Finally, Joseph reveals himself to the brothers, and now he is so overcome with emotion that he is unable to move. He sends everyone – except his brothers – out of the chamber, and reveals himself to them. His weeping is heard and becomes known to all of Pharoah’s household. Commentators ancient and modern have had a field day analyzing this story and finding in it a tale of Joseph’s maturation as an adult and a theologian.  He is magnanimous, forgiving his brothers. He is spiritual or religiously aware, crediting HaShem with arranging the entire trajectory of his life in order to prepare the ground for his extended family to find food and safety – but later slavery – in Egypt.

But the text also tells us a story of profound loneliness and rejection. With the Torah’s customary carefulness in choice and use of wording, the text mirrors Judah’s approach with Joseph’s reaction.  When Judah approaches Joseph to make his final plea the text says וַיִּגַּשׁ אֵלָיו יְהוּדָה – Judah came close to Joseph.  When Joseph finally breaks down and responds, the text quotes him to say  גְּשׁוּ-נָא אֵלַי, וַיִּגָּשׁוּ – come close to me, and they came close.  It’s as simple as brothers seeking brothers.
]]> http://rabbiart.wordpress.com/2011/12/27/parshat-vayigash-whats-up-with-joseph/feed/ 0 rabbiart http://rabbiart.wordpress.com/2011/12/25/vayigash-judah-approaches-and-joseph-responds/ http://rabbiart.wordpress.com/2011/12/25/vayigash-judah-approaches-and-joseph-responds/#comments Sun, 25 Dec 2011 17:52:13 +0000 rabbiart http://rabbiart.wordpress.com/?p=1563 ]]> Our Parshah comes back from commercial, as it were, with Judah once again approaching Pharoah’s #1 man in all of Egypt. To Judah, it is as if he were speaking directly to Pharoah. Judah must in this moment be terrified, not only for his youngest brother, but for all the brothers, and for himself. Before we conclude our reading, Judah will offer himself up as a hostage in order to redeem the captivity of his brother Shimon, and to protect his brother Benjamin.How does Judah approach his as of yet unrecognized brother? The Midrash offer several interpretations. R. Yehudah, perhaps going with the pshat of the verse, says that Judah expects an argument. R. Yehuda reads the opening of our parshah as a debate that Judah wins by convincing Pharoah’s governor that he (Joseph) has acted unjustly. He quotes Shmuel 2,10:13, where Joab and his army approach the Arameans prepared for battle.R. Nehemiah reads Judah’s approach to be for a reconciliation. He cites a story in Joshuah 14:6ff where Caleb approaches Joshua to defend a request that Hebron be part of his inheritance. Caleb refers to his own experience of his “heart melting”. In return Joshua blesses Caleb and gives him Hebron.The Rabbis interpret Judah’s approach as tefilah. They rely on Elijah’s approach to HaShem In Kings 1, 18:36 where Elijah offers a prayer that he has done everything he has been commanded. At the end of his prayer, it is answered, and all the people fall on their faces when they see it, and proclaim YHVH is God, YHVH is God.” What is Judah’s state of mind? He either does not remember, or chooses to misrepresent, the sequence of events as they transpired one parshah earlier. Joseph did not inquire of the brothers as Judah here describes it; he only accused them of being spies. It was their group answer that gave Joseph the apparent pretext for imprisoning Simon and sending the brothers back to fetch Benjamin.Ultimately, Judah tries everything, first arguing as if it were Joseph’s fault for the entire situation. Then he tells a sob story about how his father will perish if the brothers return home without Benjamin. Finally he makes this request; that Joseph take him (Judah) in exchange for Benjamin.In the opening of the 2nd traditional aliyah, Joseph is unable to contain his emotions, and weeps for the third time, this time openly. Perhaps all the aspects of Judah’s approach have combined to break through to Joseph. Although the facts of the earlier episode are not as Judah described them, there is an underlying truth because Joseph knew darn well who the brothers were, and surely he manipulated them into their “confession” about the brother at home and the brother who was lost. Joseph must be lonely and miss his father who favored him, so the references to his father’s pain must prepare him for Judah’s final tactic.When Judah offers himself up in exchange for Benjamin Joseph must see that finally Judah has learned to “man up” and not only take responsibility for his actions, but to behave in a proactive and positive way to protect his youngest brother, who now hold the position of favorite child that once belonged to Joseph.

