Down by the ol’ water hole – with 1,200 screaming kids

August 8, 2010 - 3:07 PM by Brian Blum

When the man at the information booth said we were making a “big mistake,” we waved him off. We had already paid NIS 40 to enter the parking lot for Nahal Amud, a popular hiking trail between Mount Meron and the hilltop city of Safed in the northern Galilee, so we weren’t going to be scared off by some stranger.

The “mistake” was starting a hike at noon on one of the hottest days of the year. But Nahal Amud – once you descend a 20-minute rocky path that provides no shade – is a delight, dotted by lovely swimming holes along a not exactly raging but still bubbling creek.

Getting to the water, however, was another story. In the water were more than 1,000 frolicking, splashing and ear shatteringly screaming youngsters from 16 different Bnei Akiva camps around the country (the total was actually 1,200, we learned later from our ever so helpful info counter guy).

As we walked through the valley, we tried to take in the beauty – but it was hidden behind the masses of kids who had blocked every passage (we literally had to step over a few campers – not exactly my idea of enjoying the solitude).

Just when I thought there was no way to redeem the hike, we were stopped by a group of teenage girls (in keeping with the increasing modesty standards of religious camps in Israel these days, the boys and girls were separated into different bathing areas)

One of the girls had a question sheet. “Did you by chance make aliyah (immigrate) to Israel?” she asked. How did she know? After 16 years here, did we look like a couple of fresh-off-the-boat rubes? But this was their lucky day and they happily checked off one of their puzzle pieces.

We didn’t do so well with the next question. “Do you have more than 8 children?” the girl wanted to know. A look at our clothes – Jody’s sleeves and shorts were a dead give away – would suggest we probably didn’t fall into the large family category.

We took our leave laughing. There were still several twists and turns filled with kids before we finally found a patch of water to call our own, but my tension had been broken. We sat down and ate our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before hiking our way back out to the parking lot where we treated ourselves to ice cream. As he rang up the cash register, the info guy didn’t seem to be complaining now.

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