First things first, this past Wednesday the Jewish holiday of Sukkot started. It is a seasonal festival where we build huts like the Israelites lived in when they left Egypt and spend the week, eating, sleeping, and generally living in these huts outside. I came to Efrat, like I do every year, and enjoyed their large and homey Sukkah. We bring the couches outside and hang out there all night playing cards or watching movies. My friend Mickie and Shoshana both joined me for part of the holiday and it has just been lovely and fun.
To make a good weekend even better, I turned on my phone after Shabbat and got a text message from my friend Marnina with two words- "Night Hike". There is a very popular hike from Tekoa to the Dead Sea (here's a map) that is generally done at night since it is through the desert. I have been wanting to do this hike for about 6 years, so I was really excited when the opportunity arose. Unfortunately, it was very last minute, and I had not really packed for a 9 hour hike, so I ended up doing the whole thing in converse and jeans. It was a fantastic 8.5 hours of sometimes getting lost and mostly being awed by these vast ravines and mountains and gorgeous views. It was a night hike, but the moon was very bright and it was like being in a black and white movie. It was a little hard to determine depths and distances but it only made the views more fantastic. As we got closer to the Dead Sea and the sun started to rise and bring color back in to our surroundings, I was hiking along feeling refreshed and energized even though I had not slept all night. Unfortunately the last bit of the trip was somewhat ruined when my knee gave out and I had to hobble the rest of the way. The boys I was with were very gallant and offered to carry me, but I had only met them that night and there was no way I was going to make someone do that. Anyway, the sun rose, we eventually finished on top of a mountain overlooking the Dead Sea, and then we started the long process of hitchiking home. I got back to Efrat around 9:30 am and slept until 4pm.
At 4, I headed over to the Merkaz Klita 20 year reunion. 20 years ago, my family tried to make aliyah and lived in an absorption center outside of Jerusalem for a year. Aliyah then was very different from now, and out family of 6 was living in a 2 bedroom "house" with a tiny bathroom and a toaster oven that my mother somehow made Thanksgiving turkey in. The neighborhood was filled with Russian, Ethiopian, and American immigrants trying to adjust to Israeli society. Back then there were no organizations to help out immigrants and there were a lot of missing amenities. There was one pay phone for the whole neighborhood, and people who were used to having large suburban homes found themselves cooking for their families on one electric burner and drying their clothes with a clothes line strung between bookshelves (my dad has a great story about that one). Anyway, the American families that immigrated in 1991 became a very tight community that supported each other through Israeli bureaucracy, cultural clashes, and the unending language difficulties. Well this year was the 20th anniversary of their aliyah, and all the families got together to catch up and reminisce. Since Judy (of my adopted family) was planning the event, she insisted that I come to represent my family. So there I was in a Sukkah with 60 people, most of whom I have not seen since I was 5 and don't really remember. So imagine my shock when I was introduced to my old kindergarten teacher who took one look at me and said "Kfirah! Didn't your family leave Israel?". This was 20 years ago! I was 5! And she remembered me!! Crazy. So I caught up with all my parents old friends, told them how everyone was doing, showed them pictures of Alon and then got to watch a fantastic slideshow of the Merkaz Klitah days that was full of old pictures of my parents and siblings. Barak- you were so freaking cute when you weren't covered in slime. Anyway, it was very cool to see how tight this group of people still are and very much made me appreciate how much easier aliyah now is.
Okay, one last point to discuss. For those of you who have not heard, Israel has just agreed to trade over 1000 prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit, a soldier who was kidnapped out of his tank on the Gaza border 5 years ago. He is my age and we have not had any proof of life in over 2 years. Hamas has refused to let the Red Cross in to see him, and the military has not been able to retrieve him. There have been deals on the table before, but the cost has always been too high and Israel has refused. Now they are trading 1,027 terrorists, over 350 of which have "blood on their hands" meaning they have actively participated in terrorist attacks that ended in fatalities. Many of these terrorists will be allowed to return to their homes in the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. Others are being deported to the Gaza Strip and other countries. Statistically, it has been shown that most released terrorists return to terrorist activity and have caused even more damage (http://www.
I want Gilad home. And I think that we should not be negotiating. But I also understand why we do. I can look at the situation rationally and say that he is a soldier and the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few (thanks Shosh for the Spock quote), and one day my husband and my sons will be out there in uniform, an ideal target for a kidnapping attempt. And what would I do if it was my kid? I don't know. But I understand the Shalit's fight, I understand every teenager in Israel that wants to see Gilad come home so that when they put on their uniform they are a little less afraid. And I understand an Israeli government that will do anything to bring back one of their own- and will deal with the consequences when they come.
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