Qatzrin and Safed

So yesterday and today I've visited two towns that have about sixteen spellings between them thanks to the vagaries of Hebrew-English transliteration. You'll find the former (pronounced Katz-reen) under Qatzrin, Qatsrin, Katzrin, Katsrin, and Kazirin- and those are only the ones I've seen personally. The latter (pronounced Tzah-fawt) is spelled Safed, Safat, Zefat, Zafat, Tzafat- and again, that's just the ones I've seen. It's always a toss-up.

Yesterday after Mass with the Hewerdine's I hopped a bus to Qatzrin from Tiberias. Qatzrin is the central city of the Golan Heights. I'd hoped to see it before Gamla to give me greater perspective on the site, but things just work out how they do. The town hosts the Golan Archaeological Museum, the Ancient Qatzrin Park, and the Golan Magic Experience. I managed to get to all three with time to spare.

The Archaeological Museum was a tiny place with an impressive collection. It's a great thing to do in lieu of trekking around the whole Golan in search of synagogue ruins. In fact, if you did it any other way, you'd be disappointed; the Golan Archaeological Museum has all the decorative lintels from the synagogues, anyway. They also have a good audio-visual presentation on Gamla involving a model, and a fun collection of coins used in Israel between the second centuries BC and AD.

The Ancient Qatzrin Park came with a combined ticket to the museum, so I trekked a mile down the road under threatening rainclouds (which providentially only let loose while I was indoors). The park was fairly impressive. It included the best-preserved synagogue (fourth century) in the Golan and two restored fourth century basalt-stone houses. It reminded me of both Bethsaida and Korazim; its obvious why Jesus the 'master builder' (tekton) would have been a stone-cutter rather than a wood-worker.

Just down the road was Golan Magic, meant to evoke the sightes and sounds of the Golan for those of us too rushed to enjoy its natural beauty. Unfortunately, it was pretty much a long commercial for the Golan and the Israeli occupation of the heights. Not that I'm against the Israeli occupation- it's far more developed under the Israelis and they need it as a security buffer for the Hula Valley- but the interactive theater with its indoor wind and rainy mists, it was fairly tacky. However, there was also a large-scale topographical map of the Golan that detailed troop movements in the Six Days and Yom Kippur Wars, and that was simply excellent. They also treated me to a sampling of local Golan wines and the local brewery, and you'll hear no complaints from me on that score.

After a three hour journey back to Tiberias through sketchy bus connections, I stayed with the Hewerdine's for a final night. They've been such amazing hosts, and I hope everyone will pray for Paul and Mary as they continue their prayer ministry here in Israel.

This morning I headed off to Safed, where I'm spending the day until I get to Kiryat Shmona this evening. There I'll meet my first Couch Surfing host, Libi.

In the meantime, I'm checking out Safed, the fourth holy city of Judaism (after Jerusalem, Hebron, and Tiberias). I've made it to all four! Safed is the current leading city in Kabbalah, the mystic practice of Judaism that has nothing to do with the New Age nonsense with which it is so often associated. Well, ok, it's weird.

So I spent about three hours getting around to all the different synagogues in the city: Ha'Ari Ashkenazi, Ha'Ari Sephardic, Caro, and a bunch of others that mean nothing to you or me. They were definitely interesting, though. Pictures on Facebook.

Might I mention that it's also Purim: the feast of Esther when Jewish people the world over get drunk, when children dress up like army officers or fairies and young ladies dress up like sluts. It's a great holiday, and so I'm enjoying a beer and a personal pizza as I type this.

By the way, Old City Safed feels like what Old City Jerusalem could be with a little TLC. It's got the winding stone streets, and merchants, and religious sites, but without the tackiness and omnipresent trash.

Anyways, I hope to be getting to Tel Dan, Banias, and Nimrud over the next couple of days, so pray that that works out.

Until next time.