Tsfat and yom Hazikaron

Today we left Jerusalem and traveled north to the city of Tzfat. A center of mysticsim, Tsfat has been one of Judaism's 4 holy cities since the 16th century. While in Tsfat Rabbi Yaffe connected the Remuh synagogue which we visited in Krakow with the teachings of Joseph Karo who was working on a code of Jewish law in Tsfat at the same as the Remuh was working in Poland. In addition to being a center of Jewish law, Tsfat also emerged as a centerof Kabbalah adn Jewish Mystitcism which also spread rapidly to Poland and influenced the rise of Hassidism as well as other segments of Jewish life we encountered in Poland.

The highlight of our visit was Rabbi Yaffe sharing a few Kabbalistic meditation with the group including the Shema and Lecha Dodi and then asking the students for issues in Jewish ritual and practice for which he shared their Kabbalistic approach to these issues. The students asked about issues such as ritual hand washing, kashrut, and the idea of a connection between people.

While were being introduced to Tsfat by our Israeli guides we saw what best would be described as a "rainbow cloud" a sign perhaps?

The final question dealt with something we have all struggled with on this journey, the question of where was God during the Holocaust. The Kabbalistic approach to this question was that God is always present and humans have free will which led to question of where was man during the Holocuast. Furthermore, there are things that are unknowable - we are not supposed to accept any reason for the suffering of others but rather we are supposed to accept the responsibility of working with God to repair the world, a concept the students are familiar with as Tikkun Olam.

Tonight we participated in a Yom Hazikaron (Israel Memorial Day) ceremony in the community of Gan Ner. Gan Ner is a community in the suburbs of Afula of approximately 600 families. The town is part of the Gilboa Regional Council a group of communities,kibbutzim and moshavim. At 8:00 PM the siren sounded and the ceremony which was almost entirely in Hebre began. Our group had special headsets and our Israeli guides translated simultaneously so that they could follow along. In addition, the community incorporated our group into the ceremony with some English readings read by some of our students and a wreath laying. It was very moving and quite a contrast from the Memorial Day our students have experienced in the states. After the ceremony we joined together with several teens from Gan Neer for informal conversations and snacks - it was great for our students to have some time socializing with Israeli peers. Tomorrow we will have a more formalized encounter with other Israeli teens.