Yam liYam 2nd Day: Peki'in פקיעין

This was Shabbat, so I didn't take photographs and I didn't write this until later, but it was a wonderfully rich day of history and religion. The meat of the day was spent on a tour of nearby Peki'in , a village that claims to hold Jewish roots for two thousand years. This means that since the time of the Second Temple, Jews have been living there. What's better than that is it's a Druze village (I'll explain about them later). This area is now mostly Druze, with some Moslems, some Christians, and get this, ONE jewish women, in her eighties, named Margalit Zeynatis. This woman is a big deal, because she holds the keys to one of the oldest Synagogues , located next door to her home. Tradition has it that some of very important Rabbis were there, and now, even though the site has been renovated a little, all that's left are a few stones inside, but they have incredibly detailed carvings on them of a menorah, lions, and one may be the doors to the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. Nearby is a cave recognized by tradition as the place where Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, the "writer of the Zohar" hid with his son for many years living only by a spring and carob trees (both were present of course). I thought it was a little small, but hey, we've grown since then. I'm not doing this place justice because it's just so beautiful seeing all the mountains over the houses. Peki'in has survived so long because it's been a pretty peaceful place, and takes a while for the hostilities of politics to reach it. Margalit lost some of her family during the War of Independence, but she has a brother in a nearby town with a family, who will hopefully return and help to take care of the synagogue and share it with visitors.

As for the Druze, these people are absolutely astounding. They are an extremely modest bunch, formed by a group of prophets in Egypt. Their traditions were influenced over time by their Islamic leadership, and somehow, also by Judaism. Their faith was almost immediately outlawed, so they became a secret i, meaning that when you turn a certain age, a person has to decide whether to become religious and learn to the texts of the prophets, or to be non-religious. Excommunication is possible, but nobody can convert and become Druze. Speaking of which, Druze is actually a derogative term for someone who left the faith. The real name  is الموحدون‎ or al-Muwahhidun, coming from the arabic word Wahid, or one, because they are monotheists. Druze share similar practices with Jews, such as a week of repentance, circumcision on the eighth day, and recognizing the Binding of Issac, rather than Ishmael, which is what Moslems follow. Howvever, in many cases, Druze are mistaken for Moslems, because they wear clothes similar to kaffiyas, speak Arabic. However, one of the biggest differences I heard from the speaker we listened to, who was really just the guy from the front desk, is that women are not subordinates. They own land, and hold important roles in society, and polygyny is prohibited. Druze have a few pillars that they stand by, including dedication to the land. They also submit to the leadership of their land, meaning they never idealize a Druze state. However, the Druze have outstanding relationships with the Jews. Once the Ottoman Empire fell, they fought with Jewish resistance movements, and less than ten years after Israeli gained independence, they were fighting in Israel's battles. They now have compulsory army service, are allowed into all regiments, and show a far higher rate of enlistment that Israeli does (Druze cities ~80%, Israel ~56%). Finally, Druze believe that death is planned and determined, so when people die, there is a ceremony, very much like an Islamic burial ceremony (secret religion), and the dead are not visited. However, those Druze who die in he IDF are visited and given a different burial. I found that fascinating.


Saturday night there was karaoke, but I slept through it, because I decided that the next morning I would wake up to watch the sunrise and then run back to Peki'in to take all the pictures of the places we went to.