We arrived in the ancient and holy city of Tzfat (Safed) on Friday afternoon, and were hosted for dinner and lunch for Shabbos by two different families.  On Saturday night, we had a melave malka with friends who I originally ‘met’ online via an international listserve for Orthodox Jewish homeschoolers.  They visited the US about five years ago and we met at that time, when we had the chance to host them for Shabbos.

Late that evening when we returned, dh drove home with dd11 and dd17, and everyone else stayed with me.  On Sunday morning, we went to the Old City of Tzfat and visited the English Speaker’s Library, where we were able to check out a number of books.  We are a family to whom a library is very important, and though we’ve made do with the resources we have available locally, it’s SO nice to be able to get the physical books in our hands!  I now have several choices for readalouds with the kids – it’s a good position to be in.  🙂

We headed from there to a second hand shop, but were stopped numerous times by animated groups of girls who wanted to take their pictures with us, while holding a sign that said something about Purim.  It seems they had a school activity which was something like a treasure hunt – some of the explanations we were given were: they needed a picture of them with a girl wearing a long skirt, someone with blond hair, someone with blue eyes, someone wearing a red shirt – there were other criteria and it seemed that our family met the different criteria needed by every single group we passed! For each of these pictures, the person/people in our family posed with the girls who needed it, but by the third time a group exclaimed excitedly over ds4, he hid behind me – he was a good sport but it was a little overwhelming for a little kid.  I was laughing to the kids that when these different groups of girls later look at the pictures they gathered, they’re going to see the same family in all of them!  We definitely felt part of the pre-Purim spirit.

After that we went to a couple of second hand shops, which are only open in the earlier part of the day.  We didn’t find much, but I did find two pairs of shoes for dd11, which was great. And it sounds funny that I think it was good that I didn’t find much, but now I can put the second hand clothes possibilities in Tzfat out of my mind – I had heard there might be good shopping there, but it  wouldn’t be worth a trip of its own.  By the time we finished at the library and stores, we had already been out for a while and the littles were tired – there’s a lot of walking in Tzfat – so we decided to head for home and come back to the Old City later in the day.

Did I mention there’s a lot of walking in Tzfat?  It bears mentioning again.  Since moving to Israel, I do a lot of walking and my stamina is pretty good, but my calf muscles were screaming in pain by the time I got back to Karmiel.  The last time I remember anything like this was on my trip to Israel last year when I was walking six or seven hours a day (and being used to being pretty sedentary thanks to usually driving everywhere in a car in the US), while wearing my new negative incline Earth shoes (which work the leg muscles just by walking) that I hadn’t broken in while still in the US.  This time, it took me three days after getting home for my legs to feel normal again.   The entire city is on a mountain and it’s up and down and up and down – nothing is close to where you want to go.  I took a stroller down a mountain path that was so steep that it was better suited to mountain goats than  people (it was a big shortcut that saved us a lot of time and the option was walking down the mountain via lots of wind-y roads).  I learned that you can’t believe anyone who lives in Tzfat when they tell you how long it takes to walk somewhere – they are totally skewed since their endurance is well beyond the rest of us mortals and you have to at least double the time and effort they tell you is involved.

Anyway.  Just to tell you that walking a lot is part of the Tzfat experience so doing anything takes a lot of physical effort.  🙂  After we got home and everyone had lunch, rested, and played, we went back into town late that afternoon.  We stopped first at Safed Candles, which has some amazing wax sculptures that the kids and I were all impressed by.  Dh knows the artist who is responsible for the bulk of the incredibly creative candles they have, who a while back told dh he’d be happy to give us a personal tour if we came to Tzfat.  But he wasn’t available on Friday afternoon which was the only time dh was available so we contented ourselves with browsing through the displays in the stores, which was well worth our time.  Safed Candles has a lot of fun sculptures, like a huge Noah’s Ark filled with familiar cartoon animals from various movies (eg Winnie the Pooh, The Lion King), as well as religious depictions and some sculptures that combine the religious and contemporary.

After that, we went to the Ari Ashkenazi shul.  Tzfat is filled with ancient synagogues, but that’s not really interesting to little children, so this was the only one I took them to.  When we got there, it was it was between the afternoon and evening services, when they don’t want tourists around, but I really wanted my kids to see this very holy place.  I had read a little bit about the shul at the above link, and was able to point out the wood carvings with the lion and it’s human-looking face on the Holy Ark to all of the kids. This may not have been interesting for them, but it was important for me personally and I would have felt a loss if I had only focused on doing what the kids were interested in.

