Newsletter: Identity's - The Traveller (the December Edition)

Open publication - Free publishing - More travel

Ben Gurion's Fruitful Christmas

While Europe looks like its heading into an " ice age", Israel can only dream of a white Christmas. Here the sun still shines the young flock to the beaches and stay to bathe in those warm shafts of light till sunset.

As fun as this may sound to those who are cuddling in front of their fire places or clearing out their icy driveways, for Israel this sunny winter is a real problem. Israel is drying up. The Sea of Galilee has decreased significantly in size and the Dead Sea has sprouted new islands in its salty waters. Farmers have lost much of their crop and have to keep innovating to save on precious water.

Ben Gurion, Israel's first prime minister was well aware of this problem and was known for his vision of making Israel's barren southern lands flourish.
These winter days are always the best time to go south and hike in the vast desert plains of the Negev. The sun isn't scorching hot, but pleasant. Water finds its peace in rocky hideouts and crevices. One could go top off their tour by visiting Sde Bocker, Ben Gurion's modest Home.

Walking through the household you can see Ben Gurion was a man of action. He saw things as they might be not as they are. His roots were in German's icy soil but when the UN suggested a Jewish state that was at the most part a barren desert land he jumped at the offer.

His grave today lays at a panoramic mountain top, his favourite place in the desert. I can imagine him looking out, and picturing in his mind's eye a flourishing green community.

He wasn't far off, Israel's Negev has sprouted the city of Beer Sheva, originally dating back to the Israelites of the 10th century BC, It now boasts a modern well-respected University, theatre, sports stadiums and a population of 200 thousand. The Negev has a new ecological tourism industry that’s growing steadily. And Israel is the only country in the world that has ended the previous century with a surplus of trees, planting more than destroying.

Come to think about it, the forestation of Israel is a beautiful example of Israel's tendency to plant positively and constructively despite its problems and short comings. From the ashes of the holocaust rose a state, from the war of the Middle East rose its military might, from the desert sun sprouted agricultural innovation, from lack of natural resources an economy based on intellectual power and from dependence on oil an explosion of green novelties.

Any problem along the way is just a seed to a solution.

Ben Gurion must be smiling in his grave, the desert of Israel, once barren and underdeveloped has become green with innovative spirit and new ventures. 

So if you are snowed-in, think of a hike in Israel's desert and driving nearby through the Tuscan like wine country of Lachish, think of sleeping in an ecological Bed and Breakfast in the midst of the dry landscape, a gold palace compared with the modest lodging of Israel's first PM in the Kibbutz of Sde Bocker.  Think of floating effortlessly in the waters of the lowest sea on earth or warming up to the sunset rays on the banks of the Mediterranean.

When I think of all that Israel has managed to do by daring to dream and thinking constructively I get a warm feeling in my heart.

Have a warm Holiday season.

Remember what the Holidays are all about?

We wanted to take this opportunity to remind everybody who is enjoying this holiday season where it all began. We want to thank all of our customers and readers for allowing us to take part in their memory of ancient times. We are sure that the past has a message to impart to us all. Whether you have experienced a tour of this land or simply reminisced of its glorious past;  feast, celebrate and remember to let the history resonate through the millenniums and into your life today.

We are certainly reminded of our mission during these festive times: Promoting understanding through travel.

Season's Greatings,
From all of us at the Identity Travel Team

The Good Fire on the Carmel

Fire and black smoke plumes over Mount Carmel. The media in Israel is playing the blame game: was it a selfish youth that started the fire? Did people not care enough about firefighters? Where was the government? A Rabbi is interviewed and hints that this is a punishment by god for the sins of Israel.

I am reminded of a previous time when the Carmel was up in flames. Back then Elijah challenged the other faiths and the fire and brimstone were materialized by god to light his alter on the Carmel.

While smoke from the Carmel still darkened the skies Elijah finds refuge in a widow's home. Although food was scarce and would not suffice even her family's apatite the kind widow offers her last loaf of bread to Elijah.

She gives to a stranger selflessly and her did is rewarded her " jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land. " (KINGS 1:17)

I am reminded of this story because one of the dead in this week's fire was a 16 year old boy with that same altruistic selfless spirit. This young man was a volunteer in Israel's fire brigades.  As news hit the waves that a fire had unleashed its flaming wrath on the pastoral communities of Mount Carmel, our protagonist dropped everything and ran to the rescue. He hoped to save the lives of strangers.

When the fire began the boy was attending his Civics lesson at school. He burst out of the classroom dramatically and headed towards the flaming horizon. This boy didn't need to attend a civics class to know what civic responsibility is all about. When he heard the call for help he felt a burning passion, a fire in his bones and in his heart and was willing to risk his life for the collective good. This type of good fire is what citizenship is all about.

In the bible, the benevolence of the gentile widow is contrasted with Israel's sinful collective and she serves as an example of a Good Samaritan. I hope young people in Israel today will remember this young fire fighter and that his flame will catch like a brush fire in all of our hearts so that we could become good smartens.