Birthright: My First Time in Israel – Day 2
May 31 – Tzvat/Safed
I definitely had an amazing night’s sleep! I went to bed at around 10:45 after calling home, and woke up with my alarm at 6:30. We had an early breakfast because we were departing for a day in Tzvat at 8:15. I think because breakfast was free and buffet style, I definitely ate my share.
On the bus ride, our guide Chen told us a lot about the places we were passing and about Israeli trivia in general. For one thing, I have always wondered about the toilets in Europe and why their flush buttons are so different from ours in the United States. The two button system was invented in Israel as an effort to conserve water. The smaller button is for #1 while the larger is for #2! Being in a desert, Israel needs to keep in mind how resources are being used. The Sea of Galilee in Tiberias is a fresh body of water and is a major Israeli reservoir. On our way to Tzvat, we also passed a city named Migdal. This is where Mary Magdalene is believed to have been born. Her father was a rich fisherman in the Galilee area. Her surname, Magdalene, is derived from the name of the city – Migdal.
Now on to the main leg of the journey: Tzvat! Also known as Safed, this is one of the four holy cities in Judaism that relate to the four natural elements. Tiberias is the water city because of the Sea of Galilee. Jerusalem is the city of fire 
because it held the eternal flame of the Temple. Hebron is the city of earth/land because it is the land where our famous ancestors are buried. Finally, Tzvat is the city of space and wind, as it is the spiritual center of mysticism. In Hebrew, tzvat means “look-out” or “outpost.” Physically, the city is at a high altitude and served as a look-out fortress. Tzvat can also mean “looking out” or “waiting for,” in other words, waiting for the Messiah!
So, what is mystic Judaism or Kabbalah? It is a practice or way of life in which the individual performs mitzvot or good deeds/commandments to piece the world back together: Tikkun Olam.
One thing that permeates the entire city is the color blue. This color is the symbol for heaven and is superstitiously used to welcome in the positive, heavenly energy of the earth. This tradition began in Tzvat about 500 years ago! An interesting thing I also learned was that the hamseh symbol which is prevalent in many Jewish homes is actually Islamic iconography.
We visited two synagogues in Tzvat. The first was the Isaac Abohav Synagogue, named after a 16th century Spanish rabbi. Again, the color blue was all over the place. An open courtyard was located in front, separating the synagogue (spiritual) from the street (secular). In Kabbalah, numbers are very important and carry tons of meaning. There were three torah arks, representative of the three 
patriarchs in the Jewish tradition: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Four columns represented the matriarchs: Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah. Ten small windows for the Ten Commandments, and twelve large ones for the twelve tribes of Israel were also strategically placed within the synagogue. The layout of the temple was in the Sephardic style, where the congregants sit around the walls and the Rabbi reads from a central pulpit or bimah. Before the destruction of the Temple, synagogues served as community centers rather than prayer houses, and this set-up was more conducive for that purpose. The Ashkenazi floor plan of a synagogue is more reminiscent of a church layout due to Ashkenazi (Eastern European Jews) close contact with Christians. In the torah ark located to the right of the sanctuary is located a very special torah scroll written by Rabbi Abohav himself! This scroll is only read on the most holy of holidays.
The second synagogue was the Rabbi Ha-Ari synagogue named after the holy Rabbi Luria from the 16th century. He was a rabbi who had many followers but tragically died young. According to Chen, the reason many “good men die young” is because 
their purpose on earth has been accomplished. This synagogue was also constructed in the Sephardic style, but is currently used by an Ashkenazi congregation. Several years ago, it was the site of a Hezbollah bombing. It was truly a miracle that no one was injured in the slightest! A piece of shrapnel damaged the central bimah, and left a small hole in its place. This hole is now a location to which many people come – they pray and occasionally leave notes within it (similar to the prayers at the Western Wall!). In the back of the synagogue there is also a special seat, a love seat, that when sat upon, will grant good luck in relationships.
Our first activity when arriving in Tzvat was a guided tour by Chen (most of the information above came from this tour). The second activity was a visit to David Friedman‘s art gallery. Originally from Colorado (many of the people we met on our trip were Americans who made aliyah or moved to Israel), 
Friedman is inspired by Kabbalah and number symbolism (gematria). He uses mainly primary colors (red, yellow, blue) and shapes (circle, triangle, square). The colors and shapes are symbolic. Red represents fire, blue represents water, and yellow represents spirit/light. The combination of all these colors is brown, and represents the earth. In terms of shapes, each is symbolic in terms of the number of sides they have (circle-1, triangle-3, and square-4). He gave a mind-blowing lecture about many of his individual pieces. He also said that much of the imagery he uses has been “mistaken” as symbolism from other cultures, which I find truly interesting. Make sure to visit his website (by clicking above) to take a look at his artwork and their explanations. There were many other galleries throughout the city that I, unfortunately, didn’t have the time to see.
After having lunch time for ourselves, the girls and boys separated for tours of the mikveh – the Jewish ritual bath. We learned all about the mitzvah and tradition of the mikveh, and then got to see it first hand. Though I thought Sarah, the speaker, was phenomenal, I was a little underwhelmed with the actual bath. I was envisioning something more like an Arabic harem bath house. It was also interesting hearing from Karen, another woman from the mikveh, about her experience in becoming more “religious.” Having not always been religious or orthodox, she now feels freer as a woman while the rest of society might see her as being oppressed.
I really enjoyed my experience in Tzvat. To be completely honest, I really liked seeing orthodox women in their element and enjoying their lives. It’s not the path I would choose to take, but I can definitely see how it works for some. I also really appreciated the fact that there were so many Spanish rabbis that had such an impact on the city of Tzvat, although it’d be cooler if they had brought some Spanish/Moorish aesthetic to the city. I didn’t find Tzvat to be a very pretty place, and a lot of buildings were destroyed in some way or other.
We returned, exhausted and sleeping, to the hotel for some downtime before Shabbat. I definitely needed a shower! Instead of going to services, Jenna led a Shabbat discussion. Those who stayed and participated really enjoyed it, I think. No one, except for Lindsay, Cara, and I, stayed for Oneg Shabbat – an informal, after dinner hangout. After Oneg, I headed back to the room “early” at around 10:00. I tried to sleep, but because of an oncoming cold, I had trouble.
