Ein Yahav

A night drive to Ein Yahav1 in the Arabah.

A drive in the rain. Yes, in the rain.

There, I met people who grow date palms.

There, I saw great tamarisk trees2 and great risk trees

There, I saw hope barbed like barbed wire

And I said to myself: It is the truth. Hope must be

Like barbed wire to keep out our despair.

Hope must be a minefield.

Notes:

1- Ein Yahav is a moshav (farming community) whose name literally translates to "Wellspring of Hope" situated in the Arabah, a desert that straddles part of the Israeli-Jordanian border.

2- Mention of Tamarisk trees alludes to Genesis 21:33 "And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God." Planting a tamarisk was a sign of Abraham's covenant with Abimelech, granting him permission to live in the land of the Philistines. Here it is a metaphor for a possibility of the Jewish state making peace with the Arab states surrounding it.