The Trek to Tel Dan

If you’re stuck inside dreaming of blue skies, rushing water, and the joy of watching your kids run freely through the grass, you’re in good company. You’re also in the right place, because we’re about to take a virtual tour of what is in my humble opinion one of the most amazing sites in Eretz Yisrael — Tel Dan. Usually I do my tours in person, but we’re all discovering new talents and abilities these days.

A River Runs through It

Our tour begins with an incredible overlook of the Dan River. This year our tefillos of v’sein tal u’matar have been answered in abundance. Whereas last year the river was a mere trickle in many places, today the river is roaring.

The Dan River is one of the three major rivers that flow down from the Chermon, Israel’s highest mountain, which is on the border of the Golan Heights and Syria; the other two are Nachal Senir (Hatzbani) and Nachal Chermon (Banias). All three rivers converge and become the Yarden (aka the Jordan River). The Dan is the largest of the three — in fact, it’s bigger than the other two put together — and provides more than half of the water in the Yarden.

By the way, “Yarden” comes from the words yored Dan — the downflow of the Dan River. The Yarden flows down to the Kinneret, which flows down to the lower Yarden and to the Dead Sea. After four years of drought they were both drying up. The gishmei brachah of the past two years have them brimming with water.