a trip to the south

ach Friday in the summer Neve organizes a tiyul, a trip. This week the trip was to Ein Gedi and the Dead Sea. I decided to come along on this trip, and was it ever worth it! We left at seven in the morning, and traveled down to Ein Gedi. Our tour guide, Daniel, commented on various facts and figures along the way. However, I was mainly sleeping, so I didn’t really benefit from his knowledge. The moments I was conscious I was taken by the gorgeous landscape.

We were traveling through the Judean desert, which consisted mainly of massive rolling rocky hills peppered with little Bedouin settlement. Now, when I saw settlement, I don’t mean like the suburbs. There homes appeared to be little metal shacks which looked as though they wouldn’t withstand a gusty day, much less inclement weather. Or sandstorms (do they have those in this desert?). Daniel mentioned that the Bedouins don’t wander as they used to, but rather, settle in this little groupings. It looked like abject poverty to me.

So we finally arrived at Ein Gedi and were given a little background information. Like, for instance, there was Jewish settlement in Ein Gedi in the times of King David, and that King David, when being pursued by his father-in-law, King Saul (okay, so he wasn’t yet King David), fled to this oasis, Ein Gedi, where they finally had a confrontation and King Saul realized the err of his ways, so to speak.

King David wrote at least one Psalm about this location (which I think we say in Hallel). It was beautiful, mountain peppered with foliage and natural springs, waterfalls, rock formations. Here are some images, which don’t really do it any justice, of course. We got to splash around in the water a little bit, too, which was great fun.

Daniel passed around pictures of an ancient synagogue, dating back 1500 years or so, which was found in an excavation of the area. There are inscriptions warning against speaking negatively against your fellow Jew, even back then. When will we get the hint?

Then we all piled back into the bus and headed out to the dead sea (Which was only about 15 minutes away). This, in case you don’t know, is the lowest place on the globe. Cool. Also, we got to pass Masada on the way, which is location of a famous stand-off between the Jews and the Romans

Finally, we arrived at the Dead Sea, where the madrichot (r.a’s) promptly set up the food (since we were all pretty famished). Tuna and cheese sandwiches, carrots, cucumbers, pudding and apples. Yum yum. We went in to the water and it was such a crazy experience – I walked in until the water was up to my waist and then I simply leaned back. The water was so buoyant that I was floating effortlessly.

In fact, it was so buoyant that t was very difficult for me to stand back up. It was great fun, and my skin felt really smooth afterwards. I also took some of the salt from the floor of the sea and rubbed it on my face in the vain hope that it would do something for my complexion. Haha.

In any case, it was a wonderful, amazing trip, and I was tuckered out by the end, so I slept the entire way home, then went and did my chesed job, went to the Lists and the Epstein for Shabbos. It was wonderful.

Me at Ein Gedi. Like the bandana? These are all Ein Gedi. Pictures of the Dead Sea to follow. Enjoy!