Page 22 - Holyland Magazine - 2025 Edition
P. 22

THE GALILEE

HISTORY & MEANING

IN GREEN HILLS

Spring in the Galilee. Photo: Shutterstock

  More reflections on                       W e took a break from                                A trek on the Shvil is a rite of passage for
  trekking the length and                                         Holyland Magazine’s series     many 21-year-old Israelis, following their
  breadth of the land of                                          on the Israel Trail. But with  military or national service; many do it
  milk & honey                                                    the current renewal of         nonstop in small groups (which form and
                                                                  Israel’s strength and spirit,  dissolve and re-form many times along
   Aryeh Green                              I’m pleased to offer a few reminiscences of          the way); it usually takes about two-three
                                            the section of my trek which angled across           months in total. Over the past few decades,
22 l HOLY LAND                              the North of Israel in the green hills of the        many Israelis have walked segments of the
                                            Galilee.                                             Trail on the weekends, once a month for two
                                                                                                 days, or during the holidays for a few days
                                            For those readers not familiar with this series      at a time.
                                            or with the Israel National Trail, a few words
                                            of introduction. The Trail (or “the Shvil” as it’s   I hiked the Shvil all alone, without a break,
                                            called in Hebrew), is a 1000-mile hiking path        with a 50-pound pack on my back, at age 51,
                                            meandering from the southern tip of Israel           following a devastating divorce (which I had
                                            in the port city of Eilat, through the Negev         not looked for). It was a transformational,
                                            desert mountains and up to Jerusalem, from           healing, two-month-long adventure, and
                                            there to Tel Aviv and along the coastal plain        the book I wrote (My Israel Trail) describes
                                            up to the Galilee, ending at the border with         both the journey and the lessons I learned
                                            Lebanon near the Golan Heights. Think of             along the way, which helped me move on
                                            it as Israel’s answer to the Appalachian Trail       with my life.
                                            or the Pacific Crest Trail – yet unique in that
                                            we are walking in the Holy Land, with all its        Starting in Israel’s South and meandering
                                            history and spiritual significance.                  through Jerusalem and Tel Aviv (see my
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