Neot Semadar Arts Centre

It's time for me to post something about Israel once again, about the beautiful side of the country I live in. This post was written over a year ago, when we took a short break in Eilat, Israel's southernmost city. We planned to go again this last December, but the war in Israel meant that we were unable to travel there.

Neot Semadar is a kibbutz in the southern Negev desert, about 70 kilometres north of Eilat. It was established in 1989 on the grounds of an abandoned kibbutz, Shizafon. The founders, a group of ideological young people who met whilst living in Jerusalem, shared a love of the desert, the desire to set up a communal community and to create an oasis in the southern Negev.

The kibbutz members created an organic community, engaged in agricultural waste recycling, and built eco-friendly homes. Their economy is based on agriculture, with 500 dunams of organically cultivated vineyards, olives, date plantations and a herb garden. The kibbutz also operates a boutique organic winery and produces a variety of cheeses from fresh goat milk. On our way to Eilat we stopped for lunch at their roadside restaurant, Pundak Neot Semadar, which offers vegetarian food and sells the kibbutz's organic products. It was delicious!

Before lunch we made a quick visit to the kibbutz's Arts Centre. Unfortunately it closes early several days of the week but, even though we arrived after their closing time, we got lucky and met a kibbutz member who was keen to show us around.
The Arts Centre is an architecturally unique building which serves as a gallery and studio for all of the artists living on the kibbutz. Many of their works of art are on display in the gallery located on the ground floor of the centre and a variety of workshops for stained glass, ceramics, textile, wood and metals are offered there. The building is insulated with mud bricks, with "air conditioning" supplied by a desert cooling tower.

The Arts Centre was gradually constructed by kibbutz members over a period of 15 years. The entire kibbutz participated and there was no blueprint for the building. Instead, many techniques of architecture were studied and applied as they went along. The members developed a special way of casting a mosaic floor, a technique of moulding reliefs and sculptures in concrete, and applied some desert construction principles, such as the massive air cooling tower which is kept cool using a unique evaporative cooling system. There is a balcony at the top of the tower, from which you can look out over the expansive desert surrounding the kibbutz.

Residents of the Neot Semadar had never worked on a project outside of the desert until the world-renowned Turkish architect Sinan Kafadar sought out their expertise while finishing off the interior of the 226 room Waldorf-Astoria in Jerusalem. About 10 kibbutz members employed techniques regularly practiced on the colourful eco-friendly buildings at Neot Semadar to make wall panels, door frames and number signs on the rooms at the historic 1929 hotel.

A program of courses and seminars in the Arts Centre is offered to people from Israel and abroad. Students can learn a new art form, while staying in one of the kibbutz's eco-friendly bed and breakfast units with gorgeous views that overlook the fields. Each unit has its own balcony and herb garden. There is a communal kitchen outfitted with appliances, kitchenware and a communal dining area, and prepared meals can be booked ahead of time.
I might just try one out one day.

*This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun., Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) and My Corner of the World.

Tzora Forest

We started our hike in the Tzora Forest at Samson's Ridge, a lovely short trail named after the biblical hero known for his great strength and bravery. The trail twisted and turned through the woods and the green fields and views of Beit Shemesh below were impressive. After a few minutes of walking the path led us back to where we started and it was at this point that our real hike in Tzora Forest began.

Tzora has been identified with the biblical Zoreah (Joshua 15:33) and is believed to be the birthplace of Samson. It was here that he killed the lion barehanded and returned to eat the honey from its carcass. A grave which some attribute to Samson and his father, Manoach, can be found in the forest. The altar where his father took a young goat as an offering to G-d and where his barren mother received word of her pregnancy is nearby. "And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman, and said to her, Behold now, you are barren, and bearest not: but you shall conceive and bear a son" (Judges 13:3)

The Palestinian village Sar'a was located in the presumed location of the biblical town. It was captured by Israel's Harel Brigade in July 1948 during the War of Independence and its inhabitants fled or were later expelled.

The trail we decided to follow lead us down towards some orchards and past rows of carob trees and pine forest planted by the Jewish National Fund. This part of the forest was incredibly peaceful and so very beautiful. Narcissus flowers and cyclamen blossomed along the pathways. At this point we stopped to drink coffee and take a short break before following the path all the way to Tzora Forest's top holy site - the grave of Samson the warrior.

