Getting used to a new routine? #4

Hebrew in first post מתרגלים לשגרה חדשה #4

We started the weekend with another hike! This time we had guests! Yarden and Tomer took the train from Tel Aviv to Sderot. We started off with some energy at the coffee cart at the entrance to Kibbutz Ruhama. This coffee cart recently re-opened in its’ new location. It was originally in a place called Hetz Shahor – Black Arrow – a memorial near Kfar Aza – for events that happened in 1954-1955. It is run by someone from Kfar Aza and on October 7^th it was looted and badly vandalized by the terrorists. Many of the families from Kfar Aza have temporarily relocated to Kibbutz Ruhama

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Our hike was in Bitronot Ruhama – or Ruhama badlands. Lots of rolling hills, green fields and wildflowers. The skies were gray with some rain. We did see many anemones, but not as many as we had hoped. After the hike we came to Kfar Aza and made a short walk in our neighborhood and drove back to Tel Aviv for the weekend.

Our time in Tel Aviv was spent with friends and family. We followed the release of the 6 hostages on Saturday. I was particularly excited by the release of Omer Wenkert, as I had a personal connection – having met his mother last year when she came as part of a delegation to speak at Boston area campuses and meet with politicians. I was an interpreter for one of the people on the delegation and heard all their stories. Niva, Omer’s mom, always said she knew Omer would come home – the only question was when. As always, every hostage that is released is joy mixed with so much sorrow – for those still in the tunnels, and those who are returning in coffins.

On Sunday we were back in Kfar Aza, in our group meeting. We are getting to know each other better every week. In addition to our meeting we also spent some time making our house homier – this time we added art work – pictures that our friends lent us. They used to hang in their late parents houses, and there is no more space on our friends’ walls for these artworks. One of the pictures I remember quite well from high school, in my friend’s house in Jerusalem.

On Monday Noni and I were asked to speak to a delegation from The Joint, including the Global President of Joint. We spoke at the 60+ community center that the Joint helped build and support. The goal of the Joint was to support the third age (55-80) , and our program of gap year of service for adults is part of that innitiative. We spoke about our background, how and what we did since October 7th and how we arrived at the program, and some anecdotes from our life here. After that meeting we were told we might be invited again and again to speak to delegations.

One day Noni and I went on a hike outside the kibbutz and reached the memorial for the 64 people of Kfar Aza who were killed or murdered on October 7^th, including 8 of the 14 members of the first responders squad (made up of Kibbutz members), who fought alone for several hours to defend the kibbutz from 250 heavily armed terrorists who entered Kfar Aza. The memorial is made of metal, and has the names written in the metal in the original handwriting of each one of the 64 people. There is also a map of Kfar Aza. It is a very sad and powerful memorial. On that same hike we also came across a memorial for a kibbutz member who made bike paths in the area, and a soldier from the Golani Brigade who lost his life in the battle in Kfar Aza.

We recognize many of the names, including the names of a couple whose house was quite close to ours. Their house was burned with the two of them inside, It took several days for their bodies to be found and identified. The woman was a teacher at Alonim school – the school where I volunteer. She had just retired in June 2023 and had designed a bag for all the teachers as a parting gift. The bag says – have a nice vacation. I was given one of these bags to use at school to carry around my materials, as I do not have a regular space to work.

One of the evenings we had dinner at S and A’s house, a couple from Kfar Aza who moved back over a year ago, and make dinners once a week or so, for people of the kibbutz, particularly the young gap year kids and the soldiers who are now part of the first responders squad. These soldiers are young men and women reservists from combat units that are on a program called “Neshek Meshek” – combing agriculture work on the kibbutz with security work as first responders. On another afternoon a friend of my sister’s came by after volunteering on the “GreenFloors” building project. (see previous posts for more details on this project).

The days at school and working every morning from 8 am to 1:30pm are way more intense than our days in Boston over the last few years. Noni mostly worked from home and my work at the hospital was sporadic and had no set times – so some days very busy, and others very calm. We are getting used to this new intensity and still trying to figure out when we can run (so far I have gone on one run in Kfar Aza) when we can swim etc. Another thing about the days is that the weather here is much colder than expected – there was an extreme cold weather snap here and I did not come prepared with enough warm clothes. Our house is warm – but bedroom is really cold and I miss our BedJet – a little contraption that blows warm air into our bed, right between the sheet and blanket…In Boston and actually my whole life, I have always slept with the window open – a cold room and warm bed, In Kfar Aza our bedroom is in the safe room and so far I have been sleeping with the window closed and the heat on (something I never did before anywhere) and I wonder if it is also subconsciously thinking about everything that happened here and all the people that I dream about every night, their life before and after October 7^th.

This week was also the funeral of Shiri Bibas z”l, Ariel Bibas z”l and Kfir Bibas z”l. The funeral motorcade drove by the junction near my school, but we did not join the thousands of people who were there lining the roads with flags and orange balloons. Lucky for me, our students are young and the topic did not come up – but in the teachers lounge you could feel the sadness everywhere, also on the day that more hostages were returned in coffins.

At school, I am working with almost all the students in the 4^th – 6^th grades. I have the strongest, who need extra challenges, and the weakest who are working on the basics and everyone in between. In our little intros in English I had one student say that his dad is in the first responder squad of Kfar Aza and another student say he was from Nahal Oz and had terrorists in his house, and then they move on… I listen, acknowledge and continue with our chatting in English

On Thursday Dani and Hanni (my brother in law and sister in law) came by train from Haifa to Sderot. They were are very first sleepover guests! It took a little organizing, but now we are ready for more guests. We took a walk around the kibbutz, saw memorials and anemones. On Friday morning we rushed off to Tel Aviv in time to cheer on our kids, and nieces as we had 6 runners in the 10k race of the Tel Aviv marathon. One was a first time 10k runner, the others had personal bests for a 10k and Einat finished 6^th overall out of 3000 women!