Out of order...this goes before the one below
Days 7 & 8 Thursday & Friday 3/17 & 3/18/05
I’m skipping a day and jumping to the Negev. I’ll get back to Ra’anana eventually…probably tomorrow (Sunday) or soon there after.
On Thursday morning I left my hotel (The Carlton in Tel Aviv) after breakfast and took a cab to the train station to catch the 8:08 train to Be’ersheva. Along the way the I talked to the driver. He told me business was better but that he hasn’t seen a big pick-up in tourists; mostly there have been more business people. I got his opinion on the withdrawal from Gaza. He is against it…he’s not against leaving but against giving it up without getting something in return.
At the station security made me open my bags but it was mostly just going through the motions. I got my ticket without much language trouble and managed to get my bags down the stairs to the platform. I found a seat and waited for the train. As I suspected there were a lot of soldiers using the train to get back to their bases. One was sitting next to me The Da Vinci Code in English. I asked him if I was in the right place for my train. He said yes and I asked to make sure I got on the right one. He just laughed.
Will sitting at the station I called Amir and Hannah. I had read the Jerusalem Post at breakfast and discovered that MetroWest was in a front page article concerning our meeting with the mayor of Modi’in. It looks like we stirred things up.
The train was comfortable and fast. I was able to work on the computer without any problem.
In Be’ersheva Iri Kassel met me outside the station. I had met Iri just a few days after he had become the director of the Israel Reform Movement about three years ago. Since then we’ve been in contact off and on. When I saw him last he invited me to visit him at his kibbutz. I took him up on his offer.
After getting a cup of coffee we took off on a tour of the Negev. Iri is an old fashioned labor Zionist of the Ben Gurion school. He lives in one of the remaining true kibbutzim and believes deeply in the need to settle the Negev. His love for the region was clear in everything he told me as we drove.
Here is evidence of a settlement in Be’ersheva going back to 5000 b.c.e. After the British took control from the Turks there were three Jewish settlements existing. Then on Yom Kippur in 1946 the Hagannah and the Jewish Agency directed the illegal establishment of 11 new settlements over night. This began to serious settlement of the Negev.
As we left Be’ersheva Iri jokingly apologized. He had wanted me to see the desert but it was spring. This time of year there are often lots of wildflowers, fields of them, everywhere. It is a bit disconcerting to have a picture of desolate sand and rock in your head and then see the reality of greens, yellows and reds.
From Be’ersheva we headed to Sde Boker, the site of Ben Gurian’s home and resting place. Israel’s first prime minister became devoted to the idea of settling the Negev and when he left office he moved to the dessert. His home is very simple and it has been preserved as he left it.
Ben Gurian's bedroom
There is also a small museum that tells the story of his life and the history of the Negev’s development. Being there with Iri was a special experience. He told me his story of meeting Ben Gurian at Sde Boker. Iri had grown up in the North but while in a youth group had been challenged to become one of the new pioneers. This lead him to becoming a resident of Kibbutz Hatzerim, one of the first kibbutzim established near Be’ersheva. I could tell that Iri saw Ben Gurian as an heroic guiding light and Iri continues to speak of the need to bring more people to this area.
We drove to Mitzepeh Ramon, a large geological site about an hour south. It is one of Israel’s great natural wonders.
Iri Kassel at near Sde Boker and the Ben Gurion grave site
Although not the scale of the Grand Canyon the crater is quite vast. From the top it looks like a moonscape.
At some point I’ll be able to post pictures again and one will go here.
I can’t describe it in words. One contrast to the Grand Canyon, here a major north/south road runs through the crater so that it is easy to get a wide variety of views. Some day I hope to get back here and hike in the crater.
On the way back north we stopped at Avdat, an archeological sight with Nabatean and Roman ruins.
The Nabateans populated the region from Petra to Egypt and worked the trade route.
Most of the ruins are Roman from the period following Jesus. There are two churches with great columns and arches.
There is also a complicated system to collect and preserve water using spillways and cisterns. Interestingly there was agriculture going back to the Nabatean period which suggests that they had found ways to grow food even in difficult conditions…a precursor to the Israeli effort to make the desert bloom.
On the way from Avdat to Iri’s kibbutz he received a call from his younger son. He was on a military post in Arad and had just completed his pre-entry screening for an elite unit. We made a detour and pick him and two friends up. There are several special units and my experience has been that the best and brightest readily volunteer for them. Here the army is an experience shared by almost all and the desire to be in these units stems from both patriotism and the status received which lasts well beyond service. To get into these units following high school teens go for a two day extreme workout at the unit’s base. I learned from Iri’s son that about 170 were invited to participate and about half dropped out. From the remaining group a smaller number will be selected by the officers. Some of the torture they endured included doing repeated push-ups with full packs on, running and hiking all day, having officers yell at them, being awoken in the middle of the night and forced to exercise, etc. I could see that Iri’s son was exhausted and that his body was sore from the way he walked.
