May 12 and 13, 2013

Kfar Tavor to Harduf

Wikiloc Maps:

Kfar Tavor to Nazareth Ilit

Nazareth Ilit

Nazareth Ilit to Ka’abiya

Ka’abiyah to Harduf

Total mileage these segments: 25.4 (40.8 km)

Total mileage since start at Tel Dan: 128.97 (207.5 km)

With these two days of hiking I’ve now completed about 1/5 of the Israel Trail. It has been fascinating seeing the country this way.

For this segment I stayed at the Zippori Village Cottages in Zippori. The trail goes very nearby, and it’s a very comfortable place.  We’ve stayed here probably about 8 times.  Comfortable cabins, nice views, great swimming pool.  Logistics for trail pickup and dropoff were simplified since I brought my “driver” with me.

Sunday morning I got out on the trail near Kfar Tavor about 9:15am, not as early as I had hoped, but still not bad.  Weather was pleasant, not too warm.

From Israel Trail Segments 11 and 12, posted by Barry Leff on 5/14/2013 (117 items)

First of all, I would like to publicly thank Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman, called “the spiritual leader of the haredi world.” Rabbi Shteinman gave his blessing to a proposal from United Torah Judaism politicians to bring in busloads of haredi girls to protest against Women of the Wall. As a result there were thousands and thousands of people at the Kotel (Western Wall) this morning. Women of the Wall literally could not have paid for better publicity! Thank you, Rabbi Shteinman! We should send him some flowers or something as a token of gratitude.

Secondly, I would like to thank the Israeli Police. There were a few incidents – one friend felt scared of being crushed to death as she was held behind a barrier by police – but overall I’d say the police did an amazing job of protecting the Women of the Wall and their supporters from crowds of haredim. The haredi girls were mostly well behaved, and followed instructions from women who were clearly their den mothers or whatever they are called in the haredi girls’ yeshiva world, to stay back from the police and the Women of the Wall. But some of the haredi men clearly looked threatening. There were a few incidents of spitting, throwing chairs and plastic water bottles, etc., but overall the crowd was kept under control. The police cleared a path for us to get out of the Western Wall plaza that was reminiscent of Moses and the parting of the Red Sea.

I am very proud of my daughter, Devorah, who celebrated becoming Bat Mitzvah with Women of the Wall this morning. Thanks to Rabbi Shteinman, she read Torah in front of a crowd of thousands of people (not that most could hear her, but still…). I am certain it is a day she will remember for the rest of her life. I know I will.

As it says in Proverbs 14:28, “In the multitude of the people is the king’s glory.” A large crowd brings honor to the king, the king being understood to be God. What does it matter if many of them came to protest the smaller number of women who were praying? Thanks to Women of the Wall we had a large multitude out there.

I wonder whether one reason there was such a large haredi presence today is because the haredim feel very much under attack these days. They are not part of the new government – they got left out in the coalition discussions – and the in some ways it seems like it’s time for the secular population of Israel, which at least for now still outnumber the haredi, to fix past errors. As such haredim are being told they are not getting as many government handouts as they are used to, their men will have to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces like everyone else, their boys will need to learn some secular subjects such as math in school if they want state funding, and they will not be allowed to repress the presence of women in the public anymore. The haredi community is crying “the secular are attacking our lifestyle!” Well, yes, if your lifestyle is dependent on public handouts and gender discrimination it deserves to be attacked.

For those readers of this blog who have not been following the battle for civil rights at the Western Wall closely, you can find more information at the Women of the Wall website. What has changed lately is that last month a Jerusalem District Court judge ruled that it is OK for women to pray at the Western Wall wearing prayer shawls if they want to – contrary to earlier court rulings. Women of the Wall planned a large gathering this month to celebrate, and the haredi came up with a much larger gathering to protest. It’ll be interesting to see where this goes from here – will things settle back to “normal,” or will large crowds every month become the new normal?

The reason this battle rouses such strong emotion and such large crowds is because it is about much more than the right of a few liberal women to pray at the Western Wall according to their custom, together, out loud, wearing tallis and tefillin. Everyone understands that this is but one of the fronts in the fight for the future of the State of Israel. Will Israel be a democratic state that respects the rights of minorities (such as women who want to pray wearing prayer shawls), or will it become a Jewish Iran, run by rabbis with black hats instead of ayatollahs with turbans, but equally living in a century other the 21^st?

