55 Blooming and Sunshine on Tu B'Shvat

For years I pondered the words of the song "The almond tree is blooming and the golden sun is shinning", and I said to myself: how can anyone possibly think that in mid-winter the sun would shine and the almond tree would blossom? Regarding the almond tree I wasn't sure, there were always children who argued heatedly, and there were those who swore that they had seen an almond tree in blossom even before Tu B'Shvat. I found that difficult to believe but I didn't give the matter much thought. But what about the shinning golden sun? After all, everyone knows that on Tu B'Shvat and Purim it always rains. Always.

Today, not long before dusk, I took a bicycle trip in the fields. The sun was already low, close to the horizon. The sky was beginning to get cloudy. They say that it will rain tomorrow, as always on Tu B'Shvat. But today was wonderful in the fields. The air was cool. Silence. I rode and mused. I stopped twice to photograph the glorious landscape. The earth was dry and the paths covered by sand. Tomorrow the sand will turn into mud and large puddles will form, but not today.

Suddenly I stopped in my tracks. Next to me was a blooming orchard. I am sorry to say that I didn't recognize the trees in that orchard; I think they were not almond trees. But their vigorous blooming reminded me of the song and I said to myself: here I am experiencing the line in the song as if I had immersed myself into it. Because both are true, the sky is still bright and the golden sun is resting on the horizon. I thought of the skeptical child I had been and I told him: the song is right, the orchards bloom on Tu B'Shvat.

And when I spoke these words I remembered the Kibbutz holiday of bygone years. Young and old would go out together to the fields; there were ceremonies, the tree planting – everyone with a hoe and a little sapling in his hand. After planting we attached a note with our name on it. That was our tree and we were supposed to take care of it, to water it. Of course we forgot about them in a few days and most of the ceremonial plantings did not do well.

But the memory of our joint tree planting expedition remains something special. A week ago I saw the film of Ran Tal "Children of the Sun". One of the things I found that I could identify with was the film's emphasis on the kibbutz as a large family. That is nothing new of course. But in the past I found it hard to accept the idea. I thought that the kibbutz was too complex, too problematic and too difficult to be called a family. Today I am ready to agree that the kibbutz was a family – with all the injustice, anger, prejudice and little hatreds that exist in a large family, together with the great circle of solidarity and the beautiful, exciting holidays.

Take another glance at the magic blossom. Spring is not here yet, but the blossom is a promise of its coming. The trees start their yearly cycle: the blossoms will bring spring and the fruit will bring – summer. Happy New Year.

54 Treasures in a Nearby Orchard

In an orchard next to my house, which by now only hints at being an orchard – lying there, as if at an agricultural exhibition, are tools that have seen better days as well as old boxes, poles and pegs arranged in piles on an ancient wagon, of which only a rusty frame remains. And close to the fence that marks my yard stand two elongated sheet metal shacks out of which one can glimpse building blocks, rotting planks, old doors and ladders without rungs. I never looked inside these shacks. Our cats visit there occasionally and more than once have I heard hair raising war cries emerging from there. Who is fighting whom? I don't know. The cats, who at times return wounded from their wars, don't say a word. Perhaps the huge snake that we found in our garden one morning lives there.

Almost daily I cross this little orchard whether on my way to the bakery or the bank, the post office or the spice store. Today on my way home from such a trip, I discovered that the orchard owner had placed two rolls of wire next to the short cut through the orchard. But perhaps they have been lying there for years and I have not noticed them.

The sun shone directly on them and it was possible to see the bushes that were trapped within and had become entangled in it even before it was transferred here from a different place. Long greenish-yellow and yellowish-white stalks fill the insides of the wires rusting iron and create together one round mass that appears to be airy and spongy but is actually quite solid.

Look at this cylinder – this wonderful entanglement of stalks and metal. I photographed it close up so that the object fills the field of vision. Such images have been created on painting canvases by using many tubes of paint. And lo and behold – a man walks nonchalantly in an orchard next to his home and sees a treasure like this.

