Abba Ba!

My dad is here!!!

He got in on Tuesday, so I've been spending time with him in Haifa, Hadera, and this past weekend we went to Tiberias. I've been eating out with him, passing out in his bed at the guesthouse, walking back to the University from Horev (a far and uphill walk!) after dinner, etc.

We attempted to go to a concert (Ha Yehudim--The Jews) but it didn't work out so well because I forgot my ID at home and they didn't believe I was over 18! Even though my dad vouched for me (which was a little embarrassing). The venue was at Yagur though, so I got to show him around the kibbutz.

Tiberias was really interesting. It's one of the four holy cities in Israel (along with Hebron, Tzfat, and of course Jerusalem) and so there are LOTS of SUPER religious people all around, and synagogues on every corner! The city is on the banks of the Yam HaKineret, or Sea of Galilee. On Shabbat we wanted to go to synagogue, but everybody around us was so frum with their black hats and sidecurls, and we wanted something a bit less intense. Finally, we saw a man walking toward us dressed in white pants and a white shirt, with a simple white yarmulke on his head and no sidecurls. My dad asked him where HE went to synagogue, and he told us how to get to the Kabbalah Center.

So we went to services at the Kabbalah Center. It was, if nothing else, a really interesting experience. There was a lot of loud singing, banging on the tables, clapping, noise, and joy! That was the good part. There was also lots of hugging, which I enjoyed but made my dad uncomfortable. And there was a lot of mysticism, and people telling you about kabbalah and trying to reel you in. A lot of people are really into this, and it's done great things for them. There were families there, and young children (there were childrens books there on kabbalah, written by Madonna and translated from English into Hebrew and Russian).

Anyway, it was a fascinating experience, and I'm glad I went and tried it out. And also, the synagogue had a GORGEOUS view of the Kineret and the mountains on the other side!