58 The Birth of Youth

When the State of Israel was two years old and the Kibbutz was at the peak of its glory, Yohanan Simon made this painting for the dinning room of Gan Shmuel's High school. No sooner had the state come into existence than kibbutz children were its 'princes' of nature and freedom. The community of the 'Kibbutz Children' which was a kind of autonomous youth utopia was intended to create the 'New Man', who was to be the exact opposite of the Diaspora Jew. Influenced by the ethos of the European youth movements as well as progressive educational ideas, the educational institution was established as a world in itself, almost completely separated from the cares of adult life.

A basic component of the new youth world was wide open spaces. Going out to nature was one of the cardinal principles of the youth movement, and in the realm of the kibbutz itself, the daily life, shared by all, was extremely important.

All these things are depicted in Yohanan Simon's painting. The healthy, sport-loving kibbutz children reveal their bodies without any shame. They are not wrapped in layers of clothes and bent like Diaspora Jews, but exposed, tanned and tall. They leap high, dance, play music (and wave the red flag). Their activities take place outside in the wide open spaces, shaded by trees. No parents or teachers are present and they are engrossed in their youth world, creative and healthy. How much optimism, confidence and hope are in this picture.

From the original Simon fresco, Marko Santi created in Ravenna, Italy, this beautiful mosaic which now hangs in the lobby of the entrance to the auditorium of Pardes Hanah's Culture and Youth Center.

57 Earth

In the beautiful days that we enjoyed after the stormy, cold weather I take bicycle trips in the fields and between the orchards. During the cold and stormy week, when snow fell in Jerusalem and on the Hermon, I was sick with the flue. Since then I have not yet gone back to swimming, but I again take short bicycle trips instead of my daily 40 minute swim. Lately I bought a bicycle speedometer and found out that my short trip is about 10 kilometers.

In the hours before the sun sets, when the sun is low on the horizon, it is possible to see wonderful sights in the fields. Today, towards the end of my trip, I climbed trough the orchards of Kibbutz Mishmarot. The earth dries out quickly and the paths that were muddy a week ago turn sandy very fast. In the meantime the earth retains the marks that the tractors created in the mud, and in the low sun the cracks in the red sandy soil look like polished gold.

I stop and drink some water. I bend down to the ground and the gold color surrounds me. The path is very wide here. The earth looks like a little desert, cut off from the orchards that surround it. Look at this golden earth. Yesterday it was a puddle of mud and tomorrow it will be a pile of sand. Today it is a landscape of wavy gold.

56 Judaica Behind My Back

The library in my work room consists of two large sections and two smaller ones. One large section opposite me covers the whole wall. It is far from being in order, but there are still parts in which I can begin my search for a certain book. Kafka is below on the left and mythology is above him. English literature is up on the right, philosophy on the left, literature is in the middle, Judaica is to the right of literature and so on. Buried inside the library are two good loudspeakers which enable me to enjoy good music with whatever I do.

Attached to the wall on my right is a small section which is mainly filled by books on music. Its shelves are deep and it is possible to place two rows of books on them. In the past few years I have put together a large CD library and it now occupies the front row. The music books are therefore completely hidden by the CDs. At times, when I try to dig out something from behind them, I am thrilled to discover books that I had completely forgotten about and given up as 'lost' in the reaches of the library.

Next to the wall on my left is a narrow section containing Judaica books as well as children's books, tourist guides and books on various other subjects. However the most important section of my library is the one behind my back. It contains the reference books that I consult in the course of my work. I swivel around in my chair, extend an arm and almost without having to look, grab the book I need. That is the place for dictionaries (including the Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew by Menachem Zevi Kaddari), the Encyclopedias, the various Thesaurus's (including Thesaurus of the Hebrew Language by Nahum Stutchkoff) as well as Judaica books that I need most for my work. I edit many Judaica books.

The shelf I photographed contains the annotated Mishna of Kahati (with elucidations by Rabi Obadiah of Bertinoro) and the Mishneh Torah as well as the Guide to the Perplexed by Maimonides in three different editions (on another shelf I have the Eben Shmuel edition of the Guide with his comments) and also the Kuzari in three editions. On the shelf below it are all the books of the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmud in a small edition. Today one can find almost all these texts on the internet. There the search is quicker and more efficient, none the less I still like to put out my hand, grab the book which contains the quotes I am dealing with, turn the pages quickly and verify the quotation of the book in my hand. A little act, almost automatic, but one that gives the feeling of being a Talmid Chacham (wise student).

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.