Traveling to Eilat – The sun was shining, as CAARI boarded the bus for the beginning of the CAARI program. Heading south, with the first stop Be’ersheva – Israel’s unofficial southern capital. Those who have not been to here for some time, were surprised at the growth of this city. Be’er Sheva goes back to time of Abraham, but the more ‘modern’ Be’ersheva was built by the Ottomans and today it is a thriving community with a major University, Ben Gurion University, and major medical center, Soroka Medical Center.
Our first stop was the new amphitheater that was built with the assistance of the Jewish National Fund USA. Shahar Hermelin, from JNF USA, met us and explained the development of the area that has taken place by JNF and other partners, from cleaning up to riverbed to constructing parks, and the vision for the future. We were are impressed by what has been done and what is going to done. The next site we saw was a museum about Abraham’s Well which is the site of the well which was dug by Abraham in Genesis 21 . The story in Genesis tells of a well which Abraham dug and Abimelech’s servants seized. Abraham gave seven ewe lambs to Abimelech as witness that he dug the well himself. Abimelech accepted the lambs and the two men swore an oath in the place, named Be’erSheva.
After lunch and a visit to Bell Park, the JNF Montreal Park, we continued south to a visit to David Ben Gurion’s Hut, located on Sde Boker Kibbutz. We saw a wonderful audio-visual presentation about David Ben Gurion’s life in the Negev. It was really excellent- in Ben Gurion’s own words. Our guide, Rachel explained the lives of Paula and the Prime Minister’s days on the kibbutz and took us for a tour of their home, the hut!
A stop for coffee before we continued our journey to Eilat, through passes, curvy roads, and views of nature’s sculptured rocks in the Ramon Crater. We reached Eilat, checked into the hotel, dinner and a good nights sleep!
Tomorrow we will be visiting 2 kibbutzim in the Arava. Looking forward to another interesting day.
Wishing all of you a good day.
CAARI 2015