The Israel Experience Part I

This post was written by special guest author, Camp Chairman, Michael Solka. Michael and his wife Liz recently toured Israel, Reform Judaism style, and were eager to share their experience with us. Because they had so much to share we’re only featuring Part I today. Check back soon to read the rest of the adventure!

A few weeks ago, Liz and I spent a few days in Israel.  We didn’t plan it to be this way, but the trip ended up being a tour of some of the Reform Judaism presence in the country.  As soon as we landed at Ben Gurion Airport, we rented a car and headed south into the Arava.  For anybody who hasn’t made this drive, it is a sight to see: breathtaking and beautiful.  Our first stop was at Kibbutz Lotan to visit with Alex Cicelsky, who runs the Green Apprenticeship program there.  They are doing some very interesting things in the area of sustainable building and living.  Aside from my personal interest in the subject, the catalyst for my visit was the recent announcement at the Greene Family Camp of the establishment of the Isaac Mayer Wise Academy Eco-Village.  As a long time supporter of the camp and the current chair of the Camp Committee, I wanted to see for myself some of the ideas being floated around.

We started off at the Recycling Center.  They recycle everything here.  Of course, there are the standard items of paper, plastic, and glass.  But it extends beyond that to oils and other toxic fluids to Styrofoam and tires.  What’s interesting is that they have turned the Recycling Center into an educational center as well.  One of the uses for many of the recycled items is building materials.  They have walls at the Recycling Center constructed in a manner so that you can see the insides.  This lets you see the old tire or plastic bottle or whatever they have used to provide the core of that particular wall.

In the Lotan Eco-Village, they have constructed several domed living quarters.  These have all been constructed with energy efficiency in mind.  The walls are very thick and are made with recycled materials as the core.  The resulting insulation leaves the interiors surprisingly cool.  We went inside one of them to check it out.  The person living inside was trying to avoid the use of air conditioning.  I saw the temperature log she kept for the inside temperature and, over several days, it ranged between 31 and 34 degrees Celsius.  (For us Americans, that is about 88 to 93 degrees Fahrenheit.)  That may sound warm, but in the dry desert heat, and with a ceiling fan, it was surprisingly comfortable.  By the way, we visited at around 6:00 in the evening.  The outside temperature was well over 110 degrees Fahrenheit and this dome was in direct sunlight.  The difference between being outside and being inside the dome was startling.

As interesting as the domes were, the most impressionable thing we saw at Kibbutz Lotan had to be the composting toilet!  You have to see it, or actually smell it, to believe it.  They have constructed these toilets so that all of the nasty waste drops into large trash cans.  After you do your business, you drop some “dry stuff” (basically straw) down the toilet.  They cycle the trash cans through a rotation and, after some period of time, the composting chemical reactions complete, and the can doesn’t smell!  Not a bit.  You can see me in the picture with Alex standing right over one of these trash cans flashing the “Okay” sign and it really is Okay!

We concluded our visit by seeing different types of solar cooking equipment, solar lighting systems for illuminating pathways, and a playground made from completely recycled materials.

Thanks to Alex for the very quick tour of the Lotan Eco-Village!!