Just Let It L'Chhhappen : Movin' Out in Mitzpe

Action packed week.

The main news: I left Mati and Roni’s guest house. It just wasn’t a good situation. Instead of cleaning and maintaining the house and serving guests, I was doing construction and renovation jobs. As per my experiences in the past, manual labor is fun and exhilarating...until it's not anymore, and then I'm thankful I have a college degree.

Because we were so focused on building the new house, the current house (which still receives guests, mind you) was really neglected. The kitchen was grimy and dirty, the floors and furniture were filthy, and the bathroom, well, let’s just say I tried my best not to let anything touch the floor, ever. And when I tried to clean up the place on my own, even during my free time, they stopped me and told me to go work on the new house. Additionally, everyone smoked indoors, and the TV was always blaring, amid a background of Robi and Nitzan’s crying one-year-old. It just wasn’t the peaceful serene desert experience that I expected.

But the thing that pushed me out the door was all the negative energy and stressful vibes. They were all nice to me most of the time, but they were under a lot of pressure. Essentially, Robi wants to take more time and make the place look nicer, while Roni wants to go faster so we can stay on schedule to finish by the end of the month (pipe dream). So it's a pretty hilarious scene: Robi tells me to sand and caulk everything nicely, saying "will be so, so beautiful." Then Roni comes in and tells me, "don’t do so much attention," and he grabs the paint and starts painting. Then Robi sees it, and with a sad despondent look on his face, mutters, "not beautiful.”

So when Robi was around, I was sanding and chipping imperfections and organizing things, and when Roni was around, I was furiously painting everything. And when they both were there at the same time, I just stood by while they screamed at each other in Hebrew.

Fighting in-laws is certainly an international phenomenon.

Roni was mixing paint colors using a stick, so they never had the exact same shade twice. And because Robby kept on making fixes on Roni’s already-painted walls, the touch-up colors were off. The rooms had as many as three different-colored walls. It looked like a damn coloring book. That combined with the huge piles of junk everywhere — mounds of dusty mildewing clothes, old dusty electronics, furniture and cabinets mattresses, you name it. We were just moving the junk from place to place to get it out of the way, but never getting rid of anything. I’ve never seen such hoarders in real life.

So I left. I went to another place just beyond the outskirts of Mitzpe, called Silent Arrow, and they were happy to have me. It’s a beautiful little tent hostel surrounded on all sides by desert hills. There is plumbing, hot water, and gas stoves, but no electricity. In the evening, the common area / kitchen is illuminated by candlelit lanterns. It’s organized, clean, quiet and peaceful: exactly what I was hoping for.

It’s kind of like being on the bike tour, only without having to pedal!

My co-volunteer arrived the day after me. Her name is Katy and she took a semester off from University in Germany to travel through Israel. She has done four other stints with helpx and wwoofing, working on farms in the north and south of Israel and also building matte houses on the West bank. She seems really cool.

Dror, the owner, is a really nice eccentric guy (how could you not be, building your homestead in the middle of the desert?) I’m really excited to spend the next few weeks here.

A couple other highlights. On Friday night Roni and Mati invited me to Shabbat with their family. It was a really wonderful experience. I thought it was interesting how they focused on the traditional meal, complete with challah, baked chicken, rice, and vegetables, but they did not say any blessings nor light the candles. For secular Jews in Israel, Shabbat is kind of like Sunday dinner in America or England. It’s about resting and spending time with family and friends, but for many people it has been decoupled with the religious aspect, be it going to Church or Synagogue or saying blessings.

On Saturday I hiked down into the Ramon crater. It was stunningly beautiful. People generally hike the trail all the way to the highway and then hitch hike back to Mitzpe, and previous travelers told me they had no problems catching a ride. But when I got there, I stood in the sun with my thumb out for half an hour, while dozens of cars drove right by! Maybe it was because of all the dry paint I had on my pants from working on the house. Or maybe it was because I was a solo male. Anyhoo, I hiked on back the way I came, and it was fine because I brought plenty of food and water.

I’m still loving the trail running, and I’m also doing some Crossfit workouts at a park in town with outdoor exercise equipment.

While I was still working at the guest house, I had a few discussions with the owner of the new house, named Aviv. He looked like a hippy rabbi, with tzitzit, long sideburns, sandals, and a big black skullcap. I thought he only spoke Hebrew until one day he spoke to me in perfect English, then he proceeded to drop some serious wisdom bombs on me. The most significant was the idea that the United States, and its current favorable environment for Jews, may not be around forever. Jews living in the USA have it pretty good now, but like past periods in history, it could be temporary. Israel is the only place where Jews are in control of their own destiny. I hadn’t ever thought of that dimension, and it has influenced my constantly-evolving perspectives on Israel as a concept, as well as Israel’s past and current behavior on the international stage.

Robi and Nitzan's dog, Lady. The word "come" in Hebrew is "boyena," and "boy" for short. So when you call this dog, you literally say "Lady Boy!"

Incredible contrasts in the desert. From the top, I thought that the dark areas were so distinct that it must be cloud cover. Then I looked up at the cloudless sky and realized how wrong I was!