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In the the town of Ramle lives a sect whose traditions and observances take us back to the days when the Torah was given to the Israelites.

We met with Yosef Dvir, a spokesperson for the community at the Karaite center and synagogue in Ramle. Dvir briefed us on the history of the Karaites, a community with about 40,000 members living in Israel and about 25,000 outside of Israel. (San Francisco is home to 300 members of the Karaite sect.) He explained that according to the doctrine of the sect, Karaites are Jews and that this fact is often overlooked and misunderstood.

Their deviation from rabbinic Jewish practice stems from their decision not to accept the teachings of the Oral Law which the sages compiled in the Mishna and the Talmud in the period following the destruction of the Second Temple.

After the destruction of the Second Temple, Jews were dispersed from Israel to Babylon and other lands. The spiritual leader of the Diaspora Jews, Rabbenu Annan HaNasi (Anan ben David), a descendent of King David, saw great differences in the way people were observing the laws. He decided that it was time to return to the source — the Torah. His descendents came to be known as the Karaites or Annanim. For rabbinic Jews, these texts are the basis of Jewish law.

Dvir explains the Karaite position: “The Mishna and Talmud were written by people and not by G-d, therefore they contain human differences of opinion. Whereas the Torah contains G-d’s word, and is based on what is written in the Torah we can learn how to conduct our lives today and into the future, just as we have in the past.”

The Karaites were the first organized group to return to the land of Israel after living in the Diaspora. They settled in Jerusalem and Ramle in the 5th and 6th centuries. During this period they are credited with writing the Kinot. Later, Ben Asher of Tiberias is known to have developed Hebrew grammar.

Traditions and rules of observance are passed from one generation to the next including rules for slaughtering animals, brit milah, and blessings over the new moon. All holidays are observed on the actual date that is written in the Torah and are not postponed to another day so as not to interfere with Shabbat, as is done in rabbinical Judaism. In a seemingly modern spirit of equality, both women and men sign the marriage contract and men do not say the prayer thanking G-d for not making them a woman.

The synagogue in Karaite tradition is a place of prayer reserved for men and women who are in a state of “purity” - a condition defined by the Torah. The floor is covered with rugs and men and women enter the sanctuary without shoes. The tallit or tzizit are displayed so that according to the words of the Torah, orietem otam [and you shall see them]. In the synagogue the men sit on the main floor and conduct the services while the women go upstairs to the balcony.

Visits to the Karaite Center in Ramle must be pre-arranged.
7 Klausner St., Ramle
Tel: 08.924.8435

Contact Drive-Israel.com to arrange your visit.

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A combined effort of farmers, the Jewish National Fund, and nature conservationsts, the HulaValley’s newly reclaimed swamplands are now home to over 13,000 cranes from Siberia. During the three years it takes to get here from Siberia, the crane family units stay together. In the Hula Valley, one can identify separate family units.

The plan was put into action when it became obvious that, unlike for people-type tourists, Israel is the preferred wintering location of the Grey Crane — and his family and friends. These winged visitors have been growing in number over the last few years.

Since the crane’s favorite meal is found in the corn crops of the local moshav and kibbutz farmers, these hard-working agriculturalists were ready to take out their shot guns in order to save their livelihoods.

But, vision and wisdom were instead applied, and the farmers along with JNF and nature conservationists, have turned this would-be pest, into a welcome winter guest.

The farmers bring three tons of corn daily to a designated area in the Hula Valley. The cranes, intelligent creatures that they are, eagerly flock here in the early morning and early evening when the feed is spread out.

In addition to feeding the cranes here, the Hula Valley has been reflooded - in effect to return the area to the swamp lands they once were. Now, an area that was until recently dry land, has ponds and streams. Ducks and geese are among the new inhabitants of the new park.

The battle to save both agricultural land, and to encourage migrating birds to winter in Israel, was achieved in a creative and cooperative effort. And we have gained a wonderful new park with lakes, waterways, a bird lookout tower, bicycle paths, and wonderful winged guests!

Rent a bicycle-built-for-two, electric golf cart, mountain bike, kiddie shlepper…

Where: 20 minutes south of Kiryat Shemona, Rte 90. Be sure to enter Hula-Agmon Park.

