shabbat shalom from ketura. Today was packed full of activities, naps and shabbat. This morning I woke up and met the summer school students in the dining hall (and, might i add, did NOT get lost this time). We headed over to Kibbutz Lotan, a kibbutz right down the road from us (a 2 minute drive or less) that boarders directly with Jordan. Lotan does a lot of really cool eco-projects including an eco-campus made entirely out of hand made mudhuts. these mudhuts are built completely according to building codes (fire proof, earthquake proof, even rain proof thanks to their secret coating of, no joke, used falafel cooking oil) and stay comfortably cool in the summer and warm in the winter. plus, they’re nifty looking.
MUDHUT
A question that our guide at Lotan answered, and one that i’ve heard before is, with all of the other places you could build a kibbutz in Israel… why go in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. Seeing as its nearing midnight (hey, happy fourth of july) and, oh, 92 degrees here, this seems like a good question. The answer he gave was a truly interesting one. He pointed out that on one hand, Kibbutz’s represented (and still do) the idea of Israeli’s making the land useful, making the dessert bloom. But, there was no one living in the Negev– building a kibbutz here did not have the political ramifications as it did to build in the Golan or the West Bank. There was no one here, no one was pushed off of their land; this is truly a creation in an unclaimed wilderness. And, the people who have lived here have worked hard to truly create vibrant, sustainable communities in a place where there are very little resources.
Our teacher also pointed out another fact– we did take this land from the Earth itself. Our responsibilities lie with the Earth and to use the space respectfully.
He used a simple metaphor to illuminate his view of sustainability– understanding that there is no way for sustainable living to be living off the grid with no effect on the environment (not unless our population numbers take a drastic and sudden plummet) we have to think of ways to live within the land, and to maintain the cycle. His metaphor was that of living more like a tree– using the resources of the land, giving back to the land, not wasting energy, and not leaving pollution.
This afternoon I took an awesome nap and then headed over to shabbat services. Ah, services led by shoeless individuals. New melodies and a good time. I didnt’ feel the connection I hoped I would, but it was a long day. There’s still time.
This evening I asked my caravan-mate, Vivian if we had any cottage cheese in the fridge. She informed me that there was none left, so her boyfriend, an Army graduate volunteer here on the kibbutz who is in charge of milking cows, took me on a wild goose-chase to find the key to break into the fridges for some cottage cheese. When we returned (cottage cheese less) Vivian discovered a significant amount of cheese in the fridge. (For those of you who think I’m just talking crazy… trust me. There is nothing as good as Israeli cottage cheese).
Israeli Cottage Cheese Success!
