Suleiman, a Bedouin of Mitzpe Ramon

This is Suleiman, a Bedouin of Mitzpe Ramon. Suleiman can neither read nor write, but he has a Bedouin hospitality tent in Nachal Nafha where he serves tourists. He also has a house in Mitzpe Ramon, and other tents around the area. Literacy is not necessary to be a good businessman. He says he is a widower, but Chaim says he has wives in his other tents. He is looking for another wife and is willing to give five good camels for the right one, just in case you're interested. He uses the pen in his pocket to sign his name and is very proud of the fact that he doesn't have to sign with his fingerprint. The large clip in his pocket is used to hold his medical prescriptions. Suleiman suffers from diabetes and comes to the medical clinic in Mitzpe Ramon every day for treatment. 

Suleiman, a Bedouin of Mitzpe Ramon. (As always, click for full size image.)

As you can see, he is a chain smoker. His white beard is tobacco stained from smoking the cigarettes he rolls himself using tobacco he grows by his tent. His was the most fragrant tobacco I have ever smelled. I can still relish the smell of the second hand smoke that surrounds him. I hate the smell of commercial cigarette smoke, a light acrid odor that feels like a rasp in the chest. Suleiman's was quite different; a rich, deep, robust smell of fragrant tobacco that makes you want to share one with him. Fortunately, I was able to resist, not having smoked for the last 30 years. A great cigarette commercial would be 30 seconds of just watching him smoke his hand rolled cigarettes. Where is Don Draper when you really need him?

Rolling your own in Mitzpe Ramon

Suleiman has been to Mecca on the Hajj and was very impressed with the honesty of the Meccans. No doors are locked anywhere, not in homes, not on cars, and your wallet is safe even if you leave it on the street. Why is this? Because, he says, they'll cut your arm off if they catch you stealing in Mecca. Just the same, I think I'll be staying home.

Suleiman is almost never seen without his signature, hand-rolled cigarette made with home grown tobacco.

Suleiman misses the old days before the Russians came ("They're not Jewish"), before there were Black Hebrews in the Negev, and before the PA and Hamas were on the scene ("They just stir up trouble between the Bedouins and the Jews"). Right now he has another job guarding the equipment being used to create a dam and large lake in Machtesh Ramon at the site of an old mineral mine. His philosophy of life is based on respect: resect for yourself and respect for others. No need to ever steal anything, just ask instead.

There is a stately dignity to Suleiman, something perhaps every true primitive has, and a likeability that could explain the Arabist biases of the British Foreign Office which once ruled over these lands. Unfortunately, his modern compatriots are not cut from the same cloth, and probably neither were the old ones either.

Suleiman's card, in case you are in need of some Bedouin hospitality while in the Mitzpe Ramon area.

People of Mitzpe Ramon: Tomer - The Bob Dylan of Mitzpe Ramon

We ran into Tomer and his cute daughter at the Klalit medical center in Mitzpe Ramon today. We were waiting to see Dr. Yossi, but he is worth waiting for. Tomer is a musician. He sings, plays the guitar and the harmonica. Bob Dylan is a favorite of his, and he showed us a video on this phone that he had made doing a cover of a Bob Dylan song. It was pretty good. His father-in-law is the mashgiach at the Pundak Ramon (Ramon inn), our favorite place to eat in town, so he is a good person to know.

Tomer with his daughter

We urged him to talk to the hotels about doing music gigs. They are always looking for entertainment for guests. Here's hoping he will. I enjoyed his playing very much.

Yehoshua - The Bottle Collector of Mitzpe Ramon

Yehoshua is the bottle collector of Mitzpe Ramon. In the Soviet Union he was a mathematician; here he is a bottle recycler. But he hasn't left his old profession completely behind. He is still working on a system to beat the Israeli Lottery.

