Kibbutz Ketura: Pastoral and Seductive.

These really aren't two words which one would think go together. And they really aren't enough to describe Kibbutz Ketura and the incredible mixed feelings I have about the place. But as I sat on a bench, next to a small playground on a recent quiet Friday afternoon shortly after arriving for a weekend visit, these were the two words which came to mind. Pastoral I suppose, because it is kibbutz and it is agricultural. They still have some field crops such as the dates and they do still have cows. There other two main crops: algae and guppies, I supposed can be put under the rubric of agricultural but they certainly aren't traditional.

Pastoral also, because we were in the country and in Israel that can stand for many different types of landscape. In this instance, on Kibbutz Ketura it means the desert. It means isolated, at least geographically. It means quiet. On a Friday afternoon, as the kibbutz is slowing down from a heavy work week to a quiet Shabbat that is the perfect word. So I sat looking over the manicured lawns, the kibbutz offices, the parking lot at the entrance to the kibbutz as cars came and wet; as people walked to and fro between the small kibbutz store with their purchases for the weekend. I felt the breeze and the dry air. I looked at the Negev mountains, eternally standing watch over the kibbutz, and I found myself thinking about, what it would be like to be back there. How I would do things different, perhaps try to appreciate better the advantages of living the kibbutz life, how it might even be nice some time in the future to arrange to come back for 6 months or a year as a rent paying resident. And that’s when it hit me- another thing about Ketura is that it can also be seductive. It's apparent peacefulness, the beautiful setting, the apparently slow pace.

Ketura does have the ability to cast a spell. I think that is what it did to me when we first arrived. It is so contrary to how the 99.999 percent of the rest of the world live their lives, that the surface impression, its outer layer can grab us, can lure us. And yes, it is a way to appreciate the beauty of what kibbutz is and can be for a family who chooses to live there. After a few minutes I smiled and shook my head, remembering all the other reasons I had for leaving. I won't go into them now, but suffice it to say, they outweighed the reasons for staying. I waived to some friends of mine as they walked by, promising to spend some time with them over the weekend. I shook my head again, clearing the spell, and at least resolved to have a nice visit during the weekend. Which is exactly what my family and I did.