Our friend J came to visit for 12 days in Israel. I actually met her for a ‘girls’ weekend in Istanbul then flew back with her to Tel Aviv. A few days later we all rented a car and planned a two night trip to the north, driving along the Sea of Galilee to the hilltop and Orthodox town of Safed. After two solid field trips in Israel, I am now used to driving, used to the Israeli drivers - who never stay in their lane, but the navigating is still tricky. A uses a combination of Google Maps and Waze. Waze (which was smartly just acquired by Google) has many advantages over Google maps here, especially because it was developed in Israel. The only problem occurs if you change Waze to Hebrew to help a taxi driver to get your to your destination, then you have to find a friend who reads Hebrew to put it back into English for you. The other issue is reading the road and freeway signage. We’re starting to get the hang of it. Besides the hebrew and arabic on every sign, there is an english version. Reading the english, you need to be super flexible about spelling. Remember when I wrote that words are spelled without any vowels? How you have to kind of fill those in? How you can change a word by the vowels you choose? Well it doesn’t stop there. They use this, I’ll call it a ‘technique,’ with consonants too. Its sort of an alphabetic free-for-all. So, as we headed to Safed, Zefat, Tsefat (if you closed your eyes at least these sound the same) we took the scenic route and drove along the Sea of Galilee, Kinneret, Gennesaret, or Lake Tiberias (all the same here.)

The Sea of Galilee, or anything else you may want to call it.

We made an interesting trio, J with her catholic background, A being Jewish and me, a virtual tabula rossa, devoid of context not having read any religious books in my life. So the Sea of Galilee for J was a Biblical place where Jesus walked on water and calmed a storm, for A the Kinnert is of a more practical concern - it the main water source, but for me it’s just a lake. The only real lake in the entire Middle east. The Hebrew Kinneret or Gennesaret comes from the word for Harp which is roughly the shape of the lake. But, you’d have to be in a plane to see that.

We arrived in Safed for our 3 o’clock date with Jeff, our tour guide and the owner of The Artists Colony Inn where we stayed. We scheduled a two hour tour of Zefat itself, to understand the significance of one of the four holiest cities in Israel, the center of Jewish Mysticism (Kabbalah), a major artists colony in the 60s and the Klezmer capital of the world. He started the tour by giving us a tour of the Inn - four bedrooms with indoor and outdoor public spaces mostly built of stone on several levels with a main living, dinning, kitchen “lobby” where guests can hangout day and night and enjoy the famous israeli breakfast or an after dinner nightcap. Within minutes we were all chatting, leaving our hotel rooms open and wandering around. Jeff and his wife (the owners) and Susan and Danny (the caretakers and chefs) were so lovely and friendly, completely welcoming us into their home. The Inn was purchased and renovated by Jeff and his wife and was really a process of discovery for them. They would dig and come to hidden underground rooms, finding old stone archways held together with nothing but mud and packed to the ceiling with dirt, and patinaed glass bottles and even an (unfortunately empty) safe.

The Wine Cellar discovered during building.

Jeff led us around the stone alleyways and corridors of Safed and introduced us to his friends as a way of experiencing the community that Tsefat attracts. We met a painter who paints by converting tones into numbers then into colors. He also uses the Kabbaleh numbers and letters to create original artworks. We met a former tech guy from Berkeley who converted his space (formerly an old souk and donkey barn in the 16th or 17th century) into a music venue and after hours bar called the Khan of the White Donkey. Later, A remembered that he had meet this guy in the 80s.

As the sign says, Khan of the White Donkey

A former 16th century Souk turned Performance center. The archways on the right are former donkey stalls.

We learned about the 1948 War of independence and how the outnumbered (10 to 1) Jews were able to defeat the Arabs. Because the town was basically be defended by the Jewish Scholars (not a lot of expertise with weaponry), the Israeli Defense Force sent in some help and an artillery machine that sent a round of mortars into the Arab towns. Before the war the Arab and Jewish women would shop together at the markets, legend has it that when the bombs would stop in the evenings, the women would still talk to each other. After the use of the new artillery machine, an Arab woman asked - what was that? The Jewish woman replied sarcastically that they had the atom bomb. That night, rumors of the atom bomb spread among the Arab troops and, when a sudden uncharacteristic rain started to fall, the Arabs disappeared fearing fallout from the Bomb and the town was saved.

