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Israelis Are Very Hospitable
In The Sparse Judean Desert

JANET MENDELSOHN MOSHE

Special to The Jewish News

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ourist sites of
monumental religious
and archaeological im-
portance await the visitor to
Israel at every junction in the
country. Beautiful Mediter-
ranean beaches, modern
urban centers and colorful
Middle Eastern markets com-
pete for the attention of
tourists from all over the
world. For the adventurous,
however, a safari off the
beaten track is just the thing
to provide an unforgettable
glimpse into the secrets of
Israel's Judean Desert.
The Desert Tour Village of
Metzoke Dragot is just about
an hour's drive out of Jerusa-
lem, but this jumping-off spot
for touring the Judean Hills
and Dead Sea area conveys all
the mystery and solitude of
the desert. Young, enterpris-
ing members of nearby Kib-
butz Mitzpe Shalem opened
the touring village in 1981 to
provide intensive tours of the
harsh yet beautiful desert
landscape they know so well.
One of the specialties of
Metzoke Dragot, meaning lit-
erally "The Cliffs of Dragot,"
is instruction in the art of
rappelling. Not a sport for the
faint-hearted, rappelling is a
method of sliding down the
face of a cliff with ropes ar-
ranged around the body in
order to help control the des-
cent. In addition to the un-
doubted feeling of euphoria
that rappelling a 250-foot
sheer cliff can bring,
the scenery is literally
breathtaking.
If it's hard to imagine
jumping into a yawning
chasm with just a rope or two
between you and the floor of
the river bed far below, it
might be comforting to know
that in their six years of
operation no one has been in-
jured on the rappelling tours.
And even Israel President
Chaim Herzog has participat-
ed on one of Metzoke Dra-
got's tours!
According to 27-year-old
Arnon Biran, one of Metzoke
Dragot's experienced desert
guides, the two-day rappel-
ling course should give one
the confidence to take that
first step off into space. In ad-
dition to rock climbing and
rappelling, however, the Des-
ert lbur Village offers hikes,
bird watching, camel tours,
visits to the ancient desert
fortress of Masada and the
mineral rich waters of the
Dead Sea.
Throughout the ages, the

Rappelling at the Desert Tour Village of Metzoke Dragot.

Judean Desert has always
been a place of refuge for
rebels, the persecuted and the
recluse, including King Dav-
id, the Essenes, King Herod,
and the Jewish insurgents
against Roman rule. Al-
though seemingly impene-
trable, the desert opens like a
book to Arnon and the guides
who seem to be familiar with
every rock. And quite often
their open-sided desert vehi-
cle leaves the road and simply
follows the crazy maze of the
dry river beds.
It was the lure of the desert
that brought Arnon and
many of the kibbutz settlers
to their hilltop home perched
high above the Dead Sea.
Mitzpe Shalem was founded
in 1977 by groups of Nahal
soldiers, and the 60 members
have turned their former base
camp into a fertile civilian
outpost.
Today, Kibbutz Mitzpe
Shalem is a green and flower-
ing oasis in the middle of the
sandswept desert, and well
tended gardens and barefoot
children seem to be flourish-
ing at every doorstep. Early
grapes, succulent dates, man-
gos and melons help to give
the kibbutz an agricultural
anchor and Mitzpe Shalem's

factory turns the chemicals
and mud of the Dead Sea in-
to popular cosmetic products.
The uncultivated desert is
still the first love of many of
the members, however, and
the tourism industry is the
largest moneymaker on the
kibbutz. A guest house with
48 air-conditioned rooms is a
favorite for "getaway" tours,
led in English, German,
Spanish, French and Dutch,
for urban Israelis as well as
tourists.
"With every group we seem
to uncover something new,"
says Arnon, "be it the tracks
of an elusive leopard or a scor-
pion shading himself under a
stone." Although it looks like
a barren wasteland to the un-
trained eye, the Judean Des-
ert has a wide variety of flora
and fauna. And there is noth-
ing quite as satisfying as see-
ing a mountain goat or a
delicate flower that has
adapted itself to the harsh
surroundings.
The Judean Desert is a
unique geographic area, and
in its_ midst, the Dead Sea
gleams like a brilliant blue
gem. Being the lowest spot on
earth, visitors can climb near-
by mountains and still be be-
neath sea level. Evaporation