It may feel like Passover has just finished, but Jewish holidaymakers around the world are already starting to make plans for the fall festivals. Viva Sarah Press recommends booking tickets to Israel for Succot.
By Viva Sarah Press
Weather-wise, the Succot holiday period is a perfect time to visit Israel. With clear skies and warm (but not too warm) temperatures, this is the ultimate time to get outdoors and hike, bike, visit nature reserves, marvel at archeological ruins, play at the beach, enjoy city walks, and try something extraordinary.
Succot is one of the three pilgrimage holidays. It commemorates the booths in which the Israelites lived in the desert after leaving Egypt. During the week of Succot vacation in Israel, the country is abuzz with holiday-related activities.
Although most tourists probably wouldn’t think of camping in Israel, the Succot season is the ultimate time to get in tune with the country’s amazing nature. It also gives a new meaning to building a succah under the stars. Don’t strike it off your list just yet.
Pomegranate Travel (www.pomegranate-travel.com), a high-end travel company, has taken safari-style camping and adapted it to the Israeli wilderness. It’s one of the most meaningful and extraordinary ways to experience the desert.
“You don’t sacrifice your comfort,” Hannah Blustin, the British-raised owner of Pomegranate Travel, tells Jewish.Travel. “We can literally build an entire tented village. If you think about canvas safari style tents, we do it in the Negev. It’s amazing.
“This is luxury camping because you have comfortable mattresses, hot water showers, and an open fire for cooking. In terms of Succot and being exposed to the elements, this is the perfect time and it’s an exciting thing to do.”
Another option for a desert stay is the highly acclaimed Beresheet Hotel at Mitzpe Ramon. Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich booked all 111-rooms in the desert resort for this past Passover holiday.
Tourists can visit almost all of the boutique wineries, learn about the farming methods and taste the wines. A favorite on tour groups’ lists is the Tulip Winery in Kfar Tikva, which is known for producing good wines and doing good. The winery employs emotionally and developmentally disabled adults with full benefits.
“Beresheet plays host to a cosmopolitan crowd dominated by deep-pocketed Israelis weekending from Tel Aviv. Adrenaline junkies explore the crater in open jeeps; history buffs peruse the ruins of the ancient Nabataen city of Avdat,” writes Conde Nast Traveler magazine in its review of Beresheet Hotel, which it included on its prestigious list of the world’s best hotels.
Succot is also known in Jewish tradition as “The Harvest Holiday.” What better way to get an understanding of Israel’s agricultural success than in the desert at the new Vidor Family Visitor’s Center located on the Arava main road (Road 90), near the Hazeva junction?
The center offers an interactive experience that introduces visitors to Israel’s out-of-the-box agricultural innovations including heart-shaped cucumbers, giant gourds, new breeds of cherry tomatoes and colored potatoes and carrots.
“Despite its harsh climate, the Arava has become the jewel in the crown of Israeli agriculture,” says Menachem Leibovic, Vice Chairman of KKL-JNF. “When one considers the sparse rainfall and the small number of people who live there, it really is a modern miracle.”
Tourists to Israel can also celebrate the harvest by visiting a kibbutz — or staying on one — and even try their hand at fruit picking. Blustin recommends a stopover at Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu (www.bio-tour.com/eng/), a pioneer in organic agriculture. “It’s a wonderful thing to do, pick your own dates at Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu and feel part of the harvest,” says Blustin.
Another prime example of organic harvesting is found at Kibbutz Neot Semadar, just north of Eilat(www.neot- semadar.com). The small kibbutz supplies much of Israel with its organic cheeses, jams and wines. It is also renowned for its sustainable desert architecture.
For those looking to stay on a kibbutz, many of these farming communities have converted parts of their land into hotels. The HaGoshrim Kibbutz Resort and Hotel’s boutique wing is adult accommodation only and includes pampering facilities in a beautifully manicured rural environment. Or, try Ramat Rachel Kibbutz Hotel, just south of Jerusalem’s city center, a four- star accommodation set in a tranquil garden setting with its own on-site spa.
Israel’s harvest can be nicely celebrated with a bottle (or two) of wine. In the last two decades, the number of boutique wineries in Israel has leapt to nearly 300.
“Israeli wine has been transformed in the last 20 years by producers who have imported wine expertise to go with their existing technological and agricultural prowess,” writes British wine expert Hugh Johnson in his 2012 Pocket Wine Book.
Tourists can visit almost all of the boutique wineries, learn about the farming methods and taste the wines. A favorite on tour groups’ lists is the Tulip Winery in Kfar Tikva, which is known for producing good wines and doing good. The winery employs emotionally and developmentally disabled adults with full benefits.
“We encourage meeting the people in Israel who are doing extraordinary work,” says Blustin, when asked why she includes Tulip Winery and the Yemin Orde Youth Village on her company’s itineraries. “There are many beautiful countries
in the world. What makes a country stand out are the people you meet and the special memories you take home.”
Viva Sarah Press, a Canadian-Israeli, is an associate editor and writer for ISRAEL21c.org. She has penned numerous travel articles from around the globe, and in the name of a good story has jumped out of planes, glided with birds, abseiled off cliffs, rafted down rivers, and ridden on numerous uncomfortable mammals. Follow her via www.facebook.com/VivaSarahPress