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Experiencing Israel fully in the course of one year is an exercise<br />
in futility. t-isri riK y’lwa yaipn p K This is the "built-in" frustration<br />
of the One-Year Program. At best one can catch a ray of immortailty; to<br />
expect more is to empty the sea in a bucket of sand.<br />
Although study at the University falls in the shadow of the larger<br />
reality of Israel, we hope the program served to deepen your insight and<br />
commitment to that larger reality. Students from abroad are one of the<br />
few but vital links with the world outside. Your continued contact and<br />
concern with Israel and the Hebrew University will strengthen that link<br />
which will forestall Israel's tendency to retreat into itself and counter<br />
the indifference of an embattled world.<br />
,mN“inn’7i nnVx p i<br />
Aaron M. Singer<br />
Assistant Dean<br />
One-Year Program<br />
2
3
This year means: the long summer nights chatting until 4 a.m. in the<br />
Elef; having to deal with tears shed over boyfriends and family across the<br />
ocean; waiting for the stragglers to catch-up during walking tours around<br />
Jerusalem; learning that being in Israel for over two years, whilst providing<br />
the impetus for self-discovery, dulled some facets of my cultural awareness;<br />
having toast, tomato juice and chocolate pudding for breakfast at 6 a.m.;<br />
floating on the Dead Sea; "The Harem"; a myriad of trunks under the noonday<br />
sun; having a "chocolate goop" fight whilst "boogeying" through the Sinai;<br />
spending a few lonely nights in Hadassah's Emergency Room with people who ate<br />
too much of the Old City's culinary delights or got bruised and bumped whilst<br />
exploring Jerusalem's hidden wonders; carrying an Lizzie or a World War II<br />
vintage rifle on University trips after facing arrest for civil disobedience<br />
at the Main Gate of an Air Force base in Massachusetts; trying to explain to<br />
the Israelis in my dorm why I invited Arab students to talk with newly-arrived<br />
Americans about the problem of integration at the University; telling a few<br />
people in University offices to "go to Hell" and being told to do likewise;<br />
pleading with the Head of Customs to give "student discounts"; wishing Jerry<br />
would decide not to go on a midnight tiyul to the Old City when I found out<br />
only two people signed-up; discussing the danger of becoming too egocentric<br />
in terms of my interaction with the kids in the Ulpan during a repentive chat<br />
with Yoram on Yom Kippur; the "gold plated bullhorn"; learning about "social<br />
process" from a mentor-friend; drawing schematic diagrams and looking at bored<br />
faces during Pipeline meetings; getting copies of THIS WEEK returned with red<br />
circles around the mistakes and cute little notes attached signed "I.R.";<br />
hearing "That's impossible" or "What do you expect, this is Israel" all too<br />
often; in a moment of anger reminding Dean Singer that he isn't a Sabra and<br />
things could be worked out; explaining my theories of social interaction to<br />
someone I'd later fall in love with; sometimes wishing people wouldn't know<br />
where I lived; feeling betrayed after a weekend seminar; telling profs in the<br />
English Department "Well, I didn't get the paper in on time because I had a<br />
meeting in Goldsmith "; eating "cubbeh" in Bet Jaan; falling asleep at a meeting<br />
of the madrichim; being told after every meeting that "it's time you spoke<br />
Hebrew"; and, finally, explaining to Judy that "something came up."<br />
That, in a sentence, is what this year as OYP madrich has meant to me.<br />
Moshe Margolin<br />
4
THE MADRICHIM<br />
D’D m n n<br />
s x j Q i i j n<br />
5
PIPELINE RIDES AGAIN<br />
During the summer U1pan, several people were asked to participate<br />
in what was to become the "Pipeline Committee". Tne group functioned<br />
as a representative body, providing feedback from the members<br />
of the OYP, presenting suggestions and criticism to the Madrichim<br />
and the OYP staff as well as working on special OYP projects.<br />
The following are extracts from a Pipeline Committee Meeting:<br />
Chevreh. This meeting will now come to order. We nave a lot to<br />
discuss tonight, including the final results of the People Power<br />
Project, Shmirah and an analysis of plans for the upcoming seminar.<br />
But first, what has the OYP Chevreh been thinking, lately?<br />
Moshe-<br />
Donna-<br />
Amy-<br />
Moshe-<br />
Lisa-<br />
Donna -<br />
Scott-<br />
Steve-<br />
Sandy-<br />
Generally, people seem to be quite satisfied.<br />
There was a suggestion to post all announcements in the dorms in<br />
English for those of us who are not quite the "Ptor" level and<br />
would like to know what's going on.<br />