We visited the16th century Abuhav synagogue. Beyond the stone facade was a magical domed ceiling with naive paintings of animals, musical instruments, crowns, fruit and palm trees. Apparently it is very unique to find a synagogue with so much decoration. The synagogue is lit from Venetian glass chandeliers and a mish mash of Moroccan votive holders. There are pillow-covered benches on each of the four walls that face into the center of the room where a bright blue staircase leads to the Bema where he Torah is read. This synagogue contains a locked cabinet where the oldest torah scroll in Tsfat exists.

We returned to the hotel to share a glass of wine and discuss the tour for the next day, our goal being to see as much of the Golan Heights as possible. My only directive was that the tour didn’t contain too much ‘historical stuff.’ I didn’t know at the time that each and every mile of the Golan contains a Major archeological site, a minor archeological site, a biblical or rabbinical grave site, a nature site, a christian village, a moslem village or a Druze village. I’m leaving out the many Kibbutzes,(a agricultural community where everyone is basically equal) Moshavs (a agricultural community where better farmers are better paid) and Moshavas (a not necessarily agricultural community where everything is privately owned). I also didn’t realize that saying this to our guide kept him awake half the night trying to figure out a way to guide us around this area while avoiding the historically rich aspect of it. The next morning he confessed his confusion and A advised him to just make sure the History included a lot of good stories. Boy did he deliver.

Road Map for the Day Ahead (the black shape near the top)

History was never my best subject at school. To me it was a blur of dates, names and events that needed to be memorized the night before a test. What I do remember from my high school history class is Mr. Reeves dream. He wanted to win the lottery so he could buy an airplane and fly his students from one site of historical significance to the next, so he could teach us on the very ground where the actual battles, conquests, revolts and dramas played out. This would have definitely worked for me.

Tel Hatzor overlooking the valley below, and onto the mountains in the distance. Any invader would be toast.

Our tour began at Tel Hatzor, a major biblical and archeological site. A Tel is a sort of rounded mountain top created by layers of civilizations building on top of the ruins of prior civilizations. The dig at Tel Hazor has found 27 layers of palaces (13th century), an example of a four room house and olive press (8th century), gates (10th century), a water system and citadel (9th century). Casemate walls dating from the 8th and 9th century surround the city, two parallel walls with a 27ft space between them that can be filled with dirt and stone if under attack, helping to deter the enemy. Standing in the midst of ancient stones and being able to see in every direction for miles, you start to understand the power position of this location overlooking the Hula Valley. Hatzor is enormous - 180 acres which had both an upper and lower city, surrounded by natural springs and fields for miles. It is situated in the center of what was centuries ago - Syria, Egypt, Babylon (Iraq), Cyprus and Crete. They recently found documents about the commercial caravans that passed through, including information about the visiting ambassadors and musicians that lived there. The archaeologists have unearthed pottery, jewelry, statues and other artifacts and just last july, the feet of an Egyptian sphinx. Our guide described the dynasties that ruled Hatzor and battles that were waged until my brain glazed over from the history of it all.

He talked about how Joshua, about to lead the Israelites in an invasion of the Cananites, sent spies in to gaige the situation before an impending siege. The spies stayed at the Inn of Rahab, a prostitute, who hid them on her roof under stalks of flax. Once word had spread to the King that foreigners were there, a search began and she hid them until she could help them safely out of the city walls. Wait, what? A prostitute? Yes, he continued, she saved the spies in exchange for the safety of her entire family once the attack began. The spies pledged that they would save her household and asked her to hang a red sheet in her window so that they would be able to find her. He went on to described that battle that ensued, the role of the casement walls in protecting the city and my mind started to wander again. A Red sheet? It seemed like something that wouldn’t be easy to procure in the 8th, 9th or 13th century - whenever this went down. And, what would kind of natural dye would they use to make it red? If she had access to red sheets, certainly others would too? The subject had moved onto the the living conditions and the typical housing structures in the kingdom, but I was stuck. “Where did they get a red sheet at that time?” I interrupted. “I don’t know,” Jeff said, “But i do know that that’s the origin of the term Red Light District, because of that red sheet…”

We walked over to the aqueduct, carved almost 500 feet underground so that the city would have water during an attack and wouldn't have to rely on the natural springs outside the city walls that could be poisoned. At the parking lot we looked at a map and planned the rest of our route. We would drive to the monument at Mitzpe Gadot, see a vineyard or two, stop with views onto Syria and Lebanon, have lunch in a Druze village, see the Banias waterfall and Nimrods Castle and head back into Safet for dinner. “Can i ask a question?” Jeff turned and surprised me with “Is this about that prostitute again?” We all laughed, because of course, it was. “What if the sheet was green?” he didnt miss a beat “Then it would have been called the greenlight district!”*

(If you looked at my safari history today in researching the legend of Rahab, I’d seem like a religious fantatic. I’ve been to biblicalarcheology.org, biblicalanthropology.blogspot.co.il, bibleresearcher.org and my favorite askmoses.com. While everyone agrees this is basically how the story goes, I just cant place it at Tel Hazor. It seems to take place in Jericho. I do, however, appreciates Jeff’s placement of the story as it added some much needed intrigue - at least, for me.)

