Shabbat in Kibbutz Ketura

Friday night we had the chance to celebrate Shabbat with the Ketura community.  We joined them for a Shabbat service and many students recognized the same melodies as they sing back home and I'm sure the community appreciate an additional 80 voices singing together as one community.

Today was a wonderfully relaxing day in the southern Negev! Most of us took advantage of the late wakeup to catch up on some much needed rest & relaxation. Many of us spent time at the pool, played ultimate frisbee or simply took a Shabbat nap. 

We had a tour of the kibbutz learning all about what they have to offer with their red algae  (Algatechologies is a rapidly growing biotechnology company, specializing in the commercial cultivation of microalgae) as well as the Arava Institute - http://arava.org/.  There we also learned about Methuselah which is a tree grown on the kibbutz from the seed of a date palm tree from 2,000 years ago that was found on the top of Massada - http://arava.org/arava-research-centers/arava-center-for-sustainable-agriculture/methuselah/ 

We spent the night walking around Eilat and doing a little shopping and such since tomorrow is another busy day with an ecological tour of the area, a nature reserve and then up to the bedouin tent to ride camels & donkeys and have a hafla feast since we will be waking up early Monday morning to climb Massada.

Kabbalat Shabbat at Kibbutz Ketura

IST 2015 American Staff