Samson lived a very stormy life. It began with his miraculous birth and continued with Israel's wars with the Philistines, which revolved around the romances that he conducted with Philistine women. He died in Gaza by pulling down a Philistine temple on top of its inhabitants and on himself. "And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines"…and they buried him between Tzora and Eshtaol in the burying place of Manoach his father" (Judges 16:31). Jewish tradition identifies Samson's grave in Tzora, at least since the Middle Ages. The historian Josephus says it was in a village called Sarasat.

Kever Shimshon, or Samson's grave, is located is at the top of a tel or hill. There is a plaza and at its centre are two large gravestones, above. On the northern gravestone there is a marble plaque commemorating Samson and on the southern gravestone there is a plaque for Manoach, his father.
It is however not likely that this is the exact place of their burial and some believe that the tomb is in fact a Sheikh's tomb.
The views of the coastal plain, the Judean Plains and the Judean Mountains from this point were breathtaking.

From this point our hike got a little confusing. We followed the trail back down the hill but took a wrong turning and ended up walking a lot further than we had expected. Though we saw plenty of gorgeous flowers and some of the statues along Derech HaPsalim (The Statues Trail), the forest was busy in this area and there was a lot of traffic. The second part of our hike was nowhere near as peaceful as the first!

We did however get to see the Tzora lookout, designed in the shape of a bow of a ship, with amazing views of the Sorek Valley and the city of Beit Shemesh. The stone structure at the lookout was in the past the home of the mukhtar (head official) of the village of Sar'a. During the War of Independence the house served as the temporary headquarters of the Harel Brigade. Later on the structure served the first members of Kibbutz Tzora until their move to permanent homes at the foot of the Tzora mountain.

We were almost back at our car when we spotted this beautiful red fox enjoying what looked like the remains of someone's picnic. The fox was not afraid of us at all and we were able to stand nearby and watch it for several minutes. Foxes in fact play an important part in the story of Samson and it seemed a fitting way to end our hike.

Samson's wife, a Philistine woman from Timnah, was with another man. Samson went to see her but her father would not let him near her. Angry, Samson rounded up 300 foxes, tied their tails together, set the tails on fire and turned them loose on the Philistine fields which were ready to be harvested, burning all in their wake. This action crippled the Philistines' source of food and economy.
"Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned the foxes tail to tail and put one torch in the middle between two tails." (Judges 15:4)

Tragically, the Philistines returned the evil by burning Samson's wife and her family to death, using fire, the very weapon he had used against them. In revenge, Samson slaughtered many more Philistines, saying, "I have done to them what they did to me."

And you thought you were reading a genteel post about nature and history in Israel 😉

* This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun., Nature Notes, Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Tuesday's Treasures, Pictorial Tuesday, Our World Tuesday, My Corner of the World and Friday Bliss.

HaHamisha Forest and the Harel Brigade Monument

* This post was written before Israel's current lockdown.

Our hike in the HaHamisha forest was not the most successful, though we ended up seeing some amazing sites. We found the trailhead with no problem but at some point failed to turn off where we needed to and ended up walking quite a bit further than we expected. We were trying to reach the Harel Brigade monument in Har Adar but Har Adar is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank and therefore fenced off. We simply couldn't get into the settlement from where we had ended up. Fortunately we met a nice lady with a dog who had a key to a door in the fence. She let us in and we were soon on our way!

The area of Ma'ale HaHamisha, Kiryat Anavim and Har Adar is an extremely beautiful part of the Jerusalem Hills. It is also rich in recent history. The British army, led by General Allenby, captured these hills from the Turks during World War I. During the period of the British mandate, one particular hill was thought to be a post for telecommunications that included radar antennas. For this reason, the Haganah and Palmach referred to it as Givat HaRadar or Radar Hill, although it was in fact only a relay station to boost the radio signal. The hill was also the scene of bitter fighting during Israel's War of Independence. 

