creative jewish mom

Stunning Views From The Car Of The Kinneret And Mount Arbel

On our drive home this week after 2 nights in Jerusalem, I just had to whip out the camera to capture the incredible beauty of our country to share with you, and to have on hand for when I hopefully get around to painting landscapes of all this amazing inspiration! The Galil or Galilee, the area that we call home is in Northern Israel and really in my opinion the most stunning area due to the mountain ranges and of course the Kinneret, Lake Tiberius. Seeing the lake always takes my breath away, as we see in when we leave our mountaintop town anytime we are heading south. I don't have time to write an essay about this at the moment, so just enjoy my photos taken from the car!

Views Of The Kinnerest And Har Arbel From Hararit

This past August during our 3 week summer vacation, we had the great pleasure of exploring some stunning mountainous areas in the lower Galil, under an hour's drive from our home, and yet new to us. One of my favorite locations was a community called Hararit, where there are stunning mountian views on two sides of the mountain peak top location as well as a lovely view of Lake Tiberius (the Kinneret) and Mt. Arbel, another favorite location. Hararit is located on the Netofa mountain range, which is parallel to the Meron mountain range, the end of which we see from our home. So friends, enjoy my photos and think about visiting this amazing location yourself someday.......ask me about it if you like!

Wildflowers Bloom On Mount Arbel, Israel In The Spring

On our visit to Mount Arbel, just a 40 minute or so drive from our home in Northern Israel, we were in awe of the views, which you can see here, and in awe of the archeology, some of which you can see here, though I also realized that this was indeed a very special place as far as nature and ecosystems are concerned, as it is a plateau mountain just above the lowest fresh water lake in the world, which means all kinds of things. It is home to a diversity of plants, birds, and cliff-dwelling animals, and I did discover on the National Parks website that in fact there is a specific snail that lives on on Mount Arbel, and is unique to Mount Arbel, called Cristataria genezerethana; there are also rare plants like the bladder senna (colutea istria), rock scrophularia (Scrophularia xylorrhiza), and the wallcreeper (Tichodroma muraria). Addtionally there is a bird that over-winters on Mount Arbel, and looks like a red butterfly in flight as well as nesting birds of prey, and many more.

While I did not identify any of these rare plants on our trip, I did take note of all the wonderful little wildflowers in bloom, which I am sharing with you here, enjoy!

A Visit To Mount Arbel On The Shores Of The Sea Of Galilee

I have passed by the cliffs of Mount Arbel numerous times, (and we even see a sliver from our home 45 minutes away) or rather many many times, and it never occurred to me that the area on the top of the mountain would be a national park, silly me. So grateful to have at last made this realization and taken some of my family for a little visit this past Passover. Wow, wow, wow, a must visit my friends! Mount Arbel is located in the eastern Lower Galilee, with monumental cliffs, and a plateau that offers a breathtaking view of the Jordan Valley, the Sea of Galilee, the Golan Heights, Mt Hermon, and the Galilee.

The site was declared a nature reserve in order to restore and conserve the fascinating heritage sites and antiquities found at Arbel. These sites include Arbel Fortress and the impressive cave village, where historic battles were fought in the days of Herod, called Horvat Vradim (Hamam), as well as the ruins of the Jewish settlement of Arbel, in which the remains of a splendid ancient Galilean synagogue are still to be seen. (Have not been there yet.....) Okay, lets take a look at this special place! And do check out my previous post, which shows the views of Mt. Nitai from Mt. Arbel,and its caves, right here.

A Royal Poinciana Tree Grows In Tiberias Israel

On our little adventure to Tiberius  to give my son one last hurrah at the end of his Succos vacation we made quite a few mistakes trying to reach our desired destination. One such mistake had us waiting at a bus stop in the middle of a little residential neighborhood, and me saying jokingly "the most important thing is that we get to spend this time together." During this together time,I spotted a beautiful tree just across the street, a tropical tree mind you, the likes of which could never grow where we live, and so of course I had to take a few photos!

