The Graduation Gift of a Lifetime

What can you give your college grad that will last a lifetime? How about the memories of an amazing trip taken together, a personal challenge, and making a difference in your community? Every year, parent/child combos participate in Hazon Rides and have a great time.

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Snapshot on Israel: The Solar Field and the Mezuzah

By Rabbi Michael M. Cohen

A version of this originally appeared on Huffington Post

On a lonely gate facing a desolate sun drenched open plain of the Arava Valley one can see a Mezuzah, the small rectangular box with writing from the Bible contained within it. It was put there following the Biblical injunction to place it on “your gates.” (Deut. 6:9) The Arava valley where this gate and mezuzah are found is the same valley used over 100,000 years ago by our earliest human ancestors as an entrance route into Asia as humanity began to spread out of Africa. The migratory nature of the valley continues in our own life time when twice a year half a billion birds fly from Africa to Asia and Europe and six months later return in the opposite direction. And few miles south of the fence and the mezuzah is the oasis of Yotvata mentioned twice in the Bible as a location where Moses and the Children of Israel encamped on their own journey from Africa to Asia. (more…)

Snapshot on Israel: Water Conservation

An Update on Israel’s Water Situation

Located on Kibbutz Ketura in the Arava desert of southern Israel, the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (AIES) is the premier environmental teaching and research program in the Middle East, preparing future Arab and Jewish leaders to cooperatively solve the region’s environmental challenges. AIES is a primary beneficiary of the Arava Institute Hazon Israel Ride.

By Clive Lipchin, PhD, Director, Center for Transboundary Water Management, Arava Institute for Environmental Studies

Norther streams full of water after a week of rain (Israel Ride 2009)

This winter Israel was blessed with abundant rainfall. January 2012 was the wettest January on record. The Kinneret has risen by over one meter and Mount Hermon is covered in snow. Nonetheless, this good news needs to be tempered with the reality that prior to this year’s rainy season, the last six years have been drought years and Israel is faced with a growing water scarcity problem that one good rainy season will not solve. The reason behind the water scarcity problem is due to a number of factors. These are: population increase and a higher standard of living, the negative effects of climate change on naturally occurring water resources, and Israel’s commitments to allocating water to her neighbors. (more…)

Tour De Farm?

You may or may not have visited a farm, but have you ever biked to one? Just traveling by bike allows us to fully participate in the process of getting from one place to another (making it all the more amazing that our bodies, and these machines, do what they do), visiting a farm reveals the all-to-often hidden mysteries of how food is produced—provoking even more questions about plants, soil, and the interconnections between our bodies and the earth. (more…)

New Route for the 2012 Israel Ride

Our new route for 2012 includes two days of cycling through the northern forests followed by three days in the south, riding on the open roads in the Negev desert. (more…)

Israel on Two Wheels

Cross-posted from Jewschool

This is another guest post by Oren Hirsch, an urban planner and avid cyclist currently living and working in Jerusalem and riding throughout the country wherever and whenever he can. He has ridden to Eilat on the Arava Institute/Hazon Israel Ride twice, in 2009 and 2011.

On your last trip to Israel, how did you get around primarily? If you came with a group, you were probably on a chartered bus. If you were on your own, you probably relied on Egged and Israel Railways, or if you were a bit more adventurous and willing to discover your inner Israeli driver, you took to the roads in a rental car (let’s admit it, we’ve all wanted to drive in a country where we can honk and flash our high beams at other cars as much as we want while never signaling or following the speed limit). And regardless of whether you were with a group or not, you probably walked extensively in cities such as Jerusalem, Tzfat, and Tel Aviv. But on your next trip (or first trip, if you have yet to come here), consider using a different form of transportation for some of the time, because it might allow you to see Israel from a totally different perspective. (more…)

A View from the Seat Part 2: More Helmet-Cam

2011 Israel Rider Elahn Zetlin has shared four more great videos highlighting each day of his trip, cycling from Jerusalem to Eilat (we’ve also got the first two). The weather is beautiful, the scenery is fantastic, and you can’t beat the footage taken from a camera strapped to his helmet! We’ll let Elahn do the talking:

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Day to Day with Yoram Rubin

Yoram Rubin has been kind enough to share some of his day to day challenges and experiences with us as well as photos from his ride. Let him take you from packing, to breaking his personal cycling records, to Shabbat, and all the sights along the way. (more…)

A View from the Seat

Elahn Zetlin has put together a few great videos of highlights from his ride from Jerusalem to Eilat on the Arava  Institute and Hazon Israel Ride. Seeing the ride from his perspective makes these videos really unique. Elahn’s camera is most often attached to his helmet and handlebars, giving you a real view from the road.

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Meet the 2011 Israel Ride Participants

This ride is all about the people: there are 81 riders, a crew of alumni from the Arava Institute, and incredible staff members from Hazon and the Arava Institute.

• Riders come from 16 states, plus Israel, Australia, and England
• 5 people are traveling in Israel for the first time
• They range in age from 12 to 72
• There are 5 couples, 7 parent-child pairs, and 2 pairs of siblings
• 31 of the group are Israel Ride Alumni, while for many others, this is their first Hazon event (more…)