The Hike down Nahal Ktziv

Continued from:
Part 1: Beit Jann
Part 2: The Growth of Beit Jann

So now, it's time for some photos from the hike down Nahal Ktziv (the Ktziv River.) These pictures were taken before Lag B'Omer, so I've still got my Wolfman beard.

Looking back at Beit Jann

Why hello there.

Our herd of humans bumps into a herd of goats.

Hiking down what used to be the Nahal Ktziv nature reserve, and is fast becoming farmland of Beit Jann.

With my Omer beard still intact, I noticed a rather large insect at my feet.

Looks tasty. Would be a bit crunchy with some chocolate.

One of the minhagim (traditions) that Yemenite Jews still remember which other Jews worldwide have forgotten is which species of insect are kosher. The Torah lists several insect names, but most Jews, having been exiled to the far reaches of Poland, South Africa, Argentina, or even Walnut Creek, no longer had contact with these insects and forgot which insects go with which names, and so all insects are now considered treif (not kosher.) Except, of course, for the Yemenites, who remember everything. Thus, they can eat certain locusts because they have a tradition dating back to Sinai, while the rest of us can't. There were no Yemenites on the tiyul to ask.

Terraces and forests.

The following three photos,a s well as the close-up of the grasshopper above, were taken by Alan, one of the other guys on our hike. My photography skills still have a ways to go by comparison.

Insect tourist

The Olive Grove (or do olives come in an orchard?)

A field of flowers.

Going up a cliff

In the woods, ready for another cliff.

Up the cliff

Made it over the cliff!

I was the "Omega," i.e., making sure nobody got behind me. The rest of the group got an extra few minutes' rest.

The early-warning radar system atop Mount Meron.