We booked a private tour with the Kabbalah Center Tel Aviv to the North part of Israel to visit Tzadikim (Righteous Souls). It's now the 7th day of our trip.
The importance of taking this tour on this day was significant. Kabbalah teaches that the Souls of the Righteous leave our Earthly realm for a week during the High Holy Days to do work in the Spiritual realms during Sukkot. This was the last chance to visit with them.
One thing to note is that sacred places in the Holy Land are always split up between the Men's Side and the Women's side. The Men's side usually has closer/easier access to the cave. Kabbalah teaches that women are more spiritually elevated than men. Women want the men in their lives to excel and do great. This is why the women give up the closest spots to the men.
Keeping that in mind, let's start our tour.
We start at the burial site of Rabbi Akiva in Tiberias, Israel. He was the teacher of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. His catchphrase was "Love thy Neighbor as theyself. The rest is commentary." His life was similar to Jesus Christ in that they both taught the same themes, had a gripload of students and were both martyred in their 30's for being revolutionary.
I must say I'm more impressed with Akiva's wife. If I could be 1/4 as selfless as her, this world would be a better place.
Since Rabbi Akiva's burial, a housing structure has been built around his burial cave. This is the Men's side. I snuck in and took this. Very center of this photo, you can see the cave to Rabbi Akiva's burial site.
An outside access to the cave.
Akiva's site overlooks the Sea of Galilee. Nice job if you can get it.
The Sea of Galilee is actually a lake, but it's ginormous, so I could see how people could think it at one time.
My pictures or any others really don't do it justice. It's so beautiful. We plan to return and stay in the North part to do a Jesus Tour. You must come at least once in your life.
The other side of the Sea is in Palestinian Authority. We cannot go to the other side.
As you'll see from the next few photos, I couldn't stop taking pictures of the Kinneret.
Rabbi Meir is known as the Master of Miracles. Tiberius Israel.
Rabbi Meir was a student of Rabbi Akiva.
This entire structure has been built around Rabbi Meir's burial site.
The women's side.
Rabbi Meir's grave marker. His body is underground, but the marker is just there for a reference.
Ark that holds the Torah scrolls.
Elijah's chair. It's used for Brit milah.
After a quick lunch on the coast of the Kinneret, we made our way north to the town of Safed (English) or Tzfat (Hebrew).
Road to Tzfat.
First a quick stop in Meron to connect with Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Elazar.
Tzfat
Rabbi Aba Chalafta and his son Rabbi Yossi. HaRav Berg has a famous connection to this place. He accidentally set the field on fire when his candle fell out of the candle box (housing between the two graves). The Rav's body was brought here for one last visit before his own burial.
With Niel's dad passing away only months before our trip, he connected strongly at this father/son spot.
All the bodies are buried underground. There is usually an outside housing or marker (painted white), which is empty, and a blue dome, so it can be seen from afar. Here's an example of a site that is quite far. This is the site of Rabbi Chananya Ben Hakash. I took this with my zoom lens. The blue dome works every time.
On our way to Meron.
If my memory serves me, in the middle of the cluster of houses, is the burial site of Rabbi Shimon's Father, Mother, and Wife (Mother to Rabbi Elazar).
Rabbi Shimon and his son Rabbi Elazar buried in Meron Israel.
This is the place to be for Lag B'Omer. Stadium seating for the best bonfire anywhere.
Posing with our mini Zohar (Pinchas). A cycle has been completed.
Rabbi Shimon's marker.
Rabbi Elazar's marker.
Cave where Rabbi Shimon is buried. The Mezuzah on the doorway was installed by HaRav Berg.
Cave of Idra Rabba (School of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai)
The cave where Rabbi Shimon taught his students.
Another one of HaRav's favorite places to visit. He was also brought here before burial.
Imagine all the great discussions about God and the Universe that took place in this lowly, unassuming spot.
Inside Rabbi Shimon's school.
This is more than just a cave. It is a classroom where Rabbi Shimon imparted great secrets of the Universe to his students.
These are not grave markers, these are the seats that Rabbi Shimon's students sat on.
The entrance to Rabbi Shimon's cave. It has been reinforced since 200 C.E.
We've paid our respects to the Father and author of the Zohar. Now off to Tzfat.
The famous synagogue of the Ari. We've heard this location mentioned every Shabbat and we were finally there.
The gate leading to the courtyard was locked, so I stuck my arm through it and took these pictures.
I pray that Niel and I will earn the merit to enter.
Burial site of the Ari - women's side.
The cemetery.
We also visited Rabbi Pinchas Ben Yair (father-in-law of R' Shimon Bar Yochai, composer of the Kabbalistic Book of the Zohar in the 1st century A.D.) I don't have pictures since it was night when we visited and it was pitch dark.
The town of Tzfat is known for being one of the four holy cities in Israel because of it's Kabbalah studies. It's also known for being an artist colony.
Structure built around HaAri's burial site.
Here is the men's access to HaAri's marker.
While HaRav Berg was in the physical, he connected with a gentleman who would maintain the gravesite of The Ari. HaRav wanted to be a part as much as possible and gave financial assistance to the gentleman for many years to keep the site clean and nice.
This very gentleman prayed a blessing over Niel during our visit. Now we have 2 degrees of separation from The Ari.
Mikveh of The Ari.
Since the men where doing the mikveh, I couldn't pass a certain point. This is as close as I could get.
Very exciting to have Niel partake in the Ari's Mikveh.
The Mikveh and I are taking a "withie".
The Valley of Tzfat. Now we've been to two of the Four Holy Cities of Israel.
Last few seconds of sun on a great day.
Yay! Saving the best for last. HaRav Berg of the Kabbalah Center International. He's buried in the same cemetary in Tzfat.
We've had the honor to meet him and to be lead in prayer by him.
Thanks to HaRav Berg and his wife Karen, I am free to learn the secrets of the Universe.
It's not just us. You'll see soon that many people from all parts of the Earth owe thanks to HaRav and Karen. Where many have sought to keep us blind and placidly asleep, HaRav Berg means to awaken us and stir us to action.
Rav Berg's gig was teaching the marriage between Science and Kabbalah, specifically how it related to Nano-Technology and Immortality. His greatest work is "NANO" and we recommend it.
It might seem ironic that we're paying respect to a man that taught immortality by visiting his gravesite, but when you experience the Rav Berg's Hilulah, you can see that the true concept of immortality is not living forever in our physical bodies, but about the impact you make with the short time that you have the current physical body.
On a separate trip, we had the merit to attend HaRav Berg's Hilulah in Tzfat. Hilulah translates to Day of Joy. A Tzadikim would choose to leave our physical world on a holiday. this causes the students to be joyful, rather than sad. As you'll see from the pictures below, that HaRav had students from all over the globe attend his Hilulah. We met fellow Kabbalah students from Europe, Russia, Africa, The Phillipines, South America, Canada and others from the U.S. We are his legacy. That's how you achieve Immortality.
Equal parts women to men. this is a huge deal, even in Kabbalah. Women were not allowed to study Kabbalah. This is a fairly new era for this. I'm happy to be alive at this time to experience this.
A glitch in the Matrix.
My friend Edlynn Frondoso-Ng from Manila, The Philippines. She is an Angel sent from Heaven to be with us for a short time in Israel. More on her later.
That's our tour of the North part of Israel. We will definitely return so we can take my dip in the Sea of Galilee. Jesus spent his life in the North part, so we feel compelled to connect with that area on our next visit.
