Unplugged on the Golan Heights

December 22, 2008 - 9:06 AM by · 4 Comments
Filed under: Travel 

Moshav YonatanThis past weekend the family and I took a jaunt to the north to stay with our friends on Moshav Yonaton, a small national religious village of approximately eighty families on the Golan Heights. Yonatan was founded by Didi Yadin, brother of Yonatan Rosenman who was killed in the Yom Kippur war. The founders of the moshav, a collective agricultural community, included members of Yonatan’s army unit and today is a bustling community whose industry includes a large dairy farm, massive chicken coops, a vineyard which is one of the numerous places that supplies grapes to the Golan Heights winery and a healthy mango and apple industry. You can actually find a variety of apples in all Israeli supermarkets called the “Yonatan.” My friends moved there a couple of years ago to truly live Zionism. The anglo bubble of Jerusalem just wasn’t doing it for them. I can see the appeal. The air is clean, their tap water comes directly from the same spring as Mei Eden bottled water, their kids run freely and in our short time there I couldn’t help but feel the overwhelming feeling of vibrant community (something that is lacking in every place I’ve ever lived). I’m not the shomer shabbat type, but felt pretty refreshed after an unplugged weekend.

The Golan will always have a special place in my personal history. I spent months upon months there during my military service and had the opportunity to explore many of the nooks that are off limits to normal residents (i.e. closed military zones for tank training and the like). It’s always nostalgic for me to visit, much to my wife’s chagrin. God bless her but the poor woman is endlessly subjected to my silly army stories.

Part of me yearns for a more rural existence. I can really use the quiet. And the people who live on the Golan are certainly a different breed. They are just so chill. So relaxed. We’ve spoken about it a lot and in our ten year plan we have plans to move north but I’m not sure I’m quite ready for such a gargantuan life change…yet.

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