Good idea. I can surely sympathize with that!<br />
Along the same lines, some of the older members of the OYP have<br />
been complaining that those announcements should be written in<br />
Yiddish as well as Hebrew and English.<br />
Another suggestion was that, to coincide with Ecology Day back in<br />
the States, we should organize a Garinim Shell Pickup and Recycling<br />
Day around the grounds of Goldsmith.<br />
It was proposed by some to have a "Summer Ulpan Rememberance Day."<br />
This day would be designed as a time to sit back, relax and think<br />
about the Good Old Days!<br />
Also, in response to our discussion last week about the Pita in the<br />
Goldsmith Cafeteria, if you go there at 8:00 A.M. when the cafeteria<br />
first opens, the Pita is really fresh and the workers even smile at<br />
you.<br />
One ex-JDL member proposed an Aliyah Day where every member of the<br />
OYP will be coerced into reciting an oath stating that he is at<br />
least considering making Aliyah within the next five years.<br />
6
Some big guy I met insisted that a chorus of "Meet the Mets"<br />
be sung ritually before every OYP softball game.<br />
Students from outside the New York Area are demanding that<br />
a mini-course be taught in Goldsmith entitled "How to prepare<br />
Hummos with two chick peas or less."<br />
Wally-<br />
Janet-<br />
Moshe-<br />
Amy-<br />
Debra-<br />
M oshe-<br />
Wal1y-<br />
Moshe-<br />
Amy-<br />
Judy-<br />
Moshe-<br />
Good Feedback work. I'll take those suggestions right to the<br />
top! But now down to some serious business___ I'm very pleased<br />
to say that our most important project has been completed:<br />
The People Power Project. As you all know well, the purpose of<br />
this endeavor has been to compile a list of skills of all members<br />
of the OYP. In case of war or intense state of alert, members of<br />
the OYP can now be organized, quickly and effectively and according<br />
to their skills, into various civilian jobs which were left<br />
undone due to military call-ups. (social work, crafts, drivers,<br />
first aid, etc.)<br />
Has everyone been contacted?<br />
Some of the students living in the city have been almost impossible<br />
to reach.<br />
But the great majority have registered their skills and indicated<br />
where they will be in case of alert.<br />
Now, in case of a large military call-up, I will be stationed<br />
at the Manpower Center of Jerusalem and each one of you will be<br />
stationed at the central offices of each of your dorms.<br />
Correct. When demands come into the central manpower office,<br />
Wally will relay the information to each of you at the dorms.<br />
You wi11 then be responsible for organizing everyone according<br />
to their skills and location of work.<br />
Wasn't there going to be special training sessions for truck<br />
drivers (and medical assistants)?<br />
Notices will be sent out next week for truck driver training.<br />
I think everything is clear. Let's just hope that we never have<br />
to use the project.<br />
It's getting late already so I recommend that we get together<br />
next week to meet with Dean Singer and also to discuss the<br />
7
David-<br />
Moshe-<br />
upcoming seminar, "Egged and the Jewish Question."<br />
Are there any comments?<br />
Yes. there has been a vicious rumor spreading throughout the<br />
Elef that toilet paper is not going to be distributed during<br />
the winter months. If so, it's going to be a long winter-<br />
Now they can go (Expletive Deleted).<br />
David Singer<br />
8
PIPELINE COMMITTEE<br />
Scott Cohen<br />
Domna Held<br />
Amy Hirshberg<br />
Debra Hivshberg<br />
Steve Greene<br />
Janet Kern<br />
Wally Klatch<br />
Judy Koliman<br />
Hina Massey<br />
David Singer<br />
Lisa Sinizer<br />
and<br />
Mo she Mccrgolin<br />
9
The University of California program brought together 43 students from<br />
various California educational institutions. After arriving in Israel, a<br />
segment of the group participated in a Kibbutz-Ulpan program under the auspices<br />
of Haifa University. This experience added diversity to the groups' activities.<br />
The U. of C. contingent organized a number of ti-yulim throughout the<br />
summer and during the academic year. These tours included visits to the Sinai,<br />
via a four-wheel drive Mercedes truck, an excursion through the West Bank,<br />
and hikes to Wadi Kelt and St. Georges Monastery.<br />
As well as participating jointly in the One-YearProgram activities, our<br />
group enjoyed a number of informal get-togethers, including a Thanksgiving<br />
dinner-party and other such events celebrating Chanukah andPurim. These<br />
festivities were marked by singing, dancing, and skits.<br />
One of the highlights of our program has been the UCAL Singing Group,<br />