Resources for Explorer Tourists
Underground row boating in land-locked Ramle? Too strange to be true. Yet, there was the sign beckoning us on: Boating Under the Arches. Our companions for the day were two adorable almost 13-year-olds: a post-Bat Mitzvah girl, and a pre-Bar Mitzvah boy — the perfect cover to “gone rowing” in the middle of the day.

We passed through the center of Ramle — a town with a mixed Christian, Muslim and Jewish population — that lies between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, as we followed the signs.

We were led down the steep stairs into the underground pools where the rowboats awaited us. As the two navigators oared among the spiring 8th century arches, the feeling was of Disneyland — but no, this was the real thing: underground, under arches, built during the rule of Harun al-Rashid in the 8th century. The Unayziyya Cistern, also known as the pool of St. Helena, served as reservoirs for this once strategic town and the surrounding area.

Today the reservoir is a tourist site where visitors are invited to learn about the ancient water collection system as they row between the arches.

In addition to the reservoirs, do not miss the Square Tower, built in 1318 by the Mameluk Sultan, Klaun Zelach. The tower, which stands 30 meters high, was built with a dual purpose: both for the muezzin to call the community to prayer and as a watchtower. Adjacent to the tower is the White Mosque dating back to the 8th century.

From the tower looking to the east one can see the bell tower of the Franciscan church, Nesher Concrete Factory, the hills of the Shefelah (lowlands) region, Ben Shemen forest, and as far as the Judean hills and Samaria. Gazing west, the new water tower in the Ben Gurion neighborhood of Ramle and the Tel Aviv skyline can be seen. The city of Rehovot, home to the Weizmann Institute and the Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew University is visible.

Today as in the past, this multi-cultural city welcomes new immigrants to the region: the most recent influx of immigrants is from the Former Soviet Union and Ethiopia.

Hours for Boating Under the Arches:
8:00-14:00 Sun-Thurs, open until noon on Fridays and holiday eves; open until 15:30 on Saturday and holidays.
Tel: 08.977.1484

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In 1983, the 40th anniversary of Kibbutz Revivim in the Negev, the hilltop was turned into an outdoor museum. The original buildings were restored and visitors can walk through the site where the first settlers lived, and later fought during the War of Independence. Here you can learn about the beginnings of Zionist settlement in the Negev. A visit to Mitzpe Revivim allows us to imagine what it was like to walk from Rishon LeZion in the center of the country, with only a backpack, to the stark desert. Water, food and shelter south of Be’er Sheva were hard to find, yet the pioneers succeeded. With foresight and courage, they built the fort-like compound.

As you tour the hilltop, be sure to check out the long range views from on top of the highest building. First look north and imagine what they saw in every direction and then turn around and see the kibbutz they established. The furniture, books, pictures and letters tell an important first-hand account of how the pioneers relaxed in their spare time.

Where: Route 40 to the Tlalim Junction
Reservations advised: 08.656.2570

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The journey through time experienced at the Palmach Museum takes the visitor back to the 1940s, a stormy decade around the world, and a turning point in the history of the Jewish people.

The virtual tour in the bunker-like museum allows visitors to see history through the eyes of those who were instrumental in creating the State of Israel. Palmach, an abbreviation of Plugot Machatz [Strike Force] sprang from the Haganah, a volunteer military organization that was established in 1920 when the British Mandate ruled pre-State Israel.

By the early 1940s, when the Germans invade Africa, and Syria and Lebanon are under the control of the Vichy regime, the British train and employ the Haganah/Palmach forces to help defeat an Axis invasion. But when Rommell retreats from Egypt in 1942, the British, with no more need of extra forces,
tell the Haganah to return their uniforms and weapons, and disband.

The Haganah and Palmach leaders decide the time has come to go underground. But funds are badly needed. The mutually beneficial plan presented by the kibbutzim to the Palmach and Haganah leaders, whereby Haganah and Palmach members would work and train on kibbutz, proves to be an excellent solution. Over a three year period, from 1942-1945, the Palmach train men and women. The naval platform of the Palmach trains SEALS and brings over refugees from Europe, in defiance of the British Mandate. New settlements are created for the newly arrived Holocaust survivors.

In 1947 the historic vote in the United Nations accepted the Partition Plan, thereby creating the Jewish state side by side with a Palestinian state.

