R.I.P. Dubak - Jewish settler

The Time magazine blog is running an admiring obituary for Dov Vineshtok, aka Dubak, called 'Requiem for a Jewish settler'. This hard core Zionist befriended the desert Bedouin and delivered secondhand clothes to their remote families, helped out troubled settler teens, and once voluntarily gave water to a thirsty Arab laborer. The piece caught my attention because this frontiersman belied typical knee-jerk stereotypes. Izzy Bee twice met this gruff guy, whose wife was a Jewish American Princess from Beverly Hills and, under his influence, had transformed herself into a Mother Earth figure for their sprawling family. Dubak preferred the outdoors. Together, we'd contemplated the beauty of the dunes, the camel trains and the tenacity of fig trees; When pressed, Izzy Bee admitted that the wilderness seemed blighted by too many red-roofed settlements erected on distant hills. He laughed and coughed. What I admired about Dubak is that he was so open to talking with people who were not like-minded; he will be sorely missed.
Dubak's beloved desert cliffs above the Dead Sea.