The life and death of the Dead Sea

By Professor Shay Rabineau, Department of Judaic Studies, Binghamton University

On Monday, March 18, Professor Shay Rabineau from the Center for Israel Studies at Binghamton University will give a talk entitled “The Life and Death of the Dead Sea.”

In 2022, Rabineau organized the second-ever trek that circled the Dead Sea on foot. During the two-week trek, he walked through Jordan, Israel and the West Bank in an effort to better understand the Dead Sea and its current environmental crisis. Rabineau’s trek followed a 1934 journey, carried out by Jewish hikers from British Mandate Palestine, which remains legendary in Israel today. As an expert on Israeli trails, Rabineau journeyed across a landscape that had changed enormously over the previous 88 years. In his talk, Rabineau will discuss the challenges of crossing international borders, navigating minefields, being detained by intelligence officers, walking through industrial zones and avoiding deadly sinkholes.

He will also share the Dead Sea’s long history, as viewed from the ancient lands of Moab and Edom, the desert fortress of Masada, and the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Finally, he will show how ancient and modern sites are threatened by the Dead Sea’s disappearance and how its environmental crisis might be solved.

Please register for this free program at www.jewishnaples.org.

Presented by MCA, WCA, Israel and Overseas Committee, and Jewish Federation of Greater Naples.