Aside from simply being a lake, which is not so common in the Middle East, and its historical significance, the region holds a special place in my heaert. After the War of Independence, my Papa Jules, who fought in the Hagannah, lived at Kibbutz Ein Gev, on the shores of the Kinneret, for two years before moving back to America. Since he died last year, I wanted to see if anybody at the Kibbutz remembered him or if there were any records of his time there.
After taking the bus to Tiberias and another one to Ein Gev, I arrived there around noon. I went to the main office to see if someone there could direct me where to go. Luckily, two people were having a meeting and they told me that one person still lived on the Kibbutz that has lived there since 1941.
I went to this man's hut and was greeted by his wife. I told her the story of why I came to Ein Gev, and she told me to have a seat and offered me some fruit. Her husband came home a few minutes later, and I explained to him my story. He did not remember anybody by the name of my grandfather (I guess in 60 years of living in Kibbutz where volunteers come and go, it is difficult to remember everyone).
Although he didn't remember my papa, the man and his wife were happy to talk to me about a whole array of subjects. They wanted to know where I was spending the night. When I told them that I didn't have any plans, they made some calls to see if there was space at the Kibbutz for me to stay. Unfortunately, the hostel and volunteer lodging were full. After that, the man took me to the cafeteria and gave me lunch, which was pretty good and more than I'm used to eating.
After lunch, I went back to the road to wait for the bus, which came about 20 minutes later. I decided that I would spend Shabbat in Tiberias, which is a city that I have never really visited. In fact, until Friday afternoon, I had never been in the Kinneret (On my high school trip, we did a disco boat but is more on the Kinneret than in it). My guidebook said that there were plenty of hostels in the area, so it wasn't a problem to make plans on the fly like this.
On the bus to Tiberias, I sat next to a soldier that I met while sitting at the bus stop. She came to Ein Gev with two other friends to spend their day off from the army. Did you know that Israeli soldiers in uniform can ride every bus in Israel for free, except for the ones going to Eilat?
The soldier that I sat next to works in the office of a mechanic shop for tanks. She finishes her army service in a few months and is planning on taking a trip like most other Israelis after the army.
Once I got to Tiberias, the first thing that I needed to do was find a place to spend the night. I found a hostel on Ha-shiloach St. a few blocks from the beach that offered a bed for 40 shekels for the night (less than 10 bucks/night). It passed the Ian test for whether he can sleep there (Does it have a bed and a toilet? [Actually, the toilet is not always required]).
I had three roommates. Two were from Holland taking a holiday from work for three weeks to travel around Israel. The othe was a Washingtonian who has spent the last two years traveling around Africa and Middle East. All three were very cool and had interesting stories (especially the American).
After getting my bearings set, I headed down to the beach to take my traditional pre-Shabbat dip/shvitz. Most beaches in Tiberias are not free, as in it will cost you a few sheks to bake in the sun. Luckily, I found the one free beach near the downtown.
While I was sitting in the water, I met a nice couple from Netanya who was up in Tiberias for the weekend. They are currently between their after the army trip and beginning university. In the meantime, the woman is working in customer service for the cable company, and I didn't find out what the boyfriend did.
After the beach, I went back to the room and got ready for shul. I went to the Sephardic shul next to the Sheraton on the promenade. For those that don't know, Sephardic Jews are Jews who trace their ancestry to the Jews of Spain. After the Inquisition, they were scattered throughout North Africa and Southern Europe. Some of their traditions and rituals are slightly different from Ashkenazic Jews (Central and Eastern Europe). It was the first time that I had ever been to a shul that recites the Song of Songs between Mincha (afternoon service) and Kabbalat Shabbat (welcoming of Shabbat service). I really enjoyed it.
After services, I told someone there that I didn't have anywhere to eat and asked if there is anybody at this shul that accepts guests for dinner. He said that I would have better luck at the Karlin Synagogue next door.
