horses in the forest

Back when we were talking about hollyhock, my friend Lee wrote, I don't know if they grow in your part of the world, probably too hot and dry. And to tell you the truth, I still haven't learned whether or not we have them here, but I wanted to share with you a little about this country, to those who've never been here, about the nature here, and the weather.

We're a little country. And as a people, we have a tendency to exaggerate at times. Traveling around the world, I've seen a lot of lakes that were larger than our Sea of Galilee, and they were still called lakes, and there are a couple of hills around here that we call mountains, but we do have mountains here, and we have lush greenery, rivers, and lakes, and deserts, and the lowest point on the land surface of the globe, near the Dead Sea. It's a small country, so you wouldn't expect to see so many different types of topography, geography, and even climate. I live in Jerusalem, which is a thousand meters above sea level (about three thousand feet), and in less than two hours, I can drive to the Dead Sea which, as I said, is close to the lowest place on the face of the earth. I don't know exactly how much lower than sea level it is; I'm not a tour guide, but I know it's low. The air is thicker there, and though it's very hot in summer, it's also very dry, so the heat doesn't bother you that much. I think that we here in Jerusalem have the best climate. It is usually quite dry, and even on a hot summer's day, we usually have a cool evening. I have never bought an air conditioner. In fact, I kind of like the warm days. It's the cold, I don't care for much, and in the winter it gets quite cold, but nothing like Switzerland. We usually get snow a couple of times in the winter, and lots of rain, though rain here in Israel is seen as a blessing because it helps the crops grow.

When I was a young man, I used to love the desert. I still do, but I get out a lot less these days. I used to hike in the deserts, sometimes for days, taking everything I needed in a backpack, and I tried to need as little as possible. It was amazing to discover how much life you can find in the barren desert. I am not just talking about the oasis, which is a phenomenon that defies description, something like the eye of the tornado, almost the reverse of everything around it. But there are also tiny little plants that you can't see from close up. Only when you're at a distance from them, do you see their color shimmering on the desert sands.

But many of my close friends are most drawn to the lush areas of the Galilee, with the rich vegetation, and forests too. One of the most amazing things about this country, is that when you travel by foot, the country sort of opens up before you, and world upon worlds are discovered within a small geographical distance. The picture I'm posting here is of the forest of Birya, near the holy city of Tzfat. Kabalistic scholars are seen occasionally, getting away from the city, so they can talk in private to God. But more often, you're likely to run into teenage kids who have other reasons to "get away". I ran into some horses, as seen here. I'm not sure whether they were free, or were just given their freedom to roam for a few hours, but though they kept a respectable distance, I didn't get the feeling they were afraid of me.