which made its debut at the final Ulpan Party in October, and has continued<br />
to entertain at various benefits, and H. U. functions throughout the year.<br />
And finally, in order to provide a bit of intelledtual stimulus within our<br />
Chevra, we have had several forums to discuss pertinent ideas and experiences,<br />
including our present topic, "the moral-ideological-practical dimentions of<br />
returning to the States."<br />
All in all, the University of California program has had a successful<br />
experience in Israel, enjoining its own projects with those sponsered directly<br />
by Hebrew University and the 0. Y.P.<br />
10
From Arad to Bet Jaan<br />
The One Year Program conducted two Study-Tours during the year. The<br />
purpose of the tours was to give students an opportunity to gain insight<br />
into aspects of the Israeli scene not usually explored on regular University<br />
trips. The Study-Tour was a new concept for the OYP and as a result of the<br />
successes of the two experimental projects this year, a broader program of<br />
such tours is being planned for next year.<br />
The first Study-Tour dealt with Development Towns in Israel. The threeday<br />
program included tours and lectures in Dimona and Yerucham and a full-day<br />
seminar in Arad. Among the highlights of the Study-Tour were: a visit to the<br />
Kitan textile plant in Dimona; a discussion on the problems of Dimona at the<br />
Community Center; a tour of Dimona'sNew Immigrants' Center; an unexpected<br />
encounter with the Black Hebrews in Dimona; a tour conducted by volunteers from<br />
America of Yerucham's windowless grade school; lunch at Ein Avdat; a tour of<br />
Arad by one of it's founders; and a seminar which included a lecture on the<br />
aspects of security and economic development in Development Towns by a representative<br />
of the Ministry of Labor.<br />
The second Study-Tour gave thirty OYP students a rare opportunity to visit<br />
the Druze Sanctuary near Tiberias for the holiday of Nebi Shueib and spend a<br />
weekend with Druze families in Bet Jaan. The weekend was planned to give the<br />
student an opportunity to experience life in Bet Jaan and get a background in<br />
the customs and lifestyle of our hosts. Besides the information gained during<br />
the weekend, all of us were impressed with the hospitality and cuisine of Bet<br />
Jaan.<br />
Moshe Margolin<br />
11
crHjywa maw?* nu'oiaMwn<br />
n ,D D l l7U VJ JJ ]’33<br />
Vin ,i,a ,7ji,7 t d d jrn<br />
FMlFltlFfilWL.mvibsH,oi.MMU5AHM<br />
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yj*. GOLDSM ITH BUILDING<br />
' SCHOOLh.nOVERSEAS STUDENTS **
13
Sand, genial orchards, swarthy,greasy women, prickly pears,<br />
date trees; the climb to the Holy City in panting buses. Suddenly<br />
every heart beat violently. Walls, battlements, fortified gates;<br />
odor of dung, spices, and rotted fruit. White jelabs, fierce<br />
guttural voices. The shades of all the murdered prophets rose<br />
from the soil; the stones came to life and cried out, all<br />
covered with blood.<br />
JERUSALEM !<br />
Nikos Kazantzakis Report to Greco<br />
14
One day 3 as the vain stopped, as the clouds parted 3 and<br />
the sun shone bvightly thvough3 a rainbow formed above the<br />
northern hills.<br />
Resting gently against the clouds 3 the great arch<br />
spread forth its legs3 in a desperate attempt to take root on the<br />
small mountains 3 in order that it could remain 3 for just a<br />
short while 3 in Jerusalem's presence.<br />
Then 3 bumped by the clouds3<br />
the rainbow reluctantly took flight 3 and disappeared.<br />
Oh3 but<br />
for those few brief moments when beauty looked upon beauty3<br />
and saw that not even she3 with all her colours3 could compare<br />
with the City of Gold.<br />
Scott Staiman<br />
15
Put down the gun, pick up the backpack, a fried egg sitting in my<br />
stomach and off I went, to the desert. Riding, talking, looking, listening,<br />
looking through a dirty view finder, picking up rocks, learning, laughing,<br />
climbing, taking pictures, standing on anticlines looking at synclines, dams<br />
with no water behind them, a settlement that symbolizes a great man's dreams<br />
of life in the desert. A cistern from two thousand years ago carved in the side<br />
of a cliff, and water inside, and a tree growing there, in the middle of the<br />
Negev. Avdat; ruins, columns, caves, stairs, graves, cisterns, churches, walls<br />
and floors, wine presses, but no water, not that day. Farm; small plots more<br />
plants, more water, if stones are piled in the middle of the plot to allow for<br />
more runoff into more canals and more irrigation. Green on tan, dogs barking,<br />
cameras clicking, pens writing, feet walking, etc. A ghost town; with gazelles<br />
