Monday: Ben-Gurion's Grave, the Desert, and an Oasis
Good Morning!
Having enjoyed the Bedouin hospitality of one desert people, we focused today on the role of the desert to our own people. After a quite smelly camel ride, we traversed to Sde Boker to see the graves of David Ben-Gurion and his wife Paula. After Rachel led us is some stretching and yoga, we played a game show to learn some interesting facts about Israel’s first Prime Minister, like his affinity for handstands and his temporary retirement to Kibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev. We went up to their graves, and took in the beautiful view atop the desert mountains where he chose to be buried. Our tour guide Ariel told us about Ben-Gurion’s relationship to the desert, and his love for the Land of Israel. We debated what it means to be a Zionist - and whether it is possible to be a Zionist without ever moving to Israel.
We drove further into the desert and talked about why the Torah was given in the desert. We talked about how the desert was ownerless and vast, and thus was a perfect setting for our receiving of the Torah. We also discussed, practically, that we couldn’t receive the Torah as slaves in Egypt, needed to have the Torah before we were ready to go into the Land of Israel, and so there weren’t a ton of other options for where we could receive the Torah! We also talked about how we received the Torah outside of Israel, which Jonathan J. pointed out perfectly reflected the outsider and wanderer roles that Jews had before the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.
After spending the day learning about the role of the desert and melting away in the heat, it was time for an oasis! We went to Nachal David (David’s brook) at the beautiful Ein Gedi preserve, and cooled off in the pool and waterfall in this beautiful nature reserve. We then boarded our bus for a 2 minute drive down the street to our hotel for the evening. After a brief rest and a filling meal of shnitzel and fresh vegetables, our Israeli participants led our evening program. They taught us about the difficult political situations the State of Israel has to deal with, including Iran’s nuclear program, flotillas into Gaza, the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit by Hamas, and struggles to keep peace with neighboring Lebanon. They told us of their personal involvement with these issues, and helped us understand that - in many ways - Israel’s war for independence is ongoing still today. We learned of their hardships and fears - and the many impossible situations they must navigate daily. Itai’s lesson on Iran was particularly engaging, clear, and fascinating. We went to sleep early, trying to prepare…at least a little bit…for our 3am wakeup and ensuing ascension up Masada to see the sun rise over the desert.
Mike and Brandi
(Clearly, the participants are a bit too tired to blog right now! We are on the bus heading to Jerusalem and only 4 of the 50 people on the bus are awake! Our bus driver Taicier, thankfully, is one of them!)
