This morning we learned mostly about the wars leading up to '67, and the importance of the land in the Golan Heights. It is pretty much information you can get in any religious school textbook, so we did it on Jeeps.
Tearing through the Golan, our driver told us about Eli Cohen. Eli Cohen was a Jewish Egyptian, who served as a spy for Israel during the Syrian conquest. The northern part of Israel is dry and very hot, and he told the Syrian general that they were making a mistake with their layout. They needed to build a road that led to all the bunkers so that he could check on all of his troops more easily, and he should plant big trees by each one, so they could get some shade in the hot, Israeli summer. The general thought this was brilliant, so he did exactly as Cohen had suggested. When the Haganah stormed the Golan Heights, each bunker was plainly pointed out by the big, non-indigenous trees around each one, and easy to get to because of the general's road.
After our Jeep tour, we drove to the Syrian border and peered over the lookout as we talked about the importance of the piece of land on which we stood. As our guide Muki spoke about the Yom Kippur War, we heard a rumble that sounded like a clipped bit of thunder. Then the puff of smoke in the distance gave away the target of the shell that had exploded moments ago in Syria. "That's the civil war," Muki reminded us. Right there as we spoke about a war from almost 50 years ago, we saw the results of a war going on today. Right before our eyes, we saw proof that Syrians are being killed by other Syrians.
It is a travesty that it is so difficult to gain peace in this region. Even when Israel is not the direct target of their violence, there is violence. Some of us took it pretty hard, others walked silently back down to the bus. En route to our next stop, the bus was just a little quieter....
Entering Tzfat is a windy, bumpy experience that leaves one mystified that so many people can get to this city by bus. This was a wonderful chance to see art, learn a little bit about Jewish Mysticism and two of the men who made it more mainstream, Rabbi Isaac Luria and Rabbi Joseph Caro. Visiting their synagogues we witnessed two near misses of shells and shrapnel that had no reason taking no lives, but they took no lives. Tzfat is a mystical place, full of miracle and wonder, and we stood as witnesses to its wonder, praying for the miracle of peace in our time in Syria, Israel, and around the world.
Tzfat
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