"What makes the desert beautiful," said the little prince, "is that somewhere it hides a well." (The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Euxpery)

This January, I went to Israel for UAHC' Kallah 2000, a study program designed as a longer version of the annual summer kallot held at Brandeis, Beloit, and Santa Cruz. I had been to Israel about a dozen times before this and I had been to Kallah at Brandeis in 1998. All of these experiences were meaningful, each in its own way, BUT the above quotation best describes my reaction to Kallah in Israel. Mah nishtanah? Part of the answer is fairly obvious and relatively superficial. My previous visits had been for family occasions with some touring, mostly by Egged bus, worked in as time permitted; the main purpose of this trip was study, in a Reform context, while staying at Kibbutz Yahel with a few side trips to Eilat, Petra, and Timna. Brandeis Kallah had a cast of more than a hundred and was a frenetic 3 days; Kallah 2000 had a group of 32, small enough for community to emerge, and lasted for 11 days, exclusive of travel time.

Kibbutz Yahel is deep in the Negev, surrounded by the mountains, one of which might be Mt. Sinai. The colors of sunrise and sunset are beyond my powers of description and also that of Kodak and an Olympus Stylus.
	Sunset at Kibbutz Lotan. Photo by Helen Tannenbaum.

In those surroundings, it was almost a necessity to study creation and man’s place in it. We also prayed, morning and evening, using the Hebrew text of Gates of Prayer. We joyfully celebrated Tu B'Shevat by actually planting trees along with the members of the kibbutz and later having a joint seder. We actually ended it by singing every song that any of us could remember about trees, starting with Joyce Kilmer. I think the high point of the entire experience was receiving an aliyah to the Torah on Shabbat Shira during a service held outside because it was such a lovely day. I returned home with a sense of peace and wholeness that even an uncomfortable journey ending with missed connections from Newark to BWI could not erase. (I also learned that EL AL really stands for Every Landing Always Late!)

Since my return, I have tried to make sense of the experience and have decided that the well I found from which I drank so thirstily was that of community. Here, in Baltimore, I worship regularly and also study regularly. However, I do not do this with the same community. Next year in Safed?

Lee
Lee Egerton
legerton@erols.com legerton@alum.mit.edu
410-580-1301
401 Old Crossing Dr. Baltimore MD 21208