This is one reason it is so exciting to live in Israel. It’s not just another country. Living here – and being active in these issues – is to be a part of the fight for the heart and soul of the only country in the world that really is run by Jews. Will we live up to the highest ethical ideals of our prophets? Will we be or l’goyim, a light to the nations? Or will we be a backwards theocracy, ruled by rabbis who forbid the internet? And it is very exciting to me personally to see two of my daughters, Katherine and Devorah, already very engaged as activists fighting to shape the future of Israel.

I really am not asking the haredi to give up all of their customs. If they want to pray separately, that’s fine. If their women do not want to raise their voices in prayer or wrap themselves in prayer shawls, I really do not care. I am asking – insisting – that they equally give us the right to follow our practices and customs. They are not the “mitzvah police” here to make sure we follow God’s commandments in the way their rabbis interpret them. Those issues are between each individual and God. There is no doubt in mind whatsoever that when the time comes – and those who are part of Women of the Wall are judged by God and those “ultra-Orthodox” men who spit on them are judged by God – I have no question whatsoever who will find favor in God’s eyes.

May this month be a good month, a month of blessing, and may God help us find a way to all get together and respect each other.

Today, the 28^th of Iyar on the Hebrew calendar, is the day we commemorate the reunification of Jerusalem during the Six Day War in 1967.

Jerusalem today is a city physically united and spiritually divided.

The Haredi want to impose their views of Torah on everyone else – no women praying in prayer shawls at the Western Wall, no secular Jews going to the movies on Shabbat. Throwing stones at cars driving on Shabbat and spitting at priests.

The secular want to force the Haredi to change their lifestyle.

Right wing settlers funded by an American billionaire “Judaize” Arab neighborhoods, needing armies of armed guards for protection.

Arabs throw stones at settler cars.

The government insists Arab East Jerusalem is “united” with Jerusalem, yet it refuses to provide an equivalent level of municipal services – schools, parks, paved roads, garbage pickup – to the residents.

Wouldn’t it be better if the city were physically divided and spiritually united?

Here’s my prayer for Jerusalem on this Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day:

Ribono shel olam, Master of the Universe

God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob

God of Jesus

God of Mohamed

Help us find the teachings of love in your Torah, your Bible, your Koran

Give us compassion and understanding

Show us how to live in peace, each according to his or her custom

Grant us the wisdom to know how to share our holy places – we all want to honor and praise you

Bring our leaders to the path of righteousness, caring for all, responsible for all the holy city’s residents

Bring us peace

True peace

May Jerusalem truly be Ir Shalem, a city whole, not divided by hatred, the true City of Peace

Amen

The rituals surrounding taharat mishpacha, “family purity,” are some of the more difficult laws for many modern liberal Jews to understand.

This week’s Torah portion contains the basis of many of these rules.

Leviticus 15:19 is a challenge for the contemporary reader: “And if a woman has a discharge, and the discharge of her flesh is blood, she shall be put apart seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening.” Subsequent verses, which inform us that things the menstruating woman touches become “unclean” as well, only make the whole concept even harder to relate to.

Some people think these passages should be irrelevant today because they no doubt stem from some form of primitive revulsion from blood or something. That’s not exactly accurate – the Torah also says men become unclean from flows from their sexual organ, including semen. So why don’t men have to go to the mikveh after every time they have a seminal emission of some sort? Sort of a long story for another day perhaps…

There are many “folk tales” on the subject that are completely inaccurate. For example that women shouldn’t touch a Torah scroll because if they are menstruating they could somehow render the Torah “unclean.” The rabbis of the Talmud are very clear that the Torah is not mekabel tumah, it cannot be rendered “impure,” hence there is no such issue.

Traditionally, Jewish women don’t have relations with their husbands during their periods, or for an additional seven “clean” days after. Which means only half the month is available for relations. However, there are interpretations of the relevant laws that do away with the seven “clean days” as irrelevant to us today. The additional days were adopted as a stringency, and they were really only relevant in the days of the Temple when people would go to the Temple to bring sacrifices. Rabbi Susan Grossman wrote a teshuvah, “Mikveh and the Sanctity of Being Created Human,” which you can read here, that proposes a reconceptualization of the practices of “family purity” – away from pure/impure, and towards an idea of the time of separation and the renewal of sexual relations as a vehicle for bringing holiness into the marriage. Her teshuvah has a lovely passage on the power of mikveh:

The Mikveh has been referred to as kissing waters, for it contains fresh water (often rain water) that is specially collected in a way that flows into the mikveh and then “kisses,” through a small hole in the wall, water that is more conventionally piped in. For thousands of years, men and women have found in the warm waters of the Jewish ritual bath, the mikveh, a profound and transformational experience. Converts were (and continue to be) reborn as Jews through its waters. Hasidic Masters conversed with God while standing chest deep in its watery shadows. Thousands of generations of women washed away the unrealized potential for life as they began again the miraculous cycle that makes women partners with God in creation.