and a view; Mitzpeh Ramon, and its crater; rocks, red pink black white brown,blue<br />
sky white clouds, but no people, boarded up windows, grown over patios. Down<br />
into the maktesh, stop to take pictures, and the sun sets painting the sky<br />
purple over the colorful mountains of rock.<br />
Sleeping eating walking writing, Naha! Yael (danger radioactivity]<br />
rain collecting tubes with dead bees, rain guages-telemetric recording, multiple<br />
stage suspended sediment samplers (Hayim 7), painted rocks, marbles, rocks sit<br />
in a row on the side of a slope, rainfall runoff discharge stream gauge system,<br />
how fast? for how long? how much? once a year, once every 18 months that<br />
storm worth all this work/waiting. In the sun; climbing laughing taking pictures<br />
writing, feeling the desert the rocks, Triassic limestone, Jurassic sediments<br />
now rock, slate on granite. To the top, looking at the view, Eilat, Akaba, the<br />
gulf, the green of the kibbutz, the white of the hotels, and the many shades of<br />
red in the rock of the mountains facing us and the ones we're on. A nice day<br />
running down taking pictures running faster out in the mountains where nature won't<br />
let wo/man win, not here not yet. Nature feels it has to keep something out of<br />
the reach of our new-world ideas, progress won't be so easy here, against nature.<br />
In Neviot it worked, alluvium stores water and it was found, used, (one point for<br />
people). Cliffs with the past carved in them, record- of peoples stay in the<br />
desert, only the camels and the beduins remain today where once lived civilized,<br />
citified post-Cain man, and family.<br />
Back to the city with empty hommus cans sunflower seed shells sand in my<br />
shoes rocks in my pack, pictures to help me remember what the desert is like.<br />
Coming from green growing alive smooth quaint mellow sublime poetic New England<br />
with autumn leaves and winter snow and spring rain and summer sun/flowers, four<br />
16
seasons, and everything always changes, not like the desert, old stagnant, stable,<br />
harsh and dry.<br />
(Two nice stormy days here in the city, all that wasted water running<br />
down the streets into peoples basements/bomb shelters. The people turn off<br />
their lights and sleep not thinking of the world on the other side of the<br />
mountains.)<br />
And what a different world.<br />
Debra Hirshberg<br />
17
SEPTEMBER SONG--TIME AND TEMPO<br />
In the land of milk and honey<br />
where one needs patience and plenty of money<br />
It seems to me that it's all a bizarre dream<br />
an ice cream sundae with no whipped cream<br />
Chick-chack, fast-fast<br />
the Time ascends in smoke<br />
the Sabras whiz right past<br />
the Tempo is their Coke<br />
Yerushalaim<br />
the Holy City<br />
filled with beggars<br />
and nitty-gritty<br />
I keep on going and continue hoping<br />
that very soon I'll be coping— with life<br />
September 1, <strong>1974</strong><br />
Linda Chevkas<br />
July 11, <strong>1974</strong>--arrival at Ben Gurion airport--coming out<br />
of the dark, stuffy piane--bright hot sun strikes me.<br />
Suddenly, I feel as if I am about to tumble down the<br />
stairs, but somehow my legs support me, and slowly, using<br />
the handrail, I make my way to the bottom.<br />
Becky Gvonnev<br />
18
19
TALKING SUMMER ULPAN BLUES*<br />
Well I'm sitting here in Idelson<br />
Looking for a little fun<br />
Waiting for it to hit me in the face<br />
But I think this is just like the other place<br />
Shikun Ha Elef - Ha Caleb - What a dump.<br />
When I first got to the Holy Land<br />
I started looking around for all that sand<br />
But what's the first thing that I see<br />
But about ten thousand Uzzi<br />
im? - ot? Lo Hashuv.<br />
Now we had here four Madrichim<br />
Pretty nice folk, or so it seemed<br />
I gave to them all my trust<br />
'Cause the folks in New York said I must<br />
First Mistake!<br />
Then there was my second mistake<br />
I let one madrich my money take<br />
An hour goes by or maybe two<br />
And I don't know what to do<br />
But sit, on the bus,<br />
It was here I learned to cuss.<br />
(Madrich! You know who you are.)<br />
First day at my brand new school<br />
The same madrich says, "Let's take a Teoul"<br />
"I'll show you all there is to see"<br />
"All ya gotta do is walk like me."<br />
20
Well all I know is he walked fast<br />
And pretty soon I was last.<br />
And lost-in Mahane Yehuda-Just before Shabbos.<br />
Well it weren't so bad, and I was new<br />
But then there was something else to do<br />
They said all you gotta do is sign right here<br />
But somehow registration took a year<br />
Piles of paper - all in Hebrew - Oh Shit!<br />
But then I started my Ulpan class<br />
Learned my Hebrew hard and fast<br />
Out like a native it would come<br />