You can see Yehoshua most days, as he hurries from place to place. He has to be the fastest walker in Mitzpe Ramon. He carries a bottle collecting device of his own fashioning, an aluminum stick with a spiral at the end that snags bottles and cans from the garbage and ground. One of the more unsavory things about Mitzpe Ramon is the amount of garbage, bottles and cans that tourists and residents throw in the street. There are plenty of garbage cans around, but in that respect Israel is still a third world country. It is especially unfortunate in a beautiful natural area like Mitzpe Ramon and its crater. So, it's good to have a bottle collector around who can act as a scavenger for all the rest of the inconsiderate ones.

Not long ago, Yehoshua was mugged by a pair of Black Hebrews wearing ski masks. Bottle collecting, after all, is an all cash business. He ripped their masks off and was later able to identify them to the police. They now sit in jail. The amount of money stolen has gone up and up with each retelling of the tale, but only part of it was recovered, of that we can be sure.

One of the things Herzl longed for in his Zionist dreams was an Israel where Jews could be all things and not confined to their shtetl professions. And that he got in the mathematician who is the bottle collector of Mitzpe Ramon.

The Bottle Collector of Mitzpe Ramon

  

Isaac O'Bath - Artist of Mitzpe Ramon

The last time I wrote about Isaac O'Bath, from Bath, England, he was a shepherd herding sheep. He has since had to give that up for health reasons, but I recently discovered that Isaac is also an artist. His latest work is a pen and ink drawing of exquisite detail entitled "Amalek" (or "Doubt", in English).

The Torah in Devarim 25:18 says of  Amalek "asher korcha ba'derech", commonly translated as "how he happened on you by the way (when Amalek attacked you on your going out from Egypt)." 

17. You shall remember what Amalek did to you on the way, when you went out of Egypt,		יז. זָכוֹר אֵת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לְךָ עֲמָלֵק בַּדֶּרֶךְ בְּצֵאתְכֶם מִמִּצְרָיִם:
18. how he happened upon you on the way and cut off all the stragglers at your rear, when you were faint and weary, and he did not fear God.		יח. אֲשֶׁר קָרְךָ בַּדֶּרֶךְ וַיְזַנֵּב בְּךָ כָּל הַנֶּחֱשָׁלִים אַחֲרֶיךָ וְאַתָּה עָיֵף וְיָגֵעַ וְלֹא יָרֵא אֱ־לֹהִים:
19. [Therefore,] it will be, when the Lord your God grants you respite from all your enemies around [you] in the land which the Lord, your God, gives to you as an inheritance to possess, that you shall obliterate the remembrance of Amalek from beneath the heavens. You shall not forget!		יט. וְהָיָה בְּהָנִיחַ יְ־הֹוָ־ה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לְךָ מִכָּל אֹיְבֶיךָ מִסָּבִיב בָּאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר יְ־הֹוָ־ה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לְךָ נַחֲלָה לְרִשְׁתָּהּ תִּמְחֶה אֶת זֵכֶר עֲמָלֵק מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם לֹא תִּשְׁכָּח:

But korcha can also be translated "he cooled you off". What this alternate translation means is that Amalek cooled off the relationship between Hashem and the Children of Israel by instilling doubt in them about divine providence. Thus, Amalek = Doubt.


And so the Amalek of today also wants to instill doubt and separate the Jews from G-d by instilling doubt about the divine promise of the Land of Israel to the Jews, and doubt that Israel can survive its enemies, both in its own neighborhood and around the world, and, Yes, doubt even that Israel has a right to exist. But instead we shall obliterate the remembrance of Amalek from beneath the heavens. We will never forget what they did!

Amalek or Doubt, by Issac O'Bath

  

People of Mitzpe Ramon - Isaac o' Bath, the Shepherd of Mitzpe Ramon

Isaac comes from Bath, England. He has a full mane of magnificent red hair that looks like it has just come undone from dreadlocks. His parents made aliyah when he was little, but returned to England when he was nine. He came back to Israel as a teen-ager. Isaac has recently been working as a shepherd near Meitar, northeast of Beer-sheva. There are many sheep flocks in the Negev, most of them owned and tended by the ubiquitous Bedouin, so it is interesting to find a Jew who is involved in sheep husbandry.

