Livnot U'Lehibanot

Last day in Ashkelon... Day 1 of Livnot!

The Livnot U'lehibanOTZMA group at the top of Tzfat

So, on Sunday we boarded the bus and headed for Tzfat.  After what seemed like the longest ride ever (after a very long night and morning of packing, checking out, cleaning, saying goodbye, etc) we arrived in Tzfat.  We were met by our 3 Bnot Sherut, Shayna, Aviva and Aviya.  We were also met by Yehonatan, the leader guy.  They took us to the Livnot campus, which is in the old city of Tzfat.  We talked about what we should expect from the program and how to get the best experience while we are here.  We also talked a bit about what we will be doing while we are here and all went around and introduced ourselves and talked for a few minutes about us. 

The view from the balcony of the Livnot Campus in Tzfat 

We had some free time and then went on a little walking tour of Tzfat.  We had a few young guys join us for the tour and wouldn’t you know it, one was from the D.C. area.  We got to talking and it turns out we know a ton of the same people.  He was at capital camps when I was a counselor there and he worked there after that.  He is studying in Pardes right now and is planning to go to rabbinical school after this year.  Such a small world! 

Day 2

On Monday, we woke up at 6:30ish am for a 7 am breakfast.  We got ready for our morning hike and headed out around 8.  Tzfat is cold in the evenings and mornings and it was even colder because it had rained the night before.  We all put on layers and layers (I had a short-sleeved shirt, long sleeved shirt, sweatshirt and my Northface jacked.  Due to the rain the night before, I also brought my windbreaker/raincoat and my hat and gloves).  We started on the hike towards the valley that Tzfat overlooks.  The hike was called Nahal Amud.  

It was lightly drizzling when we started the hike but when we got about 15 minutes into the hike when it started raining harder.  We weren’t too worried but as time went the rain kept getting harder and harder.  By this time, I had my hat and gloves on as well as all my layers and my raincoat.  I was good to go but not everyone had all of the gear that I had (thanks to my Mom for most of it!).  We stopped and debated about whether or not we should continue on or turn back and find something else to do.  Most of the group wanted to continue on and the few that didn’t want to wanted to stay with the group and decided to tough it out, knowing that we could all end up miserable if the rain didn’t let up.  So, we kept going down into the valley.  Eventually, the rain lightened up although it continued to drizzle on and off for the remainder of the day.  As we were walking, Yehonatan pointed out many different things.  At one point, he showed us an olive tree.  Whitney was curious about the olives and asked if she could try one.  He warned against it but she tasted it anyways and other did as well.  The looks on their faces told me that I didn’t really want to try it. 

Yehonatan carefully removing
the cactus fruit

After eating the disgusting olives we kept walking through the valley.  We eventually came across a really cool looking cactus with fruit on it.  Someone asked if the fruit on the cactus was edible and again Yehonatan said, why not? And proceeded to cut a piece open to share among the group.  This time I decided to partake and ate a little bit of the fruit.  It was actually pretty good!   

Ariel and I eating cactus

We talked about the wildlife that you can sometimes see in the area, although we didn’t end up seeing any.  There are hyraxes (aka shawarma bears), some kind of gazelles and wild boars in the area in addition to a number of species of reptiles (which you know I wanted to find!).  As we hiked on we sang and played games and told a few riddles.  It was a really fun hike.   We ended up at the old industrial center of Tzfat and finally got to the “river” that we were heading towards.  We sat and did a Chavruta.  We talked about Lashon Hara (evil tongue) and what gossiping can do.  In Judaism you are not allowed to speak badly about people and defame their character.  You are permitted to tell someone something when you believe that someone is in danger but you must tell the appropriate person.  For example, if you know that someone is beating their child, you can’t just tell your friend you have to tell the authorities. 

After a short break there we continued to an old flourmill and sat and took another break.  We ate snacks and talked about what has to come first when you are setting up a community.  The industry or Judaism?  We decided that both are important but industry probably has to come first otherwise how can one survive? 

