L'Shana Tova

It's the Jewish New Year, so it's a time to reflect on the past year and the ambitions you hold for the future....orrrrrr completely over indulge yourself in excessive feasting and use the seemingly endless time off from work to play! 

I spend Shabbat and the Jewish holidays with my host family the Levis: Davide, Gilah, Na-Or, Maya, Hila and their little dog Tail-le.  They are charged with giving me an authentic Israeli experience for the holidays and they more than delivered on it. They took me with them to both their maternal and paternal family's Rosh Hashanah celebrations.

As someone who grew up around mainly Ashkenazi influenced Jews - if I was around any Jews at all - the Sephardic Moroccan exposure has been completely new. Their food and attitude is colorful, vibrant and full-flavored. You can think of Ashkenazi food as a study in shades of grey: gafillta fish, kugel, latkas - relatively delicious, although gafillta fish takes a certain level of sociopath to enjoy - but really all are on the same palate of color. 

Moroccan food is made up of tasty salads; tanzia - a honeyed mixture of dried apricots, currants and raisins over rice; couscous smothered in chickpeas, sweet potatoes and onions; stuffed peppers, onions and cabbage; shakshuka - sautéed onions, garlic and tomatoes with eggs fried into it; fresh homemade bread; variances in eggplant-- and that's only the vegetarian options! It's rounded out by Moroccan shortbread cookies with anise, almond cake, crepe-like mouffleta with chocolate spread, maple syrup, butter or honey and of course, sugared mint tea.

Trust me, it's as delicious as it sounds and I know because I've tried my best to cram as much as physically possible into my body.  This has had mixed results - as a person who is not exactly used to the pursuit of rich, decadent, full-bodied meals and more focused on living a very balanced lifestyle with healthy foods and ample exercise, this turned out to cause some difficulties. Most of the Israeli foods are healthy, but they do not skimp on rich, indulgent ingredients. And likely eating them at the volume and frequency that I did this past weekend was probably not the greatest idea ever. 

So it's been a challenge that I was not expecting. I definitely did not intend to use the Israeli holidays as a study in the extent of my own sloth and gluttony and I'm sure the ancient rabbis did not intend for a time of contemplation to be used to delve deep into my own food driven-hedonistic vices, but that's what I did.  It was an exploration of just how far I could go in attempting to experience new foods inspired by "food FOMO" (Fear Of Missing Out) for everything that was described as "a Moroccan specialty" or "she spent all day cooking this". 

An empty plate and the declaration that "I am full" is not a part of the Moroccan mindset.  I tried to wave the white flag and admit defeat after I realized that trying to eat this way wasn't sustainable and my stomach couldn't expand enough to keep up with it, but my empty plate symbolized that I apparently had not enjoyed my meal, so it was at times filled for me. I had barely digested from the meal the night before that we were eating a full-fledged lunch the following day! It actually began to feel overwhelming and that I just couldn't not gain a foot hold among the constant deluge of tasty foods and kind, smiling grandmothers. When I finally reached that point that my body no longer felt like my own and the heartburn was real, I had to thrown in the towel and request and night off. 

Spending a night in with only water to sip as I waited for my bloating to go down, turned out to be a great choice since there was a lot more of the weekend to come.  

Intermittently with the family meals, the Levi's would pack up their van with a "simple" Moroccan picnic (a lot of times Israelis use one word, while they mean the exact opposite. Like "water slide" when they mean drainage pipe - still my favorite example!) and head out into the the valley of springs to soak up the best of what's around. 

The Sachne in all its glory

On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, we went to the Sachne, a natural springs that look so perfect that you call its existence into question. As you walk towards the pools, purple-winged butterflies flit by you and a lazy dragonfly dips down to skim the azure waters. It looks like a 1950s movie set of an oasis in which the set coordinator did no research and just idealized what an oasis must look like--but that's the Sachne, for real. 

Enjoying the waterfalls

The whole group

We spent a relaxing day by the aquamarine waters, where we floated and splashed on an air mattress, let little fish nibble our feet, went for a walk to see the waterfalls and picked fresh figs from close growing trees. 

Since my life is now in the suspended reality that is Israeli, the weekend didn't stop there. Once I had recovered from my octogenarian food babies, the Levi's picked me up for a "hike in the fields" and once again, that meant the exact opposite. You just have to expect the unexpected with Israelis and cross your fingers that you're wearing the right shoes. 

This time, it meant that we drove to a moshevez, a sort of gated community-living situation that stops short of going all the way to bring a kibbutz, where I was introduced to Yaqui, his wife Kineret and their son Or and daughter Adom. 

In his little corner of the Sea of Galilee, Yaqui has perfected the art of man-cave. He loves all things with engines, so he created the ultimate garage devoted to his passion, with everything from shelves to house his collection of toy trucks to motorcycle, dirt bikes and amped up trucks. Yaqui also happened to have in his possession almost a whole fleet of 4x4s at his disposal. Apparently, "hike in the fields" meant we're going off-roading!!

Rugged and customized truck

Motorcycle and dirt bike

Yaqui's rows of collectible toys

We loaded up a truck with everything necessary for a Moroccan picnic, then everyone climbed into a dune buggy, or truck if they wanted a gentler ride to start. A neighboring family and their kids joined us. Their young son had his own 4x4, which like a good teenage boy he drove with reckless abandon while blasting Israeli music and wearing ski goggles to keep the dust out of his eyes. 

Taking a turn in the driver's seat

Our convoy headed out to traverse the rocky paths of the Kineret under the sun for the next couple of hours! It was honestly dreamlike to be bumping and bouncing in the backseat of a 4x4 between the Sea of Galilee and the Jordanian border. Just two weeks, I was scared to leave my known world behind and a month ago, I was sitting in a desk chair trying to get signatures on an endless pile of inane paperwork.  So to suddenly find myself involved in a world of action and experiences does not seem real! I did not know that my life could be this interesting! I tried to soak up the moment and simply be as present as possible to enjoy it. 

Evidence of the dust

The ATVs kicked up A TON of dust as they sped over the trails, in almost no time, I was completely covered with streaks of red-brown dirt all over my skin, clothes and hair. I pretty much looked like I had changed colors and Gilah joked that I looked Moroccan! 

Once we had spent a few hours doing some badass maneuvers on the back roads, as well as crossing back and forth through the Jordan River, we started to look for somewhere to picnic. Most places we drove by were swarming with tourists and their kids. They gawked at us, took pictures of the 4x4s and asked where we had gotten them. It felt very cool to be privilege to all this.

We finally found a removed spot for lunch and began to unpack the truck. Moroccans and Yaqui's family and friends naturally do not half-ass a picnic. They brought tables, blankets, frying pans and propane into the forest with us. So before long, we had a table packed with food, omelet station manned by Davide, himself and the makings of shakshuka, which I was helping to sous chef! 

Lunch spread

Omelet station

Another splendid meal followed, coupled with pleasant conversation, before we packed all the materials up into the truck and hit the roads for part deux of off-roading.

                                  

Helping to make some shaksuka the woods

The rest of the afternoon passed with rocky, winding road, some close calls with mud and hydration breaks with cookies before returning to the man-cave and unpacking and relaxing. 

I can now check 4x4-ing off my bucket list! There's a couple more items on there that I think are in contention to finally be achieved, so stay tuned since the Israeli holidays aren't over yet and the Levis seem to be very adept at making the best of living in Beit She'an and taking me along for the ride!

Shot of the whole group