Joseph cries out -  אֲנִי יוֹסֵף, הַעוֹד אָבִי חָי – I am Joseph, does my father still live?  All the emotions have been laid  bare, and now a true reconciliation among brothers can begin.
]]> http://rabbiart.wordpress.com/2011/12/25/vayigash-judah-approaches-and-joseph-responds/feed/ 0 rabbiart http://rabbiart.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/parshat-shemot-from-7-to-70-torah/ http://rabbiart.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/parshat-shemot-from-7-to-70-torah/#comments Mon, 20 Dec 2010 04:33:27 +0000 rabbiart http://rabbiart.wordpress.com/?p=1547 ]]> A full count of our founding ancestors numbers seven: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, along with Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel. Our parshah opens with a naming and a counting. Eleven sons are named, not twelve, because Joseph is already in Egypt and our text is naming the sons who came to Egypt with Jacob. Then we are told that – in total – all the descendants of Jacob number 70. This is the news of the first five verses of the parshah.

In verse six Joseph dies, along with everyone of his generation.

In verse seven the Hebrew people observe the original commandment of the Torah – they reproduce. Fruitfully to where it seems as if they are filling the land and growing strong.

These first seven verses are a bit of a recap and a prologue, for it is in verse eight that the story of Shemot really begins.

וַיָּקָם מֶלֶךְ-חָדָשׁ, עַל-מִצְרָיִם, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-יָדַע, אֶת-יוֹסֵף

Then arose a new king over Egypt who knew not Joseph.

This is a verse that will repeat throughout Jewish history. What does it mean to say that a new king rose over Egypt? What does it mean to say that he knew not Joseph? Could it be as simple as a new king took over who had no knowledge or memory of Joseph? Who did not know that the Hebrews living in Goshen, whom he perceived as a threat, were there at the invitation of a prevous Pharoah? Was there no institutional memory in Egypt? It seems much more likely that the new king deliberately chose to not know Joseph – and his contributions to a prior Pharoah. What one Pharoah gives, another Pharoah takes away. Yet also, one Pharoah benefits greatly from a Jew (yes, deliberately anachronistic usage), another ends up suffering greatly.

A version of this pattern will repeat itself through Jewish history. Jews will be welcomed into a community – or a country – by a patron or a ruler, but eventually their welcome will be worn out, and they will become unwelcome. Unique to this situation until the terrible events of the twentieth century is that Pharoah does not want the Jews to leave Egypt. The wording of the verse puts the emphasis on the Jewish people getting out of Egypt, allying with an enemy is only a means to this end.

My own family experienced this pattern in Russia.  We were invited into a town outside the pale of settlement because of a shortage of roofers.  We lived there and worked, until the patron died.  Then we were told to get out of town because we were no longer needed.

If only the entire Jewish people had been kicked out of Europe before 1939!
]]> http://rabbiart.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/parshat-shemot-from-7-to-70-torah/feed/ 0 rabbiart http://rabbiart.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/parshat-miketz-time-for-a-wakeup-call/ http://rabbiart.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/parshat-miketz-time-for-a-wakeup-call/#comments Wed, 01 Dec 2010 02:28:54 +0000 rabbiart http://rabbiart.wordpress.com/?p=1540 ]]> Commenting on Pharoah’s first dream, where he stands over the river to see the healthy and then the unhealthy cattle come up out of it, R. Yochanon contrasts Pharoah’s dream-position with Jacob’s.  Referring to the verse, he says “the wicked stand over their gods.” As for the righteous, their G-d stands over them, as it says in Breshit 28, 13, “Behold, the Lord stood over him.” He refers, of course, to Jacob’s dream of the ladder which extends to the heavens. 

