On Thursday morning, we packed our bags, and descended from the Galillee region to our first city, Tzefat. The trip to the ancient city of Tzefat, the fourth most holy city in Judaism and the center of the kabalah movement, was in itself beautiful as the area is one of the most green and mountainous regions of Israel. But that beauty paled in comparison to what was to come. Tzefat is full of religious history. This is the city where kabalah, Jewish mysticism, evolved and became widely practiced, and many famous rabbis have walked on its steep streets before us. It is also a center for the arts. The stores that line the city's shuk offer a tremendous variety of paintings, sculptures, judaica and all forms of memorabilia.
Perhaps the most memorable of all the people we met in Tzefat was an arts store vendor, Avraham. Avraham, an excentric kabalah practicioner and American expatriate, tought us about the beauty of Jewish Mysticism and how even the smallest actions and choices reflect profoundly on our lives. The message of his art work, religious though it may be, stands true to our lives.
After scarfing down our lunches and buying memorabilia, we traveled south to Jerusalem, the religious center of the Jewish world. The beauty of the city was apparent, even from afar. We stopped first to take photographs of the eastern part of the city from the Hebrew
University at Mount Scopus, and afterwords drove to the walls of the Old City, where we were greeted by the immense cemetary at the Mount of Olives to our left, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque to the right. Entering from the Zion gate, we traversed the Jewish Quarter, and finally arrived at the holy of all holies, the Western Wall. The devotion of the Jewish people is no more apparent anywhere else than here. We left our prayers in the wall of the Kotel, and made the way to the hotel, where we would prepare for Shabbat tomorrow.
Submitted by David Schargorodsky
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Bus 683 Day Three! Tzfat and the Old City of Jerusalem
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