Israel's brown desert

.

Brown goats, brownish sheep, a brown shepherdess, and the brown Negev desert. 

Yep, BROWN is today's November 1 theme for City Daily Photo group. 
See what fellow bloggers found for the subject here. 
.

Moonrise, sunset, colors, silence

.

The light and colors were beautiful when I went walking just outside of town tonight between 7 and 8 pm! 
I had the whole desert all to myself. 

Meitar Forest is always green. 

The dry season is beginning and all the green grasses have turned golden. 

In the east -- moonrise over Meitar. 

In the west -- sunset. 
And to all a good night. 
.

Makhtesh Ramon in the desert

.

Welcome to the Mitzpe Ramon Visitor Center.
Inside you can learn about this unique area in Israel's Mount Negev region.
The new Ilan Ramon Museum is also inside, commemorating our astronaut who perished when the space shuttle Colombia burned up in 2003. 

The Visitor Center perches on the cliff  500 meters above the floor of Makhtesh Ramon.
Click on the photo twice to see the little people.

The Negev desert has three enormous craterlike makhteshim, which are unique to the region: Makhtesh Ramon, Makhtesh Gadol, and Makhtesh Katan.

The Wikipedia article on makhtesh says,

Although commonly referred to as "craters," these formations are "erosion cirques" (steephead valleys or box canyons).
Craters are formed by the impact of a meteor or volcanic eruption, whereas makhteshim are created by erosion.
The word makhtesh is the Hebrew word for a mortar grinder (מַכְתֵּשׁ‎). The geological landform was given this name because of its similarity to a grinding bowl.

 .
(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)
.

Dogs in the desert?

.

"Dogs are permitted in the national park only when leashed.
Do not release your dog!"

The breathtaking view from the Ben-Gurion Heritage Institute at Sde Boker in the Negev.

Down in the canyon is Ein Avdat National Park.

Information about the park is here. 
.
(Linking to signs, signs and  Camera Critters.)

The former-green, almost-brown season

.

The wild places around the periphery of Meitar are going into their in-between period, no longer green but not yet brown.

 
We had a few minutes of rain today, but that might be the last until next fall.

Just a month ago it looked like this, all green and flowery.
I hiked for a whole hour out there today without seeing even one person.
.
(Linking to SkyWatch Friday.)
.

Drylands, Deserts & Desertification conference today

.

Today I got to go to the last day of the 5th International DDD Conference -- Drylands, Deserts & Desertification.
This year's theme was Healthy Lands  Healthy People.

You can see the many interesting topics that were covered in the brochure.

The venue was the beautiful Sde Boker campus of Ben Gurion University of the Negev.
Right after the closing session, foreign attendees went straight to free buses to Ben Gurion Airport or to Jerusalem.
I took this one northward to Beer Sheva.

But first everyone grabbed one of the delightfully crumpled paper bags filled with a sandwich, citrus fruit, and water.
"Sandwiches on the go"  it was called.
Indeed, the bus soon smelled of tuna and clementines.
It was a good day and a warm day, 27 degrees C.
I learned a lot about the great projects going on in Israel and in the dry parts of the planet.
Idealist people with vision trying to improve the earth and the world. 
.
UPDATE: The Franciscans just put up a little video report on the conference.
.
(Linking to signs, signs and to  Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors.)
.

Harvesting desert floodwater by savannization

.

Meitar Forest is just a short walk north of my home in  Meitar.
See the parallel ridges in this late-afternoon photo?
Keren Kayemet (KKL)/Jewish National Fund (JNF), which is creating this and other forests in the northern Negev, explains it:

The tree planting method is called savannization, and it is based on harvesting desert floodwater.  

Terraces, furrows and ridges halt the rainwater and prevent it from running off. 

This method causes most of the water to be absorbed and stored in the earth, deep enough not to evaporate and close enough to the surface to be utilized by the vegetation.

Kakal (KKL) has some nice short videos about savannization on YouTube.
.

(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)
.

Needing rain

.

The houses up there are the western periphery of Meitar. 
Last month was the driest January on record for most of Israel. 
We finally had a tiny bit of rain on Tuesday. 
.
(Linking to SkyWatch Friday.)
.

Looking out for jaywalking camels

.

If you are driving down the highways of the Negev desert  you had better be looking out for camels.
One of them might wander onto the road.
Every year Israel has at least one fatal accident in which a car collides with a camel, and by fatal I mean for the driver and/or his passengers, not just the camel.

Give heed to the frequent roadside signs:

BEWARE OF CAMELS

NEAR THE ROAD 

.

