the Syrian presence along the Golan.
Kuneitra was the largest Syrian town in the Golan Heights until 1967, and had represented a strategic position for the Syrian Army command, serving as the Syrian administrative capital of the Golan.

During the Yom Kippur War, Kuneitra was recaptured by the Syrian troops, and later retaken by the Israeli counterattack. Following the 1974-5 cease fire agreement, Kuneitra was returned to Syria conditional on a prisoner exchange. Initially the Syrians maintained they would rebuild the old Kuneitra, and repopulate it. Instead, they developed a new town nearby, Kuneitra Jdeide, and maintained the old Kuneitra as a ghost town for propaganda purposes to demonstrate how Israel had wreaked havoc and destruction upon the town.

To reach the site, drive along Route 98, until Kibbutz El Rom, turn east at the sign and continue another 3km, following the signs and following the left curving road. Park your vehicle near the cluster of trees and enter the memorial.

Today, the site hosts the memorial for fallen members of the armored corps from the 77th Brigade. The memorial is called Oz 77 – from the Hebrew word for “strength”. On the eastern corner of the grove of trees, looking out towards the battle-ground, is a free vocal recording of the events of the battle.

To Become A Taxi Driver

I am a licensed tour guide. For two years I studied the history of the Land of Israel. I studied Archaeology. I studied the Bible. Religions. Zionism. Geomorphology. I traveled the length and breadth of the country. And I was tested. Written exams. Oral exams. And finally in the end, the ministry of tourism gave me the coveted license to be a tour guide in Israel.

Now you might think that after all that I could just go out and start guiding. Well, yes and no. From the perspective of the law, whenever a guide picks up a tourist and transports them to a sight, the money exchanged is looked at as taxi fare. That's correct. As far as the law is concerned, the tour guide in that instance is simply a glorified taxi driver.

And so in Israel, if you want to guide and transport your visitor as well, you need to also have in your possession a taxi drivers license. For us tour guides, it's called an "eshkol" (cluster - hence the cluster of grapes the ministry of tourism uses as their emblem.) And so begins my odyssey of acquiring such a license so that I can join the honored ranks of taxi drivers here in the Holy Land.

OK. So of course there's the typical bureaucratic runaround you would expect at the Drivers License bureau. Fine. But after all that your informed that you will have to first undergo an intensive physical and psychological exam prior to being allowed to enter the taxi driver course. A few months go by and you receive a letter in the mail informing you to show up at some examination center in Tel Aviv in one week where you will be tested.

In addition to the physical exam you are also asked to take a 400 question psychological exam, as well as a half hour interview with a psychologist. A few weeks after the exam you are informed of the results. Then the fun begins.

As you would expect, there is going to be a driving test. But before that happens, you have a few weeks of classes and exams to get through. Time, money, and three weeks of not being able to work. Oh! Did I mention that this is all in Hebrew, not exactly my mother tongue. One advantage I had from the get go was that I was not taking the course with the typical riff-raff. Instead a course was organized (that's a whole story unto itself!) just for licensed tour guides. Which meant practically that we were exempt from studying "familiarity with the land" which is a huge chunk of the course, and we were exempt from studying the English language.

So what does a taxi driver need to know in Israel before he/she can be licensed by the ministry of transportation? Well first, we were tested in our proficiency of the Hebrew language. Interestingly enough, we were told that the reason that all the exams are in Hebrew is since we are becoming "public servants" of sort, we need to be proficient in the language of the country. OK. That makes sense. But then why are there exams available in Arabic and Russian?

So we all passed our entry exam. First came the class on knowing all the laws applicable to driving a public vehicle in Israel (taxis, buses). You need an %87 to pass. I passed. Our teacher, from Tel Aviv, spontaneously decided to share with us during class that although he was not observant, since his parents died last year he does not miss minyan and even attends a class in Talmud. Then we studied defensive driving. Passed that too. Fire Emergencies. Passed. That was our Friday afternoon class. Just what we want to be doing on a Friday afternoon.

