The first days I spent heading down to Rechovot with Paige, Scott, and Brett to a friend’s home to have Passover Seder. This was an unusual Seder for me for two reasons: one it was all in Hebrew and two was the fact that my friend is Yemenite so we all partook in a Yemenite Seder. The big difference between this Yemenite Seder and the traditional American Seder is the food. We didn’t have your traditional gefilte fish, chicken soup, matzo balls, choroset, and wine. Instead it was mousaka, grape juice, etc.
This was a large 34 people and multigenerational group. But they did a great job of making us feel at home and incorporating English when they could. Some of the prayers were said in Arabic. They do this because back in the day in Yemen women weren’t aloud to attend school and didn’t know Hebrew, they only spoke Arabic, and it became traditional for parts of the Seder to be in Arabic so the women could understand.
The next day after the Seder I went back to the farm so I could do my watering chore. Over the break we all signed up for specific days to water so our newly seeded beds would grow. Once watering was over which took like 3 plus hours as we don’t have drip tape for most of the beds yet. (We are trying for more but we have to wait until budget issues are taken care of. Because we do not have the drip tape (drip irrigation lines) we have to hand water everything with a hose. Normally this chore is broken up amongst three or four but it was just Renaya and I this time.) But once we were done with our chore it was off to Tel Aviv by train to meet up with Beth and then head down by a direct bus to Eilat for a couple of days in the sun.
The bus ride to Eilat is about 5 hours. It’s really long but thankfully the bus makes 10 minute stops at rest stations twice along the way. Once we were in Eilat we found our hostel put our stuff down and went out to explore the city.
Eilat is designed and laid out along the Red Sea. On the other side of the cove you can see Jordan as the Red Sea is one long inlet from the Ocean. The Shouk and most hotels huddle around the edge of the beach. Walking around it was very crowded almost NY Chinatown crowded, as Eilat is a favorite destination of Israeli’s during Pesach Break. It reminds me of Las Vegas but on the ocean.
The Red Sea
We ended up going to Giraffe, an Asian fusion restaurant in Israel, for dinner the first night and then sitting by the water’s edge talking. The next two days were spent lounging by the beach. We found a great spot, not to crowded, and located within throwing distance from the juice bar, crepe stand, and grocery store. These beach days were fabulous. It was hot but the water was crisp and immediately cooled us off when we dipped in. We spent many hours hanging out, talking, reading, and walking around browsing in the shouk along the beach. It was a great time of relaxation, surround by beautiful clear blue green water.
Working on getting rid of my Farmer's tan
Being in Eilat was a little difficult because it was Pesach break and lots of places are closed for the holiday. And even though it is Israel there weren’t that many food options since I was not eating bread. They have Pesach bread, which supposedly is ok to eat during this time but it felt like cheating to me so I stuck to my Matzo, Tzchoug, and cheese for most of my meals.
Another thing I forgot to mention about Pesach in Israel is the cleaning of the Hametz before. People go a little nuts here, wrapping things in plastic, using blowtorches to sear pots, and intense cleaning of houses and kitchens. I’ve never experienced anything like it. But watching all these different people going through these rituals of getting rid of any bread particles in their home has given me a new appreciation for bread.
By that Sunday we were ready to leave Eilat. I made a brief stop back to the farm to change out my clothes for warmer ones as my next destination was north and the weather is completely different from the Southern tip. In the north it is still very much early spring with cold rain showers. Flowers are just beginning to bloom, the irises coming up. The climate and landscape could be compared to northern California or the mountains in Colorado.
The first couple of days up north I stayed on a friend’s kibbutz as they had an extra yurt. A yurt is similar to my dome as it’s a geometric structure. But these yurts are a bit nicer than my dome because they have insulation and their own personal kitchen built on the outside. During those days when the rains would let up I did a bit of hiking up and around the mountains in the area. There are tons of pockets where there are springs, wells, and caves that have been used by people for thousands of years and I did some exploring in and around these.
That Wednesday I went down to Sfat, to break my Passover that night I had some yummy pizza. The next day walked all around, toured the Shouk there, which has lots of galleries and Judaica. Sfat is a really old city around 800 years. There is amazing architecture here. Influences of the different cultures that have lived in Israel over the years…Turks, Arab, Hebrew. It’s also a very religious city as it’s the center for Kabbalah.
A large group of us went hiking for an afternoon along the Israel trail. The same trail the Walk-About-Love is traveling on. It is such a beautiful part of Israel up in the mountains surrounded with pine forests.
That Friday on our way south we stopped at this beautiful beach about 20 km north of Tel Aviv. It was so beautiful with tall cliffs bordering the ocean. We spent a few hours there enjoying the sun after spending so much time in the rain and cold up north. Then continued south toward Tel Aviv for Shabbat. I haven’t talked much about religion in my blogging because it’s such a large topic I haven’t had the energy to delve into it yet. But I want to just say a few things quickly.
In Israel the majority of the population is Jewish but not everyone is religious. In fact it’s broken up pretty evenly betwen secular and religious. But during holidays and weekly Shabbat, public transportation, shops, basically everything public shuts down. These closers forces everyone to prepare for these days whether you observe them or not. For instance you must buy food and wine before if you’re going to want them because all the stores close and the only things that are open are a few kiosks owned by Israeli Arabs. And the kiosks are very minimally stocked, no refrigerated goods. It’s funny how dependent Israeli’s have become on other cultures that aren’t observant of the religious days. The only way to travel on these days is if you have your own car, can hitchhike with someone, or take a communal taxi that is run by an Arab. If I’m trying to travel I usually take the taxis when I can.
Since I’ve come to Israel I’ve been celebrating Shabbat every week, whether it’s a big dinner with songs or a small moment with the blessing over the wine. It’s become a day for me to rest and to let the world around me rest. People get so caught up in their day-to-day lives it’s really nice to have a scheduled time every week to just step away for a moment or a day and focus on my needs and myself. To not worry about chores or work; to do things that I enjoy like cooking, reading, writing, and hanging out.
So once in Tel Aviv we went to a friend’s place to have Shabbat dinner. Then the next day went for a walk around the city and to the beach. It was really crowded but a beautiful sunny day. And then Sunday it was back to the farm for the start of work and school again.
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