Not often that I find a picture for James' Weekend Reflections meme.
And this is a transitory reflection, for as it gets warmer and Israel's rainy season nears its end, the water will vanish.
This is a liman, an earthen construction that collects floodwater by damming a gully or streambed.
The dam slows the flow of the accumulated runoff water, causing it to permeate the soil and thus allow small groves of trees to flourish in areas with meager rainfall.
Our Keren Kayemet/Jewish National Fund has been building hundreds of limans here in the Negev desert since the 1960s.
The word is from the Greek λΐμήν, meaning “port.”
It appears in the Yoma tractate of the Jerusalem Talmud: “Until he reached the liman of Jaffa.”
Here it was 5:45 and the sun was down, time for me to start climbing the hill back up to my house in Meitar.
More photos and good information here:
Several articles on limans at this one link: https://www.kkl-jnf.org/organization-chief-scientist/water-for-israel/water-in-the-desert/limans/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liman_irrigation_system
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