Tikkun Magazine, March/April 2008

A Scent of Sustainability in the Negev 

by Linda Aziz-Zadeh

STRONG DRAFTS OF BOTH SWEET AND savory scents flutter through the warm, sanguine air in the Bedouin township of Tel Sheva, Israel. Forty pairs of captivated eyes and legs follow as Mariam Abu Regayak, a Bedouin herbalist, leads them through the freshly planted circles of powerful desert herbs. These guests to the official opening of the Tel Sheva Desert Medicine Site kneel, rub leaves between their fingertips, and learn of the medicinal value of the pungent-smelling herbs they inhale.

For the past six months Jews and Arabs have worked in partnership to create, on this spot of Bedouin land, a learning site where Bedouin knowledge and culture could thrive. Female members of the Abu Regayak family, who own the land, formed the concept for this garden in collaboration with BUSTAN, an environmental justice organization focused on sustainable development and fair allocation of resources in the Negev desert. Every week international and Israeli volunteers joined BUSTAN's Volunteer Coordinator, Tali Weinberg, to work alongside these Bedouin women. The process entailed clearing the site area, setting the design of the garden with stones, and of course planting the actual herbs. Most of the herbs were sought out from the wilderness of the desert and transplanted to the site. Volunteers were welcomed into the family's home and learned first-hand not only about desert herbs, but about Bedouin culture and lifestyle as well.

Herbal knowledge is an intrinsic element of the Bedouin culture. For generations the Bedouin roamed the desert in their nomadic fashion, living primarily off sheep- and goat-herds and subsistence farming. The desert herbs have been of crucial importance to their lifestyle since they were a primary source for medicine, food, and cosmetics. Plant lore is also a natural part of the Islamic tradition that is embedded within the Bedouin lifestyle. As the Bedouin herbalist, Mariam, lets us finger and taste from a heap of the black cumin she uses in her organic soaps, we learn cumin not only strengthens the immune system, but, according to the prophet Mohammad himself, it contains the potential cure for anything but death. Thus there is a spiritual reverence for this ancient knowledge that can be felt within the accumulation of herbs at the site.

This herb garden is only part of the greater vision of what will become the Tel Sheva Bedouin Cultural Learning Site. Mariam is converting her family's whole strip of land into a site that represents the many different facets of the traditional Bedouin lifestyle. Opposite the garden, in between a patch of wheat and another of barley, stands a mud-building demonstration site, which provides an example of Baika mud-building techniques and various examples of the traditional earthen ovens that have been an important part of the Bedouin culture and pita preparation process for centuries. This element of the site was built recently, when Sara, an elder of the family, helped lead a Taboun (Bedouin bread) workshop. Along with the samples of grains, the ovens are set up to teach all about the process of bread-making, which has long been one of the fundamental parts of the Bedouin diet. Also planned is the development of an animal husbandry site, carpets made from goat and sheep hair, vineyards, and models of Bedouin farming methods, as well as a traditional Bedouin tent where workshops will be held and other Bedouin wares will be displayed.

There is dire need for an authentic Bedouin cultural site. Currently, the only interaction most tourists have with the Bedouin is through inauthentic nights of "Bedouin Hospitality." They are taken on camel rides, led into traditional tents where they drink Bedouin tea and coffee and served resplendent meals on beautiful Bedouin mats while being fed quaint stories of traditional gender and tribal dynamics. Not only does this romanticized glimpse reflect nothing of the current political status of Bedouin in Israel, but it also gives a false orientalist slant to the culture and neglects crucial aspects of the land-oriented Bedouin lifestyle.

Yet, perhaps an even more pressing reason for this site is to enable the Bedouin to maintain and reconnect to their own heritage. Local identification of native Bedouin plants and of their medicinal, culinary, and cosmetic uses is seriously endangered. So is much knowledge of traditional food production and preparation. Just a generation ago Bedouin were living almost primarily off the herds they grazed and the land they farmed or gleaned from, as were the Jews who lived here. Within the last generation the Bedouin have lost much of their land and have generally relocated into seven urban townships. This change in environment along with the pressure to integrate into contemporary Israeli society contributes to a modern Bedouin lifestyle that is becoming more and more out of touch with the land, and the lifestyle that was intimately integrated within it. The BUSTAN site hopes to inspire and rekindle Bedouin's connection with their heritage and ensure that this valuable knowledge will not be buried in the dust of modernity.

As the sky darkens and guests head back home from the Site's opening day, the most poignant scent lingering in the garden is that of hope. The traditional practices being restored by the Site have much to offer in this time of re-imagining development in the Negev. Just as precious as the sanguine scents that have taken root in this garden are the roots of a truly devoted partnership between Arabs and Jews.

Linda Miriam Aziz-Zadeh is an organic gardener, poet and novelist, and alum of Adamah: the Jewish Environmental Fellowship. She has been involved with BUSTAN since 2006 and was their Green Center Coordinator in Be'er Sheva.

Aziz-Zadeh, Linda. 2008. A scent of sustainability in the Negev. Tikkun 23(2):40-41.