Bedouin Goat Crossing

On the way home to Mitzpe Ramon we sometimes encounter Bedouin shepherds and shepherdesses herding their flocks across Route 40. This is a pair of shepherdesses completely covered head to toe in the gloaming of a hot day.

A pair of Bedouin shepherdesses lead their flock across Route 40 on a hot day.

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.