Isaac tends his sheep with a sawed-off broom handle, nothing fancier than that. When he first started he used to yell and scream at the sheep to make them do his bidding, chasing them hither and yon. He was soon hoarse and exhausted. Bedouin get their sheep's attention by throwing rocks at them, not much caring if they hit and injure them with the rock. A savvier shepherd taught Isaac the right way to tend his flock. A dog runs back and forth in a circle around the sheep, herding them into a circle and making them realize who is boss. The sheep then follow the dominant animal. Not having a sheep dog, Isaac had to perform this service himself, making him the dominant creature.

Isaac tends the flock, sometimes numbering over 200, himself. The sheep and their shepherd want the same thing: for the sheep to safely graze. Why can't sheep be kept in a pen and be fed hay like cows? Well, for one thing range or desert grass is free, and sheep meat tastes better from range-fed animals. This has been an exceptionally wet year, so the grass is more plentiful this year than in the past 10. The grass turns brown in the desert sun, but the sheep prefer it this way, since green grass gives them indigestion.

You may have heard (or not) that a flock of sheep should never be allowed to break into multiple groups if there is only one shepherd for the flock. It turns out that this is utter nonsense. There is nothing the sheep want more than to recombine, even if each has entered a different valley. All the shepherd has to do is anticipate where they will come out, give a whistle and they all come together again in one happy group.

At the end of the season the male sheep are slaughtered for meat, while the females are sheared and kept for breeding. Yet another instance of the shorter life span of the male in an animal species (sigh).

Isaac has given up shepherding for the time being, since being out with the flock has aggravated some severe allergies that he has. We wish him the best in his future endeavors.

Isaac o' Bath, The Shepherd of Mitzpe Ramon.

  

 

Shmuel - The Chabad Kohen of Mitzpe Ramon

This week's Torah reading, Naso, contains the commandment for the Kohanim to bless the Children of Israel with the beautiful Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:24–26):

May Hashem (G-d) bless you and guard you;

May Hashem make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you;

May Hashem lift up his face onto you and give you peace .

If you go to shul to pray with a minyan in Israel, the thing that comes as the biggest surprise is that the Kohanim duchan, recite the Priestly Blessing, every day, twice a day. Having grown up outside of Israel, where the Kohanim only recite the Priestly Blessing during the Sholosh Regalim and High Holidays - especially festive occasions - , it still brings me up short and excites me to hear it recited every day.

Some shul communities are fortunate to have many Kohanim. In Englewood, NJ, the shul we went to had  dozens, seemingly half the shul was Kohanim, a very strange and rare occurrence. Some small shuls can't even count a single Kohen, unfortunate since the Priestly Blessing can only be recited by one of the descendants of Aaron, the first Kohen. More likely, a small shul has a single Kohen.

Shmuel haKohen of Mitzpe Ramon Chabad

Our Chabad shul in Mitzpe Ramon has Shmuel haKohen. At least this is the name I know him by, although I'm sure he has a proper last name. I believe he is originally from North Africa, whether Morocco or Algeria, I don't know. Shmuel haKohen has a kindly but serious look about him and likes to tease the children in shul. He ritually washes his hands before the first Priestly Blessing on Shabbat, and after that is careful not to touch anyone directly with his hands, shielding them with his Tallit when he shakes hands and says "Shabbat Shalom". Others, in turn, shield there hands with their own Tallis when shaking his hand, resulting in a double layer of protection.

I don't know if it is this or the seriousness with which he recites the Blessing or perhaps just the fact that we are in Israel, but when you are in his presence and he duchans, you really feel as if G-d has blessed you through him. Yasher Koach, Shmuel haKohen!

My view of Shmuel haKohen as he duchans.

