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Desert Adventures


Note: Pictures to be uploaded shortly, when wifi is stronger. We're working against the elements here.

Wow, where to begin?

After our adventures through the Hebrew city, we headed south. We took a quick evening peek at Machtesh Ramon, before enjoying a delicious dinner and a reflection session on the trip up on the roof. Note: Zach is not fan of bugs. We all know that now.

The next day, our boots were made for walking, as we explored the magic of Ein Avdat. Ariel, our tour guide, took us to his favorite tree and showed us the many different ways we can find life and water in the desert. We explored the gorgeous waterfall before tackling the steep ascent to the top of the mountain.

We got hungry, so we stopped by a local supermarket. Everyone was given a different food to find in the supermarket and we enjoyed a picnic lunch of sandwiches with hummus, deli meats and an amazing tehina (thanks, Ravi!) as well as fruit and chopped veggies, with our supermarket findings. After that, we headed into the Ramon center where we learned about Machtesh Ramon from Itai, and the tragic story of Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut.

After our daily ice cream stop (because Israel), we of course, headed straight down into the machtesh.

After showers and dinner, we gathered together in Cindy and Jamie's room (which boasted an excellent living room area) to learn about the election. We voted...and the results were pretty inconclusive. Not unlike reality.

The next day (Tuesday), bright and early we headed to Mishmar HaNegev, Ariel's kibbutz, where we met his wife, Talia and son, Dolev, and we watched him vote! Democracy in action, peeps!

After that civics lesson, we headed to a great moshav called Talme Yosef, which boasts an incredible place called Shvil Hasalat - the salad trail. We learned all different things about organic farming in Israel, tasted a bit of everything as we went, and learned about the moshav's history, which included getting to meet and hold their flock of homing pigeons. We enjoyed a delicious lunch there and even got a little shpritz to cool off in the hot desert sun.

Back on the bus, we made a quick stop at a Hahomer Hatzair kibbutz called Beit Kama, which offered a station for people who weren't at their home polling stations to be able to vote. Itamar our guard got to vote, as did Morah Jamie! T'was thrilling.

We continued further south, with a quick stop at a Palmach memorial for the Negev. It was fun to really explore and interesting to learn the fallen soldiers' stories.

Then, came the camels. This will make more sense when we upload the pics.

We stayed overnight at Kfar HaNokdim, a Bedouin tent village. We sat with our host, Ahmed, who made us tea and coffee and taught us about the history of the Bedouins and their rituals. We enjoyed a delicious dinner of different roasted meats and vegetables, before gathering together for a kumsitz  (bonfire and sing-a-long) outside of our tent, with requisite marshmallows and scary stories.

Wednesday brought with it Masada. Up bright and early, with many thanks to our Bedouin hosts, we headed up the Roman Ramp to Masada, where Michael and Ravi presented their #myisraeltour project, sharing some history of the fortress and having us engage in a spectrum debate about what we would have done if we were Jews - surrender, convert, or commit suicide in martyrdom. Luckily, we were visited by Elazar Ben Yair, who came and gave us a speech about what choices we as the Jewish people had left, as understood by historian Joseph Flavius. (Spoiler: not a Disney ending.)

We descended Masada down the Snake Path. Tired, hot, and sweaty, we headed over to the Ein Gedi complex for lunch before getting down for a dip in the lowest place on the earth, enjoying all the good skincare products on offer.

Showered, clean, and dressed, we made our ascent to the city of cities, Ursalim, Al Quds, Aelia Capitolina, Yerushalayim - bederech Yericho (by the way of Jericho). We'll shoot you an update on that before shabbat, tomorrow.

Love, ice-cream, hummus and falafel, ya'lls,

The chetnikim, plus CS & JZ







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