Sataf: Judges, Caves, and Dates
By Talia Raider-Roth, 11th
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
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.
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