Stuff We've Done

We started with the hikes through the north that were cleared only days--hours--before we got to Israel. We slept in the campsite at Nachal Amud, which is due south of and looking across at Tzfat and just about as far north as the north end of the Kinneret. Bathroom situation was fun as always with the Israeli-style waterless eco-toilets. The rocks were a little hard for comfort but the fire was warm. Mapal Devora looked the same as it did except that we didn't get close enough to sit under the falls or go behind them. Line of the day:

"...so you say 'aboot'?" --D, Houston
"F*** you, I'm not from Alberta." --M, Montreal
"Hey! I'm from Alberta!" --A, Calgary

We went up to Har Bental, a base that became famous in '73. So we watched the Syrian border and heard from our tour guide Shlomit about the sentiment against Olmert today and how it compares to what Golda faced in '73. I was talking with Yigal afterwards and he says that the problem is that she took responsibility and stepped down whereas he refuses to entertain the idea of a government inquiry commission.

The next day, which was Thursday, we did a little hike right around the Nachal area. When Inquisition-era Jews moved to Tzfat their main industry was textiles and on the hike we saw some windows built up where they had used the power of the stream to drive their commerce. Part of the hike went through what seemed like a foreign country: suddenly we were covered in greenery and it was cool and shady and the brook was bubbling nearby. Then, though, it was back out into the sun and it was clear we were back in Israel again. The part of the tiyul I most looked forward to was the drive through Kiryat Shmoneh. I'd never been there before, and certainly if we had gone it would have been before the war up there. We saw a few direct hits and a few parking lot craters before listening to the director of MADA (Magen David Adom/Red Cross) in K8 give a little discussion of the events of the part month. Then we drove up to the spot above Tel Hai, which is where Trumpeldor and seven others fell in 1920. It also happens to be where twelve reservists were killed when a Katyusha hit the parking lot on August sixth.

We had some interesting guests with us. Somewhere in Kiryat Shmoneh, the reporter for the Ten o'Clock BBC News (either the main guy or the Israel desk guy; even with Google/google images I can't quite tell) and his cameraman joined our already-full tour bus. We were told that they were doing some sort of story on youth groups or Young Judaea in particular...anyway, it's not so important.

They came up with us to the parking lot area. Before we got to the top of the hill, which is where the lot is, we passed the Trumpeldor lion statue and then a cemetary where people from the area who died fighting for Israel are buried. I had wanted to engage the reporter (heretofore known as "Anchor") from when he first stepped onto the bus, but when I said as much to Yoni, my madrich, he said that "there are entire organizations devoted to dealing with the BBC" and that I shouldn't try to throw my hat into the ring. But no, I don't think that was a sufficiently fiery response, so I went for it anyway.

As we passed the cemetary, me carefully walking just in front of Anchor, the following interchange:

Anchor: It's a very nice cemetary.
Me: You'd rather they not need the cemetary.
Anchor: Everyone has to die sometime.

"Everyone has to die sometime." ???????

At the top of the hill, where the praking lot is, we read from a packet a brief biography of each of the twelve soldiers killed there. As we did so, there was constant noise from Israeli helicopters flying around overhead. It's hard to tell whether they were actually going over Lebanese airspace because of visual perspective problems but I don't think it's unlikely. The cameraman stayed behind the wall [you can see the wall in the background of the picture above; it has the twelve pictures on it] until the middle of the reading, when he came out and began to film...the helicopters overhead! What a lovely display of Israeli military might!

We were only just beginning, though. After a drive high into the mountains right on the Lebanon border (in other words, 800 meters above sea level and 10 meters from a waving Indian dude in a turban wearing a UN jacket) during which we tailed a tank for much of the time, we stopped at a three-tank base called [oy, it's on my camera which isn't here right now!]. We spoke with a 21-year-old soldier who made aliyah from South Africa two years ago. I spent the entire time while the usual questions ("Did you choose tanks?" No, but he's glad he's there; "Did you come with your family?" Yes, he did. etc.) were being asked thinking of a way to get the BBC guy. Actually, let me back up a step first....

The cameraman had been standing in the middle of a circle: imagine the soldier as the center of a clock and our group as the dots around it for about 160 degrees of the circle. The cameraman was standing somewhere at the radial length of approximately the hour hand. So he was always in someone's way. When he decided it was my turn, I tapped him and asked him if he could please move because he was standing right in front of me and I was having a hard time seeing. It's not like he had a microphone and needed to be standing close. The zoom on his camera is certainly better than the one on mine, but I make do with what I've got. Maybe he figured they'd gotten two strikes on me, because he then came to stand with the end of his camera approximately seven and two-thirds inches from the left side of my face. And he stood there. And I stared. And stared. And the rest of the group was full of nervous laughter. Mind you, I was wearing my sunglasses and so far I have yet to find someone who can see through them to know in which direction my eyes are looking.

So that was all the background. As I said, I spent this entire Q & A period trying to come up with a question that I knew the soldier would answer the right way, so the BBC guys would know I'm not just another pro-Israel nit to pick, and to, I hoped, get some compliments from the counselors or the other kids. If I hadn't expected the last of those to be true, I would have been three for three. Anchor and the cameraman were now the 12 o'clock to my 6 o'clock with the soldier still in the middle. Natalie, a madricha, was standing at 12 at the distance the end of the minute hand would have been, so her back was directly in front of the BBC.

Taking my sunglasses off, and looking directly through the soldier at the cameraman, I asked whether he had a better understanding of Israel now that he lives here than when he lived in South Africa. He began, "That's a very good question and I'm glad the media are here to listen to the answer... When you're in the rest of the world, you rely on the media and often they don't tell the full story..." Natalie flashed a huge smile; Shlomit complimented me and an "excellent question". And if I'm not mistaken, Anchorman himself gave a little grin. After the circle broke up (read: after the circle broke up and we started to climb on the tanks) I thanked the soldier for giving the perfect answer, the exact one I was prepared for when I asked the question.

There are other pictures, some with captions but all with the intention of getting captions. And there's also the pages with the list of links to Yearcourse and Legacy photos.