Day THREE - in the north

The Third Day Blog presented by the Goddards!

RISE & SHINE, Wednesday, DAY 3, our earliest departure at 8:00 am.

Steve and I joined Rabbi Ammi for breakfast. We all gave him a well deserved Mazel Tov when he accidentally dropped.... and broke his coffee cup.

Jeeps were our mode of transportation to the Golan Heights. The dirt road was both bumpy and scenic. The beautiful wild flowers and various birds surrounding the signs ' WARNING LAND MINES' is a contrast  difficult to reconcile.

Golan Heights is bordered by Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the  6-day war of 1967. It becomes evident as you stand and see how close Israel is to each of those countries. Reality sets in when you walk through a Syrian bunker.

Next stop- Tel Dan Nature Reserve located on the largest tributary of the Jordan River. It is one of the most important water sources for the Northern part of Israel. The streams are magnificent. The Rabbi was so proud  saying "These are our streams, they are JEWISH streams!"  We continued our walk through the Reserve

to Ancient Dan -Gates to the city, one of the major archeological

discoveries in Israel; the only archeological proof that King David existed. It's hard to imagine seeing something that dates back 3-4000 years.

Lunch in the town of Kiryat Shmona. A special moment occurred when we stopped to see the playground that members of the June 2007 SWFS tour with the Rabbi  gave to the city.  During the December Congregational trip to Israel, the group stayed at K'far Blum and witnessed the damage of a rocket attack to that area.  Seeing the plaque which reads 'PLAYGROUND IS A GIFT OF THE SWFS JUNE 27,2007" was very emotional. 

Next  stop was  Manara Cliff, overlooking the Upper Gallilee  where both the kids and adults, (who acted like kids) had so much fun ziplining .  Steve Cohen was the first to 'fly'  off the cliff followed by the rest of the gang minus those that were chicken-led by our own Evita Sokol! Going to the top of the mountain by tram we saw one of the great views of the Hula Valley and the Golan Heights.

After dinner and an inspiring day ,            explained to us the ever changing nature of the Kibbutz.

We are all looking forward to tomorrow  for the Bnai Mitzvah of  Matthew Cohen, Emma and Ian Patterson. MAZEL TOV!

The trip far exceeds our expectations.  

(PS - since I oversee the blog, I would like to point out that I might have chickened out on the zip-line but I DID go on the monorail!! -Evita)