The North

Monday, June 1, 2009

We went up to Kibbutz Yagur for Shavuot, where Gadi, one of the Israeli Rabbinic students lives. It was so fantastic, this is one of the oldest, and yet one of the few remaining traditionally run Kibbutzim in israel. But the people feel the change coming, that it is inevitable, and know that eventually it will privatize like the rest, so some are already seeking jobs outside of their kibbutz responsibilities. For many of the members, it is sad, but the whole mission of the country has changed, and they also know that. So Shavuot is the ultimate kibbutz holiday, besides the giving of the torah at Sinai--which is what the rest of the Jewish world is celebrating, on kibbutzim around Israel, they are celebrating the Bikurim--the first fruits (which is what would have been brought to the Temple as a sacrifice), in a big festival on the grounds, there was singing, dancing, and presentations of the first fruits....vegetables, goats, chicks, babies, plants, tractors, go-carts. It was so much fun for the kids, who were truly in their element here, climbing trees, riding bikes with kids they didn't know, everyone wearing white. It was sweet, then we went back to Gadi's house where we ate Humus brought back from Akko's famous Humus Sa-ed, and ate cheesecake. (Akko was fun, old, beautiful, and HOT!)

Gadi has an interesting story, his mother Shula, an amazing spunky woman was born on this kibbutz, as well as he himself, and his children. Gadi, when single went on Shlichoot to the UK, then two stints in the US. He fell in love--with American Jewry, it's warmth, enthusiasm, openness; came back to the kibbutz where he later married and began a family. Like many returning shlichim, he was so changed by his experience that he enrolled in HUC's Israeli Rabbinic Program. Where have we heard this story before? And there's actually quite a few who travel to change a community, then come back quite changed themselves.

Shabbat in Haifa at Gabi's synagogue, gentle and lovely 2nd to last Shabbat overlooking that gorgeous Mediterranean sunset. I told Phillip last weekend that I just wanted to see one more sunset over the Mediterranean, and here was my second. Lucky Lucky Lucky. We sang this amazing new women's arrangement of Eretz Zavat Chalav, and the original composer is a member of this congregation and was there on Friday. We sang this piece right after candle lighting, then reprised it again at the end, when Eliyahu came up again with his drum. He was so ecstatic and joyful. He is one of these participants, in one of these kinds of congregations where people will bring a recorder or a tof, and play along when the spirit moves them. Andrea was Gabi's Shlicha Tziboor--this was a really wonderful community to be praying with on 'almost' the last Shabbat. It reminded me of Beit Chaverim, a real Kahal.

Then back to the kibbutz with sleeping children, yet now it is 3:15am and Phillip and I are both awake because there is a huge party just outside the Kibbutz gates. Crazy, the people are celebrating from 11:30pm to the wee small hours. It's so funny, funny enough that it makes me forget to scratch my new mosquito bites; well, not completely.

The next morning we walked through the grounds of the Kibbutz, just above us was Muchracha--where Elijah the Prophet slew the 450 false prophets and convinced the people that his God was the one true God. Yagoor in hebrew is the future tense of 'to reside', so I got very excited when I realized that the kibbutz was named for its eternal presence here--until Gadi corrected me and said it was actually based on the name of the neighboring Arab village: Yajoor. So much for linguistics.

We returned home by way of winding roads through the Haifa mountains through Druze villages, stopping with the binoculars and letting the kids snack on roadside stands of home made pitas with olive oil and zatar (YUM!). We spent a few hours on the Hof HaBonim-a beach which is just beach--no restaurants or stores. It's a national park, so people can hike around there and even go camping with tents right on the beach, which was amazing to see what they brought with them as they took apart the tents: mattresses, pots, pans, coolers, barbecues...I think we can go camp on the beach at Peanut Island, anyone want to join?

Then typical traffic at the end of a holiday weekend, but when everyone was hungry, we turned to each other and said let's get off at Cesaria and watch the sunset! A third sunset! Ahhhh! And how fantastic that we can decide in a pinch to jump over to Cesaria or the Salty Sea for an hour or two. When others are deciding which restaurant in Jerusalem to go to, we are here, out on the highway in Israel, changing yet another flat tire on the rental car. Really you haven't lived until you've seen Phillip wear one of the little flourescent vests as he crouches at the tire with the jack. (I know what I'm getting him for father's day).

I just finished my last voice lesson with Judi here in Jerusalem. Both of us finished in tears, it's hard to say good-bye, to her especially.