Thoughts On [insert religious topic(s) here]

Since we didn’t have a busy day ahead of us, we lazed around the hostel in Tel Hai till 11, letting our laundry dry and repacking. We had a slight change of plans in lodging for tonight. We have to drop the rental car off in Afula, about 45 minutes from the border so we needed to find a closer place to the border to sleep. That way, we don’t have to get up really early to cross the border and meet our guide for Jerash.

With the help of the travel agent who helped plan our large group trip, we found lodging at a kibbutz in En Harod, about 15 minutes from the border. We decided that we’ll head south towards Afula to drop the car off (it had to be at Budget by 5 PM) and revisit some of the Galilee on the way down.

When we got in our car this morning, the check engine light came on as well as the radiator light. Somehow the water tank for the radiator was bone dry. We filled that up, but the check engine light wouldn’t go off. We called Budget and they said, “Don’t be afraid of it. Just drive.” Seriously.

So we took their insightful advice and headed south. The car was not shifting well, but it never broke down-thank God. On the way down, we pulled off at the Mount of Beatitudes. Even though we had been there once before, it is a great place to relax and have some quiet time. We went our separate ways and just relaxed, enjoying the quietness of the mountain without a lot of people around. It was pretty cool for me to be right back at a place where-only two weeks ago-I had had a powerful time of reflection.

Church at the Mount of the Beatitudes

Jac’line had promised to get me a talit when we drove by Nof Ginosar, so after leaving the Mount of Beatitudes we stopped at the boat museum in Nof Ginosar. Talits are prayer shawls that have cords coming off the bottom with 613 knots in them for the laws in Torah. Though they are typically a Jewish tradition, there is nothing sacrilegious about a Christian using one. The particular one that Jac’line and I found had the Grafted In symbol on it, adding a Christian tone to the garment, and was trimmed with gold lace. It’s a very nice talit, one that I hope to get a lot of use from.

Viewing the Sea of Galilee from the west at sea level

We left Nof Ginosar and went directly south to Tiberias for lunch. We spent some time after lunch walking down to the Sea of Galilee and checking out Tiberias. It’s definitely much more of a tourist town than Nof Ginosar, so I’m happy we stayed at the latter with the group.

As we got closer to En Harod, I noticed on the GPS that there were actually two towns named En Harod, one to the north and one to the south. We decided that since it was only 3 PM we would drop our stuff off at En Harod, get settled and then return the car to Afula. That way, we wouldn’t have to lug our luggage around Afula or pay extra for a cab with all our stuff.

We were booked at a kibbutz in the northern city of En Harod. The rooms were quaint, with nice front patios and best of all, free wifi.

Our hotel room at En Harod

Our kitchen at En Harod

We unpacked, and quickly drove to Afula, not wanting to miss the opportunity to turn in the car. As we got closer to the city, Jac’line pointed out that the city had grown a lot since she was there last. Sure enough, there was a brand new mall and lots of new construction projects going on as we drove in.

After dropping the car off-and feeling really weird without transportation-we went walking around the city. I had seen a few camera shops and figured that it would be a good idea to replace the lens cap I had lost sooner rather than later. We found a camera shop and I was able to get a generic lens cap for 25 NIS or about $7. The price was so low it even surprised the cashier who had to double check. That was a bargain, and a great relief for me to have my lens protected again, especially with all the sand and dust in the countryside.

The counter help at Budget had suggested a pizza joint across the street for dinner, so around 7 we headed there and grabbed a nice large pizza and coke. It was some American dining for a change, a welcome change for both of us.

We caught a cab back to En Harod and enjoyed some coffee on our patio. Jac’line and I both took advantage of the free wifi to touch base with family and friends back home, then called it a night because we had a very early morning getting to the border tomorrow.

Shalom,

Mat