Farming in the Desert

This morning we went to a farm. This specific farm is called a lone farm. It is one family who had a farm outside of Yerucham, thus located beyond the middle of nowhere in the desert. Before we went to the farm we were supposed to have a woman come speak to us about other lone farms around the desert. We were told at the last minute that she had to cancel. She lives in Be’er Sheva and she said that she could not come because her son kept her awake all night in their bomb shelter. Since Hamas has begun shooting rockets at Be’er Sheva the town has basically shut down and people are spending a lot of their time in these shelters. The lady’s son was scared that if he were to go to sleep in the bomb shelter he would not be able to hear the siren if an incoming rocket is approaching – which is not the case. For the entire night, the lady was trying to convince her son that he was safe and that he needed to go to bed. The lady was too tired to meet with us having not gone to bed all night. This shows that the threat of rockets is not only a life and death situation but can also be traumatizing and have lasting effects on people, and children especially. In the city of Sderot, every child suffers from PTSD because of rockets being launched daily for the past 8 years.

The farm we traveled to was really in the middle of nowhere (which everything seems to be). We helped out in a crop field by picking up plastic and water hoses that were used to help cultivate the crops. The second job I had was to insulate the outside of a building. To do this we mixed dirt, straw and water to make mud that had straw in it – duh! (I don’t know of the technical term for the material). We coated (threw mud at) the outside of the wall with it and once it dried it is supposed to be a good insulator for the building.

After we left I found out that the group that took over the garbage clean up in the field got to have a lot more fun because they also got to drive the tractor and then they burned the heaping piles of garbage hat was collected. That would have been pretty cool, but throwing mud was lots of fun as well. After lunch we headed to the city of Arad where we spent Shabbat. We went to a local synagogue for the evening prayers and then had a nice Shabbat dinner and a relaxing evening.

Picking up trash in the middle of nowhere!

Our completed muddy wall!
(L-R) Jenny, Me, Lisa, Jocelyn, Laura, Samantha, Matt

Making the Desert Bloom

We started the day off continuing our painting in Yerucham until lunch time. After lunch we drove down south further into the desert to do an hour and a half hike. It was beautiful to see the natural desert. At one point I hiked up a steep hill and was able to look down in all directions from the middle of the nowhere – I was on top of the world! After the hike we visited the grave of David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel. He is buried in Sde Boker overlooking the desert we had been hiking in. After being Prime Minister he moved to this city and joined a kibbutz which fulfilled his dream to develop the desert in Israel. Such a well respected and important man in the beginning stages of building Israel as a country took up regular jobs in the kibbutz, where is first job as the past leader of Israel was a sheppard. We learnt about his vision and foresight to realize that Israel’s greatest challenge as a country in able to succeed as a nation is to develop the destert, which makes up 60% of the country. Israel must find a way to cultivate the land and make the desert bloom if it is going to succeed.The hill I climbed (I'm the speck on the top sitting on the left). Our tour guide Yishai is in the forefront of the picture.

The grave of David Ben Gurion and his wife Paula. The desert mountains can be seen in the background.

In the evening we had dinner and went to a bar where David Broza was performing (somewhat comparable to John Mayer, but much older). We had a great time and partied well in to the early hours of 2009.

The city of Be’er Sheva, as well as many other cities had decided to cancel school for the day due to rocket attacks reaching the city for the first time ever. Thank G-d for this because Hamas had fired many rockets today including one that hit a school in Be’er Sheva. Had school not been cancelled, the damage would have been much more than structural. Additionally new years eve parties were cancelled, and a limit of 100 people were allowed in one place for security reasons. Be’er Sheva like many other cities has now become a ghost town as people are staying close to or in their bomb shelters.

First day of work!

