The floor of the Judean desert is merely 15 miles outside Jerusalem but the 4,000+ foot drop in elevation brings us to another world. The new tunnel under Mt. Scopus accentuates the dramatic ecosystem change. We enter from Hebrew University’s panoramic view of a sprawling city and emerge from the tunnel’s darkness into a bleached, moonscape unfolding as far as the eye can see. Primitive Bedouin encampments spill through the small canyons along the descent from Jerusalem.
This is Bible country. David fled from Saul into this wildnerness, camping around Ein Gedi and raiding with his band of men as needed. According to the Mishnah, the priests overseeing ancient Israel’s ritual of atonement sent the scapegoat of Azazel down these cliffs. The story of Sodom and Gemorrah takes place in this setting. Elisha the prophet operates in these parts. The Gospels say that Jesus spent time down here facing temptation. The Qumran scrolls were found in the dry caves of this desert. A thousand Jews took refuge from the Romans atop Masada in one of Herod’s palace complexes. Jericho is here. One can see across the water to the hilltops of Jordan and imagine the site where Moses looked out to see the promised land, knowing he would never enter it himself.
This is political country. The road to Ramallah, headquarters of Abbas’ Palestinian Authority, is halfway down the hill from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea. We pass through three army checkpoints on the road to Ein Bokek. Though the walls may have tumbled down for Joshua, the city of Jericho is squarely under Palestinian control today. Although Highway One running east from Jerusalem and Route Ninety running south all the way to Eilat are safe and controlled entirely by Israel, much of this is, technically, the West Bank until we get to Ein Gedi.
The resorts at Ein Bokek rise out of the desert like Vegas (just smaller and without all the lights). There are several new, beautiful hotels with world class spas and well known restaurants. These are not, typically, Americans’ destinations. We tend to visit the sea for a day combined with a visit to Masada. For the Israelis, these resorts are good vacation destinations and they run a full schedule of activities for kids, families, and adults only. We swam, we floated in the sea, we covered ourselves with the mud, we played BINGO, and joined in the dance party with all Hebrew speakers. It was like being in a twilight zone episode of a Club Med resort: the harsh gutteral “chet” and “chaf” vocalizations, lots of smoking, mixed with the natural beauty of the surroundings and the salubrious feel of the hotel’s aqua white decor. We loved it.
