Kibbutz Shoval, a rose in the Negev desert

John and I lived at Kibbutz Adamit, then Kibbutz Shoval in late 1990, and were living at Kibbutz Dan when Operation Desert Storm blew in.

A few honorable mentions of Kibbutz Shoval in my writings:

"I was living at Kibbutz Shoval in Israel’s Negev desert, beautifying the grounds, when I heard that [Meir Kahane] had been murdered in New York by another Arab terrorist. When his funeral took place in Jerusalem, I was honored to attend with tens of thousands of others to show solidarity with what he boldly taught— and as a blond, stood out in the Black Sea of Haredim on TV."
–excerpt from Beyond Babylon: Europe’s Rise and Fall - Chapter 3 - TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES

"Shoval, a rose in the Negev desert, just north of Be'er Sheva..."
- God-given love for Jews

I remember when we stayed at Shoval, how rumors of war with Iraq had us concerned, and how this older kibbutznik man said, "There won't be war. The Iraqis know we're not like the Americans," implying the Israelis would hit back hard and fast. I thought of him later when we lived at Kibbutz Dan and war did break out and we were all huddled in our "sealed rooms" whenever the sirens went off, warning about incoming Scud missiles, taking shelter until the "all clear" was sounded (which we usually heard on the radio from the BBC first!).

We mentioned our concerns to the volunteer leader at Shoval, and she said something like, "If you're really worried about it, we can get you a gas mask" - with the tone that we were bothering her. After all, there had been notices in The Jerusalem Post about the Israelis obtaining their gas masks in case of war.

Here are a few pictures of Kibbutz Shoval volunteers, John's birthday, kibbutzniks, new Russian immigrants (from Tashkent, who gave me a traditional hat worn there), Ashdod, museum/former mosque in Beersheva, couple of Jerusalem, our volunteer trip to Ein Gedi (with Arugot Nahal waterfalls and Ibex) and the Dead Sea. Enjoy!