Around Bat Ayin

I hiked the hills below Bat Ayin. There are several streams coming out of the mountain and running in parallel down draws. First, a little more Bat Ayin Bet:

Bat Ayin Aleph and Bet

The poppies are blooming on the mountains

Bat Ayin is a settlement in the Judean mountains 30 minutes south of Jerusalem at an elevation of about 700 meters. They are a bit hippyish, in a very right-wing Jewish way. They try to use Jewish labor exclusively (most settlements are built and maintained with Arab labor.) They've had a lot of trouble with harassment from the Shin Bet's Jewish section (the Yevsekciya, if that tells my readers anything) and the government in general. In a move close to my heart, they don't have a fence, on the proper understanding that putting yourself into a ghetto is not a wise or dignified move.

Bat Ayin started off on top of the mountain and grew downwards. The houses up top, in Bat Ayin Aleph, are more established and built up. As you move downhill, to Bat Ayin Bet, it looks a bit more like a trailer park-people build their home the best they can, then make improvements as their financial situation becomes more established. There is no code, so even the established houses look very individual. Everyone has lots of kids, and dogs run free.

Bat Ayin Aleph

Kiryat Arba and Hevron

Near the top of Kiryat Arba, looking north towards the neighborhood of Har Sina (the hilltop directly above the kids.)

The red roofed houses in the center are the neighborhood of Ashmoret Yitzhak. The white houses overlooking them are the Arab neighborhoods of Hevron. According to my friends who have lived in Hevron since the early 90's, at that time all this was bare hillside. The Arab custom is that when a son gets married, his wife goes to live with him in his family's house. His family just adds an extra floor to the house. So you have organic growth of buildings to four, five stories over the decades.

Collapsing Birthrates

Spandrell is wondering why middle and upper class people in civilized countries are refusing to breed.

I mentioned that the Torah Jews are an exception to this rule. The ensuing discussion got long-winded, and I didn't want to monopolize comments. Below are my thoughts.