More later…
Gary
I’m skipping a day and jumping to the Negev. I’ll get back to Ra’anana eventually…probably tomorrow (Sunday) or soon there after.
On Thursday morning I left my hotel (The Carlton in Tel Aviv) after breakfast and took a cab to the train station to catch the 8:08 train to Be’ersheva. Along the way the I talked to the driver. He told me business was better but that he hasn’t seen a big pick-up in tourists; mostly there have been more business people. I got his opinion on the withdrawal from Gaza. He is against it…he’s not against leaving but against giving it up without getting something in return.
At the station security made me open my bags but it was mostly just going through the motions. I got my ticket without much language trouble and managed to get my bags down the stairs to the platform. I found a seat and waited for the train. As I suspected there were a lot of soldiers using the train to get back to their bases. One was sitting next to me The Da Vinci Code in English. I asked him if I was in the right place for my train. He said yes and I asked to make sure I got on the right one. He just laughed.
Will sitting at the station I called Amir and Hannah. I had read the Jerusalem Post at breakfast and discovered that MetroWest was in a front page article concerning our meeting with the mayor of Modi’in. It looks like we stirred things up.
The train was comfortable and fast. I was able to work on the computer without any problem.
In Be’ersheva Iri Kassel met me outside the station. I had met Iri just a few days after he had become the director of the Israel Reform Movement about three years ago. Since then we’ve been in contact off and on. When I saw him last he invited me to visit him at his kibbutz. I took him up on his offer.
After getting a cup of coffee we took off on a tour of the Negev. Iri is an old fashioned labor Zionist of the Ben Gurion school. He lives in one of the remaining true kibbutzim and believes deeply in the need to settle the Negev. His love for the region was clear in everything he told me as we drove.
Here is evidence of a settlement in Be’ersheva going back to 5000 b.c.e. After the British took control from the Turks there were three Jewish settlements existing. Then on Yom Kippur in 1946 the Hagannah and the Jewish Agency directed the illegal establishment of 11 new settlements over night. This began to serious settlement of the Negev.
As we left Be’ersheva Iri jokingly apologized. He had wanted me to see the desert but it was spring. This time of year there are often lots of wildflowers, fields of them, everywhere. It is a bit disconcerting to have a picture of desolate sand and rock in your head and then see the reality of greens, yellows and reds.
From Be’ersheva we headed to Sde Boker, the site of Ben Gurian’s home and resting place. Israel’s first prime minister became devoted to the idea of settling the Negev and when he left office he moved to the dessert. His home is very simple and it has been preserved as he left it.
Ben Gurian's bedroom
There is also a small museum that tells the story of his life and the history of the Negev’s development. Being there with Iri was a special experience. He told me his story of meeting Ben Gurian at Sde Boker. Iri had grown up in the North but while in a youth group had been challenged to become one of the new pioneers. This lead him to becoming a resident of Kibbutz Hatzerim, one of the first kibbutzim established near Be’ersheva. I could tell that Iri saw Ben Gurian as an heroic guiding light and Iri continues to speak of the need to bring more people to this area.
We drove to Mitzepeh Ramon, a large geological site about an hour south. It is one of Israel’s great natural wonders.
Iri Kassel at near Sde Boker and the Ben Gurion grave site
Although not the scale of the Grand Canyon the crater is quite vast. From the top it looks like a moonscape.
At some point I’ll be able to post pictures again and one will go here.
I can’t describe it in words. One contrast to the Grand Canyon, here a major north/south road runs through the crater so that it is easy to get a wide variety of views. Some day I hope to get back here and hike in the crater.
On the way back north we stopped at Avdat, an archeological sight with Nabatean and Roman ruins.
The Nabateans populated the region from Petra to Egypt and worked the trade route.
Most of the ruins are Roman from the period following Jesus. There are two churches with great columns and arches.
There is also a complicated system to collect and preserve water using spillways and cisterns. Interestingly there was agriculture going back to the Nabatean period which suggests that they had found ways to grow food even in difficult conditions…a precursor to the Israeli effort to make the desert bloom.
On the way from Avdat to Iri’s kibbutz he received a call from his younger son. He was on a military post in Arad and had just completed his pre-entry screening for an elite unit. We made a detour and pick him and two friends up. There are several special units and my experience has been that the best and brightest readily volunteer for them. Here the army is an experience shared by almost all and the desire to be in these units stems from both patriotism and the status received which lasts well beyond service. To get into these units following high school teens go for a two day extreme workout at the unit’s base. I learned from Iri’s son that about 170 were invited to participate and about half dropped out. From the remaining group a smaller number will be selected by the officers. Some of the torture they endured included doing repeated push-ups with full packs on, running and hiking all day, having officers yell at them, being awoken in the middle of the night and forced to exercise, etc. I could see that Iri’s son was exhausted and that his body was sore from the way he walked.
More later…
Gary
posted by Gary A at 4:00 AM
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