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Susan R. Eisenstein: Dead Sea Guardians: Preserving, Protecting and Restoring the Dead Sea

What most people do not know about the Dead Sea is that the Dead Sea is Alive! Yes, Israeli Oded Rahav, founder and CEO of the nonprofit foundation, The Dead Sea Guardians, entrepreneur, environmental activist, long-distance swimmer, founder, manager, and business leader in various realms, assures us, the Dead Sea is alive!

 

And while most people know that the Dead Sea in Israel, Yam HaMelach in Hebrew, is the lowest point on earth, actually, below sea level and that the salty waters of Yam Hamelach makes everyone who enters buoy like a cork, and that the salt like the famous Dead Sea mud has amazing skin health benefits, there is so much more that The Dead Sea gives us humans.

 

“Every body of water and every source of water on this planet is a source of life. There is no source of water that produces death,” Oded Rahav says. “Indeed, this sea is salty, 36% salinity, but every grain of salt and every drop it contains is healthy. The fact that we humans are not sufficiently familiar, learned, and understanding only points to us. The sea is in the center of the Syrian-African rift. It is an ecological corridor that preserves tremendous and rare biological diversity.”

 

“The Dead Sea,” he continues,” is probably the healthiest place on the planet for us humans. Why? Six reasons—the amount of oxygen here is the highest in the world. The reason is that it is the lowest place in the world, minus 1444 feet below sea level.

 

The barometric pressure here is higher.

The amount of minerals is probably the highest. About 30 types of minerals are found in the air, sea, and mud. And if we just look at bromine. Bromine is found here in a concentration of 200 times higher than anywhere else.

 

Solar radiation is the lowest, and certain UV rays are filtered.

Low air pollution, low light pollution, and peace and quiet all around. The combination of these six elements is a source of health for the body and mind, and there is no other place like it in the world.”

But right now, the Dead Sea is rapidly declining, rapidly dying and its banks are collapsing. Over decades, the surface of the Dead Sea has reduced by a third and every day it declines a further 0.3cm, roughly 1.2m per year. This decline has caused thousands of sinkholes to form, destroying beaches, roads, infrastructure and livelihoods. Without drastic intervention, the Dead Sea as we know it will cease to exist.

Losing the Dead Sea will cause an environmental disaster. As the Dead Sea rapidly shrinks due to industrial exploitation, water diversion, and climate change, the Dead Sea region, one of the most biodiverse areas in the Middle East, is in danger of losing the array of plant and animal species found nowhere else in the world. Losing the Dead Sea may also well mean that a vital stopover route for over 500 million migratory birds annually will vanish.

Oded Rahav will not let that happen. And so, in 2022, Oded quit his job and set up the Tel Aviv–based nonprofit Dead Sea Guardians. Additionally, in 2022, Dead Sea Guardians established a coalition of nonprofits, including EcoPeace, the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, EcoOcean, Zalul, the Negev Desert–focused Sustainable Desert, and the crowd-funded legal organization Lobby 99, to join forces for the rehabilitation of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea.

The Dead Sea Guardians is a movement to save the lowest place on earth. Their vision- a stabilized Dead Sea that becomes an international attraction, earning worldwide recognition and driving economic growth for the region. The organization allocates resources to researching and promoting a holistic and sustainable solution to sea level stabilization. One of the organization’s goals is to instill the Dead Sea in people’s hearts, thereby creating a change in perception regarding the sea and the entire region. Guardians who will become ambassadors of goodwill.

 

Oded Rahav’s love for the Dead Sea may well have started many years before he realized that he would become its guardian. “I clearly remember my first time in the Dead Sea. I was with my parents. Dad opened the car door and within 2-3 steps, I was in the water. I remember their silent sound and the uniqueness of its texture. Many years later, in 2016, I initiated the Dead Sea Swim – the first ever swim across the Dead Sea. We swam from the Arnon River, Jordan, to Ein Gedi, Israel, East to West (a 12-mile swim). During the swimming training for that epic swim, I remembered again that sensation I felt in the sea with my dad. There was no trace of where I was back then. The sea had moved so far away from the point where I got off at that time. That’s when I fell in love and started the “conversation” with the Dead Sea.”

