When it Rains it Pours...
Last weekend I, along with my classmates spent the weekend at Kibbutz Yahel and Lotan in the Arava. As hail and storms flooded the country north of Beer Sheva, we made our way down to clear skies and lucid air.
As we made our way out into the pomello fields all of a sudden a few drops, and then more, and we headed for the van to get out of the pouring rain.
The Arava gets only about 2-3 days of rain a year, and I was lucky enough to be there for it!
As it turns out though, the kibbutz members weren't as thrilled as we were. "It's actually kind of annoying," one said. "The rain is not letting us harvest the fruit, and tourists came hear to have an outdoor picnic." Boohoo.

In all of our discussions with Kibbutz members - from Yahel and Lotan - the most interesting pearl of wisdom that I heard came from Yair, a 23 year old student (who was an EIE student in Chicago). While there is a known phenomenon of formerly religious Jews calling themselves "Datlash" (דתל"ש) or "Dati L'She'avar (or formerly religious); we were now informed of the latest trendy epithet: "Raflash - רפל"ש " for Reformi L'she'avar - formerly Reform. Wow. It has always been a big question as to how the second generation of liberal Jewish olim would turn out - now we have concrete testimony.
I'm not sure whether this actually leaves a hopeful or pessimistic impression of the Israeli Reform movement. On the one hand it might be a good sign to say that something is established enough for people to begin leaving it. On the other we know that it's not, and that the next generation of secular Israelis will likely not affiliate with the movement.
I hate to end on a pessimistic note, but the next entry will be more uplifting.
Here's a cool picture of the date palms of Kibbutz Yahel. (courtesy of Tamir Nir)