“Ten Students Washed Away in Flash Flood in the Negev” read the news headline on April 27th. Videos showed the raging waters that had swept 10 innocent and unprepared explorers to their deaths. It was a painful reminder that the natural landscape with its awe-inspiring beauty can quickly turn cruel and destructive and that we humans have no control over the forces of nature.

 Watching videos of this tragedy brought me back to the early spring of 1974. I pictured myself sitting on a narrow ledge under a protective overhang at the bottom of Nahal Arugot. Just four inches below me, the waters were swirling over rocks and boulders, rushing towards the Dead Sea. Fifteen Israelis and I were caught in a sheettafon, a sudden flash flood. There was no way out; we sat glued to our perch, hoping that the floodwaters would not reach us.