We got up and started walking again, this time to a pool where we could take a dip.  Because it had been so cold in the morning (and it was still pretty cold) none of us had brought our bathing suits even though we were told that swimming would be an option.  So, we had 2 swimming sessions.  One for the boys and one for the girls!  The boys went first and seemed to enjoy the cold dip.  I think it was only Alex, Amir and Yehonatan that decided to go in. 

I wanted to go in , but it was still so cold and I knew how cold the water would be.  But Shayna wanted to go in to and convinced Whitney and me that we should go in as well.  Then we talked Elissa into coming in with us.  So, the four of us, along with Yehonatan’s daughter, went for a dip in the freezing water.  It was pretty hilarious because we didn’t have bathing suits so Elissa and I went in with bra’s and underwear and Whitney borrowed a bathing suit and Shayna went in with her skirt and shirt.  There was a lot of screaming as we realized 2 things.  1) the water was FREEZING cold.  2) there were fish everywhere that kept brushing up against us.  Now, I love fish, but feeling them suddenly swim across your toes is still a bit creepy. 

Finally we emerged as little icicles and got dressed again.  We were glad that we went in because after that, we weren’t as cold on the hike!  We started our ascent up the mountain (always my least favorite part) and got to our lunch spot.  We were all pretty famished and because I am a picky eater, I had 2 choices.  Plain pita or pita with tuna.  So, I ate tuna for what was probably the first time ever.  It wasn’t so bad...

Whitney wearing
her gift and pulling
out mine

We were given a ride back to Livnot and spent a little while relaxing and showering and getting ready for our next activity.  Then we went out into Tzfat with a mission.  Everyone got someone’s name and we were supposed to spend a few shecks to buy them a gift.  We were also supposed to talk to some people in Tzfat and find out a bit more about what is under the surface here.  I chickened out about that but did get Alex a hilarious little keychain and ate a piece of amazing pizza.  I do miss pepperoni a bit but keeping kosher isn’t really all that bad. 

We came back, exchanged gifts, had dinner, lit the Chanukah candles and headed to bed (eventually).

Day 3 (Tuesday)

Another 7 am breakfast and 8 am departure.  We had pancakes for breakfast (amazing!) and watched a few minutes of Israeli news in English.  We heard about the death of the police chief in Haifa due to the devastating fire last week.  Hopefully we wil have the opportunity to go and help out with the aftermath of the fire.  I don’t know if it will be helping families to clear rubble or helping to rebuild or nothing like that, but I hope that we can do our part to help because it was the greatest natural disaster in Israel’s history. 

Michael in an olive tree

After the news we got ready and headed out to our destination.  An olive tree farm (I think).  We divided up into groups and started picking our little hearts out.  We were supposed to collect ¼ ton of olives so that we could go to an olive press in the afternoon and run a machine.   We spent all morning picking olives which involves climbing trees, shaking trees, cutting down branches, dodging falling branches, hitting branches with long sticks, dodging the long sticks, and “milking” the tree.   I was in a group with Elissa, Jeff, Michael and Yehonatan.  We sang songs and did what I thought was a fairly decent job de-oliving our tree. 

All said and done, we didn’t manage to collect as many olives as we had hoped but we thought that we still had a pretty decent amount.  We cleaned up, headed home and ate lunch.  After lunch we had a “My Judaism” session.  We were split up into groups again and I was with Amir, Alex and Jen.  First we started off talking about our first Jewish memory.  Amir’s parents are both Rabbi’s so his first Jewish memories were very early.  I couldn’t remember my first real Jewish memory aside from singing songs at the JCC in camp and my Mom constantly telling me that her car could drive to the JCC and to our temporary synagogue home by memory without her doing anything because she drove back and forth so often. 

Upon thinking about it again now and writing about it, I also remember going to my Grandma Babe’s (Dad’s Mom, who we started calling Grandma Babe because that is what I always heard my Grandfather call her and I guess it just stuck) for the Seder and always getting a two-dollar bill.  I still have some of those from back in the day and the way that her country club was decorated, including the colorful fountain that I loved to stare into. 

