Author Archive | Hazon

by Wendy Schelew, Baltimore, MD Today I learned about hills in the Negev. My mantra as we have been taught is “ The hill is your friend” Attack it and so I did. We had a few major hills and I’m proud to say that my tushie never left my saddle and I didn’t have to walk the bike up the hill. We biked through  dessert where signs read “Beware Camel Crossing” . We biked to Yerucham for a rest stop at the half way mark. The mayor of the town, Michael Bitton, came to our rest stop to talk to us about his town of 10,000 people and the development going on. He is doing some amazing things and is getting a lot of help from the Chicago community. He had to go home to cook Shabbat dinner for his 5 children because he is in charge of the cooking and his wife does the baking. The mayor is an up and coming star and is purported to go into politics soon at the national level. The balance of the morning biking en route to Sde Boker was on small highways in the middle of the dessert. We were […]

Reflections from Beth and Jon Miller, from Evergreen Day 1: Jerusalem to Ashkelon After more than six months of training and anticipation, we have our first day of the Israel Ride under our belt, and it was everything and more than we expected. Many riders this morning shared the similar experience of a near-sleepless night, which I guess underscores the anticipation shared by so many of us here for the start of the event.  Our day started at 5:45 am with breakfast and then off to our tour buses which shuttled us far enough away from the mayhem of Jerusalem, which was a great way to start the ride. Each day’s ride is separated into three options, which essentially equate to the distance (shorter, medium, and long) and overall speed of the group.  Beth and I selected the group going the longer distance which encompassed a 63-mile trek from Jerusalem to Ashkelon. The ride commenced with a prayer recited in Hebrew, English, and Arabic which drove home the underlying them of our ride recognizing the work being done by The Arava Institute. In fact, the support staff for the ride are comprised primarily of Arava students from Israel as well […]

Reflections on the first day of riding, from Rabbi Bill Rudolph of Bethesda Maryland Day 1: Jerusalem to Ashkelon We made it safely to the Mediterranean. It was a beautiful ride. I made the right choice of distance. The only problem was the hill coming out of Jerusalem. I thought I would become one of those tank carcasses on the roadside from the War of Independence. After a few miles of climbing, I had to stop to catch my breath. (Note that most of my group had stopped long before.) I was a sorry sight, draped over the handlebars, gasping for air. I caught my breath and started up the hill again. Around the first turn, not even fifty yards from my stopping place,  was the top of the hill and a long beautiful downhill. Sometimes in life we stop just a little too soon and miss out on more than beautiful downhills. I hope you haven’t experienced that. On the positive side, Israeli truck and car drivers were surprisingly kind to us as we frequently encroached on their turf. What’s with that? Today might be called Philistine Day. Early on we went by the open field where the young […]

By Bruce Stanger, cross-posted from The Mandell JCC Team Blog I have done the Israel Ride eight times. It is truly a wonderful experience to know that you are making a difference for an organization such as the Arava Institute, the major recipient of this fundraiser. In addition, Hazon, such a wonderful organization here in the States, also gets a portion and provides us so much guidance. Each year on the bike ride, I get to interact with people from around the world but especially with Arab and Jewish Israelis, as well as Palestinians and Jordanians from the region who are there for two reasons. The obvious reason that the students are there is to get an education on the environment. But the second very important benefit and reason for some, is that they get to meet the “other” in a setting that is conducive to discussions of the narrative of each. Israeli Jews to a lesser extent but Palestinian and Jordanian Arabs to a great extent often face a good deal of opposition from their families before going to the Arava Institute. Many of them tell stories of not sharing with their families that they were applying or not […]