Home » Israel » Go Golan! when did Israel start looking like Ireland?

Well, its finally come to the end. My 6 month internship program is officially over. I can’t believe it, I really can’t. As usual, 6 months has gone so fast. For the last week of our program, we had a 4 day trip to the north. It was full of emotions, especially me, only days after my cousin passed away, and just the overwhelming situation of the program ending, and friends leaving. But let me talk about the amazing trip we had before I get all mushy.

Go Golan! when did Israel start looking like Ireland?

Leah Schneier
2007-04-21 21:39:07

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can not celebrate your religious holiday or enter your holy temples, you can not learn about your religion's secrets. But you do live by the Druze culture. One of their main beliefs is in reincarnation. Their definition of reincarnation varies a little from other religions I've heard. They believe that everyone in the world gets reincarnated, but if you are a Druze, when you die, you get reincarnated as a Druze again. In this way, their world population of Druze has stayed at the same numbers for the last thousand years (I think it was about 6 million). Also, nobody can convert to Druze, since it is a secret religion, and the same Druze souls get reincarnated over and over again. They have a less than 1 percent rate of marrying outside of the religion, which means you are completely cast out of the Druze society and your family. Another very important thing about Druze is that they do not have a specific holy place (like Jerusalem or Mecca). This allows them to be completely loyal to whichever country they live in. For instance, in Israel, the Druze are full members of society, and serve in the Israeli army. They are proud Israelis. They are a very warm culture, welcoming to tourists, and have the best hospitality and food. I went to a Druze village on my first trip to Israel, and I remembered absolutely loving the food, so I was very excited to get a chance to go again.

At this point, it was pouring rain, which would be the main weather throughout our trip. While in some ways in hampered the trip, it actually made it a much more unique trip, and enhanced several parts of the tours. So, we then went to the site of an ancient biblical battle. The battle took place on the top of a mountain, overlooking the Jez'reel Valley. At the top of this mountain, is a monastery and church of the Carmelite order, so we couldn't see the whole monument, because it was Sunday, and the church was closed. (I know this is normal in the US, but it was weird in Israel, since Sunday ...