Hassidism at Boombamela

March 30, 2009 - 4:05 PM by Harry · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Environment, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Israeliness, Music, Pop Culture, Profiles, Religion 

Michael GolombA long-time disciple of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach and a seasoned grassroots organizer, Michael Golomb used to spend his efforts marching against the Vietnam War. But since moving to Israel along with many of Carlebach’s Hassidim as part of that community’s mid-Seventies exodus from Haight-Ashbury, Golomb has busied himself with spreading a message of love at gatherings, encounter events and festivals – even mainstream, teenybopper-y ones like Boombamela, Shantipi and Beresheet.

Golomb and his crew have helped to organize Tents of Love and Prayer at several of these festivals, with the sub-camp serving as a festival within a festival for many party-goers. According to a statement released this week by director Guy Peleg, Boombalema’s planners love Carlebach-style Judaism because of its emphasis on happiness and love of mankind, making Golomb’s contributions key elements to the eye-opening, pan-spiritualist experience Peleg is trying to forge.

At the festivals, the Tent of Love and Prayer offers kosher food (which is even harder to come by during Passover), prayer services, meditation sessions, low-impact lectures and the like.

But it’s not always easy to keep one’s mind on lofty ideas when corporate sponsorship banners are flying high and scantily clad perky young ones are doing the same. And the mainstream festival circuit has received plenty of criticism in recent years about these trends from the hippie hardcore populace that first provided their critical mass about a decade ago. But Carlebach-style outreach was never afraid of “elevating the sparks” (as the Hassidic masters might have put it) out from the ditches. As The Chicago Tribune did put it back in 2007:

…Carlebach was one of the first emissaries of the Lubavitcher movement, a Hasidic group that pioneered outreach to disaffected Jews in the 1950s. Carlebach found himself particularly drawn to lost souls: drug addicts, runaway young people, the homeless.

Golomb carries this torch proudly, dancing while carrying a Torah scroll into the throngs of drum circle, sunset-hailing revelers at the opening evening of each festival. And it’s nice to see Boombalema’s leadership, which essentially represents the ultimate in the crossroads between mainstream pop culture and new-age (which usually means post-Jewish) spiritualism, appreciating his efforts.

This year’s three-day Boombamela Festival on Nitzanim Beach is set to kick off on April 9, with plans for this year including utilization of solar energy to cut down on electricity waste by half.

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Strategic Solutions Floating Gas Pipes Could Avert Red-Dead Environmental Catastrophe

December 7, 2008 - 7:31 AM by Karin Kloosterman · 2 Comments
Filed under: Environment 

Those who have been following the Red-Dead canal proposal, and all its controversies, know that a lot is at stake. The Dead Sea is dying because natural estuaries, such as the Jordan River, Ein Gedi bottled spring water and rainwater are not making it to its shores. Politicians think that by carving a tunnel from the Red Sea all the way to the Dead Sea, Dead Sea water can be restocked easily and plentifully. Calling it the Peace Canal, they dont consider the impact of such water as it passes through the desert landscape.

An Israeli company Strategic Solutions has announced a new technology that can transport seawater from the Med Sea to Dead Sea, using floating pipes filled partially with natural gas. According to the company, this is a viable alternative to the canal/pipeline which is an ecological disaster but which has the backing of Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and World Bank. With this new technology it can be done cheaper, safer without impacting on the environment.

Besides the vast distance, over 200 km of the Red to Dead Sea vs. 70 km Med to Dead Sea, the main obstacle is environmental. This entire route is on an earthquake fault and it is inevitable that earthquakes will cause fissures and the salt water will destroy the freshwater aquifer as well as making the soil even more salty so that agriculture will be foreclosed. The sea spray will kill wildlife and plant life.

They write Green Prophet where this post is x-posted from: If, because of political or financial constraints, this is the only route to be considered, the only way for this to be viable is for the waterway to NOT be in canals/tunnels or pipelines on the ground, but rather the sea water must be enclosed and transported over the ground, in an aerial pipeline.

The Israeli scientists at Strategic Solutions designed a delivery system of natural gas and liquids, be it water, oil, or petroleum products. It is based on a very simple fact: natural gas is lighter than air.

Hope floats, we hope

Like with helium, fill a balloon with natural gas, it will float, the bigger the balloon, the stronger the pressure to rise. If the balloon is very tall, there will be stronger pressure to rise. If you put this very tall balloon on the side so that on one side the gas is coming in and the other end some is coming out, the middle will rise.

The fluids need to be pumped up, but travels by gradient like your drain pipes in your house. Using this aerial pipeline, natural gas can be delivered from isolated gas wells to industrial centers that need it. It can also deliver water to isolated regions that need it. It can deliver both simultaneously so that desalination can occur at point of need as there is also sufficient fuel, natural gas.

Viable energy production
Or the water falling can generate hydro-electricity and the desalination can be by one of the companys cleantech solar desalination methods. This presents a viable alternative to the Red to Dead Sea canal/pipeline touted by Shimon Peres and backed by the World Bank, they write.

Wed love to see some illustrations of how this would work/look. And can just imagine Israeli kids using the pipes for target practice. Lets wait and see.

Israelis like solutions that float. See Geotecturas solar energy balloons in Solar Energy Hope Floats.

(Above illustration comes from New York-based architect Phu Hoang Office who seeks to address and solve Dead Sea issues with No Mans Land, a series of artificial islands that would provide recreation, tourist attractions, renewable energy, and create fresh water. Via Inhabitat)

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