Reading the opening scene of our parshah, I find myself thinking of the Akedah.  In our parshah, the word הִנֵּה  (henei) occurs six times in the first seven verses.  It is as if the dreams – and their message – are being shoved in Pharoah’s face so that he must pay attention to them.  Contrast that to the opening of the Akedah, where HaShem simply calls out to Abrahan by his name, and he answers   הִנֵּנִי   (henai-ni or “Here I am”).

Is makes for a delightful story that all of Pharoah’s magicians and all of Pharoah’s wise men cannot decipher these dreams.  It sets up nicely for Joseph to emerge from jail, give credit to HaShem, interpret Pharoah’s dreams and cleverly suggest that somebody really, really smart should be appointed over all of Egypt and navigate the ship of state through the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine that will follow.

But really! Are Pharoah’s dreams that difficult to understand? Seems pretty clear that something bad is coming.  Sick cattle eating healthy cattle?  When cows (notwithstanding commercial agribusiness practices) do not normally eat cows, or any kind of animal at all?  When sheaves, that have no mouths, eat other sheaves?  Could not any reasonably awake person infer that good times will be followed by bad.  (Take a time out and listen to Led Zeppelin sing Good Times Bad Times you know I had my share if you wish.)  

Further on in the Midrash R. Joshua of Siknin says in the name of R. Levi: “There were indeed interpreters of the dream, but their interpretations were unacceptable to him.”  R. Levi reads verse seven to say that the magicians and wise men were able to interpret the dreams, but incorrectly.  He gives some examples.  The seven good cows mean that Pharoah will have seven daughters, but the seven lean cows mean they will all die, and he will bury them.  The seven good ears mean that Pharoah will conquer seven countries, but the seven sick ears mean that the seven countries will successfully revolt against Pharoah.  He continues by quoting Proverbs 14, 6, which reads “A scorner seeks wisdom but does not find it, but knowledge is easy to one who has discernment.”

Borrowing from the modern political world (but not making a political comment) it would appear that Pharoah cannot bring himself to face an inconvenient truth; he is not all-powerful, he cannot control the agricultural environment, he cannot prevent bad times that are coming to him and his country.  At best he can prepare.  And some would argue that he (or shall we blame Joseph) uses the opportunity to exploit his own countrymen by taking their own output from them in good times and returning it – at a price – in bad times.  (Note verse 56 where Joseph sells – not gives – the stored up food to the Egyptians.

As we read this parshah and wrestle as always with the question “what is the Torah telling us” perhaps we should think about our own inconvenient truths, whether they are personal or have implications for our communities and our country.  (OK, now I’m getting close to a political comment, or you can make your own).  Are we like Abraham, who answers “Here I am” at a single, one-word call?  Or are we like Pharoah, who really, really needs a wake-up call, and who uses a national crisis to exploit his own people.

You be the decider (so to speak).
]]> http://rabbiart.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/parshat-miketz-time-for-a-wakeup-call/feed/ 0 rabbiart http://rabbiart.wordpress.com/2010/11/26/parshat-vayeshev-nothing-but-trouble/ http://rabbiart.wordpress.com/2010/11/26/parshat-vayeshev-nothing-but-trouble/#comments Fri, 26 Nov 2010 18:57:44 +0000 rabbiart http://rabbiart.wordpress.com/?p=1537 ]]> According to the Gemara (Sanhedrin 106A) the use of the word Vayeshev indicates trouble  or anguish (Tza-ar or in the Hebrew צער  ) about to happen.  “R. Johanan said “Every place where it is said “vayeshev” it means there is trouble.”  (He quotes several places in the Torah where the usage occurs, and sure enough, bad things happen to Israel).  In Numbers 25 “Israel settled (vayeshev) in Shittim and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab”.  In Genesis 37 (our parshah) it begins “Jacob dwelled (vayeshev) in the land of his father’s wandering” and continues (the end of verse 2) “and Joseph brought evil report of them (his brothers) to their father”.  In Genesis 47:27 we read “Israel settled in the land of Egypt”.  We know what happened there on a grand scale, but two verses later we read “The time approached when Israel (Jacob, that is) would die.”What is it about settling in a place that causes problems? In these three verses we see different kinds of trouble/anguish.  It can be anguish on the personal level; the death of a parent, or any loved one.  It can be familial trouble as in our parshah, envy and conflict among siblings.  It can sexual misbehavior stemming from the loss of the moral compass, whether individually, in a community, or in an entire nation.

