Chazarnu Le Galilee

We returned to the Galilee for two days with Michelle's sister Sara, her husband John and their two kids. It is definitely fun (but tiring) to play tour guide and now we are going back to places that we love and can show them to our visitors.

We spent the first day in Tsfat, one of the truly magical and mystical spots in Israel. The first time we visited Tsfat in August, we sort of stumbled around and missed a lot of things.  This time we hired a local guide, Dov Bouzaglou.  Dov was an interesting character - long beard, payos, extremely upbeat and friendly (bordering on manic).  He had definitely ingested the Moshiach kool aid.  (He spent 5 years as a rave and party promoter in Santa Monica before coming back to the fold and he was eager to bring us back as well). But he knew everything and everyone in town and it was great to have someone take us around and not have to constantly consult the guidebook to figure out where to go.

Yemenite Wraps

We started at a local cheese factory (Tsfat is famous for its cheese), then moved on to several beautiful synagogues, a wine bar, a candle making factory, several art galleries (one where I got to play some fiddle with the mandolin-playing owner) and an interesting remodel of a house in the old city. We also made an obligatory stop at a well known Yemenite wrap/pizza place - ta'eem meod. Then it was on to a site commemorating the decisive battle for the city during the '48 war (bullet holes still visible in the buildings) and finally to the Crusader fortress at the highest point town. We ended the day at a Chanukah candle lighting (it was the first night) in the old city.  I danced with the men after the lighting (women are spectators only).

Candle Lighting

 My day ended with a first for me - in a mikva.  Now as most of you know, I am not exactly Mr. Observant Jew - in fact I was raised in a secular home and went to a Yiddish 'folk shula' instead of Hebrew school (The Yiddish didn't stick but the Hora steps did).  But this was an opportunity to dunk in the 'Ari's mikva' (the Ari being one of the 'big macher' Tsadikim of Tsfat).  Michelle's mom insisted this was a unique opportunity, not to be missed. Dov waxed ecstatic about what a great experience it was and how I would feel renewed and reborn  afterward.  I had visions of a transcendental and transforming experience in a Turkish bath-like environment - you know, sitting in a beautiful tiled steam room, inhaling eucalyptus vapors while drinking an 18 year old whiskey. Instead I got immersed in freezing, funky rainwater in an outdoor, concrete hole in the ground. (Dov insisted that I dunk myself 5 times to be truly blessed and blissful.)  So I froze my butt off and was ritually cleansed at the same time. But hey, it was a 'unit of experience', as my Dad used to say.

And there you have our day in Tsfat - a wonderful spot and a place I would return to again and again (but I'll take a pass on the mikva).