Pictures of Timna National Park
Some updates on my life and ongoing observations about Kibbutz life...

One great beauty of kibbutz life is its simplicity. Clothing and material objects have almost no importance. At synagogue, poeple wear jeans. For birthdays and other occasions, presents aren't offered (there wouldnt be anywhere to buy them) and money is absent from life. Members are provided with everything from toilet paper to soap and sunblock. The joys of life here are simple ones - talking with friends, playing with children. Friday night, we went to a neighboring kibbutz for a pub night. Kibbutznikim from the entire surrounding area had all heard that it was a good night at Kibbutz Grophit. (people are still talking about it two days later.) In borrowed cars and van services, local teenagers, volunteers and soldiers home for shabbat flocked to this open-air bar where we danced to music until 5 am. Everyone was in good spirits. . .

Last night, we went to Eilat... We ate a delicious dinner at the restaurant supplied by the kibbutz's fishing business. We spoiled ourselves and it felt good! We also saw Superman Returns. I don't recommend it, but the movie-going experience is worth mentioning. The spectators chatted through the entire film. The little boy behind me kept asking his father, "Is that superman?" "Why did he do that?" or "What's going to happen?" None of the ISraelis seemed surprised or agitated by the running commentary, and so I ignored it. (no doubt, Ive talked through my share of films!) Half way through the movie, the lights went on - in mid Superman sentence. Cigarette break - 3 minutes. At the end, the lights came back on and the film turned off before the credits even went up. . . It felt like a home-movie experience, but bigger.


Ive been talking to more people about why they choose to live on kibbutzim and why certain ones, at that... The process to become a member (chaver - literally, "friend") is intense and difficult. A candidate at Ketura must work for two years as a volunteer on the kibbutz. They must also pass through 3 stages. A kibbutz-wide vote marks the end of each stage. A potential candidate can work for two years, passing the first two stages, only to be voted out at the end. On this kibbutz, I know of 2 members who are married to people that were rejected by the population. They still live on kibbutz, but must pay for housing, food etc... In one case, the family has twins and, because the father is not a member, only one of their children is considered a member, in spite of the fact that both children were born here. It's tough, and immediately conjures up images of high school popularity contests, but I do understand why the system is this way. Living on a kibbutz comes with an enormous amount of privileges, especially on Keturah. Here, membership includes food, housing, $222 (1000 SHEKS) a month for spending, health care, great schools, even university for the children (about $7000 a year, I think)! At other kibbutzim, members pay for food and many of the other benefits. For raising children, the climate is optimal. Everyone knows the kibbutz kids and watches out for them. There is no lack of social opportunity for the kids and they can roam freely with virtually no dangers. No cars to hit them, no strangers on the premises... the only potential vices are probably what we, the volunteers, bring - in the form of alcohol, and ephemeral dating choices.


I went on two other fantastic excursions last week. Timna National park is nearby. Think of the grand canyon, on a smaller scale. There are 3000 year old Egyptian painting there and the ruins of a temple. We ate dinner with all of the volunteers and hiked up a mountian to watch the sunrise. Gorgeous.

On Wednesday night, I worked for our kibbutz's hotel/hostel business. Local teen groups come and I went with them to a sanddune trip. While the teen tour is roaming the dunes, we set up a classy little desert buffet of falafel, tuna, Israeli salad, and hummous. We built two huge fires and taught the children how to make bedouin style pita bread. yum! It was beautiful to be out in the desert and the drive to the dunes was spectacular. There are so so many stars and the desert feels endless. Guy, who was driving gave us some desert trekking advice, however. Deserted it may seem, but in fact much of the desert is a firing zone where tzalhal - the Israeli army - trains. Don't ever stray off main roads, he warned. And indeed, 10 minutes later, we heard several war planes practicing take off and landing maneuvers.