Shopping and a kibbutz

Tuesday, we left early for a small village named Safed. It had a very spiritual rabbi years ago who attracted several others to come to live there. It is at a very high elevation and has 5 spellings of the same name. We were there too early for many places to be open. Our tour guide was very good about making things happen, so we did visit a shop featuring metal sculptings. We left there and walked to the original Synagogue named in memory of Rabbi Yosef Caro Yeshiva. It is the home for the mystical Kabbala. After looking around, I was approached by the curator who sold me 2 Jewish “good luck” pieces that they put on their door jams to remember God’s protecting them when He told them to smear the blood of the lamb over their door jams. They are also used to hold a scripture verse. Our hotels had them on each room to protect against fire. I have to admire the Jewish faith to do things like this despite the imminent danger of attacks from every neighboring country they have. Evelyn and I found some art work we liked and bought some to have shipped back to the U.S. We drove on to the kibbutz Gadot nearby. A kibbutz is an area where people live together in a communal society. Everything is shared and everyone works normally in an agricultural job. There was, however, a factory that makes heavy plastic boxes used to hold milk jugs, etc. in the US and other places. They also make repair parts for John Deere in the US. We were given a very nice tour, first in our bus and then on foot, by a kindly old man who had moved there over 50 years ago from Reno, Nevada. He had many things both good and bad about life in the kibbutz and was very entertaining and gracious. The kibbutz had a swimming pool, athletic fields of all sports and provided individual homes for each family. It also had several underground bunkers as they have been shelled by rockets in the past and are still targets. They have a large laundry where everyone washes their own clothes. We went to the cafeteria where the people come to eat. They all pay for the food on their own. We drove on to the famous Golan Heights, a critical spot militarily. We saw many more bunkers left by the Syrians as well as mine fields they left behind. Our tour guide gave us a long lecture on the history of the place despite its being cold and windy. Then we went to 2 factories: one that made wine and one that made olive oil products. We were given wine samplings and the glasses we used. We also learned about the history of the olive factory. The owner was engaging albeit he received several phone calls interrupting his talk. Olives are used to make skin products as well as in cooking. We bought some of the spices. By this time I was beginning to feel very queasy and returned to the bus. I hadn’t eaten much at the kibbutz but suspect that something there had given me food poisoning. We went to our new hotel, unpacked and I went to bed exhausted.

Tuesday, we left early for a small village named Safed. It had a very spiritual rabbi years ago who attracted several others to come to live there. It is at a very high elevation and has 5 spellings of the same name. We were there too early for many places to be open. Our tour guide was very good about making things happen, so we did visit a shop featuring metal sculptings. We left there and walked to the original Synagogue named in memory of Rabbi Yosef Caro Yeshiva. It is the home for the mystical Kabbala. After looking around, I was approached by the curator who sold me 2 Jewish “good luck” pieces that they put on their door jams to remember God’s protecting them when He told them to smear the blood of the lamb over their door jams. They are also used to hold a scripture verse. Our hotels had them on each room to protect against fire. I have to admire the Jewish faith to do things like this despite the imminent danger of attacks from every neighboring country they have. Evelyn and I found some art work we liked and bought some to have shipped back to the U.S. We drove on to the kibbutz Gadot nearby. A kibbutz is an area where people live together in a communal society. Everything is shared and everyone works normally in an agricultural job. There was, however, a factory that makes heavy plastic boxes used to hold milk jugs, etc. in the US and other places. They also make repair parts for John Deere in the US. We were given a very nice tour, first in our bus and then on foot, by a kindly old man who had moved there over 50 years ago from Reno, Nevada. He had many things both good and bad about life in the kibbutz and was very entertaining and gracious. The kibbutz had a swimming pool, athletic fields of all sports and provided individual homes for each family. It also had several underground bunkers as they have been shelled by rockets in the past and are still targets. They have a large laundry where everyone washes their own clothes. We went to the cafeteria where the people come to eat. They all pay for the food on their own. We drove on to the famous Golan Heights, a critical spot militarily. We saw many more bunkers left by the Syrians as well as mine fields they left behind. Our tour guide gave us a long lecture on the history of the place despite its being cold and windy. Then we went to 2 factories: one that made wine and one that made olive oil products. We were given wine samplings and the glasses we used. We also learned about the history of the olive factory. The owner was engaging albeit he received several phone calls interrupting his talk. Olives are used to make skin products as well as in cooking. We bought some of the spices. By this time I was beginning to feel very queasy and returned to the bus. I hadn’t eaten much at the kibbutz but suspect that something there had given me food poisoning. We went to our new hotel, unpacked and I went to bed exhausted.v