A man named Yossi, who is an elementary school teacher, welcomed me into his house for dinner. It was a long walk from the shul to his house (probably about a kilometer or about .62 miles). The walk was pleasant and pretty quiet. It was interesting though that we walked at such a slow pace. There was a group of religious Jews walking about 50 meters ahead of us. And, if that group stopped to chat, Yossi would slow down to a snail's pace as not to get closer. It also seemed that we were walking on side streets, while they would walk on the main road. Maybe it was just a coincidence, maybe it wasn't. (At times, we were walking at such a pace that I worked on my mozie, but it's just not the same without six-shooters at my side)
Dinner was delicious and the company was great. Yossi lives with his family of five kids under the age of nine (another is on the way) in an apartment. His mother-in-law was also there. Since everybody in Israel also learns English in school, the kids were excited to have a native English speaker at the house who they could talk to and show off their English with.
Yossi had never been to Detroit before, but he did mention that a famous Hassidic rabbi is buried there. He sadi that every year thousands of Hassidic Jews come to the rabbi's grave. I told him that the neighborhood that the rabbi is buried in is the most Jewish of places and that it is interesting to see all of these Hassidic Jews descend on this town.
After dinner, I went back to the hostel before heading out for a stroll (some witnesses reported a sashay) of the promenade. It was the busiest that I have ever seen and Israeli city on a Friday night. There were street vendors and music playing. I found the Dutch guys who were staying in my room at a bar on the waterfront and decided to hang out with them for a while. Afterwards, I continued my tour of the Tiberias Friday night life and met some kids from Herzaliya who just graduated high school. They are waiting to go into the army and came up to Tiberias for the weekend. After hanging out with them for a bit, I decided to call it a night.
In the morning, I slept in a little bit (Hey, I'm on vacation).
After I woke up, I headed to Mt. Arbel, which is a few kilos from town to do some hiking. I took a cab there and was banking on hitching a ride with some fellow hikers that I found at the trail. Because the place is so isolated from the main road, there is one road to take back and it goes to the main highway to town. I hiked around and met an Israeli couple who had just finished the army. There had slept on the eastern shore of the Kinneret the night before and were doing some hiking before returning to Tel Aviv. The're getting ready to go on a trip to New Zealand.
They offered to give me a ride back to the highway, and I walked into town from there.
I went back my hostel and met a group of law students from York University who are doing a program where they stay at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and study Israeli law. I went to lunch with one of them and the Washingtonian who slept in my room. We ate at Big Ben's restaurant on the promenade.
Their menu could have been one of the most unintentionally funny things that I have ever read. Here is the best example.
House Salad- It's full of goodies.
Big Ben (I think it was sandwich, but it didn't say)- It's big and full of goodies.
It doesn't say what's in the salad, just that there are good things. The Hebrew didn't help either, because it said the same thing. I decided not to order the house salad or the Big Ben.
We sat at the table for a couple of hours and just shmoozed (read: heard incredible stories from this guy's trip through Africa). After lunch, I decided to head down to the beach. I read my book for a few minutes, worked on balancing out my gardener's tan, and jumped in the water. It was not as busy as it was on Friday afternoon. Luckily, I went back to the free beach next to the old city wall.
As the sun was starting to go behind the hills of the Galillee, I went back to the hostel and saw that the people from York were leaving. They said that there was a 5:30 bus to Jerusalem (I didn't know tha the bus company operated on Shabbat). So, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to ride on a bus on Shabbat in Israel, plus I don't know what I would have done in Tiberias if I would've stayed. So, here I am getting on the bus.
A few quick hits from my trip:
Every shop in this strip sells falafel. That is eight stores. Since it was Friday afternoon, some were already closed so I couldn't do an effective price comparison.
Caution! Parents chasing after children.
2 comments:
Yoni, your trip to Ein Gev was a great honor to papa. Sorry there were no archives for you to look through. Did you have any St. Peter's fish? I believe that is a specailty of the Sea of Galilee.
love the road sign and the caption.
It sounds like you had a good time in Tiberias, but its a shame you couldnt spend a night at Ein Gev, I have spent a shabbos there, and it was a great area. Weirdly enough their store operated for an hour in the middle of shabbos, but not during the morning or afternoon services.
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