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We went to several national parks on my last day here in Eretz Yisrael.






Today was my last day in the Land of Israel. We left the kibbutz hotel after a lovely breakfast and went to a memorial and cemetery in Tel Hai. A roaring lion statue memorializes the losses in Tel Hai during the 1948 War of Independence. Click here to see the memorial and the area where fighting took place .

Our first stop after that was the Tel Dan nature reserve. The reserve features a roaring brook that eventually feeds the River Jordan. While walking through the park, we even saw the tiniest streams running above ground, all leading to the headwaters of the river. The park also features the ruins of the city of Dan, a town mentioned in the Bible. It's probably the oldest place I have ever visited. [Click here to see Tel Dan.]

Our next stop was the Nimrod Fortress, a castle from the time of the Crusaders, It is in the Golan Heights, It is situated on top of a steep hill, but not the tallest in the area. You can see the castle from higher areas nearby. After the castle, we went to Magdal Shams, a Druse village in the Golan. After Israel conquered the Golan and took it from the Syrians in 1967, the Arabs left (there were not many) but the Druse villagers (in four towns) stayed. When you are in the Galilee and look toward the Golan, you can see how the Syrians had quite an advantage, which they used when shelling the kibbutzim in the northern Galilee. The pro-Zionist propaganda makes clear that the Golan, which is about the size of the Borough of Queens, is only one percent of Syria's landmass. Of course, from Mt. Hermon, the Israelis can "hear" what's going on in Damascas with listening equipment. [Click here to see the Nimrod Fortress .]

After a delicious lunch, which featured a great dish of labna, we went to the Banias. These are also headwaters of the Jordan, and were also hotly contested by the Syrians and the Israelis. Before 1967, the Syrians unsuccessfully attempted to divert the waters of the Banias from Israel. The next big fight in the region will probably be about water rights. The battle for the Golan was particularly bloody. Near the entrance to the waterfalls of the Banias is a bombed-out jeep from 1o June 1967, along with a memorial plaque. [Click here to see the Banias waters .]

We drove home in the afternoon after Hanoch proctored an exam at the University of Tel Hai. En route home, students called with questions. Typically, I fell asleep while Hanoch drove. We stopped by his house, where I left my bags, and I said goodbye to Ora. Then we stopped at a favorite falafel place of Hanoch's. It's a do-it-yourself sort of place, where they hand you the pita and the rest is up to you.

The security line at El Al took a while, and they were quite thorough. I was asked "why aren't you staying for the holiday?" It felt like Jewish guilt, but the real question is, "Do you even know what Jewish holiday is coming up?"

The flight home presented a nice surprise. I was liberated from a seat with no legroom and surrounded by babies, when a father offered his seat behind the exit door. So I got to really stretch out. The downside was that a 12-year-old girl next to me acted like a caged squirrel the entire time. In the airport, my "I love Israel" haze was interrupted by American teens who think it's appropriate to use the f-word in every sentence. But it was still a great trip, and I managed to sleep on every flight I look. It's 12 hours from Tel Aviv to New York, so that's a blessing as well.

Posted: Thu - March 31, 2005 at 02:01 PM        

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