Today we heard from the mayor of Yerucham where he spoke to us about the troubles facing this community. The city was established in the early 1950s and there have been difficulties trying to get people to live here because of its location. As the mayor said – ‘drive to the middle of nowhere and turn left’. The majority of the people here are new immigrants and the city is one of the poorest in the country. Yerucham is seen as a city that nobody wants to live in and a big problem is self image. To start our volunteer work we spent the day painting a bomb shelter and a number of other buildings around the neighbourhood. Despite its necessity, it is horrible to have to picture the need for bomb shelters right next to a nursery school. Anything that we were able to do to change the image of that bomb shelter by painting pictures on it can put the children at ease, and bring life and colour to the community.

One side of the bomb shelter

In the late afternoon after a long day of working we went outside the town to the makhtesh hagadol (large crater), which is unique to Israel. Despite its name, it is not the largest one in Israel. It was amazing to be able to look out in all directions and see no civilization whatsoever only a 5 minute drive from Yerucham. This really put into perspective where we were.


Today rockets were fired from the Gaza strip to Ashdod and Ra’an, the furthest north and east respectively that Hamas has ever reached with rockets. One person died in Ra’an.

The Negev

When we woke up at 6AM it was still freezing cold. It was awesome to spend the night at the tent with my friends, but I don’t know if I would choose to stay there again. Once it started to warm up, we took a camel ride for about an hour. Some people rode donkeys, while the rest of us were on camels like myself. It was fun to be on the camel, but man did it ever hurt without having padding down there. The camel ride was fun to see the animals interact with each other – especially the crazy horny donkeys. It was awesome to see the desert in the daylight. After not being able to see anything during the night looking out into the desert during a perfect cloudless day was an awesome scene. Even though it is only sandy hills for as far as the eye can see and even farther, it is amazing to think that it is possible to visit the Golan mountains, see snow in Jerusalem and visit the desert all in the same day.
After the camel ride, we went to Masada. Masada is an amazing site, in the fact that it is the largest mountain in the area surrounded by flat desert and the dead sea, which is the lowest place on earth. Atop Masada there is a city in ruins. Since the 1950s, the site has been excavated and partially reconstructed. Masada was originally occupied by the Romans who had Jews as slaves. The Jews later rebelled and conquered Masada. They were able to live comfortably there for a number of years even though it was in the middle of the desert. At this point, the Romans began conquering Israel, and they had destroyed the second temple. Next they were to conquer Masada. The Jews knew that it was only a matter of time before they would be defeated, as they were hugely outnumbered. On the last possible night before they were to either be defeated by the Romans or taken as their slaves again, the Jews decided to kill themselves as opposed to be at the mercy of the Romans. Each man was sent to kill his family. After that they convened and held a lottery as to who would be the last man standing and must commit suicide (which is illegal for a Jew to do). The next day when the Romans reached Masada, they were surprised to see everyone dead, and the fortress ablaze. Many of the storage areas, and homes were kept in tact to show the Romans that they were able to sustain themselves atom Masada.

Entrance to the Roman King's living quarters atop Masada. Back row: Allison, Josh, Laura, Me. Front row: Shira, Mike

After the tour on top of Masada, we hiked down the snake path and headed to the Ein Gedi Spa. This spa was built 25 years ago, and it was right on the shore of the dead sea. Today, a shuttle is needed to take people 1 km away to the water. The dead sea is drying up due to the salt and mineral farming done in the dead sea. Once standing in the dead sea, I was a little hesitant to lay down on my back and float, even though I had previously been in the dead sea. Once I lay back and kicked my feet up, it was an indescribably awesome feeling to remain motionless and float at the same time. Also at the spa, the dead sea mud is concentrated with many minerals and is very therapeutic. It is also fun to throw! We covered ourselves in mud from head to toe, which was a lot of fun as well.

It was then time to leave the desert as we headed to Tel Aviv to conclude our trip. Once checked into the hotel, it was time for a shower – after sleeping on the ground in the desert, riding smelly camels, sweating from hiking, swimming in salt water, and being covered from head to toe in mud it was nice to be clean again. We had the night free for ourselves to spend in Tel Aviv. We went out for a nice dinner followed by a nightclub and an Irish pub. The night was lots of fun, as it was my last night in Israel.