Rahab by Hans (Jan) Collaert (Antwerp, 1566-1628) Doesn't look like a Harlot to me...

Rahab and her spies. This one seems more like it!(The Harlot of Jericho and the Two Spies, c. 1896-1902, by James Jacques Joseph Tissot (French, 1836-1902) — Rahab and her spies. This one seems more like it!
(The Harlot of Jericho and the Two Spies, c. 1896-1902, by James Jacques Joseph Tissot (French, 1836-1902)

Our next stop was Mitzpe Gadot, high up on a hill in the Golan, which used to be a Syrian army base. The Syrians shelled the Kibbutz Godot located near here for 19 years forcing the children of that generation to grow up in underground shelters, and their farmer parents to work their land under tank cover. The Israeli’s took the Golan as part of the Six Day War that they won in 1967. Now the abandon bunkers and zigzag shaped trenches lie beneath a monument to the fallen Israeli soldiers in 3 different wars. The zigzag shape was implemented so that when a grenade landed it could only explode in one part of the trench protecting the soldiers in the other parts. You can explore the trenches, bunkers and wander on the paths - up to a point. The yellow signs that hang on the barbed wire fences are a constant reminder there are undetonated Syrian land-mines still in the area.

Key to winning the battle of the Golan was the Israelis greatest spy - Eli Cohen. Cohen was a Syrian born Jew raised in Egypt whose family moved to Israel. He stayed behind as a student and became a part of group working with the Israelis against the Egyptians. He was expelled from Egypt along with the rest of the Jews and he applied, only to be rejected by the Mossad (the Israeli CIA) but his file remained in their records. Eventually he was recruited as a field agent and sent to Argentina to earn the trust of Syrian politicians and businessmen there, who, in turn would make introductions for him into the political circles in Damascus. He held extravagant alcohol-fueled parties and prostitute-filled orgies that they all enjoyed. He would pretend to be drunk, refilling the glasses of the Syrians who, drunk themselves, spoke openly about political plans and business deals. His wife and three daughters lived in Israel thinking Cohen was a businessman who traveled back and forth to Paris, where his safe house was located. He is largely responsible for the success of the 1967 war against the Syrians for a few key reasons. He encouraged the Syrians to plant Eucalyptus trees to camouflage their bases, learned key positions, and new strategies such as their use of three rows of bunkers instead of just one. He relayed all of this information to the Israelis. Unbeknownst to him, his brother Maurice also worked in Intelligence and because of a few overheard conversations regarding pink slippers and a red singer sewing machine (gifts to his wife and daughter that Maurice would later see at their home), he began to piece together the fact that his brother was a spy. After the war, and still based in Syria, Cohen encountered a new Colonel who distrusted everyone and utilized new Russian technologies to try to find the mole who he was convinced had infiltrated the Syrian government. He ordered a radio silence period, and Cohen was caught transmitting information to the Israelis about a channel to divert water from the Banias river. He was found in his apartment, during his very last mission. He was then interrogated, tortured, tried and publicly hung in a square in Damascus. To this day his wife fights to have his body returned for burial in Israel, to no avail.

At this point I am loving our guide, but we are highly in need of a diversion. So we head to a winery - called Yarden. Its sort of the Robert Mondavi of the Golan Heights, a huge enterprise with tasting rooms and tourist busses crowding the parking lot. There is a van with an interesting logo on it - two men in togas carrying a large cluster of grapes with no type. Curious, I ask jeff about it. He tells me its a logo for tourism in the area (hence the grapes) and the two men are the spies from the Tel Hatzor story. Tourists are like spies he said. I actually didn't consider until this moment that he may have just made this up, not to be malicious, just for the sake of the story. We went inside and tasted a few wines, mostly so we could try the pre-paid cards and the automated wine dispenser, and use the bathrooms.

On our way to the lookout point over Syria, we stop at the Ein Gavin Kibbutz for some chocolate and a more boutique wine experience. We try and buy De Karina chocolates handmade by a third generation chocolate maker from Argentina. Pelter Winery is around the corner, its tasting and vat rooms share space in an metallic industrial barn. We taste several of their wines and some spectacular goat cheese that we discover are made by Pelters wife. They are so delicious we buy one of each - the wines and the cheeses. I think Pelter is probably the best wine we’ve had in Israel, and, good news - you can get it in the States. The cheese you can only get at the Winery.

