A Weekend in Beer'i

View near the Kibbutz Beer'i

This weekend, I was invited by my colleague (co-author and friend) to spend the weekend at her house.  She said her husband was an avid bicyclist and wanted to take me for a ,mountain bike ride in the Beer'i Badlands and Forest Reserve.   Now let me preface this story to say that Rivka (my friend and co-author) lives on a kibbutz about 3 km from the "red line"...yes 3 km from Gaza. She lives about 45 minutes west and a bit north of Beer Sheva.  But I was looking for a change from Beer Sheva so I was excited to learn more about the Kibbutz system and besides, Rivka has a pet crayfish so I knew we would get along and have loads to talk about. She used to have 8 young small and cute crayfish and a tank full of goldfish. If any of you out there have ever tried to rear a communal tank of these feisty but lovable crustaceans, you will understand that over time, inevitably you will be left with an aquarium containing a large and solitary crayfish.  Rivka was no exception.  I would love to go on and on about crayfish behavior, but I am going to leave that to Molly Zaleski in her Snow Crab Love  Blog.

The Family Pet...Cherax quadricarinatus

Back to my weekend at Rivka's.  Kibbutz Beer'i was established in 1946 by less than 40 people and the families that established this kibbutz made their money working outside of the community in various industries. In recent times, the financial success of Beer'i kibbutz relies on a printing company that drives the economy.  Also, anyone who works outside of the kibbutz (like Rivka) turns over their salary to the kibbutz. You might also work within the kibbutz and offset your room and board in that way (gardening, food service, laundry, zoo animal husbandry (huh?), farming, car washing).  So now that you have turned over your salary; what is in it for you?  Well try not to think of yourself because as you can see...there is no ME in kibbutz. Families eat darn good food at the cafeteria, get a house (pretty nice one as you will see), have a car of any size at their disposal, child care ...check.  Laundry done for you...check.  On site store that does not take money (I like that)...an onsite ZOO and multiple soccer fields and swimming pools. And bikes are at your disposal and it is the common mode of transportation.  There is no crime.  And when you get too old to work or even function for that matter, there is assisted living for anyone that needs it.  It's like living in a country club!....Did I mention the community is 3 km away from the Gaza strip?  So what's not to like?  There is a wait list and the community is currently building 40 new homes. If you are born here, you can stay here forever and many families have 3 generations residing on site in independent homes.  One woman I talked to has more than 20 grandchildren and most of them reside at the kibbutz.  Think about that!

While everything looks tidy, and you really don't have to worry about anything (except Gaza)...this style of living is not really for everyone.  I personally am fairly certain it is not for me and I am not exactly sure why. I found myself thinking very hard about this communal style of living.  I asked a lot of questions.  I learned that if you leave the kibbutz (even if you were born there) you are required to reapply and then must pass the scrutiny of the Entrance Board. And even if a family member is on the board (which is highly probable) this does not guarantee reentry.

I was invited to stay in a spare room above Rivka's mom and dads house and it was extremely comfy and quiet. Very much like a bed and breakfast because Rivka set me up with all sorts of goodies. Israelis are hugely thoughtful and generous people and I have felt absolutely welcome where ever I am.

This is where I got easily 8.5 hours of sleep a night and if you know my normal sleep patterns (most of you I realize don't)....this was truly a miracle.  I typically get 4-6 hours a night.

Another interesting characteristic of this kibbutz is this protective fence that surrounds the entire community.  You will notice that this is a relatively new structure and was actually installed after the recent 60-day war.  This is truly a gated community.





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OK on to the Beer'i zoo

There are all  to sorts of animals housed in the community including a full aviary and a snake house.  They have all sorts of bird eggs hatching and my friends 5-year old daughter was actually trying to help a little quail hatch out of the egg.  I could not bear to watch the premature birth of a bird.  Luckily her mom convinced her to put it back in the incubator and let it run to term.

This nicely decorated little concrete structure is a bomb shelter on the kibbutz kindergarten campus.  Our kids in Juneau learn about hypothermia and kids in Beer'i learn where to run to when they hear the code red alarm. They have 15 seconds to stop what they are doing and take cover!

One of the highlights of the weekend was a 4 hour mountain bike ride through the forests surrounding the Kibbutz.  Rivka's husband Erez manages the bike store (LaMedavesh) just outside the gates of the kibbutz.  He loves biking and he has put his heart and soul into the place. His group has established a 120 km bike route system and caters to riders from all over Israel and abroad too. The first day I met Erez at the shop and there must have been 100 or so other bikers showing up for a day of road biking and trail riding. He got me set up with a great Gary Fisher bike, helmet, and shoes.  He must have got the impression that I was a talented biker because he took me on a 26 km single track course through forests, ravines, sulphur mines and historical sites (Byzantine wells and World war I bunkers).  I only fell twice, but those falls were on some steep parts of the route where I could ride down but could not quite negotiate the uphill bumps and curves. Once or twice I lost my nerve and walked my bike up and down a stretch.  I think I may be able to take on East Glacier Trail in Juneau when I get home.

Here are the remnants of the red blossoms of anemones in front of some British WWI bunkers. This region is well known for the incredible bursts of colors when the flowers are in full bloom and this is another reason why despite the proximity to Gaza, tourists continue to flock to this region.

LaMedavesh organizes bike tours and you can find a lot of great information about biking in this area HERE.

Bikers have reached the initial edge of the badlands nature reserve in which you are only allowed to hike (no horses or bikes). The Green flag signals that this is the nature reserve trailhead entrance and the red flag lets you know that this is a day that is open for hikers.  While we were here, we both heard and felt nearby "test" explosions coming from Gaza.  No alarms though so nothing to worry about.

Rivka and I and her 2 children and one nephew rode our bikes out for the hike. 

 I particularly like this picture of the Orian and her cousin walking through the wildflowers and you can see the city of Gaza in the background.  The forest you see in the background is where some of the single track bike routes pass.

On Saturday at the bike center, there was a community/family day with music, juggling stunt riders showing tricks, and what I thought was an ISIS recruiter trying to conjer up business with draft beer.  He was not getting a lot of people coming by his booth which I thought was a good thing but in a while a couple of people (bikers included) stopped by the booth.  They did not look like the typical ISIS converts.  Turns out that ISIS is the name of a local brewery that makes some pretty darn good beer.

It was pretty hard to track down a cat in this kibbutz, but I found one on top of a storage tent in a patio. Maybe should not count because she was definitely not feral.










I think that's all I have to say about my weekend in Beer'i.  If you want to see more pictures of the trails and the kibbutz click HERE.  I will add more from my mountain bike trip once I get the camera that I used during the ride back from Erez.