UPDATE Dec. 18:  See http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4466950,00.html
Fourteen camels were killed by a train between Beer Sheva and Dimona.
.
(Linking to Our World Tuesday, Camera Critters, and Signs, signs.)
.

Greening the desert

.

See the bust down on the ground floor of this unusual building?

It is David Ben-Gurion,  Israel's first prime minister.

Today I was there  at Ben-Gurion College at  Sde Boker, Ben-Gurion's kibbutz.
One Friday a month they offer great lectures and/or guided tours.

At the entrance to the kibbutz is Ben-Gurion's famous prophecy about how we would make the desert bloom and make the Negev a blessing to the State of Israel.
The green shrubbery overtaking the writing on the wall seems to prove that it  really is happening.
.
(Linking to Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors meme.)
.

Humidity now 10%

.

Here's the view from the supermarket, i.e. from the little  Meitar commercial center that I showed yesterday.
A few houses at the foot of the hill and some off to the north and  a little forest.
And then the desert.

The nights have recently become cooler; good sleeping temperatures.
Then the days warm up to the low 30s C (around 90 F).
But the last few days have been abnormally dry, like 10% humidity, in much of the country.
Hard on the nose.
I've got a pan of water simmering and some wet towels hung around the house to moisten the air and ease the breathing.
.
(For SkyWatch Friday.)
.

"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

.

As you  know from my previous post, I moved away from the Jerusalem Hills region on Monday.

This evening, after the sun and the 37 C / 99 F degree heat left,  I took a break from  cleaning and unpacking and went for my first evening walk in my new neighborhood.
After only two short blocks I reached the edge of the community; and as you can faintly see, Meitar really does seem to be in the middle of nowhere.
(Enlarge the photo 2x and you'll see what I mean.)

Welcome to the northern Negev desert and the southern Hebron Hills.
.
(Linking to SkyWatch Friday.)
.

More Kasr al Yahud on the Jordan

.

Let's continue (from yesterday's post) looking at Kasr al Yahud.
Once you get down to the baptism site, it looks like an oasis.

But first you have to get there, and  all around  is desert.
Follow the signs, leave the main Jordan Valley road and head east.

Soon you see the army patrol road, a sure sign that you are nearing the border (which is the Jordan River).

Be very alert to the many "DANGER - MINES" signs.
Don't even think of leaving the paved road.

The badlands were indeed bad in the 1970s, with many terrorists coming through.
That is why the IDF laid the mines back then.

In the past few years Israel has been working hard and investing millions in order to make this Christian holy site on the River Jordan safe and comfortable for the thousands of pilgrims who want to immerse in the river.
It was just recently dedicated and is now open seven days a week.

Tomorrow I'll show you the lighter side of the site.
.
(The blue desert skies of May are for SkyWatch Friday.)
.
UPDATE June 2019:  See stunning photos and video of the Romanian church at
https://www.timesofisrael.com/stunning-romanian-church-is-final-monastery-cleared-of-mines-at-qasr-al-yahud/
.

"A parched land, weary, without water"

.
The beautiful Psalm 63 today, joining PsalmChallenge in Athens.

1. A psalm. Of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah.

2. God, You are my Deity; I seek You—my soul thirsts for You, my body yearns for You, in a parched land, weary, without water.

3. Yes, I envision You in the sanctuary, beholding Your might and Your glory.

4. For Your loving-kindness is better than life. My lips glorify You.

5. Yes, I will bless You all my life; invoking Your name, I lift up my hands.

6. My soul is sated as with rich food, with lips of joy my mouth praises.

7. When I recall You, upon my bedding, I meditate upon You through the watches of the night.

8. For You are my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I will sing with joy;

9. my soul pursues You; it is I whom Your right hand supports.

10. And as for them, those who seek my soul for ruin—may they end up in the depths of the earth.

11. May they be spilled by the sword; may they be repast for jackals.

12. And as for the king, may he rejoice in God. All who swear by Him shall merit praise, for the mouth of liars will be muzzled.
___________________________________________________________

Photos
1. The Judean Wilderness. The sign on the fence warns "DANGER -- MINES!"
2. A jackal in my neighborhood. Photo by friend Kristine Schnarr.
.
Translation by Rabbi Benjamin Segal. See his Psalm blog for ideas about the Psalm and for the Hebrew original.
Especially interesting and appropriate for Taphophile Tragics is Rabbi Segal's note that

Jackals (v. 11) are scavengers (and therefore “foxes,” found in some translations, is inappropriate). The implication is non-burial, a cursed fate in both the Bible and the surrounding cultures (stretching to ancient Greece).

.
.

