A DESERT PEACE PROCESS 2002

Dawn on Shabbat morning over the Succah,
following the full moon night of 2002_08_24
2002_10_13-4 ;
updated on March 3, 2011 following my inserts of old (1991) photos in .integration2001-2003

The dust road on which I would soon walk to Gadi and Efrat

"Leah" and "Ya'acov" and "Sarah"

A view of the present Succayah which I don't like: The formerly so beautiful "Tent of Appointment", now reminding me of a hangar, the compound of the Abraham succah with its disharmonious crowdedness, the cars at the parking lot, which we always wanted to hide under palmfronds, but never came up with a good idea, or with the time to realize it. And from this specific perspective even the Rukhara is out of place.

The "altar" on top of the Hill of the Angels' Flight, with its cover of lichen

View from the "Altar" to "Mount Lekh-Lekhâ" and the edge of the RamonCrater

Now - with more light - more details of the wadi (ancient terraces!) to the southern side are visible

I reach the eastern part of the hill and get first glimpses of "Yishma'el"

Emerging from the wadi: "Yishma'el", "Rachel" and "Lea"

And the moon is still hanging over the Hill of the Angels' Flight

Looking down into the wadi again: an eerie view of the back of "Yishma'el" and "Rachel"

But the light intensifies and the wadi with Yishma'el and Rachel opens up to Leah and Ya'aqov

Still not lit by the sun: Rachel and Leah in the wadi and Ya'acov and Sarah on the slope

This photo shows only the two lovers: Rachel and Ya'acov

And again the view to the south, the terraced tributary to the Zin wadi-
the dustroad I'm going to walk on soon to Gadi & Efrat ,
Mountain Lekh-Lekhâ and the edge of the Crater

The sun finally made it over the ridge and the "altar" prostrates itself

Was someone dancing in this circle, when the full moon greeted the rising sun?

A slight pink now touches the ridges of the hills across the dust-road, west of the wadi the comes down from the edge of the Crater

I've reached again the edge of the Angels' Flight and am not pleased with what I see

I swiftly turn my eyes to the deepening pink upon the hills that lead to the Crater:

    
Watching the halo over some mighty stones on the edge of the Angels' Flight

The lichen on the stones, the dark shrubs - and on the other side the light hurrying down to the Crater wadi

I climb a few stones - still on the edge of the Angels' Flight - and remember the fire, which Dani Qish made in the niche, after he had finished building that flown-off succah.

Again looking towards the north: the mountains beyond the road to Egypt, which hide "our" Nabatean town , are now lit up.

     
Right now (2003_02_14) I'm struck by the contrast between the tiny human trace in the Succah wadi
and the majesty of the Desert Nature

I walk a few steps and the relation between Ya'acov and Leah has changed

One last time I watch the full moon over Egypt greet the rising light over the ancient Nabatean Kingdom

And there it is a - harmonious - sight of the Succayah, with the renewed "Yitzkhaq" in the foreground, proving that after all-
the Succah is what it's supposed to be - a human trace, touching-not-touching the earth, integrating in it, yes - enhancing it.




I walk a few steps, and the relation between Sarah and Yitzkhaq has changed

The little solar panel is visible.
But the point of the perspective is, that Ya'acov is overpowering his father Yitzkhaq, as he did in the Bible...

The last photo taken at dawn:
Oh, I see, the moon is still visible over the morning light
The Rivqah succah is open.
Little did I know, that we would meet there on this very day.
Yitzkhaq, unlike his father Abraham and his son Ya'acov, had only One wife.
And only about this husband is written, that "he loved her" .(Genesis 24,67)
But Rivqah plays an ugly part in her son's deception of his father and brother
and had to face the consequences:
"Why shall I become orphaned by both of you in one day?" (Genesis 27,45)

2010
In a group-e-mail from Rabbi Ohad Ezrachi I read an interpretation of "Yitzkhaq",
of which I hadn't thought so far:


The digging of wells - of "living water" - exactly in this chapter Gn 26
was my own metaphor for many years -,
each one has to dig his own well - discover his own power and meaning.
But what hasn't occurred to me so far, is the secret of Yitzkhaq's name:
Why is he - the least significant figure between Abraham and Ya'aqov-
the one who seems to fulfil "God's" prophecy:
"Laughter is the final stage of healing!"
[see the coincidence today, March 3, 2011, in the puzzle-piece about Laughter]
He loves his wife Gn 24:67, he laughs with Gn 26:8 his wife,
he makes peace with Abimelekh, the King of the Plishtim
Ohad doesn't refer to this fact, nor does he mention,
that the same "Plishtim", who blocked the wells,
are those who bequeathed the name of their people
to the "Palestine" of the Romans
and the "Palestine" of the Turks,
and the "Palestine" of the British,
and to the "Palestinians" today,
those Palestinians who soon will have a state called "Falestin".