STUDENTS GO NORTH

 

      

Intensive Arabic Semester students visiting the tomb of the Prophet Havakuk in the Galilee

 

With the end of the second MASA-Givat Haviva Intensive Arabic Semester program drawing to a close, students embarked on a guided tour of the mystical past and present highways and byways of the tomb of the Prophet Havakuk, Har Meron and city of Safed.

The tomb of Havakuk the Prophet, a small stone building with arched windows and pale blue dome, sits perched on a small hill overlooking a section of the National Water Carrier taking water from Lake Kinneret to the center of Israel.

The aura of spirituality, mysticism and almost instant connection to the past waits at the gate of this one of many such tomb sites dotted around the Galilee.  Sitting in a shaded spot in the courtyard of the tomb of Havakuk with guide Isshar Hass reading and explaining relevant passages from the bible, religious travelers interrupt their journey, quietly enter the tomb for prayer and contemplation – emphasizing the time out from stress opportunity offered by such roadside sites of serenity to passersby.

From Havakuk, traveling through magnificent countryside full of vineyards tended by many of the small and rather special communities that have sprung up in the hillsides of the Galilee in the last few decades, the IAS students, guide Isshar and wife Efrat (the IAS coordinator at Kibbutz Barkai where the students are based) and International Department staff member Lydia Aisenberg, branched off to Meron, the great center of Jewish learning in Second Temple and Talmudic times and in present times an important site visited by hundreds of thousands of religious Jews from Israel and the Diaspora.

In domed mausoleums lay the tombs of revered Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his son, Eliazer.  The rabbi is claimed to be the author of the Zohar, the principal book of the mystical Kabbala, although some scholars vehemently deny this to be so explained Issahar.

At the time of the IAS student's mid-week visit a few hundred worshippers were on site.  Rabbi Carlebach style music blared out from tents of young people camped in the vicinity, some seeking tzadaka for a multitude of good causes.  

 

    

Candles and bottles of Arrack with the images of famous rabbis for sale in stalls around Meron

 

Continuing along the pathway to the past, the group continue to one of the most important cities for the Jewish people and where throughout history never been a period when Jews would not be found there – historical and modern day Safed.

There are almost as many ways to spell the name of the city as there are famous rabbis who left their mark there.  Safed, Sefat, Tzfat, Zefat – a few examples.  The picturesque city is also where some of the most appealing of synagogues are to be found as the IAS students saw during their walk around the old part of town with Isshar Hess.

The first port of call was at the Kabbalah-Art shop of former American David Friedman.  His colorful and intricate works of art, many combining the Hebrew alphabet, are more than eye-catching.  Friedman explained a number of his works based on the theme of the tree of life and others.

 

          

David Friedman (www.kosmic-kabbalah.com) explains his Tree of Life to the IAS students

 

Walking through narrow passages on cobblestone paving, hundreds of steps to go up – or down – a visit to the Abuhav Synagogue with its amazing hand decorated Ark, and to the Caro Synagogue – a house of worship that is the most user friendly one could find anywhere.  Named after Rabbi Joseph Caro, a much respected scholar and kabbalist, it was Caro who authored the Shulchan Aruch codification of Jewish laws.

 

           

Isshar Hass explaining about the Abuhav Synagogue and below, in the Caro Synagogue

 

      

 

From Safed on to the Biriya Forest, the largest forest in Israel and where also one can find the tomb of Yehonatan Ben Uziel a revered sage.  Many unmarried people apparently believe a visit to the Ben Uziel site will make a match as many other beliefs are attached to other tombs of prophets and sages throughout the region.

The amazing day finishing with a visit to the Capernaum National Park's Ein Ayub, a freshwater spring that flows in to the Sea of Galilee, Lake Tiberias or most commonly known as, the Kinneret.

                       

Text & Photos: Lydia Aisenberg

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