Shabbat of Consolation

.
The bus goes down down down from high altitude Jerusalem to below sea level Dead Sea.
With reflections of the skilled driver in the mirrors for Weekend Reflections.


A few days ago, on Tisha B'Av, Jews mourned the destruction of the Temples and of much of Jerusalem and the beginnings of our exile.
But God in his mercy does not leave us totally in this doom and gloom.
Instead, on the first Sabbath after Tisha B'Av he gives us Shabbat Nachamu, the Sabbath of Consolation, named after this day's reading from the prophet Isaiah 40:1-31 which begins "Nachamu nachamu ami," meaning "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people."

1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
. . . 9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!" 10 Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. . . .

.
Shabbat shalom!
.

Understanding the desert images

.
When one needs strength, consolation, encouragement, hope, or help--the 23rd Psalm is the best psalm to know by heart.
Or so I have found in times and places that I was lost.
.
Since today's psalm is already so well-known, I want to do something a little different for Robert's weekly PsalmChallenge. I want to recommend a book.

You can enlarge the photo and read a sample.
.
The book is a must for those who have never walked Israel's deserts or never herded sheep and goats (I have done both, but I still need this book!).
-- This because so much of the imagery of David, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and other prophets and sages assumes an understanding of such things.
.
As the dust jacket says

One of the Bible's best-known and best-loved psalms begins with the words of the young David: "The Lord is my shepherd" (23:1). The experiences of David as a shepherd in the Judean Desert affected the imagery of his psalms, his escapes from the pursuit of Saul, and even the judgments he rendered as king.

Each chapter bears the name of a verse from Psalm 23.
For example

Chapter IV "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."
--
Terrifying cliffs and canyons
. An arid land, a land of the shadow of death
A land of darkness
Cliff and fortress
. Rock of Ages
The shepherd's staff

The late great Nogah Hareuveni, of blessed memory, wrote Desert and Shepherd in Our Biblical Heritage several decades ago.
There are three in his Biblical Heritage series.
He also founded Neot Kedumim, the only Biblical Landscape Reserve in the world.
.
Enjoy the Neot Kedumim website.
You can order the book there too. I would be lost without it.
.

PSALM 23

¹The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

²He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

³He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

⁴Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

⁵Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

⁶Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

.

Desert dwellers

.

DESERT DWELLERS -- for today's ABC Wednesday.

Our bus stopped in the middle of nowhere on the Jerusalem-to-Jericho Road to let this family get off.
The women, in their finest clothing, walked across the highway and climbed over the side barrier and returned to their encampment.

Some Bedouin still prefer to live as nomads, as shepherds tending goats, sheep, and camels.

Enlarge these photos and look for goats feeding at the troughs, the corrals, the tin structures, the black goat hair tents, the car in its carport.

I love the desert.

I admire the desert dwellers.

.

The Chalcolithic temple

.
While hiking in the Judean Desert near the Dead Sea, we came upon an ancient temple . . .

These are the oldest findings (so far) in the Ein Gedi oasis, from about 5,500 years ago.
That was the Chalcolithic period.
The pagan temple served as a cultic center for the nomadic tribes of the region.
.
Welcome! Step through the entrance gate.
See the stone benches here and along the base of the far wall?
.
The temple was found empty.
Where were the cult objects they made and used for generation after generation?
.
It has been proposed that the priests of that temple assembled the temple's objects at a time of approaching danger and hid them in a cave for safekeeping. The fate of the Chalcolithic inhabitants is not known. They may have fled or been killed, leaving the hoard behind.
.

And in 1960-61, in a cave not far away, in Nachal Mishmar, Israeli archaeologists discovered the fabulous hidden hoard!!

Tools, mace heads, standards, crowns.

Look what beauty from a time when people here in the region were only first beginning to use copper!

And so many--442 objects, most made of copper.

.

More about the Cave of the Treasure at the Foreign Ministry website (from which these two photos are taken) and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art website.
.

(When I moved to Israel in 1968, I devoured the books and legends about the archaeological expeditions in the desert. That crown shown above always fascinated me. Tears came to my eyes when I first saw it before me in the museum in Jerusalem in 2006.)

.

About a hundred standards (tubular scepters) were wrapped in the straw mat in the cave. Traces of wood or reed hafts were preserved on some standards and suggest they may have been carried on poles, perhaps in sacred processions.
.

On the temple's central altar animal bones and ash were found, testifying to its use as a sacrificial altar.
.
Hoping that the pagan gods of the 4th millennium BCE were no longer around, I dared myself and my hiking companion to stand in the high place.

Neither she nor I was struck down by fire from above.

.