And Rahav explained just what to him personally is so important about being a Dead Sea Guardian. “Why is it so important to me? Soon after swimming in this majestic sea, I was filled with gratitude for it. I don’t take lightly the fact that the sea has hosted us. For me, all seas are a living entity. They provide us with most of the oxygen we breathe, they provide us with water, they see us, they take care of us. It is a fact,” Oded Rahav said.

Continuing, Oded Rahav said, “this specific sea holds an immense memory, an abundance of unique nature, history, biology, chemistry, tradition, faith. It is, in fact, a capsule of our existence. When swimming in it I feel at home. This is the only sea on the planet that holds you and embraces you as if it were your mother. Like the womb from which you were born. This is the best place to understand the meaning of Mother Earth, just by feeling. This feeling and understanding I want to share with all and thus my efforts to preserve and protect it. It is imperative to do so. A Mitzvah. In Jewish tradition, water is חסד, grace.”

“In general, the war led me to several insights and predominantly the importance of saving this sea and its surroundings, today more than ever. My understanding is that preserving the entire Dead Sea area, encouraging international cooperation, creating joint projects, encouraging economic growth, and creating new jobs are the ways to create economic prosperity and regional stability and security here. A balance of existence instead of a balance of threat. As we advance ambitious projects in the areas of water, agriculture, energy, tourism, and high-tech, we will be able to advance the grand vision of living here safely. We must think about the next fifty years and beyond and act with inspiration and vision, and in this regard, the Dead Sea is a phenomenal opportunity. A place of healing, a place of reconciliation, a place of consensus.”

 

Oded takes individuals or groups to the Dead Sea on an enlightening and educational experience or immersion, depending on the relevance and need. These experiences vary and depend on the audience, interest, and schedule, but generally they start at the baptismal site in the Jordan River, then head south all the way to Ein Gedi. In between there is a visit to Qumran, Masada, a bath at Kaliah beach etc. There is a tourist center at Qumran and soon there will be another one by Kaliah. People need to send a request via the website or to info@deadseaguardians.org

 

Oded Rahav has several future goals for Dead Sea Guardians. “My goal and that of the organization is a combination of finding realistic solutions to the sea’s plight, promoting a law in Israel to save the sea, and changing regulations. At the same time, I want to recruit a million Dead Sea guardians from all over the world and instill the sea in their hearts. This sea is a world natural wonder and sits on the throne with the great natural wonders such as the Amazon, Iguazu Falls, Easter Island, the Pyramids, the Himalayas, and more. Saving this sea will have implications for the entire world. As we know so well, what is happening in the Middle East is creating ripples to the ends of the earth. A fact. So might as well create ripples of hope and growth. Everyone who signs in to the website is a Guardian and from that point it is up to her/ him to go beyond. I can tell you that much of the effort is now to execute the international Dead Sea Summit. That would be a turning point for the region.”

 

Oded Rahav also enumerated several things that people can do now to help save the Dead Sea. “Readers can help by first of all adding their names to the website. They can initiate a film screening, a Zoom call in which I can provide a whole lecture about the Sea and its importance. The talk is also about my journey and how I embarked on this ambitious mission and why we can and should embark on ambitious missions in our lifetime. Readers can donate and help our efforts, they can come up with ideas to collaborate (education, research, storytelling, content creation, cultural events etc..).”

 

Additionally, Oded Rahav binds us in a covenant of salt. “The Dead Sea Guardians organization strives to instill the Dead Sea in the hearts of people and recruit a million guardians from Israel and around the world. The organization is supported by donations and will appreciate financial assistance to save the sea.”

For more information: website: deadseaguardians.org

email: info@deadseaguardians.org

photos credited to Moshe Bernstein