"Dan Nature Reserve"

I must say this was one of my favorite days in Israel. We left Hazor and went north along the Jordan River into the Hula Valley all the while ascending in altitude. Amazing place! There exists there the Hula Lake and all you have to do is Google Hula and one will see amazing pictures of lush green fields and a gorgeous lake. It turns out that this was an area that for centuries was swamp land. The Jews in the late 1800 to early 1900’s drained the swamp with Eucalyptus trees and drainage ditches resulting in a valley with very fertile soil and high productivity
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We drove through Kyriat Shmona, or “village of eight”; so named after 8 soldiers from this area killed during the 1948 War of Independence. This was the same town that was so heavily damaged during the 2006 war with Lebanon. I would live in this town for the charm and beauty it held. Red tile roofs, parks, neat streets, very heavy Jewish Orthodox community and the beauty of the surrounding valley. Yes, I would live there at a drop of a hat. I am scanning their classifieds looking for PA jobs…. (He said with a smile on his face…)Nevertheless, I would really live there today and can begin to see the reason this was called the “land of milk and honey”.

Our next stop however was the Dan Nature Reserve. Our guide took us on a short hike along rushing streams, under trees, over rocks, into a sort of thicket of trees, plants, flowers, of all kinds: pine, root trees, the majority of which I never did know the name of. It was a cool fresh day full of “look at that…Yoni…what is that red flower…did you see that rock back there…wow…oh…geez…take a picture of that tree…”. Pictures do not do justice to the Nature Reserve. At some points it reminded me of being in Colorado in the summer. Full, lush, green, streams of water, thick foliage…who would have thought of Israel this way?

Going through the Hula Valley, Kyriat Shmona and the Dan Nature Reserve didn’t really unveil a great spiritual revelation as much as it was simply a sense of God saying to me:"I have something really cool that I created and that I want to show you"; then I can hear Him say: “I did good didn’t I? Just like I said in Scripture ‘it is good’”. It is indeed!!