This morning we loaded the busses and said a cheerful l’hitraot to Jerusalem and the Leonardo Inn Hotel. After a quick breakfast at the hotel, with plenty of yummy salad and eggs to go around, we boarded the bus for our journey north to the Upper Galillee. Many of us took a nice hour and a half snooze before Jake, Jenna, and Efrat woke us to the sound of mooing. We had arrived in Caesarea.

Efrat took us through the ruins in Caesarea, including seeing the Roman theatre that still stands, where Adam and River performed a short rap for us. We saw ruins of columns and empires from the Herodian Period, the Byzantine Empire, and the Crusader Period, and we were able to dip our toes in the Mediterranean Sea. Efrat explained some architectural techniques, and then it was on our way to lunch. We experienced some blissfully warm and sunny weather, and I enjoyed seeing some more of the history that exists in Israel.

We stopped for a quick lunch on the road (mmm…Chinese food in Israel!) and were able to watch some Air Force planes flying to and from a base. Everyone seemed pretty happy with their food, and it was a nice break out in the sun before we were on our way to Safed.

Safed apparently can be spelled many ways: Safed, Safat, Safet, Tzfat, Zefat…we saw several spellings all over the city. Efrat told us that Safed means both to look out and to look forward. We talked about how Safed is important both strategically because of its geographical viewpoint, and because it is the home to Kabbalah and a strong mysticism and spirituality. We watched a glassblowing, which was awesome. Sheva Chaya made a pomegranate while telling us a different outlook to life. I thought it was extremely interesting to frame the idea of Kabbalah by discussing the structure of a pomegranate as being so full of life. I definitely have a different viewpoint of Kabbalah now - it is clearly not the tradition and spirituality that Madonna brags about. I’m really looking forward to listening to L’cha Dodi tomorrow during Shabbat, which we learned is a song of Kabbalistic origins.

We then drove the rest of the way to the Kibbutz Nofei Gonen, which will be our home for the next three days. After getting our room assignments, we enjoyed a delicious dinner of babaghanoush, salad, hummus, chicken, spaghetti bolognaise, and marble cake. I’m trying to be adventurous with my eating, and let me tell you, it’s worth it! The food is different, but amazing. We experienced a lot of different things today - Caesarea was unlike any of the other places we’ve visited, we got a true glimpse into Kabbalah, and got to witness art in the making.

Here’s to another awesome day tomorrow!

Sharon Rogart, ‘13