Studying about the Golan at Katzrin

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The Florence Melton School in Palo Alto and the Melton Israel Seminar in Palo Alto is funded by the ALS Jewish Community Center, and the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, Marin County, and the Peninsula.

The day opens with the breath-taking Kinneret, the source of one third of the drinking water of Israel.  Water is a continuing consideration in our studies.  As Californians, we understand the importance.

Studying about the Golan at Katrzrin

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A thought for the day -- The dogs can bark, but caravans continue moving.

We may want to linger at the holiday village on the Kinneret, but we are not on holiday.  It is time to move on, and go a step further as Hayim reminds us.

Today we study the Golan Heights (under Syrian control until 1967). We will go to the "capital" of the Golan, Katzrin.  The theme of Tuesday, July 17 is from 1967 to 5767 (2007) -- Fateful Decisions.  It is time consider the borders of this Land, our Land.

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We begin with maps.  Maps of frontiers and borders and conquest, maps of 1967 and 1973, of the Golan and the Syrian Front.  And we consider the several different border-lines of the Promised Land contained in the Torah.  And then we do an exercise together on Land and Compromise, considering 13 different factors individually and then working in groups, trying to get to a group consensus quickly.

Then we drive from the Kinneret to the Golan, past the in-place land mines, sitting on the ridge at Mitzpe Gadot, where the Syrians had been encamped in bunkers, shooting on Kibbutz Gadot below in the valley.  And we study the history of this place from 1949 - 1967.

Then, a stop at the War Memorial to the 7th Brigade for the fallen of 1967 and 1973.

At Katrzrin, "capital" of the Golan, we meet with Ramona Bar Lev, long-time resident and political and social activist who takes seriously her mission to educate Israelis and visitors about the history of the Golan and the importance of the Golan to Israel today, and what it was like in the Golan one year ago during the 2nd Lebanon war.  We are full of questions  -- how should the state of Israel today deal with the Golan Heights?  Lots of complicated questions.

Then we move back in time from the capture of the Golan Heights in 1967 to the capture of Gamla in 67 to consider the historical ties that the Jewish people have to the Golan.  We visit the Golan Archaeological Museum in Katzrin, and we learn about the story of ancient Gamla.  And we consider the similarities between the story of Gamla and what we had learned at Masada.  And we read text from Josephus, The Jewish War.

It is late and we return on our bus to Jerusalem.  We are very tired and happy to return to our "home" at the Inbal.  The group has a late dinner planned at the Little Italy restaurant.  I am well fed from these many days as part of the Seminar, but I have not had eight hours of sleep in a long time.  Our days have been very full, overflowing.  I skip dinner this night in favor of sleep, sweet sleep.  I am happy, full of study and questions -- there has been much to reflect upon, -- but tired, very tired.