But somehow they always knew where I was from<br />
RRak RRega-Apho Ha Autobus? Ma?<br />
Once or twice a week at least<br />
We faced this talking mechanical beast<br />
It kept us captive an hour or so<br />
So after a week we just didn't go<br />
Ma'abada - "Pssst, you can hear Arabic at the end of the tape.<br />
Now I've been here the summer through<br />
And now I know just what to do<br />
I know how to act in a Zionist Land<br />
How to catch that- and get rid of that hand<br />
Bli yada'im, Buddy!<br />
And the summer here it weren't so bad<br />
I can think of worse times that I've had.<br />
*Sung to the "Talking Blues tune- Chords G-C-D<br />
Lisa Sinizev<br />
Naomi Proohovniok<br />
Shannon Eegavty<br />
21
23
Dark clouds hovor over the blessed Holy City of Jerusalem, mingling<br />
with each others' masses to form an all pervasive grey fog. I look out<br />
towards the Gate of Judgement where the Messiah may someday pass to the Temple<br />
Mount, now covered by the golden Dome of the Rock. As my eye surveys the<br />
landscape, that joyously familiar landscape in which I love every stone,<br />
every tree, and every person, an intense combination of rage and grief<br />
becomes acid frustration burning into my very soul. For war, the ultimate bane<br />
of all goodness, love, and civilization is once more rolling from his<br />
disgusting slough of a bed to see if humanity will again mate its Holy Queen<br />
Jerusalem with his debasing passions.<br />
The clouds grow yet darker and heavier. The cool dampness in the air makes<br />
one want to run and seek refuge in his bright warm home from the violent<br />
deluge which now approaches with unrelenting inevitability. Vet no one runs,<br />
nor hesitates, nor even interrupts his schedule of the day, since we are<br />
home already, and there is no place to go.<br />
Allan Goldfarb .<br />
24
FIRST IMPRESSIONS - The Old City<br />
Smells, sounds, sights, and the heat.<br />
Feelings of intense excitement-<br />
The first taste of an addition-<br />
Which has the potential of becoming a habit.<br />
Outside a tremendous circular wall,<br />
the beggars sit all day, the sun<br />
beaming on their crippled bodiesthey<br />
remain for what seems like eternity.<br />
You have not yet entered, but are in awe<br />
of the bigness and strength<br />
that the imposing structure before you<br />
displays.<br />
You penetrate - Walk through the gates.<br />
Immediately life changes. You are insecure<br />
from one step to the other puts you<br />
in a world so unknown, foreign, and<br />
a^little hostile that you are closed<br />
inside.<br />
You begin your amazing journey,<br />
so many people to deal with and the<br />
sun is beaming down on every persons<br />
back.<br />
The merchants at the beginningscreaming<br />
all their prices-<br />
"please buy mine" in their own special<br />
language. You casually eye their<br />
merchandise always looking.<br />
26
You are siezed by an overwhelming<br />
smell that prevails throughout. It isn't<br />
strong yet. You walk deeper, all the<br />
time realizing the inner intricacy of<br />
this walled-in city and you are amazed.<br />
A little deeper and you pass the sacred<br />
pipe being passed around endlessly.<br />
Even that little fire brewing in water,<br />
passed by men in black dresses makes<br />
you think of the intensity of the heat.<br />
You are very deep and you pass the dead<br />
carcasses of cattle, with flies on their<br />
every pore. You can't believe the smell<br />
and try to run to what you did not<br />
Know would be the eventual end<br />
of this journey. You remain locked<br />
within the walls.<br />
Finally, you reach a stop, it's more<br />
than before, the smell has almost vanished.<br />
You feel excited, almost as though<br />
you have been freed, a search by<br />
familiar voices, foreign faces and<br />
hands, but familiar voices - so alright.<br />
You walk a few feet more and the sight<br />
you behold is exquisite. You are looking<br />
down on a tremendous segment of a<br />
stone wall, centuries old, split in two<br />
sides. You finally get the courage to<br />
step down and walk closer, the whole<br />
journey you've just completed slips<br />
through your memory now and you are<br />
captured by the wall.<br />
27
You see an old women crying bitterly,<br />
clutching on the stone, in any crevice,<br />
seemingly holding on to the last piece<br />
of something tangible. She justs sobs<br />
and weeps- nothing on earth can effect<br />
her, she is lost in her own thoughtsterrible<br />
as they are.<br />
You touch it- you have reached it.<br />
You arrive at a strange feeling of not<br />
knowing what to do and it becomes an<br />
ultimate decision. You just stand and<br />
become lost in your thoughts, although<br />
only those of your immediate situation<br />
