For centuries the archetypal image of the Jew was of a studious city dwelling person, often academic, a professional type, ill at ease with manual labour, sport and physical activity. Well, that was one image. The other was of the Jew portrayed by Chaim Topol in the Hollywood musical ‘Fiddler On The Roof’ of the poor peasant farmer, physically labouring tirelessly to give his children the best chance in life, a hands-on, hard working Jew, a man who could turn his hand to any labour if it resulted in him having a little more in his pocket at the end of the week.

 

Modern day Israel, the Jewish homeland, is a country made up of Jews from all corners of the earth, many of whom came with nothing, laboured in the fields and on the kibbutzes, or eked out a living in the cities in the days before the high-rise blocks and hi-tech industries paved the way for better times ahead. With most of the  able-bodied members of the population serving time in the army (men for three years and women for two), and some continuing to do annual service up to the age of 50, it’s fair to say that the average Israeli appears to be in better shape than the average Brit or American.

 

Some surveys suggest that image is changing with the fast-food lifestyle beginning to catch on here and the population becoming increasingly more obese. That downward trend couldn’t have been further from my mind however when last Saturday morning I dragged myself out of bed before the crack of dawn (a very, very rare occurrence, I promise you), and drove east to the Sea of Galilee, arriving at 0630 to find myself in a queue of traffic, patiently waiting to be assigned a parking space ahead of the 57th annual ‘Crossing of the Kinneret’ - ‘Kinneret’ being the local name for the Sea of Galilee.

 

Now, before you think this was a convention of would-be Jesus impersonators, it is in fact an annual challenge for swimmers of all ages to make their way across from the eastern side of the inland lake to the western shore, a challenge that for me as an awful swimmer would only ever end in a watery grave! So when my 10-year-old daughter Tami informed me that she wanted to join her grandpa (a regular Kinneret crosser), for this year’s challenge, like the native population of North America, I had plenty of reservations.

 

I’ve never doubted for  a moment that Tami is a very good swimmer, and after being assured by her grandpa that she was more than capable, (and that if she got tired there were floating stations to rest before continuing), it seemed only right to let her take her chance. And I’m very glad I did, because what I saw there on Saturday morning on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, a place made famous in the bible and New Testament as the location of incredible happenings, was the very best of modern Israel.

 

I would estimate that at least 3000 people came to take on one of the three challenges – the one mile crossing, the two mile crossing, and the four mile crossing. Tami and her grandpa Dan, together with his brother Efraim and wife Tzippi, (who had flown over from San Francisco to take on the lake), were going for the one mile crossing – 1500 metres in open water. We waved them off from the car park as they boarded a bus which took them across to the far side of the lake, whilst Paz and I, with my younger daughter Maya and mother-in-law Ilana, waited on the hillside overlooking the finishing line on the western shore along with many hundreds, even thousands of relatives and friends of the swimmers.

 

People of all ages and backgrounds were there to take on the challenge. Some were serious swimmers who signed up to compete in the four-mile crossing, which is also a race for the strongest and fittest, whilst others were leisure swimmers, two, sometimes three generations of the same family, along for the day out and the chance to say they had done the ‘Zlichot ha Kinneret’ - the crossing of the Sea of Galilee. It was seven in the morning and there was a gentle atmosphere about the place. Unbelievably there was a live band playing light rock music! I can’t imagine any musician I know being able to do a gig at seven am, but a gig’s a gig, I suppose.

 

Somewhere out in the lake my daughter was front crawling or backstroking her way through the water, and after being satisfied that there were enough launches and resting decks on the way should she get tired, I have to admit that I nodded off in the shade of a very conveniently placed palm tree. Even though aged only 10, a parent sometimes has to be able to place the safety of their child in the hands of others and let the kid do something for themselves. That’s what I believe anyway. It’s a confidence building exercise and a step on the way to independence of mind and spirit.

 

The mother-in-law woke me with a gentle nudge, (or at least I think it was a gentle nudge, it might have been a sharpened stick!), and I trotted down to the shore where swimmers were starting to wade up onto the beach. And there she was, Tami Alster, accompanied by her grandpa, great aunt and great uncle, nonchalantly drying herself off as if she’d just come out of the paddling pool, completely unfazed by the achievement.  She had to be persuaded to pose for a photo or three, and only really started to get excited when her grandpa reminded her that everyone that crossed the finishing line received a goody bag.

 

By this point dozens of people were emerging from the water looking very pleased with themselves. I heard later on the radio that the youngest to do the swim was 7 years old, whilst the oldest was 76. I was sure I saw a man that looked more like 86 coming out of the water, but maybe he just looked 86 after finding it harder than he had expected!

 

This really was a wonderful event, well organised, (taking into account all the necessary safety requirements and logistics of the day), and it made me feel very proud to be Israeli seeing so many good people participating in a great sport in an atmosphere of friendliness and mutual appreciation. The only fault I could find is that no-one had been sponsored to make the crossing – sponsorship just isn’t part of the Israeli way of doing things – and surely a big opportunity to raise money for good causes was clearly missed.

 

Tami’s goody bag contained a beach sun parasol, (to ensure that she wouldn’t get sunburned next time she decides to build a sand castle), a number of plastic bags for collecting rubbish and keeping Israel today, quite bizarrely, a portable plastic ash tray (so you don’t leave your ciggies out in the wild and start a forest fire), and most importantly, a medal celebrating the achievement of successfully taking part in the 57th ‘Crossing of the Galilee’.

 

There are a thousand and one good reasons for visiting Israel, but if you’re a keen swimmer and want to combine a superb holiday with the chance to cross one of the most famous stretches of water in the world in the company of like-minded people, then the 58th crossing will take place same time, same place in 2011.

 

 

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