Israel day 8 - Lebanon border & Tzfat

Israel day 8
July 5, 2007 – Lebanon border & Tzfat

Today we went to Metula, the most northern city in Israel, next to the Lebanon border. We also visited the Bet Ha Shomer cemetery where the origins of the Israeli army began.

Starting around 1880, Jews from other parts of the world, as they were being persecuted and expelled, went to the United States and Israel. With money from wealthy Jewish families, like the Rothchilds, Montefiore, Hirsh and Turra, Jews PURCHASED land around Metula and established kibbutzim. This land was purchased from either the Turkish government or Arab families. Often times, the Arab did not want to sell to a Jew, so a middleman might be used. These early settlers were constantly being robbed by their Arab and Bedouin neighbors and hired other Arabs to guard their homes.

The Turkish government did not allow civilians to have guns, as it was the responsibility of the government to protect the citizens. So the Jews had no protection and the government would not be responsible for it’s duty. The Arab guards would tell their friends when they would have a day off work, so that would be the time to rob the settlers. So much for the fox guarding the chicken coop.

A group of 14 young Jewish men decided to illegally arm themselves and offer the settlers protection from the Arabs. One of the settlers was persuaded to use them instead of his Arab guards and they succeeded in chasing away the next band of thieves. The other kibbutz decided to use them as well. One of the other settlers was a Jew who had been a general in the Russian army, and had lost one arm in the military. He organized the youths and showed them how to train other youths on how to use guns and use military intelligent approaches to security.

The attitude of Jews throughout history has been to bend down and let the storm pass. It was not to stand up and defend oneself. This security force was a radical departure from the cultural tradition of Jews. Over the decades since this early security force was created the current Israeli army has developed.

When we saw the many “birthright” groups of young people touring the country, they were always accompanied by at least two armed soldiers. By the way, the birthright program allows youths, 18 – 26 the opportunity to visit Israel for free to connect to their heritage. The main contributors to this program are wealthy Jewish families like Bronfman, Reichman, and others.

It is now about 1 pm and we are headed to Tzfat. This is the spiritual center of Kabala, and is also spelled as Safed, Tsfet and Zefat. In translating from Hebrew to English, you can spell things almost any way you want to get the sound you need for the Hebrew name, and I saw the name of this city spelled four different ways in English.

When translating from Hebrew to English things changed dramatically, If a Christian saw Jesus, and called him by that name, he probably would not turn around. Why, because he was Jewish and his name would be pronounced Jehudah. If you spoke about Jerusalem, no one would know what city you were talking about because that would be pronounced Yerushalaym.

People come to Tzfat from around Israel, and around the world, to study Kabala, pray at the gravesite of various rabbis to be granted health, wealth, or relationships and more. It appears to be like prayed to the Virgin Mary or Jesus.

Our guide, Ron, showed us how he gains special powers whenever he comes to this area. As an example, he stopped the car on a downhill road and it rolled uphill while in neutral. I was very impressed, but not by that. I was impressed by how the road looked like it was downhill. I stepped out of the car and looked around and it still appeared to be downhill. It wasn’t until I walked the road that I could feel it was actually uphill, regardless of how it looked. It was a very weird feeling. My eyes were lying to me.

We walked in the Old Market of Tzfat and Dianne shopped in a candle store where they also did bible scenes in was. I took a photo of David after he killed Goliath and cut off his head. In one of the booths an orthodox looking man asked if I wanted to put on a “fillin.” I didn’t even know what this was, but I was sure I didn’t want to wear it. I don’t even wear a yarmulke in synagogue, and I only go there to celebrate something with another family. Then Dianne pleaded with me to put on the little box on my head and the leather strap around my arm. Then Ron suggested I do it for my wife. Well, now we have a photo of me looking Jewish with a little black box on the top of my head.

We later walked into two synagogues; Greek Jews established one in the mid 1500s, which is a part of Dianne’s heritage, and the other was a Sephardim synagogue. What I learned was that Sephardic Jews come from Muslim countries, like Spain and Italy, while Ashkenazi Jews come from primarily Christian countries. I cannot confirm this as I did not do the research myself, but this is what I was told. The difference in the synagogues is easy to see. In a Sephardic synagogue the bema is in the center and is up high so the members have to look up, like looking up to heaven. In an Ashkenazi synagogue the bema would be in the front and rows of seats would look like most churches.

Dianne talked about how great it was to visit these temples and Ron corrected our language. I wrote about this in my Day 1 blog: A temple and a synagogue are two different things. The Jews have not had a temple for 2000 years after the Romans destroyed the last one. A temple is where Jews brought offerings that were sacrificed to God and only priests were allowed inside. We no longer have a temple or priests. We have synagogues and rabbis. A synagogue is a meeting place and rabbis study the torah and the Talmud instead of sacrificing animals to God.

Synagogues existed prior to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D., but they were only for gathering, events, community conversations and things like that. They were not for religious purposes, until the Second Temple was destroyed.