It is easy to point out moments of revolution.
It was like that before, and from now on - differently.
But gradual changes, a routine, are hard to describe.
They are not news that renews itself in an instant, or high points in a long course.
The changes of routine move at the speed of water on the surface of the stone, day after day, every day a little, until years of flow smooth the bumps.
Five minutes from the border with Egypt is the village of Nitsana.
Partly an educational village, partly a new community settlement.
The best explanation for the place is provided by the picture painted by reality at the entrance to the village.
Two ultra-Orthodox men walk on the sandy path, and three Bedouin girls pass by on the other side of the road.
In 1986 Nitsana was established by Aryeh Luba Eliav.
The original goal was to strengthen the connection between different populations in Israel, and along the way also to realize the vision of settlement in the Negev.
Today, there is a core of young ideologues living in the village, who wish to establish their home there.
At the same time, there is a Bedouin youth village where boys from unknown villages and boys at risk study.
It is surprising to discover that next to them, in the very same village, boys from well-established Bedouin families are studying.
Sons of army officers, lawyers, businessmen, and even the son of a judge.
Young men and women before enlistment in a year of volunteer service with the boys.
Along with these, the village also operates educational programs for the reception of young Jews from the Commonwealth of Nations and the "Derech Eretz" pre-military training school, intended for the people of the periphery.
An educational and happy Israeli mess.
In recent months, the place has even received young refugees from Ukraine.
Everyone lives together, in an Israeli microcosm, working on the farm and eating together in the dining room and participating in joint holiday ceremonies.
This week, Bedouin boys from the diaspora, service girls before conscription and refugees from Ukraine participated in the upgrading of the youth village.
Like any ongoing event, the war in Ukraine has faded in the media consciousness.
But it continues and continues to produce refugees and refugees, and this week they were held in the educational village to accept more refugees from the war.
Gardening and nurturing, erecting pergolas and painting, the young people of Israel love one-off operations, and this week the village's special mix - Bedouins, young pioneers - were joined by dozens of student volunteers from the "Eyal" association, all here to renew the place and prepare it together for the new refugees.
A, a student from the Bedouin diaspora, came from an unknown village.
He apologizes in Hebrew that his Hebrew is not as good as he would like.
I'm not sure anyone around knows how to say sorry in Arabic.
"I have an uncle who was killed by a stray bullet in the yard near the house. Crime is rampant. I'm happy about my choice to go to the Neve Mevdar school. I'm in good hands here. When I finish school I don't go back to the village, I have classes and activities here Miscellaneous. Instead of walking around doing nothing, or going with friends who will take me for easy money, I do good things with myself. Where I live, the studies are not at a good level, I am not promoted.
"After school, I plan to do a service year and contribute like my instructors. They are the model for me, people who came to Nitzana voluntarily to donate. In Nitzana, for the first time, I really met young Jews. It was strange that I have Jewish friends without being judged if I am a Bedouin or a Jew, just neighbors in the same A place where you eat together in the same dining room. I meet here with refugees from Ukraine, as well as new immigrants from Russia, volunteers in a year of service before the army, and I even got to play basketball with some guys from the pre-military preparatory school. This whole combination is new to me. I know people , it gives me a feeling that I can have a good future."
Traditional Bedouin accommodation tents were erected in the middle of the village.
Maybe as a tourist attraction, maybe to give a sense of home to the desert nomads.
In the distance sounds of rhythmic music are heard.
One of the students improvises the rhythm of the traditional dance - the Dachia - on a synthesizer.
Beside him some friends are dancing.
Some of the students of "Eyal" are amazed: "This will be great, Tiesto the Bedouin. He has a future in the musical world."
A conversation with the shy keyboardist reveals that at this point he wants to combine the traditional with the most innovative.
The plan - to study music at the university.
But it's not all doom and gloom.
The gaps are still there.
Shira, who is doing a service year and volunteers in the village, says: "There are Bedouin students who were not ready to talk to me or treat me, because I am a woman and it is strange for them that I am their instructor. It took them a while to get used to talking to me as their equal and realized that I am here for them."
As happens at almost every point in social action and the worlds of correction, the state is not completely there.
Ramat Negev, the local council, gives its share, but without the contributions of our brothers in the diaspora these projects will not take place.
Yonatan Galon, CEO of JNF UK, explains why it is so important for Jews from England to invest, among other things, in a Bedouin preparatory school in the Negev: "From our point of view, the investment in the youth village and the Nitsana community is the implementation of the vision of the organization and its donors, which is quite clear - to strengthen education and settlement in the Negev and provide an opportunity Equal to the variety of populations that constitute a microcosm of Israeli society, and this includes all layers of Israeli society, including Bedouin society within it."
"Zionism, Vision and the Flowering of the Wilderness" may sound like a cynical Zionist homeland lesson to you, but meet Arina Muzhitsuk, 17 years old from Kharkiv.
Three weeks before the war broke out, her doctor mother died due to complications from Corona, and Arina moved to live with relatives.
The day before the war broke out, Arina returned to her home to live with her father.
"We woke up at five in the morning because of the noise of the explosions. I was shocked, I couldn't believe it was really happening."
Her father immediately understood the situation, told her he would go buy groceries for the next few days.
But there was nothing in the shops anymore, and together they ran to a train station because there it is underground and safer.
"But that didn't work out either, and after three weeks we realized that we had to flee because the Russians were advancing on Kharkiv."
The two escaped to a small and remote village.
"In order to bathe, we had to heat a bucket of water on a fire and mix it with a bucket of cold water."
What do you do in war?
Trying to make dreams come true.
Arina dreamed of continuing her mother's work and studying medicine.
She found one place in the village where the internet was choppy, but it somehow flowed.
It was outside, and so, in the middle of the frozen wasteland, with a computer whose battery was enough for an hour, she began to study in Zoom for the university while she was wrapped in several layers of clothes from whatever they could find.
"After a month in the village, we realized that the Russians are approaching us again."
In a moment's decision, Arina went out into the wilderness with the computer, and from there she contacted her aunt who lives in Israel.
But here the bureaucracy started to work, the documents proving her Jewishness were left behind, without them Arina cannot make aliyah, so she arrived with a tourist visa for three months.
Her 47-year-old father is still there.
Benitsana took Arina as a personal project and are trying to regulate her status in Israel, which is expressed by the gratitude in her eyes.
"I've been living in Nitsana for a few months. They helped me a lot, I have a room and food and I'm learning Hebrew. I swim and we travel a lot here, and thanks to the trips I got to know the country. We also visited a lot of museums."
So remember Arina, and remember A the next time you think about "another Zionist project let's start and hug me tight".
Because what for many is old jokes, for many others among us is the first step to a better future.
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