Erev Shabbat in Mitzpe Ramon

(Friday afternoon, before the Sabbath)

... It has become that time of evening when people sit on their porches, rocking gently and talking gently and watching the street and the standing up into their sphere of possession of the tress, of birds' hung havens, hangars. People go by; things go by. A horse, drawing a buggy, breaking his hollow iron music on the asphalt: a loud auto: a quiet auto: people in pairs, not in a hurry, scuffling, switching their weight of aestival body, talking casually...

Long before Shabbat begins, Mitzpe Ramon starts quieting down. The streets begin to empty of cars, and people sit quietly talking and drinking at the 'neto.  Most people are off work, and school is only a half day. The quiet settles over everything, like a blanket snuffing out the fires of the week. There is a rush of people doing last minute Shabbat shopping at the Shabbat market and the Supersol. By mid-afternoon even that has ceased. Each greets the other with "Shabbat Shalom".


The quiet is palpable.



              Quiet settles over Mitzpe Ramon in preparation for Shabbat