After a short ride from Ben Gurion airport, I walked along the stony and dusty path of Neot Kedumim with the hazy sky in the distance. Neot Kedumim is a landscape reserve created to resemble the topography during biblical time.
After a filling meditteranean lunch of hummus, salad and pita with the group, we made our way towards a replica of an ancient well. The well is an integral part of life in ancient Israel, in a land that receives limited rain. The well represents the heartbeat of the community that draws life into the land. With the wooden pail secured on a thick rope, it was lowered down into the gaping hole of the well and drawn back filled with water just as how the women during the ancient times would have done it. This could have been the scene when Abraham's servant saw Rebecca drawing water from the well as he was seeking for the a wife for Isaac.
A little bit farther down the stony path, is a shed that houses an olive press with its large or rather humongous stone that is used to crush the olives which will be gathered and processed by the oil press to extract the olive oil. The olive oil is an essential part of the ancient way of life in Israel because of its many uses from food, heat, light, medicinal treatments, cosmetic and even as a cleaning agent. Until the present time, olive oil plays a central part in the Jewish cuisine.
More than being a nature reserve, Nature Kedumim is a mirror to the biblical landscape that shaped the Israel of today
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