   

Shabbat HaGadol in Mitzpe Ramon

Yesterday was Shabbat HaGadol. I went to Chabad, and the little shul was chock-a-block with people, almost standing room only. This was in addition to the large crowd of guests who had packed into the Chabad House for Shabbat.

Rabbi Slonim gave the Shabbat HaGadol drush during Shacharit. He spoke mostly in Hebrew, so I didn't follow it very well, but part of it had to do with why the Talmudic tractate that deals with the laws of Pesach is in the plural ("Pesachim") while all of the other Talmudic tractates dealing with holidays are singular (Rosh Hashanah, Megillah, Shabbat, Succoth, etc.). I gather from my sketchy Hebrew that this has something to do with the collective nature of the redemption from Egypt and the fact that the Pesach sacrifice was brought only by groups of people.

After shul, walking the short distance back in the cold and rain, we had lunch with Chavie and Donny and their friends Asael, his wife Channah, and their children. Asael is an ecology student at Ben Gurion University in Sede Boquer, where he is doing research on desert bats. His research deals with studying bat drinking behavior in the desert.

There is an invasive species of Mediterranean bat that has gained a foot hold by hop scotching from one small settlement to another. It needs to drink water to survive in the desert. This it does by swooping down while dragging its tongue through pools of water, while the native desert bats receive all the water they need through eating insects alone, an amazing evolutionary adaptation to desert life.

 The Giant Mediterranean Bat -- about the size of a pigeon

Asael uses a special bat voice recorder to determine which species is at a watering hole. The invasive species has a tone at around 10 Khz, while the native bats cheep at a much higher frequency, around 200 Khz, far beyond human hearing. He has discovered that the invasive species can be kept out by placing strips of plastic on a watering hole, which prevents them from swooping down to drink, and may be used to control their numbers.

After a lovely Shabbat meal prepared by Chavie, we waited for a break in the rain and all ran home.

A Happy and Kosher Pesach to all!

Annette Fein - An Artist of Mitzpe Ramon

On Sunday my friend Chaim introduced me to Annette, an artist and teacher of Mitzpe Ramon. Annette made aliyah from Union, New Jersey in 1962 (I believe she said). She has lived in Jerusalem, and now Mitzpe Ramon for the last 14 years. In the past she worked extensively in embroidery, with fantastically complex and intricate work in Jewish themes. Now she works mostly in drawings but especially colored sand design on stone and sometimes wood.

Her shop in the industrial part of Mitzpe Ramon is hung from floor to ceiling with examples of her work, with nary a space left for any more. She also designs and sews her own clothing and hats which are for sale as well. She runs art workshops for children and her space feels very inviting for contemplative creation.

She has two Belgian German Shepherds, a mother and daughter, that are very large but friendly looking creatures. The daughter has epilepsy, but her seizures are well controlled with some special vitamins Annette buys in Beer-Sheva. Since we were going to Beer-Sheva the next day, I offered to pick up a fresh bottle for her.

"Annette Fine" in her studio in Mitzpe Ramon

Annette takes photos of all the people who have been through her workshops. Since there is no space in the studio to display them, she hangs them in her back work room.

Some of Annette's students

Chaim with some of Annette's clothing and hats in the background
  

 

Kabbalat Shabbos

 

Whoever has not welcomed the Sabbath Queen from the Machtesh, has never welcomed the Queen.  -Anonymous

It is late. It is always late. I am late for shul. I decide I will go to the Machtesh and begin my davening there in solitude while I wait for Kabbalat Shabbat to begin.

As I walk uphill I hasten my pace toward the Machtesh. I hear the sounds of a Schubert Adagio, soft cries over plucked heart strings, and feel the tug of a passion from long ago.

From within the corner shul I hear the murmured sounds of quiet prayer. A young IDF soldier walks out, rifle slung over shoulder, siddur in hand. Her long olive skirt tells me she is observant. She crosses my path and walks toward her comrades, some distance away at the visitor center. A large crowd of IDF soldiers has gathered there for Kabbalat Shabbos. I hear their song begin, swelling from afar. Other soldiers sit in small groups with friends, quietly talking, watching along the crater's rim, their rifles across folded legs.