The Partition Plan, however, was not accepted by the neighboring Arab countries, and in 1948 the newly created Jewish state was attacked by Arab armies. The 7000-member Palmach lost 30% of its men and women fighting for the new state.

And when the walk through history is over, and you find tears running down your face, you ask when will the fighting stop? When will two peoples be able to live side by side, in peace? And you pray that day is here.

To visit the museum, advance reservations are required.
Tel: 03-643-6393
Not recommended for children under 14. Minimum age: 9.

Where: 10 Haim Levanon St., Ramat Aviv
Buses: 113, 27, 464, 25
Paid parking in lot of Eretz Yisrael Museum just down the street.

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In the middle of the desert, far from Tel Aviv, in a heavily locked room, there once was a diamond cutting and polishing workshop. Established by one, Avraham Rabinovitch, the workshop can be visited at Kibbutz Gvulot. A certificate of Rabinovitch’s memberhsip in the Israel Diamond Exchange hangs on the wall and the original equipment is on the work table.

The workshop is an example of the ingenuity of the pioneers in the Negev. Close your eyes and imagine a desert with some brush. For miles that is all there is. Drinking water is as remote as the nearest city.

The time is 1943, the place the Negev. The people, a group of young Jewish men seeking to create a settlement in the Negev on land that the Jewish National Fund had bought from the local Beduoin. In the course of learning if the land was suitable for agriculture, these idealistic young men who had come from Europe, learned survival skills through trial and error.

heir sole contact with the established Jewish community living further north, came in the form of a weekly supply van that, in addition to staples, brought mail and visitors. The van would arrive at Kibbutz Gvulot after a five to six hour drive through Gaza and Rafiah and return the following morning.

Located near the Besor stream, the watercourse that drains the Negev, the kibbutz is built on loess, a clay-like earth, and is located 30 km east of the Mediterranean Sea and 35 km south of Be’er Sheva.

Kibbutz Gvulot, together with Kibbutz Revivim and Kibbutz Beit Eshel were the first three communities funded by the Jewish National Fund and the Jewish Agency.

The kibbutzniks at Gvulot found that while the loess was suitable for farming, the lack of water was a serious issue, as it continues to be today.

Then, as today, water collection became an important key to survival and growth. Water was collected in cisterns, which visitors can see today. The meager 100-130 ml of annual rainfall provided drinking water for the kibbutz. The remaining water was recycled and combined with sewage water to grow crops on the experimental farm.

What began as a dream in 1943 grew into a community. Today Kibbutz Gvulot continues to operate in the traditional manner, where the meals, laundry and children’s education all take place in a communal setting.

The original buildings are now restored, enabling visitors to imagine what the original kibbutz looked like.

Among the original buildings was an entrance or receiving hall known as the madafa. Rather than impose European customs on the area, the young men adopted the Beduoin model of hospitality. The madafa
was a sheltered space used to greet visitors and offer refreshment and shade from the desert sun.

The medial clinic, operated by Dr. Diamant, was located there as well. As word of the new kibbutz and the doctor spread, local Bedouin would come for medical treatment. Additionally there was a bakery which was later used to supply bread to the fighting soldiers in the area during the War of Independence. Yeast supplies were dropped onto the grounds of the outpost each day. One of the pilots was none other than Israel’s past president, Ezer Weizman.

Where: Kibbutz Gvulot, Rte 222

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The radar station at the top of the hill, next to the Latrun Tank Museum, can be seen for miles around. Overlooking the Ayala Valley, and with a clear view to the Jerusalem skyline, the singular green ball overlooks a man-made reservoir and Mini Israel.

Dr. Leonid Dinevich, of the Zoology Institute of Tel Aviv University, explained that the mobile radar MRL-5 was brought from Moldavia in the former Soviet Union. Originally developed as a meteorological radar station, the MRL-5 is being used to detect flying birds.

Israel, a midway point on the bird migration route, hosts over 7 million birds each autumn and spring, as they traverse the earth. Israel’s centrality on the bird migration route has brought ornithologists from around the world to Israel’s birding centers. But it has also proven to be a hazard that Israel is learning to cope with. Farmers whose fields have become feeding grounds for masses of migrating birds have learned to cope, and even to turn the area into an attraction.