53 New Moon Party

For the last few years now I have been an almost constant guest at the parties for the celebration of the 'New Moon' that are held in our region – thanks to my children, for whom these parties are an integral part of their world, and especially due to my son, who organizes some of these occasions and plays his cello at them. In this way I am brought somewhat closer to this special community that made our area a 'Spiritual" center. What I mean by this is the combination of some Jewishness, some of 'Yemima' teachings, some ecology as well as principles of healthy, organic nutrition and sometimes some 'New Age' as well. And of course a lot of music, primarily music with an 'ethnic' character, like the music which the ensemble in the photo plays. This 'Spirituality' which has earned itself a national reputation, competes with an opposing tendency which 'sells' our region as much esteemed real estate plots, much as 'Iraels's Provence', and it isn't difficult to guess that the real estate will win this competition. But in the meantime, the 'Holistic College' is flourishing here and perhaps there will be room for both tendencies without one defeating the other.

This photo was taken a week ago, at the last 'New Moon' occasion. It was a cold clear night but there was no rain. On the path leading to the shack there were still big puddles, however before the bonfire mats were spread and adults and children sat facing the fire. Inside the ensemble played as if to itself and at the other end of the shack there was a table with doughnuts and wine. A short time before I left, the people from Tel-Aviv arrived and I realized that the night was still young. At least three of them brought their instruments with them and I can only imagine that the jam session that began after the ensemble program, lasted long into the night.

Look at the musicians and their instruments. Note the saz and the little harp on the left and the different types of drums in the middle. Notice the warm light and the brown, wooden walls. Note as well the many microphones and the computer.

52 On Lending Films

I have never used the services of a 'videomat'. For a short period of time I had a subscription to a video library and recently I had one to a DVD library, but I gave it up. Today I make due with films of the cable network and from time to time I order a film on VOD. There I discovered films of the 'third ear' and found two treasures: 'The Kingdom', directed by Lars von Trier and 'Heimat 1', directed by Edgar Reitz. I immediately became captivated again seeing these two masterpieces. I remember how, in the 1980's we traveled to Tel Aviv on two long weekends to see 'Heimat 1' at a cinema. Seeing the film again was not disappointing in spite of the fact that certain pictures that had, in my memory, become somewhat mythological – for instance, Paul, who upon returning from the war, enters the village – now seem less impressive. But the 'village fool' Glazisch who tells the story and looks through the pictures, remains as impressive as ever.

Seeing 'The Kingdom' again was riveting. Although the subject of hidden ghosts and the unknown is irritating at times, the series is excellent and the acting is wonderful. What madness there is in the citadel of rationality, how dark desires combine as do many beliefs and nonsense, with modern medicine at its best, often all in the same person! In short, I spent an entire month immersed in these new-old revelations.

Today I hear more and more about 'downloading' films from the internet, that is to say, copying them from the world wide net to the home computer. I haven't reached that stage as yet; I don't even copy music in this way. But perhaps I shall choose another solution and acquire a new version of a cable box, which is called 'Magic' on the cable network that I am connected to. That would enable me to record without using any additional device or discs. That way I could see films broadcast on cable channels at hours convenient for me.

When I look at the 'videomat' on the wall between two stores, I think that this is an innovation that has already outlived its time. But perhaps I am wrong.

51 Once Upon a Hanukkah

'Once upon a Hanukkah/ the children were about to fall asleep/ the classroom was empty/ only the first candle still flickered/ silence, darkness, not a person in sight.../ the pots and pans were alone'. So begins Alterman's poem 'Nes Gadol Haya Poh', which tells about the Hanukkah game the household utensils played at night, after they recovered from their fear and said to the clock that had insulted them 'Shut up, fool. You talk nonsense. You yourself are nothing but a rag'. Primus Yehudah, aided by the Sabra flower pots – that is to say the Maccabim, defeated the Greek chairs and the tea kettle elephants that night.

We heard this wonderful poem in our childhood again and again and even dramatized it and fought, dressed up as a broom, a funnel, a primus and a puppy. Of course we knew it by heart from beginning to end and many of us can even now recite large parts of it from memory. The Hanukkah songs that we sang somewhat later in a choir, in four voices, included 'Here He Comes with His Army' to music from the oratorio 'Yehuda Maccabi' by Handel and 'Maoz tzur yeshuati' – also became part of us, and to this day I can sing the base part without a mistake.

'Once upon a Hanukkah' we would recite for our pleasure even when we were already grown up and would use ironic dramatization and extreme intonation in order to disguise our nostalgia. The photo shows us as we appeared in a 1971 Hanukkah party (at the time we were soldiers on leave) reading the poem. On the right are 'the chairs' Aryeh and Yaron, after them are Nachum 'the broom', Amos 'the primus' and myself 'the tea kettle'. And then Yigal 'the clock' and Amram 'the dreidle'.

