Tzora/Sura
Next I went to Kibbutz Tzora, just in time for the annual kibbutz anniversary hike and picnic. Well, almost in time. I got there late, so my friends drove us up the mountain to the original kibbutz location, now a lookout over the valley.
A nice view, despite the day’s haze.
The lookout platform is built over an old stone house that once belonged to the sheikh of the village of Sura, which used to stand on that spot.
The old village olive trees still stand.
A few maps and plaques describe old battles.
As I understand it, Tzora was the original Biblical name. The place where Samson was buried.
When I googled that, I found an an article written in 1949 by a new Israeli immigrant about adjusting to Israel. Tzora appeared in this paragraph:
There are many roads to Zion, different ties to the country— national, religious, socialist, or any mixture thereof. To these I’d like to add another: the beauty of the country. There is here a wildness and strangeness that is intensely appealing. Each part of the country is different, has a character all its own. The hills of Judea somehow seem different from those of Galilee. The Negev has a wild romanticism which is beautiful even in its bleakness. The fantastic differences in topography between such short distances make the country appear everchanging, dynamic. Knowledge of the Bible, of ancient Jewish history, is an invaluable asset. The hills around Tsora become meaningful when identified with stories of Samson. The Arava becomes more than “the Wilderness” when it becomes the wilderness in which Moses wandered.
I too am enthralled by Israel’s varied topography, and I can understand how Biblical knowledge enhances an appreciation of the landscape. But the main thing I noticed about this 1600-word article describing a Zionist immigrant’s life in Israel in 1949 was that exactly none of those words referred to Arabs. That I find remarkable.
The reference to the Arava I noticed for a different reason. As I’ve described before, when I was a young Zionist I was part of a group of Americans who moved to Israel to create a new kibbutz. However, I returned to the US in early 1973, before those who remained went to the Arava to start Kibbutz Ketura. I visited Ketura two years ago, and appreciated its desolate beauty. I also appreciated Ketura’s Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, which at the time was having trouble getting the Israeli government to let its West Bank students into Israel to study. This coming Monday the Israeli Supreme Court will hear the Arava Institute’s petition to overturn the ban Palestinian students.
More on the Supreme Court another time.