Kaditah

From Sept, 25 - Oct 1 I was with family up north in a small mountain village called Kaditah, about 10 min north of Safed. I visited my mom's cousin Allison, her husband Shmuel, and their daughter, Aravah. I consider them all to be my cousins and I get along really well with all of them. It was (and still is) the holiday Sukkot. Sukkot is my favorite Jewish holiday because it really connects the individual and family with their natural surroundings. The main focus of Sukkot is building a Sukkah, which is a square shack-like structure. There's lot's of different rules about how to build the Sukkah and with what materials. In Kaditah, I got to be a part of building their Sukkah in their yard. The walls consisted of tapestries sewn together, and the roof was made of bamboo-like sticks and date palm leaves. Aravah, who is now 15, came up with the idea of making this year's Sukkah theme to be the lunar eclipse. We made the decorations accordingly and it turned out pretty cool.

Kaditah is seriously one of the most amazing places I have ever been to in my life. It's very removed from society, which I actually really appreciate. I thought that after a while, I would want to return to society, but I actually found it really nice there. Allison made so much yummy, healthy food for all of the meals, and Shmuel bakes his own varieties of bread. Aravah is in charge of making dessert, which included fig and lemon cakes.

I barely looked at the time when in Kaditah. I slept in my one-person tent on their lawn, and the tent got very hot around 10am so I naturally would wake up then (which if you know me well, you know that is very early for me). While in Kaditah, we went on many tiyulim (trips/hikes). We walked through the Meron forest close to the John Lennon Trail, funny enough. There are also a lot of structures dedicated to important Jewish figures scattered around the mountain. One of them, Rebbi Tarfon, has a huge tree that grows through it and extends its thick branches outside of the site. I had fun climbing up into the tree and looking at the Meron forest in the distance.

If you are ever heading to Israel, make sure to visit Kaditah. It's a hidden gem here that will make your jaw drop. I had so much fun seeing fam and soaking up the serenity of the forest.