If You Gotta Go....

Not that you’d be able to enjoy it if you were a permanent resident, but the view from the cemetery occupying the steep slopes of Rosh Pina is spectacular. After a leisurely lunch under the trees (replete with bird droppings on my head) on a hillside terrace in Rosh Pina, we explored the small artisan shops in the old streets of Rosh Pina, a community founded by Zionists from Roumania in 1882, the first “modern” Jewish settlement in the Galilee. We paused to inhale a piece of coma-inducing intensely chocolate cake at Chocolata Café with its stone-walled cave like atmophere, Then we hiked up through the tiers of gravesites in the Rosh Pina cemetery, going further back in time as we climbed to the top of the steep hillside which was strewn with wildflowers. Among the more traditional markers, we found interestingly decorated memorial plaques—one decorated with Gaudi-style mosaics, others modernistic with bright colors or the writing in Hebrew cursive script. There were some sad stories—a young family that died together, probably in an accident, young soldiers who died in combat (one very recently) as well as those who had immigrated from Europe and died here at ripe old ages. I loved this spot and came away feeling that those who lie here have found a good resting place.