Arab village, the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights

After a long weekend of relaxing, taking care of my roommate, and reading textbooks, we had two days of class. All of my classes are very interesting; I’m taking Comparative Criminology, International Justice Systems, and Israeli Politics and Culture. The last one is taught by an Israeli professor, which is really a different experience.

Me in the Hijab

Wednesday, we went to Arab village just outside of Abu Gosh, called Ein Rafa. Here, a woman took us to a mosque, where we had a chance to learn about Islam from an Imam (the worship leader of a mosque) and ask him questions. To go inside, we had to be dressed very modestly; skirts down to our ankles and shirts to our wrists. We were also asked to wear a hijab, the typical Islamic head covering. Walking into the mosque, we were asked to step right foot first, a Muslim tradition whenever you walk into any room in a mosque. We also took off our shoes before going upstairs to a large room with chair set up. Sitting at the front of the room was the imam, wearing a white robe and a white head covering. He spoke no English, so the woman who was showing us around translated what he wanted to say. He told us about the Five Pillars of Islam. The first is Shahada, the acceptance of monotheism and that Muhammad was the last, and most accurate prophet. Followers of Islam believe that Abraham and Jesus were also prophets, but that they’re message was skewed by man. They believe Muhammad’s message was the undisturbed word of God. The second pillar is Salat, which is the Islamic prayer. Muslims pray five times a day. They must wash themselves ceremonially before prayer, called Wudu. When praying, people always face towards Mecca, their holy city. The third pillar is Zakat, which means you must give a portion of your wealth to charity, if you are able to do so. The forth pillar is Ramadan, or the month of fasting. Muslims do not eat or drink from dusk to dawn. The finally pillar of Islam is the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. Every Muslim is obligated to take a trip to Mecca during a certain month once in their life. These pillars are used as a sign of commitment to the faith. After the imam explained the basis of Islam to us, we had a few questions before it was time to go.

Imam and woman translating for him at a Mosque

We left the mosque and were invited to the home of the woman showing us around. We sat in her living room as she explained life in an Arab village, and how they get along with the surrounding Jewish Israeli population. The people in her village were one of the few Israeli Arabs who had citizenship of Israel. However she was actually from England and raised an unreligious Christian. She studied architecture in college and came to Israel for work. She found herself attracted to the Islamic religion, and began to convert. She met an Arab man whom she married, and was accepted into their family and their village. It was amazing to hear her story and how she chose this life. She wore a long dress and a hijab the whole time, and told us she always wears it. She said it wasn’t that hard to get used to after growing up completely different, because it was what she wanted. One thing I didn’t know was that not all Muslim women wear the headdress; there are secular Muslims too. We were given a typical Arab drink by her husband, that basically tasted like kool-aid. It was so fascinating to actually see her home and the differences, and many similarities that there are between her home and a typical home in the states. Mostly, I noticed it was pretty typical, even constructing one part of their house. Only two differences were extremely apparent; there were no pictures of people on the walls, which is against the Muslim religion, and walking outside, the back and front yards were not covered in grass or trees, but sand, since it is in the middle of a desert. My favorite part of this week was most definitely this trip. Most of it centers on Jewish and some Christian culture in Israel, but the Arab culture is really the one I know the least about.

Left to right: Nick, Vanessa, Me, Kayla
Wine tasting on Kibbutz Tzuba

After coming back from the Arab village we went on a tour of the glass factory that is on Kibbutz Tzuba, the place we had been staying. Here they make glass for cars and buses, as well as bulletproof glass. They are a large supplier of bulletproof glass for the United States Army. Also on the Kibbutz, there is a wine factory, which we also had a tour of, as well as a wine tasting. We sat, drank some really good wine, and saw an amazing view of Israel.

Boat from time of Jesus

On Thursday we packed up and left the Kibbutz where we had been staying. We went to the see of Galilee and the Golan Heights, staying at a hotel on the water. When there, we went on a hike and saw amazing views of the sea and other parts of Israel. Then we went to a museum that had a boat suspected to be from the time of Jesus. Friday we went to the house where Peter lived and a synagogue. We saw Mount Beatitudes, were Jesus gave his sermon on the mount. We headed back to the hotel, where we had a pseudo-traditional Shabbat dinner with our program leader and his family. They showed us how these dinners usually go, starting with blessing the bread and wine. After eating, we heard readings from the Torah and sang Hebrew songs. It was the greatest cultural event we have had so far, even if it was just in a hotel dining hall. We had a blast, and so did my Mom and Dad, who arrived today for a little over a week, here to experience Israel with me.

View of the Sea of Galilee

On Saturday, we went to Mount Bental in the Golan Heights, were we were able to see the borders of Syria, as well as (from a distance) army bunkers surrounding the area, since Israel and Syria do not have good relations right now. We went on a hike to see water falls on the Banias River, one of the rivers that flows into the Jordan River. From this hike we also saw some amazing views, and the forest and river were breathtaking. Next, we went kayaking down the Jordan River. Yeah, I said that right; we boated down THE Jordan River! It was so much fun and such an amazing sight. That night we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Tiberias, which was surprisingly very good Chinese food! Sunday, we went to Akko, a 5000-year-old city. There were actually two cities in Akko; one was built on top of the other. After lunch on the Mediterranean Sea, we headed back to Kibbutz Tzuba to prepared for another couple of days of classes before our free weekend…