Negev

Last weekend we went down to Ketura, a kibbutz near Eilat, to celebrate the barmitzvah of the twin grandsons of our friends the Churgins from Rockville, Maryland. This time we went by bus, since the 5 hr drive is very tiring, and we found a direct bus route from Netanya to Eilat on the Egged site on the internet. The bus goes down the Arava Valley from just south of the Dead Sea. The valley is magnificent, although desolate. The wide valley gradually narrows as you go south, with the mountains of Jordan flanking the eastern side. The Arava is in fact a part of the Syrian-African rift that starts north of the Sea of Galilee and continues through the the Dead Sea and the Red Sea and ends far south in Ethiopia.

We stayed in the small hotel in Ketura and it was very nice. We had a wonderful time, meeting old friends and hanging out. The kibbutz remains active, with about 140 members. They produce a natural product from algae that is sold as a precursor of drugs (legitimate ones of course), and they have date palm plantations. They work with scientists from the Ben Gurion University Arid Zone Research Center at Sde Boker, just north of there, to exploit their discoveries. Sde Boker is where Ben Gurion and his wife Paula are buried in a magnificent site, and their "hut" is nearby. Ben Gurion did the opposite to Abraham Lincoln, after being in high office he moved to this hut, the equivalent of a log cabin, in the middle of nowhere. It is well worth a visit.

Ketura also has the Arava Institute for Environemental Studies, founded by Alon Tal, that attracts students from all over the world. There are several Jordanians and Palestinians there, as well as Americans, Asians and Africans. It's not clear what they made of these crazy Jews celebrating a coming of age ritual. As well as several Blacks studying there, there are also Blacks who work there who come from the thousands who have entered Israel illegally and are housed in a facility near Eilat , as well as several families from Darfur in Sudan who have been given asylum in Israel and have been adopted by the kibbutz

On the way back with our family we drove thru the Ramon Crater (Maktesh), a truly amazing geological sight. On your second visit to Israel, after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, you should visit the Negev, it's another country.