There is a natural, spring-fed mikveh in the hills outside Jerusalem that is on the usual mountain bike ride I do on a regular basis. A few times a year – especially before the High Holidays – I make it a point to immerse myself in the mikveh, as a spiritual practice. There’s no blessing for men to say when they do such an immersion – it’s not a commandment being fulfilled – but with the right intention, it can indeed be a very spiritual experience.

I like this approach to Torah and halakhah – honoring ancient customs and Biblical precepts, but finding ways to contextualize the practice and make it more meaningful for contemporary Jews. In every generation we receive the same Torah our ancestors did, but we have to somehow make it our own.

April 7 and 8, 2013.

On these two segments I started at the Swiss Forest, came down to Kibbutz Kinneret, made a detour through Kibbutz Deganya Bet to stop at the Galita Chocolate Shop, climbed back up to Yavna’el, where I spent the night.  From Yavna’el picked up the trail again and finished at Kfar Tavor, near the base of Mount Tabor, which will be the next run/hike.  Overall, I would not say these two were on my short list of “favorite segments.”  Segment 9 was interesting because I saw stuff around the Sea of Galilee I hadn’t seen before; Segment 10 had some nice views, but was very exposed.

I’ve now completed 165 km (103 miles) on the trail. Roughly 1/6 of the way, in a little over two months. My general plan is to reach Mt Carmel before I go to the US and UK in June.  When I get back I’ll do the stretch along the Mediterranean coast during the summer, and perhaps I’ll be able to do the desert stretch through the Negev next winter.

The actual routes I hiked can be seen on Wikiloc: Segment 9 here and Segment 10 here.  See below for pictures.

I’ve found that it does work best to stay in the place that’s near the end of one segment and start of the next. Simplifies the logistics a little.

With Shabbat not going out until 730pm now, I tried just going up early Sunday morning instead of leaving the night before.  The only problem is I never manage to actually get out the door as early as I would like to get out the door, so it was somewhat late (after 10am) by the time I got on the trail, which means it was hotter.  And I finished later, so didn’t manage to get any work done in the afternoon, which is my usual idea.

I drove straight to the start of Segment 9 and just parked my car at the trailhead.  Some nice views coming down the hill toward the Sea of Galilee (Kinneret).  First thing to see was Kibbutz Kinneret, one of the earliest kibbutzim in Israel, founded as a village in 1908, became a kibbutz in 1913.  Just past the Kibbutz there was a garden honoring Rachel the Poetess.  Next stop was Yardenit (the Jordan River baptism site), which was quite scenic.  It’s a very nice park-like setting. From there I made a detour off the trail to Degania Bet, adjacent to Degania Alef, which is the oldest kibbutz in Israel, founded in 1909.   The purpose for the detour was a stop at the Galita Chocolate Farm.  They make an awesome “Iced Chocolate,” a chocolate drink that has the texture of an blended iced coffee (“frapuccino” for Starbucks fans) but made with dark chocolate.  Yum!

I don’t recommend any hikers follow my route from Galita back to the Israel Trail — I ended up relying on my GPS and going “cross country,” but climbed a steep hill loaded with stickers.  Wasn’t pleasant.  Crossed back across the Jordan River next to a spot where there was treated sewage being dumped into the river.  From there the trail climbed back up towards Yavna’el, where I came across something that seemed a little strange: a big oak tree with an sign in front of that had an IDF insignia that said “עץ הגולני” “The Golani Tree.”  I figured it had to have something to do with the IDF’s famous Golani Brigade.  It does.  Click here for an interesting story about how they think this is the original tree that gave the unit its name.  From Yavna’el I started hitching, but ended up taking a cab back to my car.  Only 50 shekels, not bad.

Stayed at a B&B called “Duvdevan haGalil” which I would not particularly recommend.  Off-season mid-week I got a good deal…but the lock to the door of the room didn’t work and they didn’t have any wifi.  Drove down the hill to use the wifi at the Cafe Aroma at the bottom end of the Kinneret.  Forgot that being Yom Hashoah the restaurants would be closed that evening, so dinner consisted of bread and humus back in my room.

