Southern Israel: Sde Boker

Finally we arrived in Sde Boker. Israelis consider this southern Israel, although looking at the map it looks like the middle. I guess that's because it's all desert from here to the southern tip of the country, Eliat, on the Red Sea.

Sde Boker is the site of the Israel Studies Institute of Ben-Gurion University, where our good friend Paula Kabalo teaches. It's also the site of Ben-Gurion's archives, last home, grave, and a dramatic canyon that draws hikers from far away. When we arrived, a whole herd of mountain goats, known here as the ibex, had come out of the canyon looking for water. After some debate, we agreed the plural of ibex should be ibices, much as when you pluralize "index."

This is an incredibly small spot on the map, and it's full of incredibly smart people. There's a community of scholars here working on Holocaust studies, as part of the Israel Studies institute. There's also a center for solar energy research, a center for desert studies, and probably more. There's one supermarket, one gift store, one incredibly fabulous falafel place, and not much more. But tour buses are always coming through, to visit the desert, or the Ben-Gurion sites.

Nancy's been working hard and being well-received, teaching a class and giving a lecture for her colleagues here. Audiences are lively, engaged and very appreciative. Every night we're invited to dinners, where after socializing the primary entertainment seems to be arguing politics. Israelis don't seem bound to ideological camps; no matter how much they identify with one camp or another they don't hesitate to borrow ideas from the other side. Last night ideas from socialistic to neo-conservative were debated and defended.

Everyone wants to know what we think of Obama. They sense our disappointment. We hear in the media about Israelis not having a good relationship with Obama, but the people here seem to have deep respect for the President, and high hopes for the future.

Tonight we had dinner at the home of an academic who just finished a book called "Settling in the Hearts: Jewish fundamentalism in the occupied territories." I suggested he'd have to teach me about Palestinian nationalism; he suggested that would take "about five minutes." Someone produced a mandolin, and group singing became the next order of business.

The outside world hardly seems to intrude here, without even the distraction of a coffee shop in town. It makes me wonder what it would be like to live in a place like this, with stunning natural beauty, an academic community, and nothing else to do. I'll bet lots of good work gets done here.

Photos are here.

(the above link goes to a slideshow, so you don't have to click to advance the pictures -- if it works correctly!)