Wandering in the Desert

Next Wednesday night marks the beginning of Passover, during which the Jewish people celebrate their freedom from slavery in Egypt. During the ceremonial Passover seder, we tell the story of how the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years before they finally reached the promised land.This past weekend, my classmates were fortunate to experience our own little taste desert life during a four-day (as opposed to 40-year) trip to the Negev.

Unfortunately, one of our 1776 performances conflicted with the first night of the trip so Andrea (aka Abigail Adams) and some of my other classmates headed down the next morning via a surprisingly organized public bus to Eilat that happened to have a stop at Kibbutz Yahel, where our group was staying. Since I've gotten so used to the go-with-the-flow disorganization that is Israeli society, I couldn't believe that the bus had assigned seat numbers AND that it left right on schedule!

Kibbutz Yahel is one of two Reform kibbutzim in the Negev, and it is an absolutely gorgeous cultivated desert oasis:

Yahel is best known for its fresh produce, particularly dates and pomelos. Pomelos look like giant grapefruits with a tougher skin. In fact, our guide, Ron Bernstein, explained to us that the reason pomelos haven't caught on in the US is because Americans are too lazy to peel them -- not to mention the fact that they're heavy and take up too much space!

The kibbutz's pomelo trees are technically situated in Jordanian territory -- in fact, we were given explicit instructions not to walk beyond a certain spot, for fear that we would cause a stir if patrol people detected our footprints. When the peace treaty was signed between Israel and Jordan in 1994, the kibbutzniks faced the possibility of giving up their farmland for good -- a loss that they were willing to take in the hopes of having peace for their children. Fortunately, the new border fence was built in such a way so that the 1,000 acres of Kibbutz Yahel's fields were included as part of Israel. As a token of gratitude, the kibbutzniks began leaving crates of pomelos for the Jordanian patrol officers -- a project which has become known as "Pomelos for Peace." Here is a great article about Yahel's plight for peace with the Jordanians: http://support.jnf.org/email-content/greentimes-032708/docs/pomelos_for_peace.pdf.

Yahel also has a very active dairy farm, and we were given a personal tour of the facilities by Gingy, one of the Rabbis on staff at HUC. Gingy worked as a dairy farmer before he decided to go to Rabbinical school, and he told us more about cows than we ever wanted to know. For example, dairy farms generally only raise female cows, for the obvious reason that they are the ones who actually produce milk. All male calves born at the farm are shipped off to become, well, fast food. I find it ironic that people who keep kosher go out of their way to separate their milk dishes from their meat dishes -- and yet, the meat at many of Israel's fast food restaurants apparently comes from dairy farms!

Coincidentally enough, I also learned that my friend Talia -- who is currently in veterinary school -- visited Yahel last summer and had the chance to work with the kibbutz vet!

The next day we visited the other Reform kibbutz in the area, Kibbutz Lotan. Visiting there brought me back to the serious environmental phase that I went through when I was about eight or nine. I refused to eat food served on Styrofoam plates at my friends’ birthday parties, and I even went so far as to ask if the tuna served in a fancy restaurant was “dolphin safe” (my parents still tease me about that one). I’m still fairly eco-conscious and go out of my way to recycle whenever possible, and I was happy visit a place that stresses conservation in conjunction with Jewish values. The dual goals of the kibbutz are, indeed, sustainable eco-friendly living, coupled with encouraging a "progressive" approach to Judaism.

Many of the buildings at Kibbutz Lotan are made entirely out of organic or recycled materials. They are structured around a metal frame that looks kind of like a jungle gym. These are insulated with straw, and then coated with concrete. Holes are left in the structure for ventilation, which are left open for cooling during the summer but are stuffed with clothes in the winter to keep in the warmth. Here's an example of what the frame looks like; behind it you'll see some of the completed huts:

In order to save water, the toilets on the kibbutz are not of the flushing variety. Instead, they are especially designed to compost waste, which is eventually turned into fertilizer for their crops. The bathrooms were -- surprisingly enough -- very clean and not particularly smelly, and the kibbutzniks even had a sense of humor about what they call "Senor Alberto's Super Deluxe III Composting Toilet":

(Yes, I took a picture inside the bathroom stall...)

We also had the chance to become "eco-terrorists" -- we rolled together balls of seeds and mud and were given explicit instructions to throw them anywhere we think could use more plant life. This gave us a chance to get down and dirty in the kibbutz's mud workshop, which also specializes in making mud bricks, which are used to build many of the apparatuses in the kibbutz playground.

Ah yes, the playground. The playground, which was a veritable paradise of everything from old cars to animals made out of mud, tires, and other garbage, was by far my favorite part of Kibbutz Lotan. I particularly enjoyed the camels and the igloo -- I mean, where else would you manage to find an igloo in the middle of the desert?!?

We continued our nature trek by snorkeling at Coral Beach Reserve in Eilat. I'd been there before, but it never gets old. The reef is gorgeous, and the water is so clear that you can see beautiful fish and corals from the dock (hence the pictures). The water was a little chilly, but we tried not to let that bother us too much.

Shabbat was upon us when we returned to our homebase of Kibbutz Yahel, and we spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and soaking up the desert scenery. On Saturday morning, we took a short hike and enjoyed services amidst the quiet of nature. It was the perfect combination of communal singing and personal reflection.

Now that we're all experienced what it's like to wander in the desert, we're ready to jump head first into our Passover celebration. But unlike our ancestors, our departure was not one of freedom -- it was one that led us back to another exhausting week of school...