  

We moved on and talked a bit about whether or not we felt pressure to be Jewish as we were growing up.  I admitted that I have indeed felt a decent amount of pressure to be Jewish and to conduct myself in a certain way.  I have fluctuated a lot over the years in terms of my spirituality.  I remember telling my Mom that I didn’t want to have a Bat-Mitzvah and I remember her having hers because she was never given the chance as a child and how much it meant to her to be able to do that.  On the other hand at one point, I kept Kosher as best I could.  At another point, I wanted nothing to do with Judaism and actually went away to a college where there were almost no Jewish students to get away from a place where I didn’t feel like I belonged.  I remembered how hurt my Mom was when she had to fight with me to go to synagogue with her on the High holidays.  It was always very difficult for me to balance the way that I felt about being Jewish and how I was supposed to feel about being Jewish.  As time has gone on, I have realized just how important my Judaism is to me (I know Mom, FINALLY!). 

The last thing that we talked about was our favorite Jewish memory.  I actually had a hard time picking one as all the wonderful memories of time spent with my family rushed back to me.  Pesach comes to mind first… Vince and Dominic’s matzah pizza is a tradition that disappeared for a few years but we brought back this year.  The Seder used to be something that I hated and never used to help with.  This year I found myself wanting to help make Matzah balls with my Mom and helping to set and clear the table.  I also smiled as I think about my Mom throwing frogs across the whole table when we are doing the 10 plagues. This year I caught it on camera and she looks so happy as she is throwing them in the air.  Then I think of the hour that follows as we all sit and flick the frogs at each other because we are starting to get bored of the Seder itself.  There are other memories as well, but those are some that stick out.  I also remembered that I think my Dad still owes me a trip to Kings Dominion and bicycle for finding the afikoman years ago.  Haha. 

During the session I also learned a lot about Jen, Amir and Alex and what it was like for them growing up.  We all had completely different levels of Judaism but we had similar experiences to a certain extent. 

After the “My Judaism” session we got in the van and headed to the Olive press place.  The ride was supposed to be 40 minutes.  We arrived at the olive press almost 2 hours after leaving Tzfat and found out that instead of the 250 kilos of olives we were supposed to have we had a whopping 35 kilos.  Ouch.  We were all exhausted and had a quick lesson on how they make olive oil and what constitutes good olive oil.  I learned that ist almost impossible to tell how old an olive tree is because as the tree ages it becomes hollow on the inside so you can’t count the rings.  I also learned that the olive production is dependent on the rain from the year before. So in a dry year you might still do okay as an olive oil producer but the next year you will suffer as a result.  So, after this short tour we drove home and had rather than start cooking dinner late we were given a night off and a bunch of us went out for shawarma.

Day 4

Unlike the previous days, our day yesterday started at 3:00 am.  We woke up, walked like Zombies to the bus and departed for Sartaba.  Knowing nothing about the mountains in Israel, I had no idea where we were going.  All I knew was the following: 2 hour drive, south, desert, long hike. 

We all slept through most of the ride to Sartaba.  We arrived a little while before sunrise and started our trek up the mountain.  We got up over the first ridge and stopped to rest for a minute and watch the sunrise.  We also learned about the animals that live in the region.  There are many different kinds of reptiles that call the Sumerian desert their home and we were hoping to find a few.  There are also gazelle/deer like animals that were almost wiped out and then brought back and have been re-established in the area.  We continued upwards and were met with a tough challenge.  Whitney and I both sprained our ankles about a month ago and ankle sprains take a while to heal completely.  We have been walking and hiking a lot more than usual the past few days and so both of us were feeling a bit sore.  Sore turned to downright grumpy and in pain as we scrambled up the side of this ridiculous slope.  There wasn’t really a path and there wasn’t really a good way up.  Rocks kept sliding out from under our feet as we ascended and more than once I thought that I just could not make it up to the top.  Whitney kept pushing though and encouraged me to do the same.  Finally we got to the caves where we had a nice long break. 

