Sataf: Judges, Caves, and Dates

By Talia Raider-Roth,      11^th grade,           Ohio

In the morning, we all started our journey bleary eyed but excited. As our muscles began waking up, we gathered behind the chader ochel as one of our Jewish history teachers Evan began to speak. He spoke as Moses shouting “Follow me Jews! I will lead you to the promised land!” We laughed and began to walk as he led us out of the kibbutz.

As our muscles began to wake up we were greeted by the scenery of many olive trees and greenery. We walked further out of Kibbutz Tzuba and saw a clear blue sky and mountains covered by bushes. We soon saw cacti blooming with prickly fruit and the vineyard of the kibbutz.

We continued to walk and soon we felt the oncoming heat of the day. We reached a water break and both our class and Evan’s class sat down together. We learned that we were sitting on top of a mountain that the ancient Israelites had lived on. They had to live on top of this mountain because the Philistines, who the Israelites had much tension with, had technology, such as chariots, that were more advanced than the technology of the Israelis at the time (~1200 BCE). To counteract the Philistine’s innovative chariots, the Israelites stationed themselves on top of the hills which the chariots could not go up.

As we split into our separate classes our teacher Josh told us about many other problems that the Israelites had to solve when creating a nation in Eretz Yisrael. They needed a government, a leader who could help unite the Israelites, and a document/Brit to follow. The 613 commandments given to Moses at Sinai became the Brit they followed. Joshua was chosen by God to lead after the death of Moses. He was a good leader who was also the military general who fought side by side with the other Israelites. Aside from Joshua, eventually judges (shoftim שופטים) were appointed by God as temporary leaders.

One of the main problems that they faced, however, was Avoda Zara, the worshipping of foreign gods (a.k.a. idolatry).  Farming was necessary to create a working society because they could not trade with the Philistines, but rain was an infrequent occurrence that was never-the-less necessary to grow food. Other nations/religions prayed to their gods for rain. If it did not come, they sacrificed their children. God told the Israelites that child sacrifice was not allowed and they were to abstain from it. This left the question as to how the Israelites could get enough rain for their crops. The necessity for rain created a new type of farming: terrace farming. Terrace farming is composed of multiple layers of dirt in a step-like formation. This meant that when it rained or, more frequently, when the snow from the mountains melted, the water would trickle down to all the different levels and all the different crops could be watered without resorting to Avoda Zara!

After a half hour break, in which we re-enacted the Israelites breaking down the walls of the city Jericho, we walked towards the cave that we soon began to walk into. There was a small stream down the middle and as we climbed over slick rocks, the cave got steadily darker. At the very end, Josh helped us up a four foot rock until we were all inside the back of the cave. In the back there was a slightly bigger stream of water and four walls of gorgeous rock. We then turned off all of our flashlights and were surrounded by darkness and the arms of our friends. We sang Hinei Matov and as all our voices joined together in the black of the cave, an atmosphere of community and warmth surrounded us. It was one of the most beautiful NFTY song sessions that I have ever been a part of.

After we clambered out of the cave, grins on our faces, we said good luck to Evan’s class who was going in after us, then walked over to a shady area and sat down. After we were given dates, תמרים tamarim in Hebrew, we broke into groups of four different judges that had been assigned in class: Devorah, Gideon, Yiftach, and Samson.

We acted out the different stories of each one according to the chapters we read in the Book of Judges in the Tanakh. Josh then explained to us that the stories of the Judges is actually a downward spiral. Deborah was just and brave, Gideon was a strong warrior who followed the word of God, Yiftach was a good warrior as well, but sacrificed his daughter, and Samson was strong but had no other redeeming qualities. The Judges cycle is described in all four stories in five steps:

1. The Israelites do Avoda Zara (idols)  2. God sends other people to take control of Israel
3. Israelites cry out for help
4. God appoints a judge and the judge leads the Israelites in battle
5. The Israelites return to God and are restored to power in Israel

After finishing our conversations we started to finish our walk. We walked down what felt like hundreds of steps until we finally saw the bus in view. Sweaty, tired, and happy we climbed onto the bus and set off for Tzuba. This trip taught us a lot. It taught us about how important water and agriculture is when setting up a new society. It taught us about the struggles of our ancestors and the many wars they fought. It was a long, fun, and rewarding trip that I will remember for many years to come.