This morning we woke up and finished packing as we prepared to say goodbye to Jerusalem and take our tour up to the northern end of Israel. As we boarded our bus and began our journey, I became very sad. It is hard to explain, but I did not want to say goodbye to Jerusalem. More than any other place in Israel I feel at home in Jerusalem. I especially connect to holiness I feel being so close to the Old City. And as our bus made its way outside of the city and into the desert I felt a sense of loss. It helps to know in a few short months I will be back home again, but it is hard to leave. I am reminded of what Uri shared with us at the beginning of the trip, one does not visit Jerusalem, one returns.
As we leave, we take the beauty and mystery of this place with us. We come to Jerusalem as one person and we leave changed forever. And we have so much more to experience. Israel is filled with amazing corners and we are so fortunate to get to explore a few more before this trip is over.
We made our way north as we traveled along the Jordan valley. We could see and almost touch the border with Jordan. It is a simple fence with sensors on it in case it is disturbed alongside a dirt road that serves as a patrol road. We also got our first view of the Jordan river as it weaves its way from the Kinneret to the Dead Sea. Along the journey we learned of the first and second Aliyah periods where mass immigration to Israel (or Palestine as it was called) happened and a sense of Zionism was born. These brave individuals worked the land with their hands and transformed swampland into the agricultural center it is today. They were 15, 16 and 17 years old, and they succeeded against all odds. Their story is inspiring for us as we face the challenges in our lives and rally shows the Israeli spirit.
Our first stop was Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu, an agricultural kibbutz of the border of Jordan and Israel that is literally changing the world through organic farming techniques and mass producing beneficial insects and mites for agricultural purposes.
Our visit started by meeting Benny, a kibbutz resident who served as our guide for our visit to the kibbutz. First we all learned what a kibbutz was, a community where everyone works for the benefit of the community. It was explained that everyone gives what they can and gets what they need. All earnings are given to the kibbutz and each person, no matter what job they have gets the same exact monthly stipend to cover expenses. All needs are taken care of by the kibbutz. We learned that this kibbutz had a population of about 700 or 140 families. We had so many questions for Benny about how the kibbutz worked that Uri had to stop us and keep us moving.
Benny gave us a tour of the facility, including the synagogue as this was considered a religious kibbutz,
a large field called the Square, where kids would gather and play,
and a music building where kibbutz children could learn and study music. I was so interested in learning that almost all of the children living on the kibbutz studied music in some capacity.
We then made our way over to an orchard of trees that were planted because it is hot in the north of Israel and the shade provided a much needed sanctuary from the heat. This type of tree had roots growing down from the branches that were great vines to swing on as our kids soon found out.
After swinging we boarded our bus and Benny showed us around the different fields that help to make up the 3000 acres of land owned by the kibbutz. We learned about organic farming and the many benefits and drawbacks of it. We learned that the reason they switched some of their fields to organic farming is because the fields lie directly next to homes where residents live. When they would spray pesticides it would make the residents sick, so NOT using pesticides became a health issue for them. We learned that organic crops produce almost a third less crops than traditional crops produce and the labor to keep weeds out of them is very expensive (actual workers pulling weeds rather than spraying herbicides). It gave us a real understanding about why organic produce is so expensive.
We then got off the bus to find and taste some grapes and corn (made for cattle). Who knew that there were ears of corn grown for cattle to eat and another variety for people? Turns out the ears of corn for people are much more difficult to grow. The cattle corn was good, but tasted very pasty. The grapes were DELICIOUSLY sweet.
We learned of some of the advances they made in organic farming that were really quite simple and effective. For example, one issue they had to deal with was keeping pests off the crops without using any pesticides. Their solution? First, they grew the crops BEFORE the bugs could arrive. Second, they would place a net over the crops to keep the pests out. Both solutions wee simple and effective.
Benny then took us to a place where they were growing etrogs for Sukkot and other uses. Each etrog was wrapped in a pink protective sleeve to keep the etrog smooth and not have it damaged by the sharp thorns in the trees.
We then learned about their alfalfa crops. It turns out that mice love alfalfa and the kibbutz residents needed a solution to keep the mice from eating all of the alfalfa. At first they would walk the rows of the field and wherever they saw a mice hole, they would place a teaspoon full of rat poison inside. The mice would eat it and die. They would be eaten by the owls, who would get sick and die, and the cycle continued. Finally they came up with a brilliant solution. They used the owls to hunt the mice. They built these wooden boxes and placed them in the middle of the fields.
The owls live here and hunt the mice. It was so effective that they began to share this information with neighboring farmers who then built the same owl homes in their fields. Once peace was reached with Jordan in 1994 the head of the program shared this information with Jordanian farmers. In Jordan, owls were looked at as bringing evil and so whenever they were spotted they were killed. Because of the success of the owl as a control for mice Jordan made a new law making the killing of owls illegal, punishable with jail time. The cooperation between Jordan and Israel became stronger, such that the head of the organic farming at this kibbutz shared farming techniques that has strengthened relationships between Jordan and Israel. Indeed this little kibbutz in the north of Israel is changing the world. It was so nice for our travelers to learn that peaceful coexistence and even cooperation was possible and, indeed was even happening in the Middle East.
Benny then took us to see a lulav tree, a date palm tree, and showed us how the palm is used to make a lulav. It reminded me of the lulav and etrog garden planted by our confirmation class a few years back at TAE.
Finally, we were able to taste some corn that was grown for people. And while the cattle corn was not so bad, this corn was amazing!
The coolest thing about this visit was to see the pride Benny took in sharing his home and all they have accomplished with us. You could see his excitement with each stop on our journey, and his love of agriculture is inspiring and infectious.
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