Our circular hike started off on the red trail in the HaHamisha Forest. From there we enjoyed wonderful views of the surrounding area including Kibbutz Kiryat Anavim, the Arab village of Abu Gosh and, on the other side of Road 1, Har Tzuva and the Crusader fortress of Belmont, which we had visited just a week earlier.
We turned off onto a portion of the the black-marked "1948 Trail" (שביל תש׳׳ח), which begins at Har Adar and continues to the cemetery at Kiryat Anavim. This trail was dedicated by the Jewish National Fund in 2012 and is intended to recollect the tough battles fought for control of this area during the War of Independence. Continuing up the hill we missed our next turn which should have taken us to a picnic area by the entrance to the town of Har Adar and ultimately to the Harel Monument on Radar Hill, but we found our way there anyway.

When the British left Palestine in May 1948 they handed Radar Hill over to the Jordanian Arab Legion. The Harel Brigade (Hativat Harel), headed by Yitzhak Rabin, who in later years became Israel's fifth Prime Minister, made 23 attempts to conquer the strategically important hill as part of the struggle for Jerusalem. The Harel Brigade held the position for only four days before finally being defeated. In the aftermath of its failure, a convoy of Palmach armoured vehicles approached Radar Hill from the south to try and rescue the fighters who were retreating under fire. These vehicles were stopped by the British who were stationed there and handed them over to the Arabs who murdered them.

The area was annexed by Jordan in 1950 but finally captured in the Six-Day War by the Harel Brigade. The same brigade then went on participate in the liberation of Jerusalem and after this, the capture of Ramallah and Jericho.

After the Six-Day War, a decision was made to erect a memorial to the Harel Brigade at the top of the hill. Designed by Israeli architect Arieh Sharon and his son Eldad, the high observation tower represents two radar disks standing on concrete legs. The memorial can be climbed and from its top (and even from the bottom) there are stunning views of Jerusalem and the surrounding hills. Combat vehicles and tanks that took part in the battles for Jerusalem are located at the foot of the memorial and the remains of bunkers and communication trenches can be explored.

We retraced our steps to the entrance of Har Adar and back to our car. Our next stop was nearby Kiryat Anavim, the local kibbutz which was established in 1920 and which served as the base of the Harel Brigade soldiers at the beginning of the War of Independence. Members of the Palmach who fell in the battles on the road to Jerusalem were buried along the side of the kibbutz cemetery. Most of these fallen soldiers were from the Harel Brigade and some from the Etzioni Brigade, which defended the city of Jerusalem. During an 11 month period, 138 fighters were buried here. From the headstones it is apparent that some of them were only 15 or 16 years of age when they died. 

Kiryat Anavim is in fact the only cemetery in the country dedicated to fallen soldiers from essentially one specific brigade. At the far end of the cemetery stands an imposing memorial to the Harel Brigade, above, built of light coloured limestone. From the side it resembles both a lion at rest and a rifle at the ready. The artist Menahem Shemi designed the monument. His son Jimmy would visit the cemetery from time to time during the War of Independence, remembering comrades who fell and were buried there. He apparently mentioned to a friend that after the war he would ask his father to design a memorial. Jimmy, a company commander, was killed towards the end of the war. Menahem died in 1951 and both father and son are now buried in the cemetery.

After the war, many families chose to leave their loved ones in this cemetery, which became a symbol of the military battle for the road to Jerusalem. The orderly graves are meticulously maintained by members of the kibbutz.

An enormous statue of a gazelle that weighs over a ton stands to the left of the cemetery, above. This is a memorial to Yisrael "Zuziya" Shapiro who was born in Russia and, as a youth, was exiled to Siberia because of his connections with the Zionist movement. When he was released four years later, he made it to British-controlled Palestine and joined Kibbutz Kiryat Anavim.

During World War II Shapiro fought in Britain's Jewish Brigade and afterwards was instrumental in bringing refugees to Palestine. When Jerusalem came under siege in 1948 he drove convoys with supplies on their dangerous journey to Jerusalem. He died in the defence of Kibbutz Kiryat Anavim, in a position that naturally drew fire from nearby Radar Hill. The gazelle statue stands where he fell. 

A metal Torah scroll stands at the entrance to the gazelle monument, which was erected in 1979 by Shapira's son Michael. It is inscribed with the biblical passage "A gazelle* lies slain on your heights, Israel. How the mighty have fallen!" [2 Samuel 1:19].
* Gazelle here symbolises a person of influence.

* This post has been shared on Nature Notes, The Good. The Random. The Fun., Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Our World Tuesday, Tuesday's Treasures, Pictorial Tuesday and My Corner of the World.