Reflections from Day 6

This morning, we woke up with one thing in our minds: The Dead Sea. After about a two hour drive from the Kibbutz we pulled up at the Hod hotel, which was a spa where people could walk in, get dead sea mud,and of course,go down to the beach to float in the dense salt body of water. I was one of the last people to go in to the sea, and it was so much different than I had always expected. Seeing as there  is nothing living in the dead sea, I was anticipating extremely murky and ugly looking water, but it was the polar opposite. The water was gorgeous and clear, and instead of having sand at the bottom, their were layers of salt. After about twenty minutes of floating around and coping with the mild stinging that one expects would happen when salt is put on cuts, we all walked out and lathered ourselves in the free mud that was handed to us on our arrival to the hotel.  Once we had finished creating a second layer of skin with the mud and let it harden, most of us rinsed it all of in the dead sea, while me and about two other people rinsed it off in the outdoor beach showers. Afterwards, we went to our respective locker rooms to change and get our belongings, and we then ate lunch at the Hod hotel before departing to the Bedouin tents.

The bus ride was long and full of sleeping as well as sightseeing as we drove through the desert. Along the way, we were shown camels, mountain ranges and more. We stopped at one point for a contest. We lined up on a cliff side and saw the amazing view of long, tan desert spotted with rolling hills that look as if they were shedding the dust into the tinted air. After a few seconds, Roni had us split up by gender and stand by the edge. He picked up a rock and challenged the girls first to hit the rock out of the air. He launched the rock up, and after a series of misfires, it clattered to the ground. The boys had similar luck. Roni then uncovered a bottle with a mysterious golden liquid inside and said he would buy us all ice cream if we were to hit it. Again, we all missed, but we spent the next 10 minutes trying to be the one to hit it on the ground. After we had exhausted our capacity for easy entertainment, we went back to the bus and continued on our way. An hour later, we arrived at the tents. Our first task was to partner up for the camel rides. Seeing these creatures in the fur made me realize just how profoundly strange they are. With their misshapen heads, long necks that seemed to be infinitely flexible, massive toes, large humps, and double backwards knees, camels are a sight to behold. After I got over their strange appearance, it was time to mount. As the larger person, I sat in the back and Josh sat in front. With both our water bottles in hand to free up Josh's for his GoPro, we lurched forward and then immediately backward before finally leveling out. Garth (our camel) was ready to rumble. After a few strides, Josh and I noticed some mild to intense discomfort as Garth made frequent stumbles over rocks and holes, but we sucked it up and took it like men. By that, I mean we screamed like 6 year olds at every trip of the camel. All around us, the desert spread with a ring of rolling hills containing the vastness of the arid plains. Half an hour later, we dismounted and walked to the tent where we would spend the night in the cool desert air. We had about an hour of free time which consisted of rest, card games, and conversation. Dinner was amazing. The Bedouins sat us down in comfortable chairs with no placemats or utensils. We were served a large platter full of fresh lamb meatballs, grilled vegetables, and warm tortilla-like things. We ate without plates or forks, piling couscous and lamb and eggplant in the tortilla; it was very freeing. After dinner, we had an interesting program in which we debated what it means to be a "good" or "bad" Jew and what Judaism meant to us. As the sun set behind the mountains, a beautiful gradient of blue, pink, orange, and grey formed opposite. Slowly, a band of yellow materialized around the mountains, creating a ring that kept us grounded. Once it was almost completely dark, we walked out into the rocky abyss. Stopping at a small valley, we were all told to find a rock that we could lie down on and look up at the stars. Looking up, I saw the impressive minuteness of my existence and truly appreciated my rich Jewish history as Rabbi Rau read us passages from the Torah. After sharing our thoughts and reflections, we stood up and began our hike back to the tent. I felt like we were reentering the present as rocks became illuminated by the light from the tents and the music became increasingly louder. Once we returned, we lit a fire and sat around talking. We were joined by the same group of kids from St. Louis we had met a the hostel who were also staying in the tents as well. We swapped campfire stories and eventually campfires until it was time to retire to "bed." That night showed me just how powerful a few words can be. 

Mandy and Sam Levy