50 Kikar Hamoshava

Kikar Hamoshava (The Village Square) has been and continues to be the center of the community. Although new neighborhoods have been built some distance away and the community already numbers tens of thousand of inhabitants, the square and the two streets that cross it remained the heart and center. During the day the streets that are nearly two hundred meters long in every direction, are bustling with people and cars are parked bumper to bumper. But in the evening the square empties and at night it is all but deserted.

The orange building on the right is a large store that sells office supplies, books, toys, computers and what not. Next to it is an elongated one story building which has columns in front of it, that contains two spice stores, a little restaurant, a book store that has seen better days and a toy shop. On the left edge of the picture the larger building of the bank can be seen and after that, the Super. Opposite it (outside the photo) are the mini shopping center which is half empty, a few more stores and a pharmacy. Further along that road are the seamstress' shop, the photography store and the bakery. And that's about all, that's the end of the center.

Continuing on the photo's right hand side, going down the street to the north, are two other banks, a computer store, a pet food shop, two clothing stores and an optometrist. After that another bakery, a new cafe, two pizza stalls and a barbershop. And that's it. After the crossroads (and the furniture store and framing shop) one comes to the Itin Play Ground.

East of the Moshava square, after the kiosk, is the post office and Yad Labanim (the Soldiers Memorial) and after them the Moshava administration building. Not long ago there was also a large bus terminal, but that is a thing of the past. To the center's west there is a cleaning materials store, two electrical supplies stores, another book shop, three household equipment stores, yet another clothing store, a religious supplies store, a flower shop, another barber and a grocery store – and that's about it. Further on is the Matnas (the Community Cultural Center).

Look at the square and its cheerful goats. It is charming but not very interesting. But look beyond the square at the series of columns in front of the elongated building. It is like a capsule frozen in time for tens of years. But the cellular antenna on the horizon reminds us of time marching on.

49 1965 Photo of "Sela"

Here we are in the classroom in front of the blackboard for a formal picture wearing the blue shirts of the "Hashomer Hatzair". In the top row from right to left are: Gilead, Noam (myself), Iris, Baruch, Yaron, Na'ama, Aharon and Uriel. In the middle row from right to left are: Dalia, Ze'ev, Edna, Yigal, Nava and Arieh. The three girls on the right in the bottom row are Batia, Yonit and Vered. They were new Rumanian immigrants who joined us for a short time only. After them in order are: Bina, Ishai and Hagit. The kneeling ones are: Amos and Yair.

That is the entire class, which is also the entire "group" which was known as "Beith Nir" in the "Hashomer Hatzair" ken of the Kibbutz. The "movement" was a vital part of our lives. Once a week we had an "activity" in which we discussed social and political subjects or went on a night outing (which combined military and adventurous elements), or we made camp fires and built scout structures.

Lately the opportunity presented itself and I found myself actively involved in a book by the historian George Mosse entitled "Nationalism and Sexuality". There he considers at length the German youth movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. To be sure, I knew of the historical connection between Hashomer Hatzair and the European youth movements, its romanticism as well as its rising nationalism. I had also heard from my mother about the "Werkleute" movement in Berlin and about their hikes in the forests (to wander, to wander is the Shomer's desire", to those who remember). But the intensive reading of Mosses' book made a deep impression on me. How similar the ethos of the German youth movement in the early 20^th century is to the ethos of "Hashomer Hatzair"! Love of nature, rejection of the bourgeoisie, the conviction of having a national mission, even the body image and the abstinences (the ten commandments of "Hashomer Hatzair", to those who remember, and above all "preservation of sexual purity and the prohibition of drinking wine").

The youth movement in the kibbutzim was void of meaning from the very beginning since it lacked the essential element: the revolt of the son. The founders of the German youth movement as well as the generation of our parents in "Hashomer Hatzair" revolted against their parents' way of life. For them the youth movement was the beginning of a new way of life. The following generation could not maintain this; we admired the historic revolt of our parents but were expected to give up any revolt on our part.

But in spite of that we loved the life in the movement, the "activities", the "camps", the "Shomriot" (the big national get-togethers of all the youths in the movement), and that entire world, which was a kind of autonomy of exuberant youth.