Tens of thousands of Israelis took advantage of Passover’s intermediate days and the warm weather to tour the Galilee, the Shomron, and other parts of the Land of Israel.

Some 4,000 people kayaked down the Jordan River from Kfar Blum on Monday, in addition to thousands of others along other routes.  Though the lines on land were long, no traffic jams were recorded in the flowing river itself.

The holy city of Tzfat (Safed) hosted many thousands of people in various Kabbalah and other spiritual activities and workshops in the framework of the week-long Birkat HaChama (Blessing of the Sun) Festival.  Over 1,000 people attended the concert of singing star Ettie Ankri, a recent returnee to observant Judaism.
Wednesday, the last day of Passover in Israel, marks the 3,721st anniversary of the actual miraculous crossing of the Red Sea by the Israelites on their way out of Egyptian bondage and into history as an independent people.

The Shomron (Samaria) Regional Council registered great success with its “This Beautiful Mountain Festival” – a name based on Deuteronomy 3:25.  Among the holiday visitors to Joshua’s Altar near Shechem and Elon Moreh was France’s former Chief Rabbi Joseph Chaim Sitruk.

“I am truly moved to be at this holy spot,” he told Arutz-7’s Hillel Maeir, “where Joshua led the People of Israel into the Land.  This spot marks the beginning of our settlement in the Land of Israel.

"Unfortunately," the rabbi said, "everything here becomes a matter of politics - but whoever wants to really see the significance of what is going on should come to these places and truly sense what our real challenges are.”

Click here to see a Hebrew-language video of the hike.

Another participant was Gershon Mesika. He is head of the Shomron Regional Council, which is now celebrating its 30th birthday.

“We must grasp the full significance of this spot,” Mesika said. “If this is truly Joshua’s Altar, as the archaeologists say, then this is the place where tens or hundreds of thousands of Jews who were under age 20 at the time of the Exodus walked after having seen the miracles of the Exodus, the Manna and the Splitting of the Red Sea. They walked here at this very site - more proof of the eternal links between the Jewish People and the Land of Israel.”

This Wednesday, in fact - the last day of Passover in Israel - marks the 3,721st anniversary of the actual miraculous crossing of the Red Sea by the Israelites on their way out of Egyptian bondage and into history as an independent people.  Six weeks later, they received the Torah at Mount Sinai, and entered the Land of Israel with Joshua 40 years afterwards.

Among the marchers this past Sunday and Monday in various areas in the northern Shomron were groups from Kfar Saba and other places around the country, including 1,000 Lubavitch Hassidim. 

Hundreds more hiked on Monday along a flowing river bed near Dolev to the site of the former neighborhood of Yad Yair.  The area is located just ten kilometers northwest of Jerusalem’s northern neighborhoods, and slightly more to the west of Beit El, but is cut off from both by roads closed due to “security considerations.” 

Former IDF Lt.-Col. Yitzchak Shedmi, a resident of the area, said, “This hike is to show that we have not forgotten this area, which was destroyed by the army last year out of narrow considerations, and that we will yet return to re-settle it.” 

Many areas in the Land of Israel about which similar “threats” have been made are now thriving with Jewish life.