As I turned my head to catch a breath of air all I could see above water was the distant edge of the crater and sky. The infinity pool at Beresheet is situated on the cliff above the Ramon Crater, the largest makhtesh in the world.
The day before we took a Jeep ride into the makhtesh and our guide, Khen, explained how it was formed. Hundreds of millions of years ago this was an ocean. When the ocean receded, it left a hill. The hill’s interior was softer than its exterior resulting in erosion from the center. Over millions of years more and more rock was exposed so that the bottom rocks are over 200 million years old. The cliff walls, striped with color, show the primary mineral of each epoch.
I took another stroke, another breath, another stroke, another breath.
As I swam my mind wandered or did it wonder?
Beresheet — בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית — literally “in the beginning.”
Beresheet (בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית) — the first word of the Torah.
Crater — not such a different word from creator.
I was swimming in paradise.
I had swum back to a time when there only was air and water.
An astonishing expanse, desolate and hot.
Heavens and water and earth.
And Hashem.
Beautiful!
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