R. Johanon is surely not just making an interesting comment on the use of language in the Tanach; he must be going for something deeper and more signficant.  The next part of our opening verse tells us that Jacob settled in the land where his fathers (Abraham and Isaac) lived on a temporary basis (b’aretz m’gurei aviv), or wandered to and fro.  They were in movement, he lived at rest (albeit after a lot of temporary living after fleeing his brother’s wrath).  While Jacob lived temporarily – with Lavan – his life was constantly changing, and – according to the story – he grew both materially and spiritually.  Materially he left Canaan with nothing, and he returned with a full family and what seems like a great amount of wealth. Spirtually – he becomes Israel and he learns to recognize the moments in which he is graced with the divine presence. But when Jacob settles down, things begin to come apart.  He is too obvious in his love and favoritism to his favored child. He makes a poor decision to send Joseph spying on the brothers who resent him for his dreams of dominance, and most likely for his father’s favoritism as well.   By the end of the chapter his favored son is lost and he mourns his reported death.Rabbi Eliezer Kwass, writing about the Tower of Babel story, observes the following about living in tranquility. “Even the righteous should not expect tranquility and peace of mind in this world, but should focus on action and work.  Ironically, teaches the Midrash, the moment one settles into a comfortable, unconfronted placed…something unsettling will inevitably occur.”

R. Yochanon lived and worked during the early period of the second exile, when the nation of Israel had lost its permanent home.  Arguably, this period is the most dynamic and creative in all of Jewish history.  Religious practice is reinvented, the Mishnah and two Talmuds are created and the basic framework of two millenia (and counting) of Jewish life is brought into being.  He, along with other of our great teachers, is saying that being ‘settled’ is not the way Jewish life is meant to be lived.  Jewish life, on an individual, communal and national level, is meant to be dynamic, active, in movement, in other words un-settled, in order for us to grow.

Although it will take a few more parshiot, we will see Joseph – and his brothers – grow in spirit and understanding, and resolve their familial conflicts, setting the stage for the growth of one Jewish family into an entire nation.

We are living in an unsettled time. There are very few in our community and in our nation – and in our ancient and modern homeland – that are untouched by trouble and anguish.  According to our tradition, this is the natural condition of life, so that we can strive, grow and become what we are meant to be.

Shabbat Shalom
]]> http://rabbiart.wordpress.com/2010/11/26/parshat-vayeshev-nothing-but-trouble/feed/ 1 rabbiart http://rabbiart.wordpress.com/2010/10/27/israel-bike-ride-2010-reflections/ http://rabbiart.wordpress.com/2010/10/27/israel-bike-ride-2010-reflections/#comments Wed, 27 Oct 2010 20:40:50 +0000 rabbiart http://rabbiart.wordpress.com/?p=1535 ]]> I’m picturing a fenced in open field which has been graded in preparation for the installation of enough solar collectors to fill (If I remember correctly) 45 acres.  The field is just on the south edge of Kibbutz Keturah.  When up and running, it will supply all the electricity to power Keturah and a number of adjacent kibbutzim that have signed on to the project.  Eventually it will be followed by a much larger installation that will generate enough electricity to power the entire city of Eilat.  No oil required. No coal required.  No air polluted.

