Druze Village Experience
April 3rd 2011
The best way to really get to know a person is to sit down and have a nice, long, luxurious meal with him.
Which would be the perfect way to get to know, say, a totally different culture that totals about 100,000 residents of the Israeli population- the Druze.
Except, of course, the technical difficulties- Where do the Druze live? Who would set that up? How can you find kosher food in the Carmel region, around the Galilee and the Golan ?
And of course, there is a solution.
For the past ten years, a special village named “Usifiya” has put together an Israel tour opportunity, with seven houses that participate in the tour events. The purpose of the group or private tour is to allow the outside world an inner glimpse at Drusian Israeli reality. Young students from the village are your Israeli tour guides for the day, sharing with you their opinion of Druze lifestyle and religion, in a casual discussion orientated focus, On the wall of the restaurant is a kosher certification sign, so all those who follow dietary laws can breathe a sigh of kosher relief.
Israel may not be the “melting pot” that is the United States, but it is certainly akin to a really deluxe falafel sandwich with all of the toppings you could imagine with its various cultures, ethnicities, and religions. On your Israel tour experience, it is possible to get in touch with the plethora of cultures that exist in this tiny land.
Many people have heard of the Druze, but very few have the opportunity to really meet them and hear about their lives, their religion, the things that they struggle with, and the role of women in their society.
Druze are Arabs, and their religion is an offshoot of Islam. Druze do enroll in the Israeli army, and are found in about twelve assorted villages around the Golan and the Galilee. There are also Druze in Syria and Lebanon.
Like any place in Israel, there are layers of history beneath every pile of rocks, and Usifiya is no different. The Druze arrived there in the sixteenth century, but they were not its first inhabitants. It was discovered in 1930 that there had been a synagogue and Jewish town there in the fifth century. The synagogue ruins and mosaic proclaiming “Shalom al Yisrael” still remain to this day.
If you’re exhausted from your multicultural travels through Israel and want a chance to rest your weary bones before continuing on your Israeli vacation, there is a hotel in the nearby vicinity.
