Lazarow World-Hike-About

Might be water.... but then again, maybe not ! Monday In the Negev—hot, rocky, sandy but with a certain charm. You just have to look hard and long enough. It would be a stretch to call some of the land we have seen, attractive. However, there was something strikingly different and attractive about the Mahktesh Crater in Mitzpe Ramon. They refer to it as the little Grand Canyon in these parts. We would not go that far but there are some similarities with Canyonlands in Utah. In any case, we enjoyed quite a day in the Negev, the southern part of the country. You want me down there? I thought you loved me . Does it matter which way? They laughed when we said it's not a battery issue Our post Yom Kippur vows were put to the test this morning when the car ‘broke-down’ in the desert. We were not amused when our editor began singing: ‘I’ve been though the desert on a horse with no name…’ The tough part was convincing the rental car company that it was not a battery problem....

Afternoon Reflections in the Dead Sea Shalom from Arad, “Please tell me why you are hanging on the clothesline like a bat,” our editor asked, not unreasonably we thought. “I hope this is not a new form of pondering.” “We need to dry off before shul; this is the only thing that seems to work in the heat. Maybe our kids are right—we ought to ‘hang-out’ more often. By the way, wasn’t it you who said things will cool off after Rosh Hashana.” Well, that did not go over too well with the boss as we returned from up North to Netanya for Yom Kippur. Now we are feeling a little infantile. At least, there is still Ellie to ‘hang-out’ with when we return. Maybe being in Israel is having an effect. I suppose the language is proving to be a problem. Wherever we go—Netanya, Tiberias, Arad—, we struggle to make ourselves understood. We try hard to fathom what people say. Before we arrived, we studied Hebrew conversation using our old tape recordings. Alas, it just has not worked as we envisioned. Heb...