As Carol has remarked several times in conversation, Kibbutz Keturah is an unusual and fascinating combination of the collective operation and the entrepreneurial spirit.  All of the revenue generated by members goes into a common account and is parceled out kibbutz old style (to the best of my knowledge).  But the individual members, and combinations thereof, are involved in a number of ground-breaking (sometimes metaphorical and sometimes literal) projects.  3 new types of solar panels are being tested out, and if any one of them makes a successful breakthrough, there will be technology to license.

I’m also picturing the ancient city of Petra, where the Nabateans had their own commercially successful technological advantage – water management.  They, like the Romans, mastered the techniques required to build aquaducts to carry water over long distances with amazing precision for so-called primitive people.  Today we went to Qesarya, yet another city occupied over 2,000 years by a variety of peoples and rulers, and saw the remains of the Roman-built acquaduct.

And I’m also picturing our friend Mousa Diabat, Palestinian Israeli and Arava Institute alumni who is doing a Ph.D. in water management nine hours up the road from us at Oregon State.  Water, even more than food, is one of the few things human beings cannot do with0ut. An increasing share of water in Israel is coming from desalination, and it may be that abundant water removes one of the bones of contention between Israelis and Palestinians.  We talked with Mousa via Skype earlier this evening and are making plans to see him – and hopefully Jehan and Aseel – in December when Mousa comes to attend a professional conference in San Francisco.

Sometimes you run into the same people over and over on the ride, and after the ride as well.  So I’m also picturing Kristi Wivaqq, who walks with a cane but rides with an unquenchable spirit in spite of her disability.  She made the trip to Petra, and rode a camel, and the smile on her face when she got off the camel would have lit up the entire site at night.

We’ve also decided, or our spirits decided for us, to set the goal of returning in 2012 for yet another bike ride.  Hopefully, Carol will find out that she can ride a recumbent bike, and we can do the ride together on a tandem recumbent.  Maybe one with three or four wheels, so we can zoom the downhills without excessive risk, yertza ha shem and insh’allah.

For me this day of the ride started out very shaky.  Yesterday – on day 4 – we got to Kibbutz Keturah where the Arava Institute is located.  Unlike a few cute signs in bars that I’ve seen that say “free beer yesterday, free booze tomorrow” there was free beer at the Kibbutz for the riders and staff.  I quickly downed a couple of Goldstars, and as we were walking around on the tour of the experimental solar plant that is under construction, I felt woozy and shaky.  I think i could have been busted for “walking under the influence”.  so maybe that’s why I didn’t feel that great this morning.

I thought maybe I have been eating too much food, so I skipped breakfast.  We were bused up out of the Arava valley to Ne’ot Shmadar to begin the ride.  I was feeling quite wobbly, so I started in the back went slowly, and as a result had a great conversation with Rabbi Steve Wernick, new executive director of USCJ, about his vision for United Synagogue. Once I felt warmed up, I picked up the pace, hoping to work up a sweat and burn off whatever was causing me to feel crappy (intentional choice of words).  But… I just had no legs at all, and didn’t start feeling stronger.  So at the last rest stop before lunch, I bagged it and got on the bus.  Once the bus started moving, I fell asleep and had a nice little nap.  When we got to the lunch stop I was ravenous, wolfed down a big sandwich, ate some other food, and started feeling better.

The ride down into Eilat from the top of Har Hizkiyahu is very, very steep and dangerous. There is about a four mile stretch from har Hizkiyahu where we had lunch, to where the steep descent began.  I decided I would ride that four miles and see how I felt.  I was feeling normal.  So I ended up making the descent, of which I am quite afraid, in my usual downhill method of relying heavily on the brakes.  And I made sure I was at the front of the group (they send us down in pairs at intervals) so I didn’t have to wait around for my turn.  About two thirds of the way down, a rider 3 or 4 groups in front of me had a serious wipe-out and was lying in the rode motionless.  A couple of cars and a couple of riders had already stopped to make sure everyone went slowly around him while waiting for the ambulance that follows us on the ride.  Once we get to the bottom of the big downhill we wait for everyone to arrive and ride from the roundabout where we wait to the hotel at the west end of Eilat.  Apparently he hit a little compression in the road and was launched up in the air, separated from his bike, went head over heels and landed right on his forehead (with his helmet of course).  he was conscious but not moving, has been taken to the hospital and we don’t yet know what his situation is.  That of course dampened everyone’s feelings of exhilaration and celebration that we usually feel at that point in the ride.