My foot steps onto the Eerie. The crater is resplendent with light, a supernal glow that comes from everywhere and nowhere, from within the very rocks themselves.

The world is filled with the glory of G-d;

It flames out, like shinning from shook foil.

It is late. I begin, “Ashrei yoshvei vetecha od y'hal'lucha, selah.”

“Happy are those that dwell in Your house; they keep on praising.”

The sun goes to its place.

The shade of night is drawn. The sixth day is rolled up into a blue-grey shadow.

Now is the night one blue dew,

my father has drained,

he has coiled the hose,

low in the length of lawns,

a frailing of fire who breathes...

I join a group of yeshiva boys and their teachers on the crater's rim behind me. They sing and sway; later they dance; friends embrace, their ritual fringes, tinged with t'chelet, blowing in the wind. They welcome the Sabbath Queen:

O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

For the LORD [is] a great God, and a great King above all gods.

In his hand [are] the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills [is] his also.

The sea [is] his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry [land].

O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.

It has grown dark. The supernal light disappears...The radiant Shabbat Queen comes in...

As Shabbat arrives, she merges into Oneness, and is separated from the “other side”, and all strict judgments are severed from her. And she remains in unity with the holy light, and crowns herself with many crowns for the holy King...Her countenance is irradiated with a supernal light, and she crowns herself here below with the holy people, all of whom are crowned with new souls. Then the commencement of prayer is to bless her with with joy and radiant countenance. 

(Click for full size image)

  

Mitzpe Ramon Haircut

Here's how we get our hair cut in Mitzpe Ramon.

Hippie and Black Hebrew hair cutter of Mitzpe Ramon

He ended up with salt-and-pepper corn rows front to back across his whole head.

     

Chabad of Mitzpe Ramon

Where there's life there's Bud;
Where there's Coke there's Chabud.

I've had a number of posts about Chabad events in Mitzpe Ramon, so this seems like a good time to say something about Chabad of Mitzpe Ramon. The Chabad shaliach in Mitzpe Ramon is Rabbi Zvi Haim Slonim. He is a large man, with an even bigger voice. He is fluent in many languages - Hebrew, Yiddish, English, and Russian. His shul congregation is drawn largely from the Russian Jews of Mitzpe Ramon.

 Rabbi Zvi Haim Slonim, Chabad shaliach in Mitzpe Ramon

In addition to the Chabad shul, there is a new Chabad House, The Center for the Study of Judaism in the Desert. The Chabad House has sleeping and eating capacity for a large number of people, around 60. Almost every Shabbat and Holiday, Rabbi Slonim has a large group of Jewish students from various schools in Israel staying over. Individuals and tourist groups also use the Chabad House as a hostel when they are in town, with previous arrangements. One day, not long ago, there was a group of about 40 Jews from Florida who were on tour and stayed over night at the Chabad House.

Both the Chabad Shul and Chabad House are easy to find, and are quite close to each other. The shul only has services on Shabbat, just after candle lighting on Friday, 10:00AM on Shabbat morning, and about the same time as candle lighting for Mincha on Saturday. There is usually no Shalos Seudot in shul on Saturday evening.

Chabad Shul and Chabad House as marked on the map

The shul is small and located in two rooms of a converted apartment building on the ground floor. The men's section is an "L" shaped room, with the women's section in the room behind, separated by a doorway covered with a blanket. Ok, so it's set up mainly for men. Very few women attend the service on Shabbat.

Chabad Shul in Mitzpe Ramon. The entrance is immediately to the left of the "Beit Chabad" sign (As always, click for a full-size image)

The Chabad House is newly converted from an old hotel, and the outside is still incomplete. When finished, it's supposed to look like a reproduction of the famed "770" in Crown Heights. It has room for about 60 guests.

Mark and Uncle Rafi Finkel make the sign for "770" outside the new Chabad House in Mitzpe Ramon.

