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The achievements of those living in the Negev, Israel’s largely vacant southern desert region, are very impressive. These people are successfully pursuing the early Zionist aspiration of making the desert bloom. On the drive north from Eilat, we passed through awe-inspiring mountains near the Egyptian border, stretches of desert that seemingly extended to eternity, and pristine valleys and craters, all on our twisty, winding highway.

We spent a day in Yerucham, which is located between Mitzpeh Ramon and Dimona. We saw how an immigrant encampment that sprung up in the 1950’s turned into the thriving and vibrant town that exists today. We were privileged to meet many of the personalities responsible for the metamorphosis of this town. In addition to meeting community leaders, visionaries and scholars, we were introduced to Midreshet Bamidbar. Bamidbar presents a unique approach to bridging the gaps between Israelis, similar to the approach behind the Elul beit midreshot discussed earlier. Bamidbar uses Jewish resources, including biblical texts, commentaries and philosophers, to bring together Jews from all different places on the religious, ideological, and socioeconomic spectrum. As well, they emphasize and develop Jewish culture in the town, often using multiculturalism or pluralism within Judaism as a forum. They also utilize the town’s own distinctive resource to teach lessons and augment experiences – that being the desert, which you can see if you look, not very far, in any particular direction. We also enjoyed a great barbeque and nighttime desert scorpion viewing.

On Thursday and Friday we visited the city of Sderot, located barely a kilometer away from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Before Thursday I had always thought of Sderot as a beleaguered city constantly under siege, a dark, gloomy and cheerless place where the determined residents grimly soldiered on, trying to survive daily barrages of Kassam rockets. This picture could not be further from the truth – except for the part about the Kassams, and about the residents being extremely determined and resilient. Sderot is a beautiful and lively city, and does not seem like the kind of place that is constantly seen on the news as the site of daily terrorist attacks. That is, until you look around and see the rocket shelters on every corner. Or the Kassam-proofed roofs on public buildings. Or the windowless schools, built with safety in mind. Not to mention the chunks taken out of streets, playgrounds or walls. Sderot is a normal place filled with normal people living normal lives in their pretty red and white brick houses. However, normality and routine abruptly end with the arrival of rockets launched from Gaza.

Sderot deserves more than the fortified roofs and Kassam shelters. From my conversations with Sderot residents, it is clear that they don’t want to be viewed with sympathetic eyes. What they want is for people to pressure the Israeli government into finally taking decisive action to protect them for good. Of course, they also want people to be aware of their situation. As well, international lobbying to convince the government of Egypt to stop allowing the smuggling of weapons into Gaza is on the priority list. There you have it – that’s what Sderot wants, coming straight from the mouths of its own citizens. Luckily, Toronto is a community that has had tremendous impact upon awareness and action regarding Sderot. Hopefully our efforts in the future can help instill tranquility and security in the place that needs it the most.