The Negev

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Firstly, before the Negev, I finally doula-ed in Israel.  I helped my friend have her baby, and to put a crazy parenthesis on the evening's birth, the taxi driver who took me to the hospital says he works as a driver for 3 or 4 midwives in the area.  He is the one who told me that I am a תומחת, which means support(er). The driver who took me back home had driven 3 other women hazaneet that very day--something not normal for Israel or Jerusalem. So the birth was fantastic, like so many other women she was so strong and amazing. And maternity care is so much less aggressive and invasive. The midwife didn't jam a syringe into the baby's nose and mouth, he practically delivered himself.  It was such a great way to begin the weekend.

So we trucked down to the Negev for the final 'programmed' tiyul of the school year. The rest of the class went down hiking near Sde Boker and Ayn Evdel and Wadi Shlomo, we warned that it might not be so great for the kids, so we took a bus down to Kibbutz Yahel the following day with a few other students. So relaxing, so fantastic, so beautiful, those distant Moabite Mountains in Jordan--the Red Mountains, הרי אדום, and finally being warm! Ben and Coby are true kibbutzniks, and I think I could convince Phillip to move to one as well. The gates at these places close electrically, so the entire property is secure--which tends to give the kids a feeling of justification in being unsupervised and able to wander everywhere. Which they did. We did yoga on the lawn, they swung on hammocks. It was so sparkly and sweet.

We drove across the road to pick Palmellos and climb the trees in the orchard. This fruit is like a giant oversized grapefruit without the tartness. It is popular in other places in the world, but never caught on in the states, maybe because of all the skin, but if you run across one in a farmers market somewhere, try one! They're delicious. We swung around the orchard that was just meters from the Jordanian border--once again Coby tempts international borders. The evening followed with singing, more relaxing, nibbling palmello and drinking wine outside our room, listening to other people giggle and gossip.

Friday was my birthday! We explored Kibbutz Lotan, with its 'eco-park', they are great, a small kibbutz with a spa, and real dedication to environmental and jewish living. The kids of course went crazy in their Captain Compost park. Don't worry, not real compost, but organic veggies and herbs growing, as well as a playground for kids built by recycling bottles and old tires. We lunched, napped, and wound up in Eilat, snorkeling. The water was FREEZING! And clear and lovely. Carole and Guy Rosebruch came down and hung with us, as always, it is so great to have them here, it adds to the feeling of being home here in Israel. 

Kabbalat Shabbat, zimrot, 61 birthday messages, thank you everyone, it was a very happy birthday and it was so good to hear from you...and yes, Yaron! You were the first to wish me the big Happy BD! But it was such a beautiful day, with nothing special; except for warm sunny desert views and peaceful feelings and laughs. It was a great day. Following that up with a shabbat hike into the wadi with a desert shacharit, alot of us climbing around the mountains intermittently as services went on.  Some of the most special moments were leaving the group as they prayed, and from atop a rock somewhere, hearing the group singing. It's funny, you would think that coming into the middle of a desert, 30 people sitting under a tree praying together would be so void of distraction--but just the opposite. As much as I tried to focus inward to the circle, the vast space surrounding us pulled my eyes and my attention. And all I wanted to do was be part of the space. So I did. We climbed around together, sang from on top of the rocks, and felt the dirt. Which meant it was time to return and relax some more.

We played and read, Phillip and Ben went to pet the cows in the dairy, I got busy reading and swinging on the hammock with Coby. And that's how we spent the day. It was fantastic...and one of the most special pieces was coming home and hearing officially from HUC's office that all worked out as planned for next year's student pulpit.  I'll be coming down to Florida twice a month next year, for the High Holidays and throughout the school year to do services at Temple Judea. Hello music! Goodbye cold!