After that, ds13 was asked to help make a minyan in a synagogue right next to the Ari shul, so I walked around with ds4 through some courtyards while we waited.  I wanted to go the Artist Colony, but again, that wouldn’t be interesting for the kids.  So we instead went for a stroll down the midrachov (which translates to something like big sidewalk, but basically means the popular shopping area).

We very soon came upon a store that was hopping with customers – it was a store selling Purim costumes and miscellaneous related supplies.  It was such an nice feeling to see everyone preparing for Purim, which like all Jewish holidays, is celebrated nationally in Israel.  So nice to be part of the religious majority after living our lives as the minority!  After pushing through the crowded aisles, we found a section with Purim masks and more costume stuff that even the older kids found very fun.

Dd15 and I took ds2 and ds4 with us to a store down the block to find her some tops, and left the other kids together enjoying the Purim costumes and other goodies.  We didn’t have much luck in the clothing department, and when we came out, it was starting to sprinkle.  By this time the littles were ready for dinner and bed, so dd15 and I headed for home, and left the middles to enjoy wandering around by themselves.  I love that this is something that as a responsible parent you can do here!  In the US I literally took them everywhere and constantly had my eyes on them; I had difficulty agreeing to let my ds12 bike with some friends a few blocks away to buy a Slurpy.  I felt it was borderline risky, and I definitely wouldn’t have let him go himself.  But here, I was fine letting ds13, the twelve year old son of our host and ds9 (I can’t remember if I let ds5 stay with them or not- I know he wanted to!) walk around a city our kids had no familiarity with after dark.  I know, Israel is such a dangerous country, isn’t it?  😛

The next morning, our host drove by the local petting zoo and checked the opening times for me, and also told me that the entrance fee was ten shekels a person (she had thought it was less, but the prices had gone up).  Regardless of the increase, I still wanted the kids to be able to go, so we loaded up the stroller and all began our hike up the mountain that is Tzfat, accompanied by an eight year old homeschooler who my boys had become friendly with.

The weather had been really nice all weekend, but was especially warm and beautiful that day.  We took a shortcut (up a steep path behind a store, then up a bunch of steps- it’s amazing my stroller is still in one piece!), and so the walk was only thirty minutes.  Or maybe a little less?  It didn’t seem too short, with even my older kids asking when we were going to get there.  When we got there, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that the entrance was free that day!

The petting zoo was pretty small, but still very nice.  There were rabbits, guinea pigs, lots of different kinds of pheasants and other birds, and lemurs.  Then the duck pond had a number of ducks as well as swans.  In another area, were chickens, peacocks, emus, and deer.  I’m guessing that the entrance was free because there weren’t so many animals available for viewing/petting.  But I didn’t mind.  Because we were there during school hours, for most of our visit we were the only ones there, and I was able to let the kids run around and keep an eye on them all while sitting in one central place.  It was so relaxing!

I was there for quite a while – we had packed a light picnic lunch to enjoy there- but dd15 and ds13 stayed for a short while before asking if they could walk around the Old City together.  I was happy to let them have time exploring without having to take into account the littles, who go much more slowly, and walking with a stroller is limiting because the entire city is connected via steep flights of stairs.  They were out for a few hours and had a really nice time together.

There was a pony there, but though they usually offered rides for an additional fee, that day weren’t offering the rides at all.  Too bad, since I would have gladly paid for all the kids to have a ride.  However, the kids were having a good time and didn’t mind.  There was also a playground, and while we were there, one of the workers took out a hedgehog to show a visiting adult friend.  Since our kids were there, they got to hear the details about it as well as to pet it and watch it close up.  It’s nice to be able to enjoy simple pleasures, and this zoo was one of them.  Nothing fancy, but the kids had a really nice time and I found it very relaxing.

We went back to where we were staying, knowing it was time to pack up and head home.  Ds2 fell asleep, so I put him in bed while I made lunch and the rest of the boys enjoyed playing outside with their new friends.  Ds13 and dd15 got home just as lunch was ready, so we all ate outside on the covered porch in the warm sunlight, looking out at the beautiful views.

Finally, it was time to leave, and we took a couple of taxis to the central bus station and headed home.  The ride home was relatively uneventful – only one child threw up on the bus (fortunately I had foreseen this possibility since the winding roads lend themselves to nausea and was prepared with empty sandwich bags and extra tissues).  By the time we got home, it was after 6 pm, and we were all pretty tired.

Even though they are just a 45 minute drive from each other, Tzfat is the opposite of Karmiel in every way – physically, historically, socially  – and it really was a change of pace to spend a few days there.  We enjoyed ourselves so much and I feel very fortunate that we were able to go!

Avivah