Page 37 - Kol Bogrei Habonim - January 19

Kabbalat Shabbat, on the lawn, was organised by Paleomagnetic site near Wassett Junction, to
Paul and Carol Shotts. Very respectful and
inclusive, we sat in a circle as night fell, leaving
those from abroad wistfully wishing they had
heeded Elaine’s advice and brought their
jumpers. Soon everyone was joining in the old
niggunim especially lecha dodi, and as I looked
around I could see that people were transported
back from the Golan of 2017 to their youth and
kabbalot Shabbat in the kinim, summer camps or
Bet HaEmek in 1970.
Kabbalat Shabbat was followed by dinner at the
hotel, and then an evening programme arranged
by Nick Kates in the form of a multi-media quiz,
using music and slides of the few photos
available from our shnat. Thanks to Pam, there
are now better and more pictures of our group
after two days at Merom Golan than there are of
our entire year on Bet HaEmek.
As the resident licensed tour-guide, I was asked
to organise and lead a local tiyul on the Shabbat.
The challenge for me was to find sites and places
of interest that even those who live in Mevo
Hama did not know or had not visited. The tiyul
was designed as an introduction to the Golan and
the sites to be visited were a mix of introduction
to the geology of the Golan; life in a
th
reconstructed Talmudic Village of the 5-8
Centuries; a fascinating newly excavated and
reconstructed synagogue; and, an introduction to
the Six-Day and Yom Kippur Wars, and their
impact on the Golan.
After breakfast, the scene was set as we left
Merom Golan in convoy, firstly to the
37
hear about the reverse polar-magnetic field
trapped in the basalt. Thereafter, still in convoy,
we headed to the top of Har Bental, for a lookout
over the Syrian Plateau and an update on the
geopolitics of the Golan, followed by a coffee in
Café Annan (pun on Kofi Anan and Café in the
clouds). From there we went down to Katzrin,
where we visited the Talmudic Village for a
glimpse of life in the time of Jesus, and had a
picnic lunch outside. Finally, we climbed down
to the fascinating site of Umm el Kanatir
(mother of arches) and visited the excavated and
th
reconstructed 5 century synagogue, which is
not yet even open to the public and saw the three
arches after which the site is named. From there
we retired to nearby Kibbutz Mevo Hama for a
lovely fish-and-chip supper courtesy of Gary and
Ann, and a schmooze with invited chaverim of
the Kibbutz and others, who came to bid us
farewell.
Allowing Sue the last word - I think she got it
right, when after the event she emailed and
thanked the organising committee "…we can all
be very satisfied and happy with how the
weekend went. A good/great time was had by
all. All our meetings were worthwhile,
everything went so smoothly and each activity
was really interesting and fun………I think it
was a sign that the weekend was a success, that
nobody wanted it to end, and some stayed (on at
Mevo Hama) for quite a while. Just 3 years to go
until the next one….."