27 Children Walking in Puddles

After the big downpour, little children walk in puddles. Before they go into the puddle they look at the grownups by their side with a daring look in their eyes and ask, may we? Tell us nu-nu-nu. They know that it is not really allowed to go into puddles and they ask for permission or refusal. When they leave the puddle, they wear a triumphant though bashful look. But the adults at their side tell them: "it's alright with boots. Afterwards we will take a hot bath and change clothes". Ah, the innocence and excitement of little children walking in puddles.

I remember the puddles of my childhood in a small settlement in which there were no roads or sidewalks. The main roads were made of coarse sand and the side roads were dirt roads. In winter enormous puddles would form all over the settlement and we walked proudly in these puddles wearing our rubber boots, or we placed planks on building stones and joyously walked on them "keeping our balance" and sometimes falling into the water.

I remember that after the heavy rains we would walk to the Wadi and build rafts from empty barrels with branches tied around them, and we would sail with long sticks with which we would shove the sides and the bottom of the Wadi and in this way we would sail many kilometers towards the sea. When darkness fell we would return home, wet and full of mud, with burning eyes from this great adventure.

Our chief raft builder was my friend who was killed in the Yom Kippur War. When we were a little older, he would play the accordion while we all danced around him in a circle and later on he also played the organ and the piano and all in all, he was one of those talented people that make you wonder where he would be now had he not died so young.

But here are today's children. Their future is still bright and full of promising surprises. The camera shields them and preserves the playful and innocent happiness of a rainy day next to a loving home.