We stop at Mitzpe Kuneitra (the Kuneitra or Quneitra Overlook) and stand next to an abandoned Israeli tank covered in graffiti looking out at Syria. This is the closest you can get to the Syrian border which is only 9 miles away. Its a gorgeous day with blue skies giving us an amazingly clear view into the border town. I could see a light grey line that could be a fence or The Wall and a few ant sized cars crawling along the road, mostly though, it appears deserted. After the 1973 war, the town has been empty. The roads Between Syria and Israeli are mainly used for one thing - to transport Syrian brides to Israeli Druze villages in the North Galilee. There have been many news stories about the lengthy delays for marriage because of immigration in both countries. Some brides have only been successful crossing the borders with an entourage of family together with the Red Cross. As we stood there, the only indication we had that there is currently a war going on was the distant sound of bombs.

Druze Bride with Entourage (Photograph: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images - borrowed from the internet)

We lunch at a small but very popular roadside cafe in a the Druze Village of Mas’ada. The Druze are a religious sect that disguise their beliefs and their teachings are mostly secretive. They occupy (loaded word) a few villages in the north of Israel. They are Arabic speaking and have Israeli citizenship, and are even drafted into the Army and hold Political Offices. After a very late lunch, and realizing we had about an hour and a half before we lost light, we basically did drive-bys of the remaining sites on our list. We wound up the side of the mountain to get a view of Nimrods castle across a valley. We drove back down into a valley to check out the Banias Nature Preserve at the foot of the snow-capped Mt. Hermon. We arrived as the last car drove out of the Banias parking lot. Here’s what we didn’t see - the biggest waterfall in Israel, its nature preserve with walks among the ruins, the sacred temple dedicated to the greek god Pan (or Panias arabic for Banias.) What we did see was a crazy looking family of rock badgers staring us down, defending their territory on top of some ruins.

Everyone is guarding something here! A Rock badger holds his ground.

We arrived at Kiryat Shmona, Israelis most northern border, looking into Lebanon as the sun was setting. We stood at an observation point dedicated to those who fought for Israel during one of the wars. We could literally hear the sound of cars driving echoing off of the hills, in what looked like another completely deserted border town. The window frames of the houses and buildings hold no glass, they are just stacks of vacant black squares. The only evidence of activity was the presence of a United Nations vehicle flying the Hezbollah flag parked at the side of the road. Hezbollah is now the ruling party of Lebanon and basically are considered to be a terrorist group. We drive further along and lookout into a different Lebanon to the west, one where the street lamps are lit and the houses seem occupied. I imagine the people there enjoying the purple-blues and oranges of the setting sun reflected in their windows as they lookout to the pine-forested hills of Israel. I thought about the possibility that I might still have distant relatives living in the north of Lebanon, and how impossible it would be for me to make the two hour drive or 45 minute flight to visit them.

Our final stop was Circassian Village, another example of a small independent population which originally came from to Israel from the Caucasus (he dividing line between Europe and Asia), and like the Druze, they maintain their culture, practice their religion, and fight by Israel’s side.They continue to wear national costumes and have a reputation as fighters.

The Circassians also maintain their tradition of kidnapping their Brides. The men wait on their horses at the edge of the village and fire three shots to announce to the villagers the ‘engagement.’ The groom is accompanied by two married women to the Brides house to get permission from her father. If her father agrees, the groom throws a large party full of song and dance for all the villagers who know about the kidnapping. Apparently the women are now able to choose their partner themselves.

The next morning we enjoyed one of the best Israeli breakfast that we have had. The salads were incredibly creative as was the conversation. Coincidentally we learned about an Orthodox Jewish engagement, where he proposes, she accepts and they cannot kiss, hug or even touch to celebrate. The courtship is short and the marriage happens soon after the engagement as you can only imagine the amount of anticipation that must exist between the fiancés.

It was two very full days, and I feel like we got an E! ticket ride through the Golan and Galilee. I say E! because there was enough intrigue to fuel more than a few E! True History Stories. As I think about it, in my 14 years of travel, A has probably fulfilled Mr. Reeves dream for me. Traveling, touring and learning the stories and histories of countries in 6 out of the 7 continents. Since A refuses to be in temperatures that dip below 70º, it’s no coincidence that Antarctica hasn’t made the list - yet!