OF BEDOUINS AND HEROES

June, 2023

Bedouins are desert peoples and extraordinarily independent and nomadic. They live in clans, and are traditionally herders – tending to camel, sheep, goats and cattle. Bedouins living in Israel migrate deeper into either the Negev Desert or the Judaean Desert during the rainy season returning to their more cultivated home areas once the rains have subsided. Some Bedouins have left their nomadic culture and moved into the cities assimilating into urban life.

We had the good fortune to spend an overnight at Kfar Hanokdim (translation: shepherd’s village), a Bedouin camp in the Judaean Desert. The Duckenfield Israel Tour Company had booked us into a sukkah – a large tent covered in goat’s wool fabrics with a floor paved with wooden decking. It had sleeping futons, bunk beds and air conditioning (!). Close by were communal toilets and showers. The camp includes a centralized kitchen and dining hall, large open spaces for gatherings, meeting rooms, and has available a herd of camels used for excursions into the desert.

After checking in and stowing our gear we were escorted to a communal tent and welcomed by a local Bedouin Chief, who described the life of his clan. Bedouin clans are extremely hierarchical and patriarchal – many Bedouin men have more than 1 wife, and the Chief’s power is absolute. Marriages tend to be within clans and “arranged.” If not herding animals for food or sale, income is derived from jobs that may be obtained in small cities throughout the desert. The Bedouins diet is very high in animal protein.

Bedouins are required to welcome the stranger as travel in the desert may be complicated with a lack of water, food and/or shelter. A stranger approaches the Bedouin encampment and stops some yards away seeking permission from the Chief to enter. Permission is granted and tea is offered; however, the cup is filled about halfway. The stranger holds his cup out for a refill or shakes his cup to signify no refill. The stranger will also be given a cup of coffee. If given a full cup the stranger is expected to leave immediately! Thankfully we were treated to half-filled cups.

Dinner was what we had come to know as a traditional middle eastern meal. A never-ending assortment of small plates and pita followed by an incredible platter of rice, vegetables and animal protein. Breakfast was a buffet, not served, but the assortment of foods was nonetheless expansive.

Masada National Park was on our list as one of our “top things to do while in Israel.” We were treated to an “at the park” night show about the Jewish-Roman war, which tried to help set the tone for the next day’s visit to Masada. While the light show was pretty cool and the dramatization pretty good, we personally found the show lacking in emphasizing the importance of Masada to Judaism.

Meaning “strong foundation or support” in Hebrew, Masada is a natural fortress built on top of a barren mountainous desert plateau thousands of feet above the Dead Sea. Masada has been described as “a lozenge-shaped table-mountain” that is “lofty, isolated, and to all appearance impregnable.” For many, many years the fortress could only be reached by a single pathway that was too narrow for men to walk abreast. This pathway was named “the Snake” for the way it twisted and zig-zagged to the summit. Today there is a second, less formidable path to use to hike the top, or visitors can simply opt for a cable car to the summit and back.

Masada was built as a castle complex in the last century BC by Herod the Great, King of Judea, (ruled from 37 to 4 B.C.) who recognized the defensive advantages of Masada. Herod built his complex there as a winter escape and haven from enemies, complete with castle, storerooms, cisterns and a foreboding wall.

Whether the end of the story of Masada is apocryphal is unimportant. The facts are anchored in the First Jewish-Roman War (72-72 CE) as recorded by Flavius. The accounting begins with Jewish rebels having to flee Jerusalem with a Roman legion in pursuit. The rebels purposely found their way to the Jewish encampment at Masada and were taken into safety by the residents. The Roman legion laid siege, and after 3 years won the battle; however, (and here’s where some historians find Flavius’ story sketchy) on searching the grounds found no one alive. It wasn’t the Roman archers who shot down the Jewish warriors, nor was it their blades. Jewish belief is that the Jews had chosen to die by their own hand rather than lose their freedom – the men being slaughtered, and the elderly, women and children enslaved. However, 1 woman and 2 children hid from the Romans, were able to tell the story of Masada, and kept the memory of these Jewish heroes for generations to come.

The siege of Masada is revered in modern Israel as “a symbol of Jewish heroism,” and is felt to have played a major role in “forging a national identity” of courage, strength and conviction of Jewish belief – values held essential to this day.

The story of Jewish freedom is part of our DNA since the time of Moses and the exodus from Egypt. It is no surprise that the residents of Masada would not permit themselves to be enslaved. But genocide, suicide or genocidal suicide, the action of the Jews of Masada, is prohibited by Jewish law. How to understand the difficult lesson of Masada should be studied by now and for generations to come – perhaps freedom is given us by God to be revered above all other human traits or virtues.

Those that sacrificed and died here are heroes of Israel. Kaddish was said in their honor.

Traveling the road back to Kfar Hanokdim the night before we encountered a herd of goats – too dark for a picture and best to keep focused on driving. However, in the daytime we did have to be at the ready for livestock in the roadway as well. It is suspect that Bedouins were looking for their goat herd and donkeys! We never did see any camels on or near the roadway.

For our last stop we journeyed south and a little bit east from the Judaean Desert into the Negev Desert to pay respect to David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s primary national founder and first Prime Minister. Born of Polish Jews in Plonsk, Polish Russia, he immigrated to the Palestine region of the Ottoman Empire in 1906. Adopting the name of Ben-Gurion in 1909, he rose to become the preeminent leader of the Jewish community in British-ruled Mandatory Palestine from 1935 until the establishment of Israel in 1948, and he assumed leadership of the fledgling nation until 1963. He was known for his uncompromising vision of Jewish unity and statehood, and a genius for pragmatic political and military tactics and solutions. These traits centered the young State of Israel and formed a guide to help handle the social, economic, and military challenges of its early years. 

We continue to have the experience of not just completing our checklist of things to do in Israel, but to find ourselves walking the very paths of those who have come before us, to give respect and acclaim to ancestors of the Jewish peoples, and to immerse ourselves in observing, seeing and learning. We can ask no more of this journey.

Barbara and Brian

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.“ – Henry David Thoreau