Parshat Vayera Genesis 18:1 -22:24
Parshat Vayera
Genesis 18:1 -22:24
Rabbi Denise L. Eger
While on my whirlwind trip to Israel last week, we spent a good portion of our third day in the Negev area. This is the vast arid desert area south of Tel Aviv that reaches from Be’er Sheva towards the east to the Dead Sea and south all the way to Eilat at the Red Sea.
It is a vast and mostly empty land of stark desert landscape with only a few cities and towns. There is the growing city of Be’er Sheva –ancient home of Abraham mentioned numerous times in this week’s Torah portion, Vayera.
While we were in Be’er Sheva we visited the modern and beautiful campus of Ben Gurion University. There we met with the President of the University, the first woman to be president of an Israeli University, Rivka Carmi and members of the passionate faculty of this great institution. This university was inspired by the vision of Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion of settling and developing the Negev. This university bustles with, medical students, architecture students, engineering students, bio chemistry students, mathematics departments and BGU is a world leader in developing nanotechnology. The Dr. Carmi and the faculty spoke to us of their work and their dedication to fulfilling the development of the Negev. And the Faculty, Students and Administration of the University work to bring innovation, technology and involvement to the growing population of the Negev.
Also during our visit to the Negev we visited a most inspiring project called Ayalim. This project takes students and builds villages and developments towns throughout the Galilee and the Negev. More than 5000 university students apply to this program but only 500 are selected. We visited K’far Adelim. The students are literally building with their hands a new village in the Negev. They first lived in small trailers but have built beautiful Adobe-like villas with the sweat of their own brow! They are living the Zionist dream of building up the land. A big part of the program is also working with families and children in other towns. They provide day care and learning opportunities for both parents and children. Some of the students live in run-down neighborhoods like in Beer Sheva and literally rebuild and refurbish some of the toughest neighborhoods, planting parks and rebuilding apartments. Like the Chalutzim, the pioneers of pre-state Israel who drained the swamps and built the towns, these young people are reshaping the Negev and the Galilee and preparing the future of Israel. They are living Ben-Gurion’s dream of developing the Negev!
Abraham concludes a loyalty oath with Abimelech in Genesis 21. But there is a disagreement right away over the seizing of a well by Abimelech’s servant. And Abimelech claims he did not know of this violation and so they conclude another pact. Abraham takes seven ewes and presents them to Abimelech. When Abimelech accepts them it will be proof that Abraham owned this well in that is so vital in a desert area. Thus Be’er Sheva gets its name meaning Well of Seven or Well of the oath. And the well helps to make the desert bloom. Today that well is the work of Ben Gurion University and students of the Ayalim program who are reshaping the Negev not only as David Ben-Gurion dreamed but our ancestor, Abraham.
Posted by Eric at November 4, 2009 12:33 PM
