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Part 2...

Day 3- Today we drove to Zfat, in the Galilee. Zfat is one of the holiest cities in Judaism, after Jerusalem and Hebron. It is a beautiful little town on the top of a mountain, and is home to the Jewish mystics of Kabbalah. It also happens to be my most favorite place in all of Israel. You can just feel these special, spiritual, mystical powers flowing all around you. As a very religious city, where Kabbalah was developed in the 16th century, there are dozens of small synagogues, mostly after specific rabbis. We went to a few of the more important ones. First was the Abuhav Synagogue, named for Rabbi Yitzhak Abuhav, a famous rabbi from Spain who lived in the 15th century.

Part 2- Go Galilee, its near the Sea

Leah Schneier
2007-04-21 21:43:36

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a bullet whizzed just above him and instead hit the bima. Had he been standing up, the bullet would have hit him directly and he would have died. G-d works in mysterious ways, huh?!

The third synagogue we went to was the Joseph Karo Synagogue. Joseph Karo, a Sephardic Rabbi and scholar (Sephardic means from Spain), wrote a very important book called the Shulchan Aruch, which was basically an "easy guide" to all the laws of Judaism, that were often to complicated for the average person to understand.

We also went to the old cemetery in Zfat, on the side of the mountain, where many famous rabbis and scholars are buried. One of the most important was The Ari, or Rabbi Lurie, of which 2 synagogues are named after him in Zfat. He was a famous Kabbalah rabbi in the 16th century, and had many followers.

Near the cemetery is a mikva. A mikva is a ritual bath for spiritual cleansing and repenting. This particular one was for men only. My friend Ori, and our tour guide Elan really wanted to go, so they went and we waited. When you go in a mikva, you have to get completely naked and go in the bath, in freezing cold water. The water is freezing cold no matter what time of the year. You pray and repent for your sins, and come out with a clean soul. Wouldn't it be nice if all baths worked so well?

We left Zfat after a few hours of wandering around. Next we went in search of a rabbi's tomb somewhere in the forest. The forest we drove through was just gorgeous. Luscious green trees covered the hills. Except for the places where the katushya rockets had landed last summer. There were several spots where trees had been burned down from the rockets of the war with Lebanon last summer. So, we finally found the Rabbi Yonatan we were looking for. He is a Tzadik, which many of the other Rabbis I have already mentioned were as well. A Tzadik is a very important Rabbi in the whole of Judaism, not just in his life time. So, Rabbi Yonatan, for some ...