Monday I started the run/hike right from Yavna’el.  About two miles to rejoin the Israel Trail, and from there a steep climb to the “Eilot Observation Point.”  All along this ridge are awesome views of the Sea of Galilee, Golan Heights, Jordan River Valley, etc.  Along the way there was spring where someone had built a very shallow pool — not quite deep enough for a mikvah, but still deep enough to get wet, which was very welcome.  The trail comes out to Highway 65 just south of Kfar Tavor, across from Mount Tabor, which will be on my next segment.  I walked another mile+ to the village, and after a longish wait managed to get a ride back to Yavna’el.  Had to walk yet another mile plus back to the car.  Altogether I ran/hiked about 25 miles over the two days.

From Israel Trail Segments 9 and 10, posted by Barry Leff on 4/09/2013 (106 items)

Generated by Facebook Photo Fetcher 2

I’m writing this Sunday morning, the day before the night of the seder.

The house has had a more thorough than usual cleaning. The shopping is done. The car has had its pre-Pesach bath. All that remains is switching the kitchen out from chametz to non-chametz status.

A few thoughts, some practical, some more spiritual as we approach the holiday…first the practical.

If you are Ashkenazi and follow the custom of not eating kitniyot (legumes, etc.), consider joining the “Kitniyot Liberation Front.” The Torah forbids chametz (leavened versions of five grains), not kitniyot. The most extreme ultra-Orthodox rabbi will admit that kitniyot are NOT chametz. Your Passover will be much more enjoyable with rice, corn, etc. Rabbi David Golinkin says it’s OK. Liberate yourself from this unnecessary chumrah (stringency).

Speaking of chumrot, you really do NOT need to cover your entire house in aluminum foil. You don’t even need to cover your entire kitchen in aluminum foil. Rabbi David Hartman, z”l, said it took him about half an hour to get ready for Passover (he didn’t say, however, how long it took his wife!). That may be a slight exaggeration, but the truth is dirt is not chametz. There is no need to go ultra-crazy with the cleaning. And if you miss something – like your kid stuffed a cookie into the back of a closet and you missed it – it doesn’t matter. You’re not a sinner, God will not hate you, and you are not going to Hell. We do a ceremony called “bitul chametz,” nullification of chametz. Anything you missed isn’t your chametz anymore. So if you find that cookie, just throw it away and don’t give it a second thought. Similarly, even in your kitchen, there is no such thing as microscopic chametz. Yes, I’ll kasher the pots and silverware, use special Passover dishes, let the oven run at top temperature for a while and splash some boiling water around, but that’s enough. Aluminum foil all over the place, or special counter covers, etc., is not really required.

But in addition to our physical preparations, we should spend time on spiritual preparation for Passover. Such as considering: what’s the holiday about? The usual answer being “Freedom…”

But there are two types of freedom – freedom from and freedom to. Freedom from is the freedom from other people telling you what to do. Freedom to is being free to do something. The Torah tells us both are important. Everyone remembers what Moses tells Pharaoh: “Let my people go!” But mostly they forget the rest of the sentence. God tells Moses, “Tell Pharaoh to let my people go – in order that they may serve me.”

Before thinking about what you want to get free from, you should think about what you want to be free to do. Do you want to be free to have a more meaningful job? Do you want to be free to have more love in your life? Do you want to be free to feel healthier? Do you want to be free to do as the Torah suggests, and do a better job of serving God?

If you know what you want to be free to do, you can then figure out what you need to get free FROM in order to enable that. Do you need to be free from the wrong job? Free from the wrong relationship? Free from the wrong set of beliefs? Free from the wrong circle of friends? Free from an addiction?

Sometimes the hardest thing to get free from is the wrong attitude. “I can’t do it,” “it’s too hard,” “I’m not worth it,” can trap a person far more powerfully than most external situations. The external situation won’t change until we liberate ourselves, by having a clear picture of our situation and the right outlook.

Freedom “from” everything is not the answer. We all voluntarily accept constraints on our freedom. We accept the limitations of a job because we appreciate either the work itself or the money that we receive. We accept the constraints of marriage because we appreciate the deeper love that can flower within those rules. We accept the limitations of a religion because we find meaning in those restrictions.

FIRST figure out what you want to be free to do – the positive side, the goal. Then figure out what you need to get free FROM to be able to get there.

May this Passover be a time when God helps liberate you, enabling you to be free to pursue your dreams.