Road Trip of Holiness (including the Sfat mikvah adventure)

In the wake of one of my friends recent breakup with his girlfriend, he decided that me and a couple of the madrichim should take a road trip up north and back for a "Holy Day". To be honest I didn't know the extent of our itinerary until we left but it was no biggie, I was down for a road trip with the guys. Our first destination was the Kineret. On the way up we listened to a excellent array of rock n roll mainly featuring the works of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, the Gin Blossoms, Weezer, and of course the Pumpkins. We were also privy to a wide variety of heinus odors including manure, sewage, marijuana (either we past a pot farm or people nearby were lighting up), spoiled milk, and everyones favorite....feces!! (we also though we may have caught the reeking hint of Judy and Debbie in the air aka The Earth Stinkers). We were very lucky that Israel has been unseasonably warm, and decided to go for a quick dup in the Kineret. While it was about 80 degrees the water was more like 45. I, being a wuss when it comes to the cold, very hesitantly made my way in. Eventually we had some splishy splashy fun (it wasn't the homosexual variety...that would come later), and pictures are available upon request, but be warned I am shirtless- put your tongue back in your mouth Elan...u2 Jessica. We then skipped some stones and I skipped my all time high of 6. I know that's not so good but I'm not a great stone-skipper.....although down a yellow brick road I can skip with the best of them. After we got reclothed we obliged my the road trip rules by playing "Freebird" and then head up to sfat....but not before we stopped at the grave of Chabbakuk right off the Jordan River.
Chabbakuk was one of the neviim in Trei Asar. I felt bad that a man who actually spoke with
G-d had a very small, "modest" grave, but maybe that's the beauty of it. I wonder if he foresaw us coming? Anyways we said some prayers and headed back on the road. At this point in the day I was quite hungry but we couldn't stop for lunch just yet because we had to say mincha at the grave of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, but I was very cranky due to the hunger and the fact that I had a poor nights sleep (we woke up at 6). Fortunately we then got to Sfat and I had some pizza and ice cream and all was OK again. This was my first time in The Mystical City without a tour and the four of us were surprised to find that there was a very large secular community. I'm talking girls in sleeveless shirts, questionably kosher stores, a lingerie boutique with a teddy in the front window, men without kipahs, and the man who sold me my ice cream took flaming to a whole new level...not that I'm judging any of this, I just found it odd that this existed in Sfat. I realized how naive I was as I had only been to the "Holy" parts of the city with the various tours I was with, without taking into consideration the size of the town. Of course the entire town wasn't super duper frum!!
At this point I would like to take a brief pause to state that I absolutely loathe the music of Macy Grey (shes on VH1 in the background and ruined my train of thought). And now for the really fun stuff:
Following lunch we made our way down to the Aree's mikvah. For the record I usually don't mind going to the mikvah as it is genuinely an ego boost :) Anyways.... this is the most famous mikvah in the world, although it certainly is not the most aesthetically pleasing, nor is the most pleasant or soothing. There are no changing rooms and the floor is always flooded.Furthermore it is genuinely populated by chassidim who fortunately don't have the best hygiene (perhaps they think it's just a greeting) and the place always reeks of B.O. (another odor on the list!). What this mikvah is probably most famous for(Aside form the great Talmud chachum for whom it's named) is that the water is always freezing, and I mean freezing!! (See above for my feelings on cold water). Now before we got in there was a fully clothed chusid just watching everyone get naked and go in the water. I have no idea what he was doing there and why he was watching everyone dip, but needless to say it made me uncomfortable. I straight out asked him if he batted for the other team and would he mind not looking at me strip and go in. Of course he didn't know any English and just smiled and nodded in the most foppish of ways. At this point it occurred to us that he might just be the lifeguard (If Jim Carrey can lifeguard a hottub...:), and then we started imagining what it would be like if there was a chussidishe guy on "Baywatch". We simply lost it when we pictured him running slowly down the beach with his tzizit and peyes bobbing up and down in slow motion, his beard being caressed by the sun, his flab flying this way and that. It was something. Unfortunately whatever kavana I might have had was lost at this point and amidst the laughter I just took my towel off and went in (I can only imagine the lifeguard enjoyed this). The water was just subzero and I let out a high pitch scream and some sort of inappropriate comment on how I went to the mikvah a few months ago and didn't need to go now. I did my dipping, got out and started getting dressed again. Then I felt kind of guilty about my unserious attitude moments ago, and decided that I should "double dip" to make up for it. Now in mikvah terminology the term "Double Dip" means that you go into the water while someone else is there too. Generally one tries to avoid this for obvious homosocial/homosexual reasons that went out of fashion with the Roman Empire, especially in the Sfat mikvah which is quite, quite small. I headed back towards the water and was waiting for an 18-year-old chusidshe boy to get out. A few minutes went buy and we realized that this boy wasn't doing the general 3 or 7 dips that most people do. It seemed that this kid was going for a full 613. I tried to ask Duvid Hasselhofskowitz what the deal was but he didn't seem to understand, and was oddly giddy as well. We were in a bit of a rush and it seemed that I had little choice: I had to double dip on my double dip. I stayed as close to the wall as I could, and avoided any possible contact. I did my dipping, kept my hands to myself-as did the kid- had the proper kavana in mind and got the heck out of there while my friends said "I can't believe you double dipped."
We got back to the car and headed towards our main destination of the day: The grave of Rav Yonatan Ben Uziel in Amookah. For those of you who don't know this is THE place to daven for one in need of a shidduch (and as my friend has been trying to reconcile with his ex, Amookah essential cog in his formula to get her back- for the record this wasn't me, but an actual friend.) My personal davening was a little unbalanced but I made sure to have in mind with the utmost kavana all of my single friends and family who are "looking"(That means you!). As for my own tefillah, well I think that'll stay with me- we'll just have to wait and see how things play out. I do hope all of our tefillahs are answered, that one friend in particular.
From there the four of us made our way towards Teveriah, but decided to just head on back to Jerusalem and daven maariv at the kotel. The drive only took about 2.5 hours (And of course the music was swell once again). We got to the Kotel and prayed. Though my tefillot during the course of the day may not have been as heavy and emotional as a couple of my pals I was still feeling good. I mean in one day I visited the kevers of three great tzadikkim, went to Sfat, dunked in the Aree's mikvah, and ended off at the Kotel. I was in a good mood and wanted to share it with those around me. I figured the best way to do this was to give random people high fives. Me and one of the guys tried to high five as many people as we could. Unfortunately most people just walked on by as we raised our hands up and said "High Five!" In the end I ended up winning 4-3 (and all 7 of those people were very happy to get a random high five), but right before we got to the car I spotted a yeshivaish looking guy (hat, black and white etc...) with his hands in his pockets. I decided we just needed to go for it The five of us (we picked up another friend at the Kotel) all lined up and said "High Five!" The Black hatter missed the first one of us but then got the last four! It was a great high five line, and he was certainly laughing. I think we should all make the effort to high five more people at random. Trust me it'll make both participants in the fiving happy.
From there we stopped at KFC at mevaseret (where I was forced to order the kiddy meal on top of my zinger in order to get the "Star Wars" toy!!!). We reminisced and laughed about the day, and then headed on back to yeshiva. An hour later the friend who planned it all told me that his ex just got in touch with him. They spoke for a while,and though they're not back together things are looking much better than they have in the last month. I'll keep you updated on this, but it certainly was a great end to a great day.....
Actually the last thing I did was watch an episode of "24" (I just got hooked out of boredom).... which really was the perfect end to the day even if it wasn't as well "plotted" as the previous ending was, but it was the truth. Till next time, I'm the Hopeful Fool.