Jacob's Ladder: Nof Ginosar, May 14-16

For the 39th year, the Vinograd family and the 2,000-plus attendees of the music festival created a paradise full of music, sun and family-friendly post-hippie activities.

By DAVID BRINN
Audience members enjoy the pop bluegrass sounds of The Abrams Brothers at the Jacob’s Ladder Festival over the weekend. (photo credit: REBECCA HAVIV)
Audience members enjoy the pop bluegrass sounds of The Abrams Brothers at the Jacob’s Ladder Festival over the weekend.
(photo credit: REBECCA HAVIV)
More than one performer noted from the main stage at the Jacob’s Ladder Festival that for those precious hours from Thursday to Saturday at Nof Ginosar on the shore of the Kinneret, there was probably no finer place on Earth. And this time, it was no hyperbole.
For the 39th year, the Vinograd family and the 2,000-plus attendees of the music festival created a paradise full of music, sun and family-friendly post-hippie activities from juggling and face painting to meditation, holistic treatments and massages.
Musical highlights this year revolved around The Abrams Brothers, the Canadian country-pop band with bluegrass punk roots. In a class of their own, they closed both Friday night’s and Saturday afternoon’s shows with an abundance of spirit and talent. Other standouts included the Israeli Americana hybrid Jane Bordeaux, the high-energy fiddle and banjo rockers Jacks of Diamonds and the psychedelic shiny pop of Old Man River, X-Factor alumni Ohad Rein’s band.
Of course, the countless jam sessions in and around the lobby of the Ginosar guest house were the place to be if you wanted to pull an all-nighter. And, alternatively, the docks jutting out into the Kinneret provided a welcome environment of solitude to hear that inner voice.