Israel 2025 – April 28: Daniella Babayev & Elizabeth Matsievich

We started the day with our first ראש חדש tefillah in Israel. It was definitely a little strange not to be in the Merkaz and be surrounded by the younger grades, but we were glad to have our new friends with us. Then it was time to leave Mashabei Sadeh and drive through the desert to our first stop: Noat Goat Farm. On the drive, Hillel told us the fun fact that about 60% of Israel is desert, but only about 10-12% of the population lives there.

When we arrived, we met the owner and he gave us some lemonade while telling us the story of his farm. We learned that Israel intentionally didn’t have a lot of farms, because they wanted to develop the land, but eventually, they decided they needed farms.  This family wanted to grow grapes for wine, but the land wasn’t compatible, so goats it was! We met the goats and got to taste 3 different types of goat cheese. 

After exploring the farm, we went to meet a Bedouin named Salima in her actual village. She served us tea and told us about her life as a Bedouin. It was interesting to see the differences – she never went to school and has never been on a plane. Next we went to a city called Yerucham which was founded in the 1950’s; however not as a kibbutz. Some of the people who immigrated as Israel was being established were kind of forced to settle in Yerucham, but they stayed and built homes and community in the city. We had a delicious lunch at a woman’s house by the name of Schula. She is part of a program called the “culinary queens,” in which she cooks foods for different visiting groups. It was special because it was her birthday, but she was still hosting and cooking for us! 

Later, we went to Maktesh which is part of the desert that had colorful sand. There is purple sand, yellow sand, orange sand, and even some white sand. Hillel gave us each a little bottle and we layered the colors into it to make our own sand art for home. 

Then we drove to the Bedouin tents experience and went camel riding, which, of course, was so much fun!  After touring the desert on our camels, we learned about Bedouin hospitality and more about their lifestyle and then ate dinner. When it started getting dark, we lit a bonfire and had snacks, hot chocolate, and tea, and then went to sleep. We had a fun, and meaningful long day full of excitement and laughter.