Tuesday, October 31, 2006

The Shvil
On Wednesday the 10th day of the month of Heshvan 5767 (November 1st, 2006) I will head out for what I am hoping to be one of the greatest adventures of my life. After being an oleh (new immigrant) here in Israel for coming up on 3-years, teaching a few semesters of Jewish history, and guiding in the summers, I feel like I have a pretty good familiarity with the country. However, before I head off to the army for 6 months (to be discussed more later...) I thought that I should try and gain a more intimate knowledge of her. They say that Israel is artzeinu haktantonet ("our tiny country") and I plan to find out first hand how "ktantonet" she really is. For the next month I will be hiking the length of the country from North to South following The Shvil Yisrael.

[for all those readers who have stereo equipment on their computer now would be a good time to press play on Ehud Banai's song "Yotzei L'Or - יוצא לאור" just for a little background theme music.]

So basically it's like this, I finished teaching two months out of a four month program for NFTY-EIE and am taking this time to do something that most people just don't have time for. I was a bit sad to leave the program as it has enveloped my life for the past three years, and the kids were great. But, like anything else I guess it's time to move on, head out of doors for a little while. I feel that slowly, slowly I am losing a connection to nature - I mean really living off the earth, being sensitive to each of the wonders that nature offers and being aware of the environemtn and its constant querks. I hope that living outside for the next month will open my eyes to everything around me.
The Shvil
The Israel Trail - Shvil Yisrael in Hebrew - is a cool idea that took a community of hobbyists and professionals 15 years to put together and their work will never end. An Israeli journalist came up with the idea of connecting Israel's many hiking trails into one continuous trail - from the Lebanese border to the Red Sea. In 1994 the first hikers walked all of the Israel Trail and in 1995 President Ezer Weizmann officially inaugurated the trail.
Since then many Israelis do sections of it at a time as the bible on Shvil Yisrael suggests, and even some try to tackle the endeavor in sweeping trek. The book divides it into 45 one or two day hikes of about 6-7 hours each day. I will attempt to do it in thirty days. (apologies, but the only 30-day breakdown I could find is listed in Hebrew.) Some of the days here are quite long, and I think that I will soon find out if they are do-able or not. The goal is not to kill myself or ot be a hero, but just have a nice walk through the country. The weeks leading up to the shvil were full of anticipation, as I began to map out the route, collect all of the gear and make preparations for departure. The issue on the shvil is how much to carry, where I can find water and where to replenish supplies. Since I am hiking at the begining of winter, it does rain a lot, but water and food should be able to be filled at least once a day in the North, getting sparser as the path winds its way down South through the Negev desert.
So, right now my pack is pretty full (a little bit daunting, as I am kind of out of shape), and i think that I have way more than I need, but will soon find out. As I stack my pack full of "essentials" I can't help but recall the ridiculous scene from Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods where his partner in crime Katz proceeds to dump out all of his "essentials" mid-trail as the load becomes unbearable. So, if the next time you're out mid-way up Har Meron or the Arbel or something and you see a bunch of clif bars, a pocket sized TaNaCh, tent, sleeping bag, nalgenes, pots, pans, fleece, Ipod, and the wholedamnpackitself on the side of the trail you'll know that I just couldn't take it.
I find it rather appropriate that I begin my trek across Israel during the week of Parshat Lech L'cha. Not only do we make the transition from universalism to particularism here, but I have been long inspired by B'reishit 13:17 where we are told: קוּם הִתְהַלֵּךְ בָּאָרֶץ, לְאָרְכָּהּ וּלְרָחְבָּהּ: כִּי לְךָ, אֶתְּנֶנָּה. And my respone is "Az, ok!" "Yallah, let's go..." I would like to invite any and all to come out and join me on this adventure. Even if you come for a few days, an overnight, a shabbat, a picnic lunch or a pit-stop, the company will be welcome. I am hopefully going to set a steady fast pace, but don't let that deter you from heading out. I do realize that people coming from abroad to join the shvil might have appreciated some earlier notice, so sorry, I was busy teaching and packing. Come anyway. If anyone really does want to come and join me, the best is to follow along the thirty day itinerary listed above and send me a text message or give a call (0528-825202) when you're thinking of coming. I am not totally sure on how to get each place by public transportation, but by then I'll have a better idea. I don't think that I'll have much internet access over the next month, so this may be a one-time occurence. Maybe half way, when I reach Tzuba (the center of the earth) then I will be able to fill in some more, hopefully with stories.May you all be well, and I look forward to hearing from you in about a month.
peace
josh

"Let us fight to end the monotony of daily life by looking closely and observing it."-a wise guy