In response to the conflict between aviation and nature and to ensure safety in air flights, Dr. Yossi Leshem, Director of the International Center for the Study of Bird Migration, Latrun, and Dr. Dinevich, are developing radar detection methods using the MRL-5 meteorological radar station. Unlike aerodrome radars, MRL-5 — originally intended is able to determine the location of birds, including their flying altitudes. The computerized radar system they developed enables 24 hour automated observation of flying birds. Based on the differing movements of birds during migration, Leshem and Dinevich developed a method to differentiate and determine bird type — critical information for airflight controllers and pilots.

But a more serious problem are birds getting in the way of airplane routes, both military and civilian. In August 1995, three migrating storks flew into an F-15 Falcon fighter plane, causing the plane to crash and killing both the pilot and captain.

The radar center at Latrun has two wave lengths which allows it to detect a stork-sized bird from a distance of 80 km, as well as clouds up to 300 km. Used as tool by both air tower operators at Ben Gurion Airport and the Israel Air Force, the radar station
plays an important role in air safety.

Where: Behind Latrun Tank Museum, Rte 3

Vivid embroidered colors of a scene right out of the Bible - I’m thinking baby Moses among the reeds in Egyptland - the handmade piece of folk art was too delightful to pass up. Now a focal piece of art hanging in my dining room, it was a topic of conversation among our guests during the recent Passover seder.

Although purchased at the Almaz Workshop for Ethiopian Women in Ramle, Israel, the 30 x 40 cm pillow cover which I decided to frame and display on
the wall, is an original piece of art made in Ethiopia.

Miki Shapiro, designer and director of Almaz, sometimes receives these one-of-a-kind pieces directly from Ethiopia, and offers them for sale to help support the center.

Almaz Workshop for Ethiopian Women, Rehov Haim Moshe Shapiro, Ramle. Tel: 08.921.0194

Tingling sensations, slight dizziness - can’t help it - when I see a sign with the magic word Outlet - I simply need to cross the street to investigate. As I dash through traffic (this can get you fined in Israel), I see the sign hung in the window: 70% off Italian Imports.

Six women in various stages of undress twist and turn in front of the mirror and ask the opinion of the well-accessorized saleswoman.

I spy a huge hot pink straw hat which shades my face (I look kind of like a walking parasol). Anticipating seven months of strong sun in a cloudless sky, I buy the finely made, richly detailed Italian straw hat. It shades my face and is the perfect accessory to create a look, with minimal breezy summertime clothing.

Filmy gossamer scarves - not made in India, but made in Italy, as stated on the very classy tags - in cool pinks, shades of chartreuse, and hot fuschias, as well as a linen sheath with an overlayer of linen cut on an angle, all catch my eye. These are Italian designer pieces at outlet prices, without the Milan hotel bill.

As I leave, the saleswoman (yes, the well-accessorized one) promises to phone when the collection of flowy summer skirts arrive - I’m thinking bare legs and sandals.

Closer to Israel than to the U.S., the influence of Italian design and products is visible in housewares, furniture and clothing. Italian designer items are widely available in stores in Israel’s larger cities.

Goia Roma Outlet Store can be found on Rehovot’s main street at 194 Rehov Herzl. Tel: 08.946.5897.

During trips to foreign countries, shopping for original products created by local craftspeople is a prime source of pleasure. That pleasure can be doubled (tripled?) when the items are produced by members of a non-profit organization: your purchase supports a worthy cause and you return home with original crafts.

In Israel, visits to the Almaz Workshop for Ethiopian Women surprise the visitor with the choice of creative, unique products in different media.

A risque gift for that special pair, this Ethiopian couple’s communicator tool, is a graphic, non-verbal way for a woman to let her man know when the time is right. The custom in Ethiopia, as related by the women at the workshop, is for the top of the box to be left open as a signal to her mate, one way to avoid mixed signals, so to speak.

Handmade from dark clay, each box differs slightly in appearance. A shelf of boxes at Almaz are ready for inspection and the shopper chooses the one that pleases most.

Question: Dare you give this original piece of folkart as an engagement gift?

Almaz Workshop for Ethiopian Women, Rehov Haim Moshe Shapiro, Ramle. Tel: 08.921.0194