Falling into the Face of God Forty Days And Nights in the Judean Desert

Arrival Metsokey-Deragot Hostel, Judean Desert, Israel In early June of 2002, I left the United States and traveled to the locus of my own soul. If one were to look at a map, they would say that my destination was Israel (specifically the Judean Desert) and that I had traveled 6,497 miles. But in actuality, I traveled much further than that-upon a road whose traversing is not measured in miles, but by the deepening of the human experience, love, and acceptance; and not by direction (for there is only one direction-inward). And whose perilous mountains, cliffs and valleys were not composed of stone or sand, but of one's own psyche (the most dangerous of the world's creations). "You're making a mistake," Orel the manager at the Metsokey-Deragot Hostel said. "You've got snakes and scorpions out in the desert, and it's very hot, and there are so many cliffs where you can fall . . .""So many things that can go wrong," he said shaking his head in disbelief, "and there will be no one to help you if you fall or get bitten by a snake and can't contact us . . . "Orel was right, I could easily die out in the desert. I knew almost nothing about being in nature. I had the outdoor knowledge and common sense of a man who ventured into nature only occasionally-and that was to play golf. The Metsokey-Deragot Hostel was in the middle of the Judean Desert. It was miles away from any town and once I ventured out into the desert, I would be miles from Metsokey-Deragot. I looked over at Yael for some kind of assurance. She was the girlfriend of Tamir, the desert guide that had found a place for me in the Judean desert, but since he had punctured his eardrum the day before, it was she who would be dropping me off near my destination. But Yael wouldn't even look at me. Instead, she looked down at the floor and nodded in agreement with Orel. I turned away from them and looked out the office window into the desert. At one time Metsokey-Deragot Hostel had been a kibbutz, started by Jewish hippies. But eventually they realized that nothing would grow here, so they abandoned it, leaving four or five small adobe buildings. It was now a place where tourists occasionally came to spend time in the desert, but to anyone who has ever been in the desert (in the way that the desert demanded), knew that this wasn't really the desert. Instead, the desert was still out there, beyond the barbed wire fence lying broken and unmended. Beyond the several sets of small hills that distanced one from the safety of others. Beyond the space that opened up just past those same hills, a space so hungry for disturbance or anomaly, that it would swallow up any sound or call for help before it reached its destination. In a science-fiction novel, Metsokey-Deragot Hostel would be the last space outpost. The place from which the hero or fool sets off as he ventured into the vast unknown. Metsokey-Deragot Hostel was miles from Haifa (the nearest town), and come tomorrow, I would be miles from Metsokey-Deragot. "And the scorpions are nasty," a voice with a British accent said from behind the counter. I turned to see a wisp of a woman with short, multi colored hair, a pierced nose, and sad, droopy eyes. Her name was Kate. "I picked up a box one day," Kate said, "and there were twenty scorpions under it. They scattered. I jumped up and down, but one of them stung me." "If a scorpion gets you in the leg," she continued, "you'll have almighty pain for seven hours. The legs and arms are the best places to get stung because the lymph nodes can stop the poison from reaching the heart-but if you get stung in the throat or chest-the poison goes right to the heart and can give you a heart attack. I even felt my heart shudder a bit when I was stung." "So you see," Orel said, "it's not just me saying how dangerous it is in the desert. Why don't you just set up your tent just over the first hill? No one will botherElliott, William J. is the author of 'Falling into the Face of God Forty Days And Nights in the Judean Desert', published 2006 under ISBN 9780849900716 and ISBN 0849900719.