15 young families living together in the desert

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As I was saying (in the cat selfie post), on Friday my Shishi Zioni group went down south of Beer Sheva to visit and learn about three different ways of living together in the Negev desert:
 1. a kibbutz mitchadesh, 2. a religious yeshuv kehilati (community settlement/planned community), and 3. a mixed religious + secular yeshuv kehilati.

Our bus slowly went up the dirt road to Sheizaf.
Half in jest our guide said not to fear the guard dogs because they were tired from having barked all night.

Our busload of older Israelis numbered just about the same as the current population of Sheizaf which is 15  young couples with 20 little kids.

Each family lives in a caravan, the portable pre-fab houses that were set on the ground in 2012.
Or maybe they are big enough to be considered caravillot.
(The Hebrew word caravilla is a portmanteau of the words caravan and villa.)

  Itai, who was a driving force in creating this yeshuv kehilati/community settlement, spoke with pride about the young people who were attracted from all over the country to come and establish a new place in the sparsely-populated Negev desert.
BTW, recruitment was done via e-mail and Internet. 

Our guide for the morning was Ofir, head of hityashvut/settlement for the Ramat Negev Local Council.
In addition to his help, Sheizaf got backing from Ayalim Association, a 21st century organization whose slogan is "Bringing young adults to live and volunteer in the toughest places in Israel to serve as its newest Pioneers."
This means the Negev and the Galilee. *

See a short video explaining Ayalim's altruistic aims.

Sheizaf is not enclosed within a fence.
At their website you can enjoy a slideshow of the houses and people of the community.

One of the fathers brought up his little son, to the delight of all the grandparents of our group.

Sheizaf is a rare example of a social experiment  deliberately mixing observant and non-observant Jews.
There vision is to grow to 250-400 families and when the kids are ready for school to have a mixed religious + secular education for them.
(The practice in Israel today is for a child to attend either religious school or secular school.)
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Good luck to these brave and idealistic young people who chose a far-from-easy life!
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*UPDATE: I see Ayalim does good work in central Israel as well.  This article and little video about their new project in Lod just appeared today.  A shipping container village is going up to house the enthusiastic students!

Better than bulls

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After a summer break Psalm Challenge, led by Robert Geiss of daily athens photo, is starting up again!
This would be a good chance for new people to join in.
All you have to do is read one Psalm a week and think how you want to illustrate the part(s) that speak to you.
So far we have done the first 69 poems in the Book of Psalms.
Only 81 to go!
UPDATE: Don't miss Robert's own post, with a photo of the radiant beauty of "the mother of his son."
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PSALM 69

1. For the leader. On shoshanim. Of David.

2. Deliver me, O God, for the waters have reached my neck;

3. I am sinking into the slimy deep without a foothold; I have reached the waters' depths; the current sweeps me away.

4. I am exhausted from my calling out; my throat is parched; my eyes fail while waiting for God.

5. More numerous than the hairs of my head are those who hate me gratuitously; many are those who would destroy me, libelous enemies. What I have not stolen I have had to pay back.

6. God, You are aware of my folly; my guilty acts are not hidden from You.

7. May those who hope in You, O LORD, God of hosts, not be shamed by me; may those who seek You, O God of Israel, not be disgraced by me,

8. because I have been abused for Your sake, as disgrace covered my face.

9. A stranger have I become to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s sons,

10. because my zeal for Your house has devoured me; the abuse of those who abuse You has fallen upon me.

11. When I subjected my soul to tears and fasting, I was abused for it.

12. When I made sackcloth my garment; I became a byword to them.

13. Those who sit in the gate gossip about me, about me the tipplers' [mocking] songs!

14. As for me, my prayer is to You, O LORD; at a favorable moment, O God, in Your abundant steadfast love, answer me with Your sure deliverance.

15. Rescue me from the mire, and let me not drown; let me be rescued from those who hate me and from the waters' depths.

16. Let the current not sweep me away; let the deep not swallow me; let the Pit not close its mouth over me.

17. Answer me, O LORD, for Your steadfast love is good; in accordance with Your abundant mercy, turn Your face to me;

18. and hide not Your face from Your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me quickly.

19. Draw near to my soul and redeem it; free me because of my enemies.

20. You are aware of my abuse, my shame, my disgrace; You are cognizant of all my foes.

21. Abuse breaks my heart, and I am in despair; I hope for consolation, but there is none, and for comforters, but find them not.

22. They give me poison in my food; for my thirst they have me drink vinegar.

23. May their table be a trap in their face; a snare for their allies.

24. May their eyes grow too dim to see; may their loins perpetually tremble.

25. Pour out Your wrath upon them; may Your blazing anger overtake them;

26. may their camp be desolate; may no one dwell in their tents.

27. For they persecute those whom You Yourself have struck; they recount the pain of Your victims.

28. Heap guilt on their guilt; let them not reach Your [reward for] righteousness;

29. may they be erased from the book of life, and not be recorded among the righteous.

30. But as for me, lowly and in pain―may Your deliverance, O God, keep me safe.

31. May I praise God’s name with song, and exalt Him with thanksgiving.

32. That will be better before the LORD than oxen, than bulls with their horns and hooves.

33. O you humble, see and rejoice; O seekers of God, let your heart live!

34. For the LORD hears the needy, and does not spurn His captives.

35. Heaven and Earth shall praise Him, the seas, and everything that moves therein.

36. For God will deliver Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah; they shall dwell there and possess it;

37. the progeny of His servants shall inherit it; those who cherish His name shall settle there.
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Photos:
Israel Museum.
Ma'ale Adumim.
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Translation (see also his notes) by Rabbi Benjamin J. Segal.
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A great day of learning

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It was a great day--everything I saw was new!
Well, it was all ancient, but it was new to me.

First there was free admission (for International Museum Day) at the Bible Lands Museum.
Then at 4 p.m. I took a guided tour outside of Jerusalem, part of Yad Yitzhak Ben-Zvi's 3-day marathon of 120 tours.
Our bus took us to the Inn of the Good Samaritan and to Martyrius Monastery.
More on those in the coming days!

The ruins of the monastery are in the middle of a city of 39,000 Jewish Israelis.
The young city of Ma'ale Adumim is just 7 kilometers east of Jerusalem but all around it is desert, the Judean Desert.
Just before 7 p.m. the last rays of sun illuminated its white buildings high on the hill.

Less than 10 minutes later we passed this Palestinian village.
The green lights on the mosque's minaret, to the left, were already shining in the dusk.
For a good look, click on the photo, then click again on the image that opens up.
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I thought the layers of colors in the desert sky would be nice for SkyWatch Friday meme.
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(More about Ma'ale Adumim at the website of a resident and at Wikipedia.
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