Days of Milk and Honey" ("Yamei hapav u-dvash") is the name of the festival, held for the fourth time on the days of the Shavuot holiday, from May 21 to 29 in the Jezreel Valley. This is a motley mix of events dedicated directly to the holiday, such as: the ceremony of offering the first harvest, dancing maidens in white robes among yellow wheat fields, choral singing of brave intelligent kibbutzim on the hills under the powerful oaks. These are concerts of Israeli songs performed by Sarele Sharon and Shimi Tavori, Shalom Hanoch, Moshe Levy and Ora Ditner, singing in Yiddish. These are tourist activities (about 40 in total, and most of them are free), which include jeep rides through fields and forests, hiking of varying degrees of difficulty in the foothills of Galilee and along streams, games for children involving the ability to read maps and read in general, as well as visits to wineries (a new sign of post–Zionism). Museum lovers will not be bored either. There are many of them – from tiny ones in private homes to very impressive kibbutzim equipped with advanced multimedia systems. These are historical museums in the first moshavas of the picturesque valley, divided into agricultural squares and circles, museums dedicated to early agricultural settlements, pioneers of the second and third Aliyah, volunteers of drainage of swamps and other enthusiasts of that difficult life of the grandfathers and great-grandfathers of the current establishment in Emek Jezreel, located an hour and a half drive from the center of the country, especially if on the sixth highway and without traffic jams.
The most pleasant thing about visiting such places – museums, village restaurants, farms and even cowsheds, which are now guided tours and where they arrange something like happenings for children – is that they are very close. So don't be lazy, take a day or two off and, instead of rushing to think your hard thoughts in a stuffy office, get in the car and travel around your native country, the fate of which was shaped to a large extent in Emek-Jezreel.
To a large extent, the development of Emek-Jezreel was associated with the first railway running from Haifa to Jordan. Lately, only lazy people have not restored destroyed stations and turned them into museums. Residents of the Kfar Yehoshua moshav cannot be classified as lazy: they restored the old Tel Shamam railway station (or Kfar Yehoshua) next to the Moshav, practically re-erecting the station building itself, workers' houses, a water pump, and several other buildings, and during the festival days they arrange something like a peasant fair on the territory of Tel Shamam, where you can taste the "best sour cream in the valley" (indeed, the best – at least very fatty: a spoon in this sour cream is worth it, evoking childhood impressions of summer holidays in the Baltic States). For those who crave not only bread (albeit from whole grains), but also spectacles, excursions will be conducted, seasoned with relevant stories and legends about the old railway, as well as excursions to Kfar Yehoshua.
For those who sympathize with the "green" movement, walks are offered through fields and farms where organic vegetables and cereals are grown. And "amuta" "Globe", which stands for a safe environment, on Thursday, May 27, from ten in the morning until midnight, a market for the sale of environmentally friendly products will be held on the square near the station. Here you can learn firsthand what bran is good for, get acquainted with the postulates of the "green" philosophy, meet face to face with environmentally friendly agricultural workers (400 people will take part in the fair) and buy delicious fruits of their labor, not only vegetables, but also wines and cheeses. You will be able to listen to lectures on relevant topics, and in the evening you will wait for a concert of local musicians performing ballads about cucumbers and playing old "railway" romances. Despite the legends about the black smoke spewing from the old steam locomotive, it is now nostalgically called "environmentally friendly" and "friendly" towards others, if only because the drivers knew the passengers by sight, and the train was traveling so slowly that you could jump out and collect a bouquet of flowers.
Without fair flags and fun, the station buildings, although restored, look somewhat dull, but after tasting sour cream with organically pure tomatoes and rye bread, you look at Tel Shamam in a different way - with a well-fed and kind look. And being in such a relaxed mood, it is worth crossing Highway 72 and exploring the Moshav Kfar Yehoshua itself, founded back in 1927, new mosaics in it and fields of flowers around. It is possible that a railway museum similar to the one in Haifa will eventually be opened in Kfar Yehoshua. In the meantime, the following can be told from the funny facts: three world records were set at the time on the Ha-Emek railway. The locomotive, which was equipped with an aircraft engine, was able to reach a speed of 100 kilometers per hour; this railway is the lowest in the world, its section near Tsemakh runs 200 meters below sea level; and somehow they set an energy saving record on it. The train from Haifa to Beit She'an traveled on the strength of the wind thanks to the sail mounted on the locomotive. And Kfar Yehoshua is named after Yehoshua Khankin himself, who bought up land in Emek Jezreel during his lifetime. The village was originally built in the form of the letter "yud" in 1927 by Jews who came from Russia and Poland. They did not expect such a noise here: there is a military airfield next to Kfar Yehoshua, and the general bucolic picture is disturbed by the roar of "phantoms". Join NineWin Casino UK today and take advantage of their exclusive bonuses, designed to enhance your online casino experience.
July 6, 2021