effect you now.<br />
You stand back, sit down, watch people,<br />
and their reactions to the wall,<br />
capturing the images to keep forever<br />
in your mind. You go to leave and<br />
your freedom leaves with you. You<br />
don't look back, you've taken what<br />
you could take, and you have that<br />
to keep.<br />
The journey back is short, you make the<br />
transition once again from familiar to<br />
unfamiliar, but this time you don't look.<br />
You are not aware of the merchants and<br />
their wares, the dead animals, the smell.<br />
You know the path, you have already travelled<br />
it before. The people are literally pushed<br />
out of your way and you finally take the<br />
last step.<br />
28
You are outside once more, secure and<br />
stable, you know the ground under your feet.<br />
You have experienced something too vast<br />
to understand- only later will the fullness<br />
really set in.<br />
You are tired, you become aware of the sun<br />
again, you pass the beggars once more.<br />
Now you are on your way home,<br />
carrying with you one more life<br />
experience, one more short journey<br />
inside of a large one that makes you<br />
aware of your real existence.<br />
J.K.<br />
29
A Poem<br />
When things are rough,<br />
And all seems down;<br />
When dreams<br />
Somehow<br />
Become nightmares,<br />
And all<br />
Goes wrong;<br />
When you find it<br />
Difficult to smile,<br />
And impossible<br />
To cry;<br />
When words<br />
Seem<br />
Meaningless,<br />
Thoughts--<br />
Fruitless<br />
Feelings--<br />
Senseless;<br />
When you1re<br />
Angered<br />
By those<br />
Around you,<br />
And by<br />
The<br />
Insensitivity<br />
Of those<br />
You've<br />
Thought<br />
As friends:<br />
Know there<br />
Are those<br />
Who<br />
Have shoulders<br />
To share.<br />
Look into their<br />
Eyes<br />
And<br />
Know they really<br />
Care<br />
For they<br />
Are friends....<br />
Yoel Abells<br />
30
Out of the Closet and into the Rehov<br />
I am a Lesbian (there — I thought that would get your attention). Why<br />
now, after all this time, am I writing this? I'm still not sure. Perhaps<br />
as a means of trying to raise the awareness of anyone who might read this; perhaps<br />
as a catharsis for my own angers and sorrows and frustrations which have<br />
been building all year; or perhaps just to salvage what might be left of my own<br />
dignity after a year of hiding and lying.<br />
underlying psychological motives, I feel this needs writing.<br />
frightened--I1d be a fool if I weren't.<br />
to this will be.<br />
Well, whatever the reasons and deep<br />
Even now I'm<br />
I have no way of knowing what reaction<br />
Will I be ostracized? Probably, at least to some degree.<br />
Will I be asked strange questions by the curious straight? No doubt.<br />
I lose my roommate? Why not? I lost my first roommate that way, last summer<br />
when she freaked out (did she think I was going to rape her? Probably) and<br />
went running to our madrich who in turn came running to me one midnight with<br />
Gestapo tactics that still cause me to tremble occasionally (maybe he<br />
thought I was going to rape her too.<br />
Will<br />
Who knows?). Will straight men start<br />
coming on to me? Possibly--apparently making it with a Lesbian is a favorite<br />
fantasy.<br />
So am I being crazy, to risk all this now, when it's so close to<br />
the end; when I can almost go home and pretend this year never happened?<br />
No.<br />
Because it did happen, and is happening, and if I'm to go<br />
on living with myself I must deal with that fact as best I can.<br />
I arrived<br />
here an incredibly naive dyke, having no knowledge of what living in hiding<br />
meant; I'm leaving with a strain of bitterness that is new to me.<br />
In a society<br />
as marriage-and-family-oriented as Israeli society is, the possibility of Lesbianism<br />
isn't even considered.<br />
in, to allay suspicions.<br />
life much harder and more oppressive.<br />
of silence, to approach the subject.<br />
On one level that makes life easier--to hide, to fit<br />
But on another, and more important level, it makes<br />
It's much harder to break the conspiracy<br />
Because of the silence there's no real<br />
social knowledge of reactions (other than religious and legal), and thus I was<br />
forced to live in a vacuum, often suspecting there wasn't another dyke in the<br />
land, which did nothing to decrease my fears and paranoias.<br />
comfortable way to live.<br />
with any men who became interested in me.<br />
It is not a<br />
There was also, of course, no dignified way to deal<br />
I guessed early--and rightly too,<br />
I think--that a line like "Sorry, but you're the wrong sex" simply would not go<br />
31
over here, and so I resorted once again to lying, usually about the boyfriend<br />