Then came the big one. For an entire week we took a crash (not a pun) course in understanding the workings of a motorized vehicle. In Hebrew, we learned how a diesel engine works. A gasoline engine. Brake systems, steering systems, electric systems, gear systems, cooling systems, etc. etc. etc. Did I mention that this was all in Hebrew? I can hardly tell you the names of all of a vehicles parts in English! Oy vey! And just because I need to transport a tourist from the hotel to visit Masada? I'm not going to fix the car if there's a problem with it. I'm taking it to the mechanic. No matter. The law requires that I be familiar with the entire workings of a vehicle. Fortunately the teacher of this class has been teaching for 40 years and did a great job teaching us lay persons. Our teacher's 22 year old son was killed in Gaza in 2003 during an attempt to arrest terrorists there.

Another part of the course required us to become knowledgeable with Israel's labor laws and how the entire labor and government system works, including all its courts. As tour guides, we are legally looked at as freelancers, and so most of the labor laws do not even apply to us. But I'm so happy now to know that my bus or taxi driver Ahmed knows that the President of Israel is elected by the Knesset every 7 years and that he knows the process of how the Budget is passed by the Knesset each year. Now I'll have something to converse with him about!

And almost last but not least, first aid. Technically, I should have been exempt from this part of the course since I am already in possession of a valid Israeli First Aid certificate which I received during my tour guide course. Notice I used the word "should". When we presented our certificates, they were deemed unacceptable because only the month and year of the course were written on the certificate, not the exact day of the month. And so after much trouble (and money)we were able to acquire written documentation (faxes not acceptable) to the exact date we took the course. The cherry on the pie was finally finally receiving a response from the ministry of transportation after we had already completed the first aid course (again). Our request for an exemption was declined. Lovely. We all did perfectly well on the first aid exams.

In a few weeks I will be taking my driving exam (again). I was bold and took the exam with a mini bus using a stick shift. Mistake. Especially when I didn't stop at the yield sign when the examiner told me to do so. It was a language thing. All in all, at least I got the opportunity to become friends with a bunch of other guides. And my level of respect for bus and taxi drivers? Well, I'll let you respond to that one.

PS Yes. Finally, finally, after 3 driving tests I finally passed. They even asked me to parallel park. In all my lessons, nobody ever bothered to see if I could even put the van into reverse! My knee is killing me from using the gear pedal. And would you believe it? My new license still restricts me to an automatic vehicle only. Go figure! Is it worth another trip down to the drivers license bureau? Time will tell.

Golan Heights

• Shiur Times

Nestled among the Kibbutzim and Moshavim of the Golan Heights is the town of Katzrin. With a total population size of some 7,000 people, almost half of the Jewish population of the Golan Heights resides here. Katzrin is the administrative center of the Golan.

When the Six-Day War ended archaeologists performed surveys of various archaeological sites on the Golan. While touring the Bedouin village of Katzrin, the archaeologist Shemaryahu Gutman came upon an ornate doorway made of basalt stone. He discovered that this was the entrance to the synagogue which had functioned 1500 years ago. The name of this town from that time is unknown.

In order to give us an idea of what a house looked like and what the layout of the town was like during Talmudic times, archaeologists performed an elaborate restoration of the ruins of the town. Similar plans are on the drawing board for Um El Kanatir. Here we can see how the town was planned. We see streets, a synagogue, a square in front of the synagogue, and an olive press.

Given that the town is located on the western side of the Golan, grazing and farmland is present. The main industry in this region seems to have been the manufacturing of olive oil. One olive press per town indicates that enough olive oil is produced just for local use. Three to five presses indicates that the townspeople are producing for export.

