We spent a majestic and mystical Shabbat in Tzfat this past weekend. We arrived in Tzfat Friday morning after first exploring Christian roots in Capernaum, a historic and holy site for other religions. Friday afternoon we split up and the boys joined our tour guide Fivel for a conversation about spirituality while the girls met with a women who led us in a conversation and meditation relating to mikveh and how that relates to relationships with ourselves and others. The group then went off for lunch just as the store owners were closing for Shabbat. We then came back together as a group and shared with each other our thoughts on each of the conversations that the boys and girls had taken part in separately.
We got ready for Shabbat and then had a lively camp-style ReleSh in a small park overlooking Tzfat. For Kabbalat Shabbat we split up in two different groups which most of the group found very spiritually uplifting. Both options were incredibly lively filled with lots of dancing and singing our familiar camp tunes. We then had a late dinner back at the hotel, followed by a small tisch for anyone who chose to come.
After, we split up into groups to go to local shuls on Shabbat morning. We went to a variety of different, very beautiful synagogues, most of which were a pretty different experience than most of were used to. We then had a short, interactive sicha on the parsha led by our Israeli madrich, Avi. Before lunch Fivel also led us in a conversation about values in Tzfat and elsewhere, making us reflect on our own opinions on many important topics.
After a delicious lunch we had a few hours of much-needed free time where most people fell asleep right away. The afternoon was then filled with interesting speakers, including Rabbi Sender who led us in a Jewish meditation and David Friedman who explained many Kabbalistic concepts through his artwork. We then finished Shabbat with seudah shlishi at the hotel and then had an incredibly lively Havdallah at a nearby hotel.
After packing up our bags and leaving Tzfat we then spent a very hot morning with Hashomer Hachadash which is an organization connecting and educating people about the land of Israel through agriculture. We spoke about the values of the organization and were able to do about an hour of physically working the land before it got too hot to be out in the sun. We then spoke to a boy who’s just finishing high school on Kibbutz Degania about chalutzim and what it’s like to grow up on a kibbutz. After a very long day in the sun, we just arrived in Beit She’an at a beautiful hostel and are looking forward to a little bit of relaxing in the air conditioning!
Until next time,
JoRo, Shai, and the rest of Na’aleh ’17
