Missed Connections

The Negev desert north of Be'er Sheva

I was so excited to find out that only the buses in the Territories are bullet-proof, and that I would be on non-bullet-proof buses with clear windows to Beit Shemesh. Or more specifically, the adjoining Ramat Beit Shemesh where my brother is in yeshiva. I watched the rocky soil of the Negev give way to farms and fields and forest. Eged’s website is, as expected, unhelpful, and I was stuck at a bus stop at a highway junction with no idea what to do. Bus drivers on the two possible lines I could take each said to take the other line, and the third listed on the website was not listed at the stop. Luckily, an American-born Israeli soldier overheard my phone call for help and told me he was going to the same place I was and I showed me the way. An intercity bus to Beit Shemesh and a local bus full of rowdy elementary school kids to Ramat Beit Shemesh later—something I’d never have been able to figure out on my own—I was at my destination, and met up with my brother and got some pizza. Oddly, the square looks dirtier than the clean streets of the settlement towns. Everything is under construction and covered in trash. My brother’s dorm/apartment is pretty crowded and seems like it was constructed with efficiency and expediency in mind in this rapidly growing region, rather than comfort and quality. I was reluctant to spend my weekend in isolation with 18-year-olds. We’ll see how it goes.

Most of Ramat Beit Shemesh looks like this, but with more trash.