This has been – in the history of these rides – the one with the most serious accidents, people getting sick, and of course the 113 degree heat of the first day.

A note about Har Hizkiyahu.  From the top of this mountain you can see Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.  You can not only see Egypt, you’re standing right next to the fence that marks the border with Egypt, and you can walk 100 yards to a spot along the fence right under an Egyptian guard tower and yell up and talk to the two soldiers on duty.  One of our security guards (there are two traveling with each group, they carry semi-automatic weapons) told us that mostly the Egyptian guards on these towers are bored and have trouble staying awake.  So when the officers come they have a system of firing off a shot or two into the air to alert the next towers down the line to look sharp because “management” is coming.  It’s a great thing that mostly the border guards are bored and have trouble staying awake.  If only soldiers everywhere had that as their biggest problem!

I am thankful to have made it through the ride with no serious incident of my own; not even a flat tire.

That’s relevant to my journey to Kibbutz Ketura, because I was driving on the spare with no additional spare tire available. I was told to drive directly to the Kibbutz where the garage staff would fix my tire. Before I left Mitzpeh Ramon I hiked around the machtesh, with its spectacular views. As I was hiking back to the beginning of the town, I almost stumbled upon a group of ibexes, just hanging out by the apartment buildings. They are completely comfortable with people and hardly gave me a glance. I on the other hand was a bit nervous – the males have huge horns, and I wouldn’t want to get them angry at me!

I then drove the route for the day, which started by descending into the machtesh. It was scary driving the switchbacks – it’s hard for me to imagine descending on a bicycle. The road was flat at the bottom of the machtesh, and then ascended again. Then the route entered the desert, which was beautiful but almost completely empty. Most of the time I had the road to myself, except when I caught up to and then passed the riders. I stopped to met Art and the others at lunch and then left ahead of them for the kibbutz. Imagine driving long distances in barren desert and then seeing beautiful trees and greenery ahead. That’s what I saw as I approached Kibbutz Ketura.

Kibbutz Ketura is an impressive place. A true communal kibbutz (except as is universally true now the children live with their parents), the members recognized years ago that agriculture alone could not sustain them, especially as the members aged. As a result, there is an entrepreneurial spirit here, not driven by money alone as in capitalism, but by the overall good of the members. The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (AIES) is the result of that entrepreneurial spirit, and it is doing tikkun olam, student by student, project by project.

Art and I decided to join the tour of the new solar energy business, which is another example of the entrepreneurial spirit combined with a sense of the collective good. Much of Israel’s energy comes from dirty coal. Kibbutz Ketura is located in an area of peak sunlight, so it seems a no brainer to install solar panels and sell clean renewable power to Israel’s electric company. Four years and many regulatory challenges later, the panels (from China) have arrived, the field has been prepared, the regulatory hurdles have been overcome, and they are ready to begin installation. Though the head of this effort, an American from Boston named Yossi, was coy, he did say that they recognized that this effort shouldn’t be restricted just to Israel. One of the alums, though he couldn’t say much about the project, is working on a parallel effort in Jordan.

The rest of the evening was spent at a rider barbeque and then bed. There is not a room for me on this leg of the ride. We had the incredible good fortunate to meet Mike Soloway during the sojourn in Modesto. Since he is from Kibbutz Ketura, it feels beshert – this is the second time we have been able to stay with him and his wife, Dr. Elaine Soloway. Elaine is on the faculty of AIES, though mostly we shared stories of our children and their first grandchild.

First the services – riders led, including a number of wonderful rabbis – they were spirited and spiritual. Second is Shabbas dinner – unlimited quantities of fabulously delicious food. Next the Shabbas afternoon panel with students and alumni. They are an impressive bunch – thoughtful, concerned and willing to take the path not taken to make this a better world. It’s not easy to engage in challenging studies and even more challenging dialogue, but AIES provides a place for both.

