Jews celebrate “Solar Seder” in the Arava Desert

Joshua “Yoshi” Silverstein

Kibbutz Lotan, Israel - Just a few hours after Jews of all stripes gathered at the Western Wall in Jerusalem to celebrate “Birkat haChama” - the blessing of the sun - Aria Penkava slid a tray of kosher-for-Passover cookies into a solar oven to slow-cook using focused heat-energy from the sun.

“The sunrise was glorious this morning,” said Penkava, “but we wanted to not only bless the sun but actually use its energy to do something constructive and creative.”

Penkava, 20, is a recent graduate of Kibbutz Lotan’s 6-week “Green Apprenticeship” program, which combines coursework in permaculture design, organic farming and ecovillage design. To her, the timing of Birkat haChama coincided perfectly with the seder for the first night of Passover. Along with several other Green Apprentices who are staying on Kibbutz Lotan as “eco-volunteers,” Penkava decided to host a Seder in her own mud dome, built from straw-bales and mud-plaster, rather than the large seder hosted by the Kibbutz.

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