My Wednesday started off with a Bible quote. Not the way I usually start the day, but the point of traveling is to embrace the unusual, right? Merav, our tour guide, read a quote where Abraham is told to "wander around the land" and get to know it, because it will be given to him and his descendants. This, of course, got me thinking about how, according to the Bible, Christians are descendants of Abraham because they branched off from Judaism, and Muslims are also descendants of Abraham through Ishmael. So clearly Jews don't have exclusive claim to this land. But I did like that quote applied to our trip, and it stuck with me.
We started our day by driving to the northernmost part of Israel and doing a Hatzbani hike on a trail that runs north to south through the whole state. Because it was 100 degrees outside (our Hebrew word of the day was "cham," which means "hot"), they had us do a hike through the shade and in water. "In water" meant that we were sloshing through at least knee-high water, walking on often slippery rocks that weren't always the most secure place to step. This was not what I had expected from the hike, but it turned into a fun challenge that we all helped each other through. Nothing helps a group bond like literally leaning on each other for support!
After the hike, we piled on the bus and went to lunch in Katzrin. During this bus ride, we did a "speed dating" activity where we switched seats and spent a few minutes getting to know someone on the trip. Actually a pretty decent activity! I had some nice conversations with some of the people on the trip, and some surreal exchanges with the Cream of the Crop. Most of that group are from Long Island and have literally never left Long Island in their lives. I feel a little sad for them, they just seem so young and naive. And really dumb. Like shockingly so. Weird...
After lunch, we went to tour the Golan Heights Winery! We had an adorable little old Orthodox tour guide named Shalom, who explained to us how the topography and climate of the Golan Heights makes it an ideal spot for winemaking. He showed us the process they use for harvesting, aging, and bottling the wine - so interesting, my inner wine snob was jumping for joy! Then we had a tasting of some of their wines - delicious! - and explored the shop for a bit. They had an exhibit of all sorts of wooden stuff (serving platters, lounge chairs, skateboards, etc.) made out of the French oak barrels they use to age the wine. Really cool! Shalom also gave us nice corkscrews as a gift.
Once everyone had their fill of the winery, we drove up to Mt. Bental, an old army post on a mountaintop that overlooks Israel on one side and Syria on the other. Here, we were treated to a delightfully one-sided view of Israeli politics in which Israel was presented as the do-no-wrong hero and the entire Arab world (but especially Syria) as a dehumanized, faceless enemy. Ugh. Thankfully, half the group was intelligent enough to recognize the bias, and the other half was too stupid to understand what was being discussed (the Cream of the Crop!), so I don't think any lasting harm was done. Hopefully this will be the last of the political indoctrination attempts, but I'm not holding my breath.
By this time, we were all exhausted from walking in the sun all day, so we napped on the bus ride back to the hotel. When we got back, we had time to shower (which felt SO good, we were dirty and gross) and eat dinner. Wednesday night featured more group bonding activities, then going over plans for Thursday. Today, a group of young Israeli soldiers and students will be joining our group for the next few days. We'll be going to Tzfat this morning to learn about Jewish mysticism, which is really interesting to me and Al! Then this afternoon, we'll be kayaking down the Jordan River - whee! After that, who knows?
You all are darlings for reading super long updates, and I just want to close with an observation. I find the relationship between Taglit and the state of Israel absolutely fascinating. The program is partially funded by the State, so Israeli citizens' taxes pay for us to be here. All the Israelis we've seen have been friendly to us and will smile and say hi, but they also won't approach us or start a conversation. It's like there's an understanding in Israel that Taglit groups are a protected entity, so nobody wants to come near us at all. It's a very strange feeling that we're protected and maybe even welcomed/appreciated, but also overtly avoided, which makes it hard to learn about Israeli culture other than from our tour guides. I'm interested to see how our interactions will be with the Israelis joining our trip today!
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