back home. I've often wondered if I've added to my own oppression by helping<br />
others to deny my existence; by allowing the myth to continue that because<br />
we're hidden, Lesbians don't exist in Israel. But I'm an individual, and not<br />
all that strong a one at that. It was hard enough being a feminist in Israel;<br />
there didn't (and still doesn't) appear to be room here for a Lesbian/feminist.<br />
No matter what the publicity, Israel is not a country that embraces all Jews<br />
and welcomes them home, and it hurts every time I realize that. I have never<br />
felt as alone as I have felt this year, surrounded completely by my fellow<br />
Jews. I have made many good, close friends, most of whom already know I'm a<br />
Lesbian; but excepting a few gay friends (mostly male), none of them can really<br />
understand what I'm going through. How can they? There's nothing they can<br />
relate it to in their own lives--the special pain of being a Jewish Lesbian<br />
in Israel.<br />
This may read like a cry for pity— it isn't. Neither is it<br />
an apology or a begging for tolerance. It is simply a statement of fact: I<br />
am leaving Israel, very possibly for good, having had it enforced on me daily and<br />
in countless little ways that the "Jewish" in me is negated here by the<br />
"Lesbian" in me^-that Israel will never truly be the home for all Jews until<br />
she stops driving me and others like me away with her own form of anti-semitism.<br />
Naomi, Pvochovnick<br />
Z2
"We regard the PLO as the overall<br />
umbrella organization of the Palestinians."<br />
Joseph Sisco3Ass't Secretary of State - USA<br />
Nov. 20j <strong>1974</strong><br />
A gray billow covering all, as far as the eye can see<br />
Oblique, enclosing all, from within there is no way out<br />
A barrier, enclosing evil, supressing good, encouraging blindness<br />
A chamber of he!1.<br />
I cry out for light<br />
For a crack in the wall<br />
For humanism I plead<br />
Yet I fear the worst.<br />
It never will be<br />
For all are deaf to my voice.<br />
Is it brainwashing,<br />
Or inbred in genes,<br />
Or a withering of life?<br />
Why must it be?<br />
I fear not bullets or bombs.<br />
I fear not Arab extremes.<br />
But I shiver and shake<br />
At the voices of others;<br />
Their thoughts devistate;<br />
They annihilate.<br />
We are in the midst<br />
Of a Holocaust.<br />
A unified action of Barbarism-<br />
Destruction of a People.<br />
Ovens not needed<br />
First we will drown in our blood.<br />
David Wilder<br />
33
Shuffling of shoes, ruffling of pages<br />
Bored moans and shrugs of helplessness<br />
Intellectuals with pipes and mustaches<br />
Intellectuals with blue jeans and earth shoes.<br />
Beaky Gvonner<br />
34
35
The siren sounded a 8:00 in the morning. Moving vehicles paused in their<br />
tracks, people stopped activity or awoke and stood quietly.<br />
and a hush descended upon the whole of the country for two minutes.<br />
All movement ceased<br />
So was ushered in Yom HaShoah or Holocaust Day. Services were held around<br />
the country in remembrance of the millions of Jews murdered during<br />
World Wac II.<br />
Throngs crowded Yad Vashem, the museum in Jerusalem dedicated to the commemoration<br />
and researching of the Holocaust.<br />
I went with a group of American students to the Forest of the Six Million;<br />
it is spread among the Judean Hills, near an area where many soldiers died in<br />
the 1948 War of Independence while trying to open the road to besieged Jerusalem.<br />
Holding candles, we entered a manmade cave and chanted the Kaddish after singing<br />
the haunting Ani Ma'amin -<br />
I Believe. We then climbbd a hill, upon which stood<br />
the magnificent sculpture "Megillat HaEsh" -Scroll of Fire, forged out of despair<br />
and hope by a Polish Jew who lost his entire family in the flames of German<br />
savagery.<br />
During our Pesach vacation, a girlfriend and I travelled to Europe with<br />
a Jewish travel book in hand. Amsterdam - a thriving Jewish community in the<br />
18th and 19th centuries; now over 12,000 Jews, in 1941 well over 79,300.<br />
We meet Anton Witsel, a non-Jewish painter of Jewish subjects, most concerning<br />
the Holocaust.<br />
He helped Jews during World War II and saved the Anne Frank<br />
House from demolishment by moving in with his family.<br />
The faces of Jews in<br />
concentration camps or in hiding stare at you from the paintings crowding the<br />
room.<br />
Countless eyes mirroring resignation, sadness, bewilderment,bitterness,<br />
hope faith. An old man hugs a Torah with the expression of infinite joy; Anne<br />
Frank gazes longingly out the window of her refuge. And Witsel's eyes show what?<br />
Is it wisdom, hope,determination, tenderness or all four? Whichever, it is not<br />
