Tzfat Tourist Information Center
Navigating the City
Where can I park my car? What is there to see? How can I get to the art galleries? Where is there a nice place to eat?"
These are questions heard in every tourist information center throughout the world.
However, the Tzfat Visitors Center has more than its share of queries that are not often heard in other tourist offices.
"Which synagogue has the chair where a woman who wants to get pregnant should sit" is one which is frequently asked. "Who can I go to for a blessing? Where is the tomb of the rabbi that you go to pray at if you want to get married? Where did Madonna go when she came here? Can I take pictures in Tzfat? My great-great-uncle is buried in the Old Cemetery.....how can I find his grave?" And the most frequent, "I have 5 minutes before my bus leaves....can you explain to me what exactly Kabbalah is?"
About the Center
Working at the Kappell Tzfat Visitors Center is Laurie Rappeport, who staffs the center on behalf of Livnot U'Lehibanot. Ten years ago, Tzfat's "twin" community, the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach, Florida, turned to Livnot to ask them to establish and maintain a tourist information center as a Palm Beach's contribution to encouraging tourism in the city. Livnot acquired a building next to the campus of the Livnot U'Lehibanot program and set up the center as part of its commitment to Community Service. Laurie began coordinating the center in 1999, and is still there today, greeting the visitors and attempting to give them a positive experience in Tzfat.
"We have everything that any other Tourist Center anywhere in the world has" Laurie explained. "There are maps and guidebooks, wall panels about the history of the city as well as a 10-minute audio-visual presentation about the history of Tzfat. There's also information about the Livnot program, for people who are thinking about coming on an educational program, or for people who are looking for a quality program for their kids".
A Unique Tourist Center
The Tzfat Visitors Center also has something which would not be a common sight in other Tourist Information Centers -- an excavation under the ground of the Center which explains, much more clearly than words or diagrams, the concept of successive layers of the city being built one on top of the other, as earthquakes destroyed the city and survivors rebuilt. Visitors are invited to walk into the "tunnel", which was once a street-level corridor with rooms on either side, including a room with a Jewish ritual bath, a mikve. "Few people come back up without being amazed" Laurie says. "It's living history".
Recently, the Center has begun to offer Livnot-type workshops and seminars to visitors who want to experience Tzfat in a deeper way. "Storytelling, Jewish Art and Music, hiking in the North, Jewish meditation and movement workshops......there's so much here, with so many talented professionals in Tzfat, that we wanted to make it available to people in who are interested in experiencing the city" Laurie says. "There's a lot more here than art galleries and walking into a few synagogues, and when I see people come to Tzfat and really take advantage of everything that the city has to offer, I'm thrilled."
Not to mention finding the answers to such questions as: Where is the legendary "Elijah's Chair" is where a woman who wants to become pregnant should sit. (answer: The ARI Ashkanazi synagogue)
To contact the Center: 972-4-6924427 or laurie@livnot.com
