"What took the Israelites 40 years to travel from Egypt took us two days straight of traveling from Los Angeles. Our journey began at a Kibbutz called Ohala in Northern Israel overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Due to some serious jetlag we woke up abnormally early the first morning for a three-hour hike of Jilabun Creek, where we were surprised to discover a massive cave and a 100-foot waterfall at the end of the trail. After rehydrating with iced coffees and stuffing ourselves with hummus, we ventured up Mount Bental, an abandoned Israeli bunker with a breathtaking view of Syria. It looked very peaceful though we knew there were riots not too far away across the border. 

Later that afternoon, two sisters who are also from Los Angeles, Emily and Natalie O’Brien, accompanied us on a comical rafting experience down the Jordan River. We quickly realized that our rafting skills were truly abominable as we ran into every possible rock, raft, and tree in sight. The phrase “up the stream without a paddle” comes to mind, even though we had two. We might as well have had none.  Next stop: Tzfat. 

Tzfat, an ancient blue city nestled high in the mountains of the Galilee, is the center of Jewish mysticism, Kabbalah, and arts. We started our day off by visiting the eccentric artist Avraham Loewenthal, originally from Detroit, who is the personification of “high on life.”