For more information you should contact Rabbi Slonim himself.

Mobile from US: 011-972-54-4595770

Home from US: 011-972-8-6588415

Fax from US: 011-972-8-6595770

eMail: chabad-m@inter.net.il

My experience is that Rabbi Slonim is not very good at responding to email, at least not in English, so call if you want to contact him.

Rabbi Slonim dances with IDF soldiers in Mitzpe Ramon this Purim

   

Jackson - The Russian Pianist of Mitzpe Ramon

Feeling a bit low, we decided to have a nice meal at the Ramon Inn tonight. Located at the top of the hill near the center of town, the Ramon Inn (Pundak Ramon, in Hebrew) is the nicest hotel with the best restaurant in town. We ate in the casual dinning room near the lobby where excellent and affordable light meals are served.

Every Tuesday and Saturday night, Jackson, the Russian Pianist of Mitzpe Ramon, plays popular, dance, and jazz music in the room. Sometimes he is joined by Anatoly, the Russian Clarinetist of Mitzpe Ramon. Jackson has a broad repertory, a light touch, and does very nice improvisations on the original songs. He was so good tonight that we could hardly bring ourselves to leave, dancing out the door together after a few turns of the lobby floor.

I relax while Jackson tickles the ivories at the Ramon Inn, every Tuesday and Saturday night

     

Celebrating International Women's Day in MItzpe Ramon

Today (March 8) when Pam went to the Supersol market there was an unusually large trade in flowers and boquets, usually only seen on Fridays before Shabbat. When she inquired as to what was going on every one assured her it was a very big holiday celebrated everywhere in the world, including America: International Women's Day. Well pillory me with a brassiere, but neither I nor Pam had ever heard of this holiday. I had to conclude that it must have been especially big in the Soviet Union, since there are many Russians living in Mitzpe Ramon. (Would my Russian readers please clarify?)

In any case, all of the men were running around Mitzpe Ramon with bouquets. One of my favorite Mitzpe Ramon characters is Shlomo, the Wild Russian. Shlomo has an outfit for every occassion. Some of my favorites are his Good Cowboy Outfit, white western cowboy suit and hat; Bad Cowboy Outfit, the same but all in black; Russian Mafia Outfit, pretty much self-described; and his Midnight in Moscow Russian Outfit, full fur Russian hat and leather overcoat. In the photo below he is dressed ala Carribe, in preparation for the fist chamsin of the season.

 Shlomo, the Wild Russian of Mitzpe Ramon, celebrating International Women's Day (as always, click for the full-size image)

Shlomo speaks many languages, unfortunately, none we share so communication can be difficult. As soon as I took this picture in front of the 'neto, Shlomo was off in a flash.

   

Purim Day in Mitzpe Ramon

Again, more megillah readings than you could shake a grager at. I went to the Chabad shul, not least of which reason was because they started davening at 8:30 AM, a most civilized time for me. The Chabad shul in Mitzpe Ramon is a small "L"-shaped room, with a room behind the long leg of the "L" for women and children. Ok, so it's basically set up for men. Most of the regular congregants are Russian, but Rabbi Slonim always has many bochrim who visit for holidays and Shabbat. Purim was no exception.

Davening at Chabad on Purim morning

After the megillah reading Rabbi Slonim and some of the bochrim went to Nafha prison outside of Mitzpe Ramon to read the megillah for the 50 or so Jews there. Nafha is one of Israel's high security prisons and mostly holds Palestinian terrorists, but Rabbi Slonim told me that Jewish prisoners who are hard cases are put there as well. I believe Yigal Amir, Yitzchak Rabin's assassin is held there, so Rabbi Slonim may have read the megillah for him as well.

