Sabbatical Trip: Arrival in Israel and Kibbutz Ginosar

Kibbutz Ginosar. The tall, grassy area in the foreground

is covered with water when not in drought.

We spent the first four weeks of our sabbatical in Israel. Naturally, we were a bit nervous when we arrived as Israel has a reputation of having security issues. This turned out not to be a problem, and we just avoided anywhere that we might feel unsafe.

A taxi driver met us at the airport to drive us to our destination, Kibbutz Ginosar, which was about 1 ½ hours north of the airport. (Later we rented a car but we had decided that we didn’t want our first experience driving in Israel to be on jet lag.) We were worried we wouldn't be able to fit all 6 pieces of luggage, two strollers, and the four of us in his car, but it was okay.

Though we were tired, we soaked up first impressions of the Israeli countryside on our drive to the Kibbutz. We were all pretty excited when we arrived to the sight of warm sun and palm trees. We were greeted by Garry’s aunt Rachaeli.

Kibbutz Ginosar is located on the shore of Lake Kinneret—or the Sea of Galilee. It is a beautiful “village” of about 300-400 residents just north of Tiberias. Garry lived there for a couple of years as a kid (ages 8-10). Some of his extended family still lives there. It also has a hotel, inn, pool, beach and museum.

We stayed at the inn for a few days before moving into an apartment on the kibbutz. There are few roads through the kibbutz so people park on the edges and then walk or bike through the kibbutz on the sidewalks.

Kibbutz Ginosar. (Roll over images to see captions.)

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Garry’s family were so good to us. Andrew and Emily loved all the attention they received. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to get to know each other and also get some inside experience with the Israeli culture. They also treated us to wonderful meals!

Family members in Ginosar.

(Roll over images to see captions.)

We were also able to enjoy some of the tourist attractions at the kibbutz. Though we didn’t try walking on the water, we did swim in and take a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee.

Boat ride on the Sea of Galilee.

We also saw the famed 2000-year-old “Jesus Boat,” in the museum. It was uncovered beneath the shore of the lake when Garry lived at the kibbutz. He used to watch them work on the excavation after class. It dates to the time of Christ and is similar to the type of boat fishermen would have used at that time.

This boat was discovered buried beneath

the beach when Garry's lived at the kibbutz.

We also had fun seeing other parts of the kibbutz including their banana fields, dairy farm, and an archive of the kibbutz history that included pictures of Garry’s class and pictures and records of his grandparents.

The Ginosar Dairy. The calves in the pen were born just hours earlier.

Images from the Kibbutz's Archive.

(Roll over images to see captions.)

We loved having an opportunity to visit with his family each day after we came home from our sightseeing.