Word Prompt – ARID – Stephen M. Flatow

“Arid,” a popular crossword puzzle answer to “desert-like conditions,” is up there in the world of four-letter answers. And “desert” is another one of those words that pop up frequently, as in “50% of this country is one.” Israel is the correct answer.

But, deserts, despite some photographs of the Sahara Desert, are not all sand, and arid does not mean inhospitable or unlivable.

So there they are, the children of Israel marching through the desert of the Sinai Peninsula in a land that can only be described as “arid,” having little or no rain, and too dry or barren to support vegetation.

But the thing is our ancestors were not marching alone; they were accompanied by a higher authority – you know, the miracle-creating kind.

Moisture for crops and vegetation? No problem; we had dew every morning. Water to drink for man and beast? No reliance on oases for us, we had be’erah shel Miriam. And so it went for 40 years.

David Ben Gurion, the State of Israel’s first prime minister and a driving force behind its establishment, is reputed to have said when asked about Israel’s growth and development, “If you don’t believe in miracles, you are not a realist.” Yes, Israel is still an arid country, but today the dew and Miriam’s well are still with us; we just have to open our eyes and hearts to see the miracles that surround us daily.