Finally some good news in a bad week: Kinneret above the red line

March 17, 2011 - 9:42 AM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Environment, Politics 

Photo by Yaron Kaminsky (Haaretz)

Finally, after all of the terrible news of the last week – the Fogel family murder in Itamar, looming nuclear meltdown in Japan, Saudi Arabia and Iran preparing to go to battle in Bahrain – here’s something good: earlier this week, the water level of the Sea of Galilee (the Kinneret) topped the “red line” for the first time this year. It now stands at 212.95 meters below sea level.

The government puts the red line, below which serious damage to the lake will occur, at -213.18 meters, so 212.95 is not a huge improvement, but it’s over a meter and a half higher than the Kinneret’s lowest point this winter: on December 11, 2010, the water stood at no more than 214.12 meters below sea level. That was precariously close to the devastating “black line” of -214.4 meters.

The Kinneret’s absolutely lowest point, at least as far as has been recorded in modern times, was -214.87, on November 29, 2001.

None of this means we can start taking longer showers or flushing the toilets more often, at least not yet. The region is still suffering from an ongoing drought and no meteorologist worth his saltwater can say what the coming years will bring.

How high would be too much? If the water rises to anywhere near -208.8, the lakeside city of Tiberius will flood, at which point dam gates are opened, sending water cascading down the Jordan River in the direction of the Dead Sea.

When balmy spring temperatures took over the country in the past three days, weather worriers might have cried out “that’s it, no more rain, we’re all doomed.” Let’s not rejoice too quickly, but the good news from the Galilee might help us cope with the icy winds of change (and radioactivity) billowing around our planet.

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Rain, Rain, come again today!

December 6, 2010 - 9:29 AM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Environment, General, Israeliness, Life, News 

It’s one of the cruel ironies of the cosmos that now that the massive fire in the Carmel has finally been contained after four days, the skies have opened after months of dryness and there’s actually rain coming down.

Most people wouldn’t get excited over such a seemingly mundane natural occurrence, but for the rain-starved people of Israel, it’s a welcome sight indeed.

Dropping my son of this morning for his three-hour Hannuka nature hike as part of his weekly nature after school club, the guided and I greeted each other with “Beautiful day, isn’t it?” even though the overcast skies were spitting rain and the winds were threatening to pick up. No chance that this hike was going to be cancelled, short of a monsoon.

The forecast was for only light rain over the next couple days, but it’s an encouraging sign that more is on the way. Besides the scorched ground in the North, the rest of the country, including the depleted Kinneret, are in dire need of it.

Have a rainy day!

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A respite in the Golan

August 4, 2010 - 8:14 AM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, Travel 

What do Israelis do when a brutal heatwave hits the country? Head to the water! And even though we’re in the throes of drought-like conditions with the Kinneret dropping this week below the low red line for the first time this year, there are still some fresh-water places to be found that are bursting with water.

This past weekend, we found ourselves in the North, and taking advantage of our annual ‘Matmon’ card membership to the Parks and Nature Reserves enabling free entrance to any of the more than 60 nature reserves throughout the country, we decided to spend the 100 degree day hiking at the Yehudia Forest Reserve in the Golan.

There are eleven trails listed in the Park’s brochure, including Nahal Zavitan, and the Meshushim (hexagonal basalt pillars) and some rigorous hiking – a four-hour trail involving ladders, ropes, swimming across deep water to get from one place to another.

And then there’s the hiking we chose: a pleasant 40-minute upper trail stroll that descends drastically to a beautiful waterfall and spacious natural pool.

In that heat, once we got there, we weren’t moving. And it was very easy to stay, enjoying the refreshing water, watching the adventurous types climb the rocks around the waterfall and dive down below, and observing and talking to the hundreds of fellow hikers and swimmer – including a not-so-small number of young Americans on summer trips like birthright.

They were the ones that were easy to spot – dipping their toes in the water first and yelping when they saw the fresh water fish scurrying about below. But even they overcame their queaziness and succumbed to the aquatic pleasures and beauty of Yehudia.

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Hollywood stories

June 22, 2010 - 8:44 AM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, Movies, Pop Culture, Travel 

John Cusack and Woody Harrelson at the Kinneret.

When a celebrity comes to Israel on a private vacation, there are a few ways to handle the ‘public’s right to know.’

There’s the Leo Dicaprio/Bar Rafaeli way of trying to visit the Kotel a couple years ago without thinking the paparazzi would notice, and getting ambushed on the scene, resulting in a fracas and ill feelings all around.

There’s the Bette Midler way – who this months spent some time here touring with her husband. They apparently planned ahead and gave Yediot Aharonot the chance to exclusively shoot the Divine Miss M in Jerusalem’s Old City. They cleverly labeled the photo “Bette hamikdash.”

When Jim Carrey arrived here from Egypt a few years back undetected, he went to the lengths or remaining incognito by hiring a stand-in look alike to hang out at the King David Hotel pretending to be him, while the real Carrey went out under a baseball cap and toured to his heart’s content.

But now, film stars John Cusack and Woody Harrelson have put one over on us – they were apparently in the country last week, hanging out at the Kinneret and checking out Christian holy sites in Jerusalem. How do we know? Cusack posted about what he called a ‘friendship tour’ on his Tweeter account, including a self-taken photo of the duo on the shores of Tiberias.

No publicists, no photo shoots and no decoys. Maybe we really are turning into a normal country.

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Chilling on the Kinneret

May 9, 2010 - 4:49 PM by · 2 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, Environment, General, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, Music, Travel 

Fun for all at Jacob's Ladder (Photo: Ilan Amihai

Brian wrote about the music at the Jacob’s Ladder Festival which took place over the weekend, but equally compelling for me, were the people.

It’s so interesting to see Israelis – albeit mostly of Anglo descent – in such a low stress, high enjoyment environment. Israelis generally aren’t very good at chilling. And chilling is what Jacob’s Ladder is all about.

Even when Israelis partake of some leisure time activity, it’s usually far from stress-free – either a hazardous hike along a mountain cliff, hand gliding over the sea or some other perilous pursuit. Watching them relaxed, listening to music, swimming for fun, not fur survival, was a kick.

It seems like there are a few different ways to enjoy the festival. Some people walked around with the program in their hands and tried to attend as many shows and workshops as they could muster. Others wandered around more aimlessly, bumping into events and shows by chance and enjoying the impromptu element. While still others preferred to treat the music and events as incidentals and concentrated on the lake, the pool and the barbecues.

Campers were as unorganized as bringing nothing to eat and buying food from the ample number of food kiosks that were available throughout the grounds. And as organized as the 40-family-strong contingent from Pardes Hanna-Karkur, who for weeks ahead had divided responsibilities along the lines of a kibbutz, and whose dining area was the envy of all. ‘I’ve been cutting pita and vegetables all morning,” moaned one friend as he settled down with a beer in a lounge chair next to me at the pool. But that was it for him, and he could eat scot free the rest of the weekend.

I was somewhere in between all of these behavioral patterns, intent on seeing certain performers, but mostly taking things as they came and getting tips from veteran festival goers who knew the buzz acts. I got to hang out and eat and camp with dear friends, and got to play my weekly tennis game with my Jerusalem partner – we just shifted courts to Ginossaur. And I got to play an hour of long-range frisbee with an old friend who I don’t get to see much any more. All in all, it doesn’t get much better than the Jacob’s Ladder festival.

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