Visitors to the Gush

As you can see, December was a crazy month filled with lots of visitors and simchas. We were running everywhere. It was wonderful and exhausting all at the same time. One aspect of all these visitors that we had a hard time accepting was and is people's reluctance to set foot over the greenline. Listen, we do understand on one level, it was our choice to live here not yours and there is a definite perception that people have of the increased "danger" in the "territories". On the other hand, it is hard for us to think that you won't come see us in our home or won't even examine the issues around it. The truth is that most of you , after spending a little time in Israel and seeing what really is and isn't have said you would come out. And those of you that only realized it too late this visit have said that next time, no question you are coming out. I would not feel right to convince anyone to come out...we try to present the facts as we know them and options re. how to get out here in a way that you feel comfortable and then the decision is up to you. Believe me please that we respectfully accept whatever decision you make , that doesn't mean it isn't hard when you say you are not coming. I always tell people that we are 10 minutes from Talpiyot, you don't have to drive through any Arab villages, that car shootings have been virtually non-existant in two years , and that if you are not comfortable in a car the gush bus is a private line that is bullet proof and will bring you right up into the yishuv. I also just remind people of the statistics of piguim and note that my feeling is that the cities are actually more dangerous than the highways out here. When people ask me if I feel in danger out here my response is "no more than anywhere else in the country" and unfortunately that is the reality of Israel , that wherever you are there is a definite risk of "incidents" and danger. That being said everyone has to find their comfort zone. A bunch of us "settlers" were talking about this issue and the "relativeness" of it. One woman was telling us how they were invited to a yishuv in the shomron (cannot remember which one) which is in a "more risky" neighbourhood, and her answer was that she didn't want to drive out there in her private car..........the woman who invited her was shocked and said " how can you say that, you yourself live over the greenline and drive back and forth to Jerusalem almost daily".......my friends answer was " that's different, that is just driving home from work not visiting." A similar incident just happened to me when the bat sheirut asked about organizing a shabbaton for the olim in Ofra. Would you like the kids to go by bus or can we take them in private cars?.......Well, uh, I would prefer a private bulletproof bus , to be quite honest?.....I started to chuckle and pointed out to her how bizarre my statement was.......I drive my kids back and forth to Jerusalem in my unprotected car and here I wanted a bus to go to Ofra (which we have driven to before in our car, to visit the Vanleewens).....sort of silly isn't it I ask her......no she said it's normal, everyone is comfortable or knows their Arab villages and the routes they need to take regularly, everything else is dangerous. Many people in this country take buses in the city, I am not ready for this and I have Yonatan take a taxi daily from school to the Tzomet where he would transfer to the gush bus or a tremp. That's just where I am ...I gave a lady a tremp a couple of weeks ago from the Yishuv........the bus routes have all changed and it is quite difficult to get into the downtown area, you now have to transfer in the city and take a city bus instead of the gush bus all the way. Anyways, she told me that until two months ago she would not take a city bus, then she decided it was crazy and expensive and "she turned off her mind" to the possibilities and now takes buses in the city, which she describes as built in entertainment and comedy. I am blabbling and I apologize, it is just that this issue is near and dear to my heart. I guess what I am staying is that you can all make your decisions and we will deal, but I am asking that you atleast examine the issues and look into ways of coming to visit that will make you feel more comfortable, don't make a blanket statement about not going over the greenline, wait until you are here and look into it and then decide.

SOOOOOOOOOOO it was with great pleasure and excitement that we received our visitors to the Gush.....first the Kleinbergs including Brian, Simmi, Eliana and Talya and shortly after the Steinman gang including Golda, Ned, Noam, Dini, and Yona .oh yeah and Moshe Ben Baruch.




