As promised ...

... The blog that brings everyone up to speed. I contemplated titling this, "The blog of when we were missing for a week" but that didn't sound too nice because we knew where we were, it's just that everyone in the 'States didn't really.

Anyhoo, let's rewind a bit.

Sunday was a fast day so not much going on there except trying to avoid the heat and not get dehydrated. Nothing interesting to talk about there. Moving right along to Monday, we left on a tour bus that took us to Tzvat (Safed) and Tevariah (Tiberious) as well as a few kevers on the way; of which we couldn't go into because of the kohein issue. But everything else was great. The tour was lovely. We had a great time. Our tour guide, Chaim, was hilarious and it was really all a bunch of fun. Here are some highlights in photo representation ...

Pictures on the way to the kineret and Tevariah.

The Rambam's grave.




Stuff in Tzvat!

The beautiful sunset near the Kibbutz Lavi a little west of Teveriah.

Now that was pretty much the highlights from Monday. This leads into the Kibbutz Lavi, of which we stayed at. Kibbutz Lavi specializes in a couple of things. They make furniture for synagogues, for one thing. The other great specialty is their 5 star hotel. This hotel is more like a resort, really. Along with the hotel comes some fantastic accomidations. The room we stayed in had a lovely balconey with a spectacular view. On the grounds there is a tour (which we were unable to take due to time constraints and all the other things we had to do) of the entire kibbutz, including the kibbutz's farm. There is also a pool with seperate swimming hours for men and women. There is a tennis court, basketball court, and ping pong tables.

The other thing, which was my absolute favorite part of the kibbutz's hotel was the food. Oh, yes. it was a full on completely kosher l'mehadrin and shmittah safe all you can eat buffet!!!!

Dinner the first night was good. Some roast, some potatoes, some rice, olives. That was pretty much what I chose along with a really nice cabbage salad with mayo and corn.

Where they really take the cake (no pun intended) is breakfast. Wowzwers! There was pancakes made right in front of you with syrup (chocolate or maple), angelfood popovers, omlets made fresh in front of you, two kinds of scrambled eggs, an array of cheeses like you wouldn't believe, toast, cerial, hot cocoa, orange and grapfruit juice ... you name it, they had it there for your breakfast enjoyment. I heartily enjoyed this hotel and its ALL YOU CAN EAT buffets. There is a possibility we may come back for an anniversery or something and spend a good deal of time just at this resort hotel.

Anyway, back to the schedule of events, day two we decided to hire a guide (again through Artzenu) and rent a car and tour around. Just so happens, we were given Chaim who had been our bus tour guide the previous day. Chaim is a really nice guy. He was so informative and really funny. I really enjoyed his stories and his attention to detail and halacha. We learned a lot from his wealth of information. By the time we were done, I felt not only that we'd been on an amazing journey around the Golan but that we'd also spent some time learning Torah as well.

But I'm getting ahead of myself again . . .

So, day two (Tuesday) was our trip to the Golan. We picked up Chaim at the bus station and our car at Hertz in Tevariah and were on our way. Chaim showed us around a few '67 war memorials and we got to climb on (and inside) some tanks. Then we headed to the Talmudic Village of Gamla where they had excavated a village that had eventually fallen to the Romans.

It was amazing to see how people lived during the time of the Talmud and there was lots of fasinating information that Chaim gave us regarding this place.



After that, we went to the Museum next door that had more information about the seige of Gamla.

After that, we stopped for lunch and had some lovely food at a pizza place.

Then it was on to survey the Golan Heights. Needless to say, it was breath taking and gorgeous. So green and full of life. More pictures of that:

(Get it? Coffee Anan? --Anan really means clouds btw, and it's on top of a mountain)

Anyhoo, it is almost Shabbos right now so I will post this where it is and continue the update after. I hope everyone has enjoyed the update so far. More to come! Shabbat Shalom.