Upon returning home I had no problem locating the name of this tree, and it is called Royal Poinciana. Not a native to Israel, but rather Madagascar, but Israel is on the list of known countries worldwide where it grows today. The flowers are gorgeous and the leaves so pretty, now just gotta catch this tree in full bloom next time!

Tubing In Israel On Lake Tiberius

At the end of your Succot vacation when your thirteen year old is about to have a meltdown looking at the long 6 month stretch of serious yeshiva learning that lies ahead, and he thinks his vacation wasn't packed with enough action, well, you go against your own grain and do whatever it takes to send him off to yeshiva happy, especially if he is your baby and a bit on the young side to be away from home! What am I babbling about? First of all, I am generally not in favor of water sports that involve fast boats and noise to put it politely, I am the kayaking, sailing, canoeing kind of gal. Parenting teens always involves compromises however, so last week I put all that aside in order to take a little trip to The Sea of the Gallilea so that a fast boat could pull my son along as he clung dearly to an inflated mattress. I do believe this is called "tubing" and yes, my daughter and I did ride along on the boat, and yes this little outing involved lots of adventure as we first missed the bus, then got on the wrong bus in Tiberius, and were entirely sure the tubing place had closed, but in fact not, and we even waited around and found some other boys to accompany my son on the raft. After the action we walked across the street and up the hill to pray at the gravesite of Rebbe Meir Baal HaNess, a very holy site.

The end of the story? My son went off to yeshiva happy and did exceptionally well on their first test, when 3/4 of the class actually got low scores. Now i really have no idea whether this was due to the fast boat, the prayers or something else altogether, but I can say I did my part.......ah yes and we even literally ran to catch the bus back home! Care to join me for a little spin on the lake, come along.......

The Sea Of Galillee (Lake Tiberius, Yom Kinneret) On A Beautiful December Afternoon

Above: The Kinneret, The Sea of The Galillee In Northern Israel, With The Golan Heights In the Background. Looking east across the lake.

My daughter is on school vacation (the boys have half-days) and so we took the opportunity to take a 40 minute drive to the Holy City Of Tiberius (Tiveria) for some much needed clothes shopping for her, and fortunately I brought my camera along. And more fortunately, my husband actually stopped the car so I could get out and capture the gorgeous views over The Sea Of The Galillee, as we returned home to continue our Hanukkah celebrations. I hadn't been to the shores of the Kinneret (as we call it here in Israel) in quite a while, and with bright blue skies and deep blue waters, the views were truly stunning! The drive from our home into the city of Tiberius is also breathtaking as well. The road winds down the mountain and the lake is glimpsed from afar and then after passing numerous banana groves suddenly a bounty of water is right beside you!

Visiting The Jordan River and The Kinneret (Sea of Galilee)

The northern tip of The Sea of Galilee, our beloved Kinneret.

First of all, chodesh tov, wishing you all a joyful new month as we welcome the month of Adar, the month on the Jewish calendar that is all about simcha, joy! Yesterday my kids all had a half day of school in honor of Rosh Chodesh, so we took a little trip about thirty minutes from home to see some water! And specifically to see the Jordan river where it empties into the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) and to also witness the great fact that after many years of drought, the Kinneret has returned to a normal level, a truly happy situation!

The Four Holy Cities Of Israel On Rachel's Yarzheit: Part 1

The view from the gravesite of the great sage, Rebbe Meir Baal HaNess, looking at the city of Tiberius.

It's very quiet out there in blog land, and I at long last have a moment to share with you some photographs from a special and uplifting tour of the Four Holy Cities of Israel that my daughter and I joined on October 27th. This tour, which included interestingly enough, four bus loads of women, and departed from the Holy City of Safed, took place on a very special day, the yarzheit (day of passing) of our beloved mother Rachel. A day especially good for prayer and introspection in the merit of Rachel, and which, in our case included a visit to her gravesite near Bethlehem!