Simmy, Brian, Eliana and Talia came out one morning one Chanukah. Darrell picked them up at the Pomsons and soon they were pulling up into our driveway. It was so great to see them!!!!!! And so nice to have them in our home and to show them around. We showed them the house and our new house, gave them a drive around tour of the yishuv. Then we were off the the sound and light show at Kfar Etzion. I stayed and watched it with them and Darrell did some errands. Now , Brian had just found out only weeks before that he had cousins who perished in the fight for Gush Etzion in '48 and he had just met their baby who had been sent out of the Gush to Jerusalem and survived his parents. so this film and area had new special meaning to Brian. We watched the movie and descended into the memorial. After it was over we began looking for his cousins names on the memorial and found them. The door to the theater opened and I looked outside for Darrell .....look Brian found his cousins on the memorial I called out........a woman at the desk looked up when she heard this and ran over.....who are your cousins?, Brian showed her, Tzippora and Yechiel Rosenfeld.......would you please come and sit with me , I want to talk with you.......I am Ora and I was the first baby of Kfar Etzion and I know your cousins. Wow, it was unbelievable. She came to the table with a pen and paper and asked Brian endless questions, wanting names and details. Then she finally told us her story and Brian's cousins story as she knew it. When all the women and children were sent out of gush etzion, brian's cousin Tzipporah would not leave her husband and sent her baby son Yossi in with the convoy with one of the single woman to take care of him. As it goes, both of Brian's cousins were survivors of the Shoa and had only been married a short time and were not willing to be apart. The battle for the Gush happened as it happened and both were killed in the battle. She told Brian that when the Arab's were interviewed about the battle , later on , there was a description of a blond woman who was firing from the window of the main building making the capture of kfar etzion more difficult and inflicting many casualties among the Arab Legion. No one was sure who this was but most suspect it was Tzipporah. She went on to describe what happened to Yossi , the baby ....that the single woman who was in charge of him gave him up to another family to take care of him and how to this day always wonders if she herself should have brought him up. I was blown away by the whole scene and first hand accounts of the unbelievable acts of heroism and the difficult situations which resulted. To hear of these unbelievably difficult decisions, I cannot even imagine. A man walked in to the room in the middle of the discussions..........these are Yossi's cousins, it was another "baby" from Kfar Etzion, it was really living history. Ora told us that her father survived the battle with an injury to his arm and they came back to Alon Shvut post-1967 to resume their lives in the gush. We were walking out of the building together, and I was overcome with emotion. Ora, I said, we are new olim living here in the Gush because of you and your family and their friends, it is only because of their sacrifices that we have the zchut to live here and I just want to say thank you to all of you for what you did for us! I don't know how I even got the words out of my mouth , and in hebrew too but it was important for me and an opportunity I would regret if I did not. She nodded, with watery eyes and I knew she understood how much I really meant it. Brian and I walked out of the building together and we were both crying, it was just so unbelievable and real.
Brian has told me that his cousins are mentioned in the book O'Jerusalem and that there is an amazing account of the battle for Gush Etzion. He said I should reference it to my readers.............I think that is all of you!


We continued on our tour of the Gush. We went to see the "Lone Tree" or the lonely tree as the incorrect English sign calls it. We drove through Alon Shvut and on our way to Efrat we stopped at the Etzion Judaica centre. Another cute story..........we told the lady who was serving us that we were from Toronto. It turns out that her family did shlichut in Toronto.....the Taburi's.....and her husband was Principal of Ohr Chaim. Anyways, we were talking about this one and that one........Simmi as you know is very good at this game........and she told us she taught at Eitz Chaim. She began to tell us about a grade 2 class that she will never forget until this day. And who do you think was the little boy who she really cannot forget.................Mordie Shields!..........."where is he and what is he doing?...don't tell me, I'm afraid to hear the answer" We assured her that little Mordie Shields had turned out just fine and was not in prison as she had feared!

Off we went to Efrat,
we drove through, stopping a couple of times to see the view and describe different sites. We drove back to Neve Daniel, stopped at our amazing bakery.......shiffon and came back to the house to have a quick bite.
Our visit was coming to an end and we were sad to say good-bye but felt really great about the day and the amazing experiences we had shared. We were very proud of Simmi! She was great! I drove the Kleinbergs back to Jerusalem and on the way Ariella called on Simmi's cell.!!! We are driving back to jerusalem from the Gush I heard simmi saying, we're just at the Machsom(checkpoint).........what Ariella said, mommie you went out to the Gush, without bulletproofing.......I don't believe it, Ariella was also proud! We passed through the Machsom and the Kleinbergs gave the soldier some goodies we had bought for them......Chag Sameach everyone yelled from the car. Chag Sameach the soldier called back.......we drove on in silence towards the tunnels.........."that was so meaningful and amazing" said little Eliana from the back








Only a few days later were we blessed with more visitors.......the Steinmans and Moshe Ben Baruch were coming out to spend a Friday in the Gush. We were especially proud of Golda as it was a hard thing for her to do and we know that she really went over and above to make the effort to come out despite her worries. We also knew that eventhough she wanted to see the area she was mostly doing it for us and wanted to see our home and support us. So I thank you for your efforts, you did make us feel very supported and it is so nice now when we speak that you really know what we are talking about..............THANK YOU!!