Upon our arrival we had a bit more of our breakfast and sat and discussed exactly where we were.  Up until that point, I don’t know that anyone actually knew what the significance of this giant pile of rocks was.  Apparently the area where we were sitting was built by the Maccabi’s and later taken over by Herod.  He built a fortress on the mountain but it was not the biggest on that he built.  The biggest on was on Masada because it’s a plateau and he could build a bigger fortress there.  Sartaba is of great significance as well because in ancient times to signify the beginning of the month, fires used to be lit on top of the mountains to pass the message along to the following community and all the way to Babylonia.  The first day of the Jewish month (Rosh Chodesh) officially begins on the first night when you can see the sliver of the new moon from Jerusalem.  Because of this the message needed to be passed along so that other communities knew when to celebrate the holidays. 

After stopping at the caves/cistern for a while and finding a neat little lizard we moved onwards and upwards to the peak of the mountain.  Here we sat for a while and had another Chevruta session.  This one was about mitzvot that can’t really be measured in any way and are considered some of the highest mitzvot that one can perform including burying the dead and helping a bride and groom to rejoice.  We discussed the current state of Israel and the reasons for the destruction of the temple and the loss of people and land in the past.  Every time that we have experienced a great loss as a people it has been when the Jews were overtaken by hatred and turned corrupt.  When we lost the temple to the Romans and it was destroyed it was because of two brothers who wanted control of the land so badly and hated each other so much that they turned over control of the land to the Romans, hoping that the head of the Roman Empire would declare them King of the land.   I brought up how surprised I was to feel the dislike that Israelis sometimes have for each other.  Whether we are talking about the Ultra-orthodox versus the secular, the Sephardic Jews versus the Ashkenazi, the new-immigrants versus the “old”-immigrants or even when you just look at the way that Arab-Israelis are sometimes treated… for a people that have been persecuted for thousands of years and for as long as our collective memory goes back because of baseless hate, how can we have so much hate? Amir reminded me that this is not really hate in most cases, its disagreement.  When push comes to shove, he reminded me, any Jewish Israeli would defend another in the face of conflict and while they have disagreements it is not hate.  

After our discussion, our guide showed us a scorpion that he captured for us to see.  So many people were scared of it… I had to keep reminding everyone as I got closer and closer that they don’t want to waste their venom as we are clearly not a reasonable meal for a 2 inch scorpion and they can’t really penetrate your shoes with their stingers.  I snapped a few shots and we headed back down the mountain/giant pile of rocks and sand.  On the way down our guide also found a little lizard for me, which I got a few shots of and then we made our way to the bottom. 

On our way to a spring outside of Beit She’an we were stopped at a checkpoint.  Upon inquiring about why there is a checkpoint I was told that we had been in the West Bank.  I didn’t even realize that we had been in the West bank because I guess I slept through the point on the way in.   What I saw while we were there was definitely not what I had in my head when I thought of the West Bank.  You learn something new every day!  Apparently when you are with Livnot you learn 1,000 new things every day! 

We stopped at some springs for lunch on the way home and then drove the rest of the way home.  I have never heard our group so quiet.  I tried to stay awake because I really wanted to see the scenery in Israel on the way home, but I was just too tired and fell asleep rather quickly.  When we returned to Tzfat we found out we had more time to nap (yay!) and I promptly fell asleep for another 2 hours. 

At 6, we were given the option of helping to prepare a Tunisian dessert with Aviya and her Mom.  Whitney and I gladly went to help with the preparation and helped to make these amazing doughy, raisin filled, honey covered, fried things.  Now, I don’t like raisins but again, I am trying to be open-minded so I ate a few.  Oh. My. Goodness!  They were absolutely amazing and I couldn’t stop eating them.  Whitney and I took a short break and wandered around Tzfat for a little bit and saw some cool things and met some really nice people.  We were even offered free cookies!!

After dinner I had a few more of those Tunisian things before finding out that there were also Sufganiot again!  Oh how I love those.  So, I had one of those too and we went downstairs to greet the Israelis that were coming to light candles with us for the last night of Shabbat and have “Coffee talk”.  We lit the candles, said the prayers and headed upstairs. 

We were asked to discuss the words of the Star Spangled Banner and the words of the Hatikva. 

America’s National Anthem:

O! say can you see by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Israel’s National Anthem:

As long as the Jewish spirit is yearning deep in the heart,

With eyes turned toward the East, looking toward Zion,

Then our hope - the two-thousand-year-old hope - will not be lost:

To be a free people in our land,

The land of Zion and Jerusalem.