Olive oil had many uses in antiquity: it was used for nutrition, lighting fuel, medicinal purposes and for lubricating the body. The sages recount the following: Olive oil is beneficial for the health. Thus it is told of Rabbi Chanina aged eighty, who could stand on one leg, remove his shoe and put it back on. Rabbi Chanina said: hot water with oil anointed upon me by my mother at childhood has upheld me during my years of old age. (Talmud Bavli chullin 24b.)

Olive oil is produced in two phases. At first the olive are crushed inside a basin by a large crushing stone resembling a wheel. The wheel was usually pulled by an animal or by people. The first round, the crushing takes about 30 minutes. The crushed olives are transferred to the olive press, immediately nearby. The olives are first put in straw baskets, (kefifot.) There is an Aramaic term, “ladur bikfifah echat” which means “dwelling in a crowded fashion in one area (one basket).”

You put these straw baskets one on top of the next until you have like a sandwich of these akals (Arabic), or baskets. Then you start to take the press and turn it by going around. You would get all the liquids going into the canals and draining into a hole. You pick the oil off of the top and the water goes out the bottom. The liquid of the olive contains both oil and water.

On display as well is an accurate representation of the homes from the Mishnaic time period. All the tools are modeled on actual tools found at the site. One of the most fascinating features of these homes is the roofs. The roof is built with branches placed on top of Oak, cypress and cedar beams. Soil is placed on the branches, mixed with water, and then used to seal the holes in the roof. This keeps out rain and snow. In the summertime, when the mud dries and cracks, it needs to be repaired.

A maagela is a roof roller and was used to fix leaky roofs. Choni the Meagel, the name of the very popular Talmudic figure, is usually translated as Choni the Circle Maker. If you pronounce the word maagal as meagel, you don’t have Choni the circle maker but Choni the roof roller. In the tractate taanit, there are quite a few aggadot about how Choni would pray for rain for his community when there was a drought. More rain, more roof rolling required! This house also has a small kitchen and store room, with no room for animals.

What did they use for food storage? It wasn’t cool here. They placed food up high where kids and mice couldn’t reach it and was covered with a sheet. The floor was made of stone and then covered with a kind of plaster. That’s why you couldn’t sweep the floors because you’d make holes in the grout. Later on it was replaced with tiles.

Outside the house is a ladder. A story about Rabbi Joshua (ben Hannaniah), who hosted a man, gave him food and drink, and then gave him a bed located in the loft. He removed the ladder leading up to the loft. What did this man do?
He awoke in the middle of the night and stole tools and jewelry. When
he tried to descend down the ladder, he fell from the roof and broke his
collarbone. In the morning Rabbi Joshua awoke and found him lying there.

The purpose of bringing this story here at Katzrin is to teach us about the way homes were constructed and how space was used. Apparently, space was maximized by allowing family members to sleep down below and up above. .

The synagogue is clearly a communal building. It occupies the center of the town and its two rows of pillars, with decorative capitals, give it both height and a sense of grandeur. It faces Jerusalem and inside there are menorot carved on the stones.

We have said that when we find a synagogue it means we have found a town, not a village and towns have between 1000-5000 people. On the Golan and beyond the border of the Golan into Syria of today we have ruins of about forty ancient Jewish synagogues. Multiply that by only 1000 and we have 40,000 Jews, at a minimum who were living in this area in Mishnaic times. It seems that the synagogue ceased functioning in 749 CE after a massive earthquake.

They found an inscription in the Golan, “this is the bet midrash of Rabbi Eliezer Akkapar.” They found this in Daburiya above the Jalabun, 3 kilometer from Katzrin. One assumes that a beit midrash existed in Katzrin, but it has not been discovered. It is possible that the synagogue structure simultaneously served both purposes of prayer and study, obviating the need to build a separate structure.

There is the big Tabor oak tree by the synagogue. The tree is estimated to be some 600 years old. Some years ago, I attended my cousin's wedding here. The chupah was set up in the ruins of the ancient synagogue. It was a beautiful and moving experience.

The park is open daily, from 9-4. There is an admission fee. For more information call 04 696-1412 or email park@golan.org.il