So I spoke to Golda on her cell from Moshe's Car on their way out. Yep, here we are , on our way out.....I could hear the tension in dear Golda's voice. Yep, on our way out.......uh Moshe, how long will it take and where are we going so I can tell the Shermans. Uh, Ruth, they aren't telling me anything.....I think it is a policy Moshe and Ned have adopted for the day! Okay, yeh, well I guess I will call you whenever we get wherever! Okay, that sounds like a plan for me....Golda don't worry , we'll meet up with you at wherever! Okay , good, good.........I'll call you from wherever. Moshe is a smart cookie,he took Golda to the Judaica Centre as a first stop! Nothing like a little browsing and shopping to calm the soul! We ended up meeting up with them at Kfar Etzion , the movie again! We greeted the Steinmans as they came out of the show. Golda , was already in a calmer state and kept saying how happy she was to be out here and how amazing and meaningful the movie was etc. etc. Moshe walked us around the kibbutz and showed us a few places that were important to the battle. He explained how important Gush Etzion was for the war of Independance and how Army stationed in the Golan were relying on the fighters of Gush Etzion to hold back the forces. We headed back out towards Kfar Etzion, of course to the Lonely tree again, it can't be so lonely, we had visited two times just this week! Moshe was taking us to Derech Avot! This is a walking path between Alon Shvut and neve Daniel, which is called derech Avot after our Avot (fathers) who walked this path. Avraham and Yitzchak walked here on their way to the akeida and Darrell jogs on it every erev shabbat. Again, everyone has their rules and comfort zones, and I had sort of taken the advise up until now, not to go on Derech Avot alone, and if you go to go with Neshek (gun)! Okay, we were not alone, we were all together, but we certainly did not have neshek. I was not going to bring up the issue with my good friend and really good sport Golda, so we continued on. Moshe took us out to a Mikva, which was from the time of the second Temple. People who were "holchei regel" walking up to the holy temple in Jerusalem would stop here on their way and purify themselves in this Mikva. Well in the middle of Moshe's drasha , a nice Arab shepperd and his grandson and his many goats or sheep or whatever they were began walking by. Well, I must say that Golda was amazing, despite her nervousness she managed not to go balistic and instead sat and pretended to listen to what Moshe was saying. The kids were jumping all around and having a grand old time. Of course, my husband who had gone down to the car to get something , stops beside the arab shepperd and begins to talk to him. I see the Arab saying something to him.......What's he saying to him Golda mutters in a not so affectionate tone.......why is he talking to him.....does he want to finish me off here? Darrell heads back," what did you ask him?" ......."I asked him how many goats does he have with him?" , "yeah, and what did he answer"........"I don't know, it was in Arabic!"......."maybe he said get off my land you stinking jew!"........"No, I don't think so, I would have heard that in the tone". Well, we all piled into the car and drove the rest of the way up to Neve Daniel....I had never done that before and it is a beautiful view! We stopped to eat at the Bakery and then took everyone down to see our new house. We stopped at the rental and then the Steinmans were off! Both Golda and Ned and of course the kids were so happy that they had come out and seen the Gush and we were so happy to have had them here. THANK YOU Guys!

(note the background in this picture..click on the picture to see Darrell's friend and his goats)

It was very cute, especially for those of you who know Moshe. When they left our we were standing outside the house to wave them off. Moshe went down the hill and they were all waving. I had told him to turn around and come back out the way they came in. So Darrell and I are standing there waiting to see them come back up and wave again..........you know like the Waltons,happy endings! So we are waiting and waiting and they just aren't coming. Darrell, I say, it's a dead end down there where could they be? Just when I was going to go in and call them or go down to find them, they come driving up the street. Where were you guys, it is a short little dead end street what took so long? Golda, looking, flabbergasted, was hufffing and pointing at Moshe............"He wanted to take his van, with my family in it up that steep. unpaved, small mountain...........partway up I decided that enough was enough and I am in charge............NOOOOOOOOOOOO.........I screamed, I am in charge here and we are not going up this mountain!" Moshe looked at me and said" she went crrrazy!.....it was just a little hill, why should we turn all the way around"............Bye y'all have a good trip back to yerushalayim we did our wave and went in to get ready for Shabbat!

In summary, we are waiting for all your visits with open arms and big smiles. We will show you around and try to give you a taste of what life really is here!