Here’s one more good thing that came out of our trip to the US: We decided to give try camping, something we had never done before as a family. So, on Friday, we packed the kids, a tent, sleeping bags, food and another family and out we went!
We arrived at Mt. Meron in the Upper Galilee but rather than going uphill, we went down to the stream. After a short hike, we arrived at the gorgeous stream and the clear water pools. This place is absolutely heavenly, and we spent a nice time down by the cool pools, enjoying the peace and quiet. Well, ok, we were with the kids, so we mainly enjoyed the scenery and the cool water.
Later in the afternoon, we drove towards the holy town of Tzfat, but stopped a few kilometers away from the town in a nice quiet pine forest where we spent the night. It was lovely, with two tents, a bonfire, a dog and a nice dinner cooked on the fire. Our sleeping arrangements turned out to be comfortable enough. Unfortunately, this being a Friday, we had a noisy (acid?) party, obviously not too far away from our makeshift camping site. So, not enough sleep, but overall not a bad experience, and one we plan on repeating (minus the night time entertainment) in the future.
The next morning, on Saturday, we went to visit a special kibbutz on the way back home. Kibbutz Harduf is known in Israel as a leader of organic agriculture, and the aim of our visit was to view their organic cow sheds, where bovines are supposed to be treated more humanely than in an ordinairy industrial cowshed. You see, both IsraeliDad and myself have always been concerned with the welfare of farm animals. IsraeliDad, being a greater person than me, has been practicing vegeterianism for several years now, for that very reason. As of this week, I will attempt to join him, and as part of our dilemma concerning dairy products, we decided to visit the organic cowsheds. Our bottom line? we’re going vegan.
Until there is a major change in the way farm animals are treated in Israel, we will not consume any meat, eggs or dairy products here. Nothing to do with health reasons – this one is a purely moral choice. We are not advocates of animal rights per se – but we do care about animal welfare, and we feel that in Israel, current agricultural practices cause way too much suffering to farm animals. I may do a separate post on this in the future. For now, suffice to say that I’ll gladly consume these foods again, as soon as Israel catches up with the humane standards of farmers in the UK and EU.
Anyway, to end on a more peaceful and pleasant tone, here are some pictures from our weekend (you can click for a larger version).
Hiking in Meron:
Getting into the water pools:
Our overnight stay in a makeshift camping ground near Tzfat:
on May 27th, 2009 at 8:34 am
Wonderful blog! My only concern is joking that Zionism could possibly be considered a “bad” word; I believe that even though said in jest it could be seen to give some credence to our enemies.
I loved reading about your trip to the U.S. and Meron/Tzafat, and look forward to reading more about your lovely family.
on May 30th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Thanks for visiting Massachusetts Mom and for the comment. The Zionism comment was a bit of a reaction to online discussions I had been involved with. Up until that time I didn’t even realize how that word alone could antagonize people so much. I figured everyone knew that Zionists were really good people, and pretty much equated Zionism with socialism and progress. Oops, socialism. No more dirty words, promise!
on Jun 1st, 2009 at 5:34 am
Looks like your family had a bunch of fun.
Paulas last blog post..My Dream Sofa