I found it funny that pretty much every American in our group said that the first thing they thought of when reading or hearing the national anthem is a baseball game.  We discussed the significance of the words to us and I decided that there isn’t much significance in the words for me.  Not only is it about something that happened in the past its about something that I think its difficult for most Americans to relate to.  We don’t see bombs bursting in air on United States territory anymore. 

On the other hand, Israel’s national anthem talks about the hope of the Jewish people.  I found it very interesting to compare two lines from each anthem.   In the Star Spangled Banner the last line is “O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave” whereas in the Hatikva it says “to be a free people”

We discussed how much Israel feels like family because you have a shared history and a shared culture with almost all of the people who live here.  Even though we were spread out for thousands of years we still share certain customs and traditions.  We still share a language and a religion and we still share a love for this land that we can now call home again. 

To wrap up what was quite possibly the longest day ever, we were told about an all women’s dance party that was happening.  It was already 10 o’clock  but I figured how many times would I have the chance to do something like that in Tzfat?  So, Whitney, Elissa, Vanessa, Jen and I went with Shayna and another girl who used to work here, also named Aviva, to this dance party.  We weren’t sure what to expect when we got there but I know one thing for sure.  We did NOT expect to see what we did when we arrived.  Here were these orthodox women drinking beer, smoking cigarettes and DANCING their hearts out.  The D.J. was an orthodox woman.  The music was Israeli but it wasn’t what I would have expected.  Some of it was modern, some not so much.  There were a few dances that I might have pictured in circles, but there was a lot of dancing that I would have thought belonged at Woodstock or a nature concert, not in the middle of Tzfat on a Wednesday night. 

We danced our little hearts out along with all of these women.  We danced with them and watched them dance, enjoying the freedom from responsibility and the watchful eye of men.  They were really free to be themselves and do whatever they wanted.  They were still dressed modestly but damn, they really knew how to party.  A little after 11 the party wrapped up.  Whitney, Elissa, Vanessa and Jen had all left a little bit before Shayna, Aviva and I.  When the three of us walked back I told them how cool it was to have been able to participate in that and see all of those women dancing like that.  It was truly an awesome experience and I have to say that even I danced more and harder than I ever had before, for the first time really not caring about the way that I looked as I danced!  After that, I came home for some much needed sleep. 

Day 5

Today we woke up at 7 am again.  We had oatmeal for breakfast and prepped for a day of community service.  We walked to the top top top of Tzfat to the citadel.  We were able to see the Kineret and pretty much all of Tzfat.  Yehonatan told us about how Livnot is working on creating a more beautiful and usable place for the people of Tzfat to come with their children and enjoy the beauty of nature because while the old city of Tzfat is beautiful, unlike many other Israeli cities there is not a lot of greenery within the city.  Each Livnot group has played a role in creating what is already there within the citadel. 

We were given some equipment and put to work.  First we had to break down the walls that were holding up the current decrepit terraces.  This involved pulling out the rocks that were there and flattening the soil.  While pulling out the rocks I found a scorpion molt so I was a little nervous (even me, the reptile/animal lover) about digging out those rocks with my hands.  Luckily, right as I noticed that I heard Ariel yell something about a snake or lizard type thing.  Of course, I immediately stopped what I was doing and ran over to see what was going on.  In front of Ariel there was a small lizard (ID)  I made friends with him and he crawled in my glove while I desperately tried to take some decent pictures.  I didn’t want him to get hurt in our building/destruction process so I relocated him to a safer area where he will be free to live his lizardy life in peace.  Eventually I proved that I wasn’t very useful in terms of moving giant rocks so I got moved to the other wall and started taking out rocks there.  We spent all morning moving rocks, pouring cement, moving more rocks and pouring more cement.  We had a blast though and we were able to see measurable progress in the wall by the end of the day.  I am hoping that we have the chance to go back and do more work on the wall.  I really enjoy doing things with my hands that you can see results from.  It gives me a strong sense of accomplishment, especially when its for a good cause like giving the people of Tzfat a nice green place to enjoy.