Rabbi Slonim set up a table at the city center to do a public megillah reading, especially for the Israeli soldiers who come through town. Sunday is the busiest day for them, since that is when they return to base from their Shabbos leave, and since Purim was on Sunday this year, there were hundreds and hundreds who passed through town. Purim clowns were in attendance, and shalloch manos was distributed to the troops. It is always interesting to me to see all of the women in uniform. Israel has a universal service requirement for both men and women. Some of the women are just girls and so slight it looks like they might not have the strength to lift their big boots. But they do, and they carry M-16s, too.

IDF soldires in Mitzpe Ramon on Purim day

 Many hundreds of soldiers pass through Mitzpe Ramon on a Sunday

Rabbi Slonim danced with the soldiers throughout the day and before starting the reading of the megillah in the town center.
  

Dancing with the IDF (Israeli Defense Force)

Then the megillah was read.

Rabbi Slonim reads the megillah in the town center for Purim

 Clowning around on Purim
 

                             Dancing with Tzahal

Latter in the day Rabbi Slonim held a large Purim Seudah at the new Chabad house, but we had already signed up to do our own.

However, no Purim is complete without drinking "ad sheloh yadeh", until you don't know the difference between "blessed is Mordechai" and "cursed is Haman".


               Yeshivah bochers in Mitzpe Ramon

The Dog Whisperer of Mitzpe Ramon

Yardena is the Dog Whisperer of Mitzpe Ramon.

There are many domestic animals that live around town, many of them are homeless or abandoned. The cats pretty much take care of themselves, but the dogs are another matter, since they depend on humans for food, water, affection and shelter. Mitzpe Ramon does not seem to have an animal control officer, and one friend told me that once when he was bitten by a cat, it was his responsibility to watch the animal and make sure it didn't develop Rabies.

There are people who put food out for the animals and some even throw their edible garbage on the ground for them near the public waste containers. Needless to say, this can make for a third-world feel to Mitzpe Ramon. Because the town is so isolated, some unfortunate animals are brought here to be abandoned by their uncaring owners.

Yardena takes care of as many of these homeless and abandoned animals as she can. She takes them into her home, cares for them, feeds them, and provides medical attention, all from her own personal resources. She has a vet come from Tel Aviv every other week and pays him to take care of the sick and injured. Many is the day she spends with him while he is performing surgery on the injured. She takes photos of these animals and advertises them for adoption, in the mean time taking care of them herself.

Yardena, her daughter Alin, and one of their charges at the CafeNeto

 Recently, a bitch had a litter of two puppies near our house. They were very cute when small, not so cute as they grew up in the streets. Pam says one was adopted, but Yardena told me he died in her house from Distemper diesease, the most common killer of homeless puppies. That left one sadly abandoned female, who is oddly and intermittently taken care of. She sleeps in the park outside our house and plays with the odd piece of trash. Even we started feeling sorry for her, giving her food and water. I guess I can't blame the animal feeders anymore.

Abandoned dog of Mitzpe Ramon

   

The Russian Photographer of Mitzpe Ramon

We see this gentleman around town quite a bit. He gets around on a trike with a basket in the back for carrying packages. He mostly speaks Hebrew and Russian. When I was sitting at the town center one Friday waiting for Pam we struck up a conversation. As near as I can make out, he comes from somewhere very cold in Russia, perhaps Siberia. His family is now in Israel, and he was very proud of them as he showed me their photos.  I was surprised at how well the photos were done on a cell phone camera.

He asked if he could see my camera, which I was reluctant to hand over, since at that point he hadn't told me he used to be a photographer in Russia. So, I let him take it while I kept hold of the wrist strap. He thanked me and said he had been a photographer. At that point, I felt kind of bad I hadn't been more generous in letting him look at my camera, but he seemed satisfied.

I asked him what he did now. He said, "Achshav klum." ("Now, nothing.")

The Russian Photographer of Mitzpe Ramon

   

People of Mitzpe Ramon - Stylish Tourist in Sequined Pant Suit

There are always interesting people in and about Mitzpe Ramon. A few days ago I saw this stylish tourist in a black velvet sequined pant suit. Note the matching glasses.

Sequined pant suit lady at the CafeNeto