Making the Desert Bloom

Isaiah 35:1: “The arid desert shall be glad, the wilderness shall rejoice and shall blossom like a rose."

Sixty percent of the state of Israel is made up of desert –

barren, unforgiving wasteland. Modern

Zionism’s dream of transforming the wilderness was inspired by the prophet

Isaiah’s vision of a blooming, blossoming desert. This challenge continues to be embraced by

Israelis who have chosen to settle deep in the heart of Israel’s desert

terrain. I spoke with Sara Cohen, a

long-time resident of Kibbutz Ketura, located in the southern Arava (Prairie)

and asked her how they were progressing on making the desert bloom:

“I do not walk lightly on the grass at

Kibbutz Ketura; I know that it costs time, money and energy to make it grow

here. There is a stark contrast between the colorful flowers, blooming trees,

chirping birds (who are here because we planted the trees) and green grass on

the kibbutz and the seemingly monochrome desert right outside our gates. Every minute of every day here we ponder our

relationship to the natural world: what is it, and what should it be? Making

the desert bloom - physically, literally turning rocks and sand into grass and

flowers—is, on the one hand, a miraculous feat of modern irrigation techniques

and a testament to human innovation, resourcefulness and stubbornness. On the other hand, it’s a source of questioning

about what we are doing here.

We are making the desert bloom but we are

thinking carefully about how we do it. We search for projects that will sustain

us both environmentally and economically here in the desert. We use land, water

and sun for non-traditional agriculture in our algae factory. The first

commercial solar field is on Ketura. The Arava Institute for Environmental

Studies is here on Ketura and was founded by members of our kibbutz.

In the spirit of Isaiah we are building our

kibbutz as a model of social responsibility, equality, and justice. Ketura also endeavors to enable Jewish

expression without religious coercion and to encourage creative renewal every

day. In these ways we hopefully make the

desert bloom socially and spiritually, as well as physically, although there is

still much to be done to fulfill the prophecy.