Day of Atonement

[dimrub]

Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, is a holy day in the Jewish calendar, but is not a holiday. There is nothing celebratory about it. It is rather a day of prayer, reflection and atonement for one's sins. Religious Jews fast on this day, and in Israel and elsewhere, many non-believers join them in fasting, if not in prayer.

In Israel, all of the businesses are closed, all but essential services shut down, and the roads are empty. So what do the non-believers do, if they don't choose to fast? They ride bicycles!

Not just bicycles, of course: with the roads and the highways free of all but infrequent emergency traffic, people bike, rollerblade, skateboard and just walk from city to city, and one frequently sees groups of kids just hanging out on a road.

Me and my kids as well. We started back in 2013, when they were 5 and 8, and we rode all the way to the sea, a respectable 20 km roundtrip.

Next year, it was Shefayim, a commercial center a bit further South, and the distance was now 30 km:

And so it was, me, my kids, and a bunch of their friends, with their parents trusting me to bring their precious back unhurt and, if possible, not overly taxed. Gradually though, as the distance grew, the number of participants dropped down, until it was just me, Daniel my eldest, and one friend.

Yes, the kid has grown a bit.
This time we rode to Caesarea on the sea, a round trip of 56 km, and the background was supplied by the "Lights of Rabin", the largest power plant in Israel.
I already know what our next destination is likely to be - the Atlit beach most likely, within the view of Haifa.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Family traditions on a bike, father son bonding, what's not to like?

 

[matticus]

Great story!
(Are you only allowed to ride in the dark?)

 

[PeteXXX]

My riding in Israel was mainly from Degania by the Sea of Galilee (Ha Galil?) heading up into the Golan Heights, plus a few circuits of Galilee. I did do a bit on the West Bank and Negev, too, but it wasn't quite so pleasant.

I guess things have changed a lot since I was there in 1976/77, like the tank traps not being by the bridges and sectioned off areas on the Golan due to mines!! 💣

I can't remember exactly what I was doing on Yom Kippur but I'm certain that alcohol was involved

 

[dimrub]

Great story!
(Are you only allowed to ride in the dark?)

The way the Jewish calendar works is that days start and end at sunset, so the Yom Kippur too lasts from a sunset (around 7pm) to the next one. We usually start riding soon after the roads clear. One can ride the next day too, but it gets unpleasantly hot quite fast, unless one starts really early.

 

[dimrub]

My riding in Israel was mainly from Degania by the Sea of Galilee (Ha Galil?) heading up into the Golan Heights, plus a few circuits of Galilee. I did do a bit on the West Bank and Negev, too, but it wasn't quite so pleasant.

I guess things have changed a lot since I was there in 1976/77, like the tank traps not being by the bridges and sectioned off areas on the Golan due to mines!! 💣

A lot has changed in the last 45 years in Israel, indeed, but the sectioned off mine fields are still there, I'm afraid. The roads are fantastic though, and so is the food. Work is being done now on an Israel Bike Trail, which will cross Israel from North to South, similar to a walking Israel Trail, and in the meanwhile there's the provisional HLC Route, unsigned, but, I hear, quite rideable. I'm going to try parts of it soon, and will probably report my findings.

I can't remember exactly what I was doing on Yom Kippur but I'm certain that alcohol was involved

Sounds legit .

 

[PeteXXX]

A lot has changed in the last 45 years in Israel, indeed, but the sectioned off mine fields are still there, I'm afraid. The roads are fantastic though, and so is the food. Work is being done now on an Israel Bike Trail, which will cross Israel from North to South, similar to a walking Israel Trail, and in the meanwhile there's the provisional HLC Route, unsigned, but, I hear, quite rideable. I'm going to try parts of it soon, and will probably report my findings.



Sounds legit .

That HLC route looks like a fun ride from what I remember of the geography!

 

[dimrub]

Yep, we did it again, and the destination was indeed Atlit. We could see the lights of Haifa just next to us. The Garmin was showing 111.1 km when we entered our neighborhood, and I was exhausted - the kid wanted to ride on to meet up with some pals.

On the way we got to handle a puncture in a tubeless with a worm, and when that didn't work - to put a tube in it (was it now tubeful?) All in all a good way to atone for one's sins.

 

[dimrub]

It is on again. We ride at dawn 6pm-ish tomorrow (once the cars disappear), 62.5k each way, and we'll either camp in Haifa at the Dado beach, or just make a short pit stop there and ride back same evening/night. Dado was the Chief of Staff of Israeli Army during the Yom Kippur war of 1973, and it's been exactly 50 years, so symbolism abounds. It's just the two of us this year, so I hope we'll ride faster than before.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Did you use the new steed?

It's just the two of us this year, so I hope we'll ride faster than before.

How different we all are

 

[dimrub]

Did you use the new steed?

Alas, the new steed hasn't arrived yet.

We left a bit later than planned, but there was still light, though not for long. The streets were already flooded with kids on bikes and scooters, so it took some careful navigation to get to the highway. We used the old one this year, road 4, instead of our usual choice of the coastal highway, and it was a good choice. The views were better, and some parts of it, going through forests in the dark and quiet, were just magical.

It was an interesting experience riding through the arab village of Furaydis. Arabs, of course, do not observe the Attonement Day, and it seemed as if the whole village was out, eating, drinking, and the youths - riding motorcycles, e-bikes and quads at crazy speeds, in circles. We bought us some cold drinks (the owner didn't take credit cards - that's a first in Israel for many years) and rode on, and the crazy bustle died down, as if turned off with a switch, the moment we left the limits of the village.

We got there, to the Dado beach, in good time and form, and made a break, on a sort of raised platform right above the sea. I made tea and porridge with my new Jetboiler, it worked like magic. Then I embarked on a quest for a loo. Alas, there were several, all locked. The idiocy of it: having such fine free facilities, and locking them up. I ended up using an "unofficial" loo. Then it was time to go back.

It was a slower and harder going, in part because we were both tired by this time, in part because Daniel insisted on taking the new highway on our way back - being a proper highway, it goes over a whole bunch of underpasses, so there's a lot of unnecessary ups and down there, and the views are not as good. But we made it.

What's it going to be next year? I shudder. Best case scenario we continue just a few more kms and have some hummus in downtown Haifa. But Daniel did mention an intent to continue to Acco, and that's more than 30 kms extra - each way! Granted, he said that when he still wasn't tired, so maybe he changed his mind by now.

 

[Chris S]

Then I embarked on a quest for a loo. Alas, there were several, all locked. The idiocy of it: having such fine free facilities, and locking them up.

It's not just Israel. In Northern Ireland park swings used to be chained-up on Sundays!