August Newsletter - Be'erotayim

Be'erotayim

Be’erotayim is an oasis in the western Negev Highlands, with a grove of giant tamarisk trees and two ancient wells – which gave the place its Arabic name, Birayn or in Hebrew, Be’erotayim (i.e., two wells): Moses’ Well and Aharon’s Well. The trees and the wells are fed by a superficial layer of groundwater, one that served the prehistoric hunters and gatherers some 55,000 years ago.

The superficial aquifer and its proximity to the Shur road (Genesis 26:18) enabled many archaeological artifacts to be left behind, attesting to human settlement throughout the course of history: flint manufacturing, inscriptions and drawings on rocks, various ceramic shards, agricultural terraces, and a large Byzantine water-catchment basin, one of the largest in the Negev.

The region is rife with the remains of many cultures, having had wave after wave of settlement and destruction from the dawn of history and to this very day, from the rule of Uziyahu, King of Judea, through the Nabatean and Byzantine eras and to the start of the 20th century – when this area gained new strategic significance during the struggle between the British forces and the Ottoman Empire. Later, at the beginning of the 21st century, it became the location of modern forms of settlement.

In the shadow of an ancient acacia tree, there is a desert inn (khan) built of mud and date palms and decorated with carpets and recycled items. That place is Khan Be’erotayim, and there, in a lovely open-air tent, is where we performed.

Seeing as the Khan is literally out in the middle of nowhere, in the pitch darkness and quietude, with the exception of the magnificent starlight, we had our doubts that anyone was actually going to turn up for the show! But arrive they did, from different tiny towns in Ramat Negev, all carrying bowls of homemade snacks to enjoy and share with each other. Every person there came over to greet us warmly and ask where we were from, and where we live now. They sang along and – heat be damned – even danced along with the show.

With many thanks to Miriam and Avital, from the Ramat Negev Regional Council, who invited us to perform at this lovely place!

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