When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When in Israel…do as the Bedouins do.
Driving through the luscious Judean Hill country that has been blessed with the spring rains is a rare sight. For only a period of a few months does the land of Israel look like this. Sheep graze in the fields following their shepherd’s voice while wildflowers dot the hills. But just as soon as you get used to the sight of green and wildflowers, on the other side of the mountain it drops off into the dry, brown, rocky desert. This is the Negev. The land of Judah is now behind me and the desert lay vast before me. I thought to myself, I would never want to live here, but realized this would be my home for the night.
Living in one place for an extended period of time, it is crucial to experience every aspect of the culture. I initially believed I had already experienced most of Israel’s culture, I stayed in the Old city, hiked a trail from Jericho to Jerusalem through the Judean wilderness, seen countless tombs and walked through many cisterns and ancient waterways, and eaten completely kosher. But I had not yet experienced the lifestyle of a small percentage of Israel’s population, the Bedouins.
The Bedouins are a nomadic people group and have lived in Israel for most of it’s history. Their religion and traditions are based on Islam and their language is Arabic. They used to roam in their tents made of goat hair, but now 70% of them have moved into their own communities. They have slowly embraced a more modern lifestyle and built static houses out of tin sheets and equipped them with modern conveniences.
However, for the curious tourists there is still one location where you can get as close as possible to living the life of a true Bedouin. In the middle of this desert there is an authentic Bedouin camp called Kfar HaNokdim. Our group had our own little campsite equipped with a tent large enough to house all 30 of us comfortably, and a firepit. The tent was made out of goat hair, which is the best material to protect from all the elements, rain, heat or cold. Walking through the weighted flaps of the tent, the muted smell of goats lingered in the air, but it didn’t take long before I quickly became accustomed to it and embraced it as a part of the experience. This woven goat hair covered the wood poles place strategically throughout the tent, and more thick goat hair “curtains” separated the guy’s side from the girl’s side.
Surrounding this small camp was nothing but brown as far as the mountains would allow you to see. The desert had never shown its true colors so well. The ground was covered with rocks of all shapes and sizes, one moment would be flat with pebbles and I would be racing through to catch up with the rest of the group, but the next second I would trip over a large boulder that magically appeared in the two seconds I looked up from my feet, in their precarious positions, to take in the view. There were no other lights to be seen, no other civilization beside the camp itself, it was like I had entered into another world. And while embracing this new world I had never known before, the outside world faded into a memory. There was no Wi-Fi and no electrical outlets. We only had the rocky landscape to “play with” and it forced our group to be creative and come up with ways to entertain each other and bond together in this wilderness we were exploring.
To continue the experience, we were treated to Bedouin hospitality and a family style dinner. We walked into another large tent where we would be served the “fancy meal” our Professor promised us. There were about fifteen tables, each seating eight people. There were poles in the middle holding up the heavy goat’s hair material and it was warmly lit. The tables only reached our mid shin. There was a stack of two red mattresses all around the table and we awkwardly tried to find the most comfortable way to sit, while also trying not to look like incompetent Americans. Our knees couldn’t go under the table, so we crossed our legs, but they soon fell asleep. So, some laid on the mattresses, so their shoulders were level with the top of the table, while others stuck their feet under the table and laid their knees to the side. Once we were as comfortable as we could be, we dove straight into the lemonade, orange juice and water, as well as the fresh pita and nine sides given to go with it. In a matter of minutes, we had eaten all the pita, desiring more, and little did we know just how much we would eat as the night continued. The few servers then brought each table, platters the size of extra extra large pizzas, at least 20”- 24” wide round platters. They were piled as high as possible, with more pita filling the bottom, rice, red and yellow peppers, tomatoes, skewers of meat and slices of chicken. It was a meal fit for a king. The promise made by our professor was not an exaggeration for we feasted that night. My table not only finished our entire platter in record time, but before the night was over, we had finished two other platters given to us, as well as had multiple refills of meat and a dessert plate. By the time we had to move on, we had been eating for an hour straight. Our eyes and taste buds wanted to eat more, but our stomachs and minds were telling us to stop. If that was true Bedouin hospitality, we were not opposed to it.
It was about 8 o’clock now and we were taken to meet a Bedouin woman. She was dressed in a coat the color of charcoal with fur lining the collar and the sleeves, gold bracelets and rings covering her hands and wrists and a crimson scarf tied around her head. Her skin was a deep shade of brown, evidence of the beating sun after all these years. Her English was heavily accented with Hebrew, and we had to strain our ears to make sense of what she was saying. She was not taught English, rather she informed us, that when she started working at this camp and giving her presentations, she needed a translator, but soon picked up on English through listening to the translator. She spoke to us about what traditional Bedouin hospitality looked like and first gave us Bedouin tea. It tasted like a hot southern sweet tea, with the sweetness level doubled, but it warmed my entire body wonderfully. Then we were given a third of a cup of coffee. Simply smelling it, we knew it was strong, but its bitter taste was more than any of us bargained for. Looking around as we tried it one by one, some faces loved its strength, while others puckered from its overwhelming bitterness.
She also described to us the modernization of the Bedouin camps, as they embraced the technology and ideals of the first-world countries. Some, she said, loved the modernization, while others would prefer to hold onto the traditions. Bedouins “in the past would make fires at night and sit around them while their mother would tell them a story and then they would go to bed”. But the modern customs are influencing this old culture and now their houses are equipped with technology and “the young people are very okay with all the technology.” They will be on their phones all night, instead of having the sweet time of stories before bed.
This lady, herself, was an example of the progressive ideals of the people. She was the first Bedouin woman to have a movie made about her life, called “Against all Odds” and it caused much tension in her family. She went against the traditions of her people and now encourages other woman to do the same.
She said “Boys can go to university and get their drivers license, but girls cannot. Although change is coming very very slowly, and girls now can finish high school and go to university. She is becoming an independent strong woman. The men like tradition but slowly slowly the Bedouin woman come to ask the man to be like the Islam and be a strong businesswoman. All Bedouin are Muslims but not all women act like Islamic women, they follow tradition.” She wants the Bedouin women to have the same opportunities and advantages as anyone else, with the chance to complete their educations and become nurses and businesswomen. Because the people are Muslim, she wishes the women to be allowed the same advantages as Muslim women and to do something greater with their lives.
This night in the desert granted us a view into another lifestyle and culture so foreign to us as Americans. We know of only the comfort of our own homes, but there are still cultures with nomadic people who, only recently, are branching out into the modern world of technology. They still live in tents or tin shacks and raise goats and sheep and even practice old wedding customs, where the man will pay the dowry to the girl (although it is usually in cash and not animals). There are even traditions and messages sent with the amount of coffee and tea a person receives when visiting. It seems foreign to us but being able to catch a glimpse of their culture added to the well-rounded experience of these three months living in the Holy Land.
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