Lastly Havdala by the machtesh.  We are two for two in regard to engagements – two riders announced their engagement in 2008, and a lovely young couple associated with AIES announced their engagement this year at Havdala. You can only imagine the joyous singing and dancing in response to their announcement. Seeing the stunning full moon visible in the light and watching the sky darken and the stars shine, culminated by the beautiful Havdala ceremony, was something we won’t forget.

Riding through Ashkelon required navigating traffic and unfortunately for a few people, an oil slick which took down 3 or 4 riders.  good news of going down in an oil slick – no road rash, you simply slide til you stop.  Bad news is you’re riding in an oil stained jersey the remainder of the day.  I was not one of the people who went down.

Notable highlights of day two – some new riding friends.  Inevitably, you find that you keep running into the same handful of people that are riding at relatively the same pace.  In addition to Edna and Fred, now there is Donna and Gary and Rebecca that seem like my new old friends.  Gary rides with white arm and leg covers which he said are the equivalent of SPF 50 protection from the sun.  Donna sounds quite youthful and cheerful, and only when I saw here off her bike with helmet off did I discover that she is also in our age bracket.  I would have guessed her to be twenty years younger.

There are still a few people having medical adventures.  My new old friend Jeff Daitz from Atlanta had a brutal first night intestinally (details omitted here in the interest of not having TMI), tried to ride the second day and couldn’t, but on day three not only rode all day but did the optional off-road segment as well. Glad he is feeling better. Mark (don’t know his last name) was so dehydrated he had to be taken to the hospital for IV fluids, and when they came back to the kibbutz at 4 AM discovered that the gate was locked, and they couldn’t get back in so he could go to his room and sleep. However, the driver figured out how to beat the system and cause the gate to open.  I’m not sure this is generally a good thing, but it was for Mark.

Day 2 is also more-or-less the last day we are in Biblical Israel (the Negev is not really part of Biblical Israel).  The gathering rest stop – right before we ride into the kibbutz – is Golda park.  It is like an oasis with a natural reservoir that has been enhanced to make it more effective in holding water.  This is – according to custom but who can say for sure – where Hagar and Ishmael discovered water after having been banished by Sarah and sent out in the desert, apparently to their death, until HaShem heard their cry and provided water.

Also on day two (I’m out of sequence here) is the breakfast stop at the Nir Am reservoir (part of a system of JNF funded reservoirs) literally on the border of the Gaza strip.  You can look into Gaza from where we had breakfast.  Of course, you would need a good telescope to see much – and you’d have to hint, hint join the ride in two years – but you get a sense of how close towns like Shderot and others are to rockets coming from Gaza.

In the evening, before the mandatory briefing about the next day’s ride (for which the only actionable information is what time to get up and be ready to ride) we had a brief presentation for a resident of Shderot.  He has lived in Shderot for 22 years, and he talked about how, until things got bad after the withdrawal from Gaza, there were friendships between Gaza-ites and Israelis, lots of going back and forth, celebrating together, and having a reasonably normal life. he is part of an organization called “other voices” which is attempting to continue to talk to and work with the ordinary residents of Gaza who like people everywhere, just want to have a life, a home, schools, jobs and raise their children.  The last few years they have only been able to do dialogue by telephone, as it is not possible to get in and out of Gaza.  Over 3,000 residents of the area, who have only 15 seconds to get into a shelter when Kassam rockets are launched at them, have signed a petition calling for ending the blockade of Gaza, allowing unfettered flow of materials in and exports out, in order to help the people of Gaza build a normal society with normal commerce, and reduce rather than increase the fear and loathing on both sides.  Israeli drivers are the craziest I’ve ever seen, but maybe it requires a little bit of good craziness to advocate and work for peace when your house has been hardened, or has a rocket-safe room for you to flee in to.