We recently joined ESRA (English-Speaking Residents Assoc.) for an autumn hike along the Amud stream (middle and lower parts) in the Upper Eastern Galilee. The hike started from Ein Koves near the ancient city of Safed - pronounced Tsfat - and traversed the middle and lower parts of Nahal Amud to Kibbutz Hukuk. As we traveled north on our bus from the coastal plain we turned inland towards Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee). We were passing through an area known for its olives when our excellent guide, Avishai, pointed out an interesting fact: the olive trees rarely have two big harvests in a row. In alternative years, the trees consolidate their growth or put out fruit. Avishai explained that the rhythm of the olive trees allow them to exist for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

We passed a large reservoir belonging to Israel's water utility, Mekorot. One of the most advanced companies of its kind, Mekorot has enabled Israel to support a population of more than seven million in an arid country of which twothirds is desert. Avishai educated us about the three major sources of natural water in Israel. The Kinneret is one of Mekorot's largest sources and is certainly Israel's most talked-about one. It receives the majority of its water from the Jordan River, the diversion of which has greatly reduced the river's flow south from the Kinneret, to the detriment of the Dead Sea. Israelis hold their breath when the elevation of the Kinneret declines to its "red line," which it has surpassed this year. There is even concern that the "black line" may be surpassed in the near future. If that happens, the giant pumps that transport the water from the lake, which is more than 600 ft. below sea level, to the National Water Carrier system of water pipes, won't function.

On a more positive note, we discussed the great progress in desalinization Israel has made, with the world's largest reverse-osmosis desalinization plant in Ashkelon among a total of 31 plants around the country, and more in the works. For example, in 2011 a huge sea water desalination plant, now under construction in Ashdod, will be operational.

Besides the Kinneret, Israel has the large Coastal and Mountain aquifers, in addition to smaller "lakes" of water beneath terrain in dispute with the Palestinian Authority. So, besides our lack of rain, pollution from increasing development, and burgeoning population pressure on our sources, there's a large political component to Israel's water problems. As some experts say, water may be the likely cause of regional wars in the near future.

A steep descent led us to our trail, approximately midway along the long Nahal Amud (Amud stream). As Israel has had several relatively dry winters in a row, the bed of the stream (once, in centuries past, a river) was completely dry along our route. In any event, at this point we were about 500 feet above the stream bed, on a lovely wooded trail (plane and jujube trees) with many man-made terraces, mostly eroded, overlooking the deep gorge with its limestone cliffs. At our first rest stop on one of the larger terraces, we talked about the civilization that had built the terraces here, after having advanced from hunter-gatherers to cultivators. Avishai described the natural conflicts still evident between cultivators (settled groups) and hunter-gatherers (nomads), especially mentioning Arab or Jewish citydwellers and peasants versus the Beduin. Israel shares this conflict with its southern and eastern neighbors, which also have large Beduin populations.

Along the stream bed, the remains of 18 disused mills, numerous bridges and dams can still be found. During our lunch break, Avishai read to us from the

document announcing the imminent expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. He told us how that forced migration led to the flowering of the city of Safed as a center of Jewish learning and mysticism during the 16thcentury, Safed's golden age.

When the Jews were forced to convert or leave Spain (nearly penniless) within three months of the decree, only one country welcomed them: Ottoman Turkey. Sultan Bayazid II understood the value of cultivating a middle class which would promote commerce through trade, banking, and diplomacy. The Jews were the obvious ones to fit this description, since they constituted the bulk of the middle class in Spain, had a wide network of co-religionists throughout the known world to trade with, were conversant in many languages, and had a rudimentary banking system. Some Jews settled in Adrianople, where they learned a more advanced way to fabricate fine woolens using the process of "fulling", which repeatedly beats the wool until the threads are very tight and the fabric shrinks to half its size, turning it into felt.

Just 25 years after the expulsion from Spain (followed by a similar one from Portugal), the Ottomans conquered Palestine and the Sultan invited the Jews to move there to enrich the empire. Some came to Safed, capitalizing on the already existing terraces, flour mills, water channels and bridges next to the Nahal Amud. There the Jews created a center for the production of highquality woolen fabrics by converting the flour mills into fulling mills. The woolens were then exported to customers all over Europe. Rabbi David de Rossi, who visited Safed in 1535, wrote: "Many Jews are arriving all the time and the clothing [textile] business is growing every day... and every man and woman who works in wool at any trade will earn a good living."But in 1576-77, Sultan Murad III, the first anti-Jewish Ottoman ruler, ordered the deportation of many of the Jews of Safed to Cyprus, leading to the decline of the woolen industry in the area. Eventually, Arabs became the majority of the inhabitants of Safed and the city didn't regain its Jewish population until Israel's War of Independence.

It was a slow descent to the lower part of Nahal Amud. At this point the trail literally spans the seam between the Upper and Lower Galilee regions. Here, the limestone cliffs took on a positively spooky look, with caves and other openings simulating skulls with hollow eyesockets and other phantasmagorical shapes. We saw where the National Water Carrier crossed the deep gorge towards the center of Israel. The water pipe, nearly 10 ft. in diameter, is encased in concrete and looks like the stairway of a giant Aztec pyramid. Just ahead of us, near the exit from the gorge, was the natural limestone column ("amud" in Hebrew) which gives the stream its name. Nearly 100 feet high, its top is shaped like a monolith from Easter Island. This was a fitting sight to climax our 8-mile hike, which is among the most beautiful we've done anywhere.

Stephen Kramer resided and worked in the Atlantic City area until 1991, when he moved to Israel with his wife, Michal Langweiler, and two sons. He can be reached at Sjk1@jhu.edu.