Day 8 in Israel- Community Week

            Our theme for the day was "Getting to know your neighbor," inspired by the movie "Around the World in 80 Days!" We started the day with an encounter with a resident of an unrecognized Bedouin village located about thirty minutes from Yerucham. Due to the status of being unrecognized, the village does not have government provided access to clean drinking water or electricity. It was incredibly interesting to hear Ali, the Bedouin elder we spoke with, share his perspective on the situation. While his opinions were very clear, many of our Yerucham counterparts found his story and argument to be incredibly difficult to understand. During a maagal discussion later in the afternoon we discussed the reality of bias not only in Israel but also all around the world. The passion Ali, the Bedouin representative, and our Yerucham friends had was inspiring. We were also shown an unrecognized Bedouin village elementary school and spent time playing with some of the kids there.

 

            After learning about our neighbors in unrecognized Bedouin villages, we went to the Machane Tzur, a local army base for infantry training. At the base we had the opportunity to take part in a military grade shooting simulation. We were all taken aback by the simulator when we learned that it was actually used by soldiers in training. After shooting an M4 assault rifle at the simulator screen, we were given the opportunity to look around the tanks used in last summer's Operation, Protective Edge. We finished up our time at Machane Tzur with a nice picnic lunch on the grass and then headed to a local farm in the middle of the desert. At the farm, we learned about the situations that bring farmers to the Negev and how successful desert farming can be.

 

            We finished our evening with dinner in Yerucham's crater. The crater is one of the largest natural craters in the world. For dinner, we made a traditional Israeli poike, which is basically a stew. After we ate, we spent time hanging out with each other in anticipation for our Shabbat weekend.