This is a guest post by Israelinurse.

I don’t know about you, but after a cold, dark week riddled with nasty carols, boycotters and antisemites, I think we’re due a dose of comfort food. Seeing as I can’t send hot liquids over the internet, here’s some visual chicken soup in the form of one of my favourite places in Israel.
(Click on photos to enlarge them.)

This is Nahal Samech in the Golan; one of many valleys which descend from the plateau down to the shores of lake Kinneret. In summer the streams are no more than a trickle, but in a good, wet winter you will see the locals out in their spare time ‘watching the flow’.

At the top of Nahal Samech lies Um el Kanatir, also known as Kshetot Rehavam; an ancient settlement which thrived by dealing in the bleaching of flax and growing olives.

Their techniques must have been advanced because apparently cloth was brought from as far away as Egypt to be treated in these stone baths using the soft, mineral-rich water of the Golan which is prized even today. ‘Kanatir’ means arches and an impressive arched building once stood above this network of baths. So well did Um el Kanatir prosper that in the 5th century the villagers built themselves a new synagogue on the site of their old one, with exquisite decorative stonework.  This is one of the famous south-facing synagogues, several of which have been discovered in the Golan.

In 749 CE the village was hit by a massive earthquake (this is, of course, the top of the Syrian-African Rift Valley) which devastated much of the area. Today the synagogue is being painstakingly excavated and reconstructed. Just above the site lies Moshav Natur – a thriving village of young couples, many born in the Golan. They are engaged in agriculture and raising a third generation in the beautiful wild landscape of the Golan, just as the villagers from Um el Kanatir did 1,700 years ago. Knowing that certainly gives me a nice warm feeling.

And that’s my answer to all the boycotters and haters.