tiredness.<br />
We walk through the Jewish ghetto where Jews live no more (most of those<br />
remaining have moved out to the suburbs) and tour the Anne Frank House with its<br />
momentos of past happiness and tragedy.<br />
We pass through Germany by train and see through the window the old Rhine<br />
communities where Jews perished in an earlier Holocaust during the Crusades.<br />
In these towns flourished a highly learned Jewish civilization during the 10th<br />
and 11th centuries.<br />
36
Durinq an hour stopover in Nuremberg, I can't help but wonder if each older<br />
person I see killed innocent people either by his actions or his silence.<br />
Next stop - Prague: red stars and Communist slogans adorning buildings;<br />
Communist party chiefs with stiff gait in green uniforms trimmed in red;<br />
thick inescapable industrial filth that sticks to your skin and grays the<br />
once lovely perusing dull, make-believe displays in the shop windows.<br />
Prague! the majestic, the mysterious, the cultured - slfght glimmers<br />
linger on but flicker between life and death. And the Jewish Town - renowned<br />
center of Jewish life and learning and culture for centuries. Jews have<br />
lived in Prague for over 1000 years. The cold of the old synagogues preserved<br />
by the state chills the soul; the precious Hebrew manuscripts are but printed<br />
paper in their sterility; the over-crowded Jewish cemetary begun in the 15th<br />
century and no longer in use stands forlorn and whispers, "Leave, leave this<br />
city of death. We must remain as testimony. You have seen, now leave and<br />
live, but let no one forget." And tears form in the eyes of a centuries-old<br />
Jewish woman (who directs tourists for the state) when she learns we are<br />
Jewish, but she dare not speak her mind. She only shispers, "Shalom!"<br />
We leave quickly this city, which fascinates, but depresses more. Upon<br />
reaching Austria, we breathe the fresh air of freedom and exult; yet we have<br />
added a touch of wisdom to our souvenirs.<br />
Vienna is elegant, sophisticated, magnificent; cultured Vienna of music,<br />
music, and music. The Jewish travel guide strains to find things of Jewish<br />
interest. All but one of 59 synagogues were destroyed by the Nazis. In<br />
World of Yesterday Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) wrote, "Nine - tenths of what the<br />
world celebrated as Viennese culture in the 19th century was promoted, nourished,<br />
and created by Viennese Jewery." About 12,000 Jews reside in Vienna; in 1936<br />
the Jewish community of 176,034 was the third largest in Europe.<br />
Short stay in quaint Salzburg, then on to Venice, Italy.<br />
From German and Italian Fascist persecutions immediately preceding<br />
and during World War II, Italian Jewry's numbers were cut by about 40 per centby<br />
deportations (most of the deportees eventually died), conversion, and<br />
emigration. The persecution indirectly caused a sharp decline in birth and<br />
marriage rates.<br />
Enchanting, gay Venice. We feel at home; the liveliness and loudness<br />
remind us of Israel. Mailmen, clerks, gondolier drivers break out into<br />
voluptuous song; hands fly and tempers flare; laughter abounds. We go to<br />
37
the old Jewish ghetto and the new Jewish ghetto and the very new Jewish ghetto,<br />
all separated from the rest of the city and reached by passageway. One<br />
synagogue remains in use but all is closed, even the museum, when we come.<br />
One young boy playing in the courtyard greets us with "Shalom." Crumbling<br />
buildings, black cats that eye you suspiciously.<br />
Jews first arrived in 1090; the community became the financial heart<br />
of Venice's great trading operations. Nourishing the arts and sciences, it<br />
developed a rich cultural life, reaching its peak in the 16th century.<br />
About 1000 Jews remain, a largely assimilated, aging group with intermarriage<br />
at a rate of over 50 per cent.<br />
Almost the same statistics describe the Jewish community of Florence,<br />
the next city we visited. Lovely Florence, city of art; a magnificant<br />
synagogue which remains closed and empty most of the time. The Jewish community<br />
thrived in business and culture under Medici protection in the 15th and<br />
16th centuries.<br />
In Rome, the main synagogue's interior is the most beautiful I've ever<br />
seen. We ask to be accomodated for a Seder but families are not interested.<br />
The Seder to most is not very important, as a young Italian Jewess confirms<br />
(who is flying to Israel to spend Pesach with relatives). The Roman Jewish<br />
community of around 15,000 does, however, have much more communal life than<br />
elsewhere in Italy. It is the oldest in Europe; Jews have lived in Rome<br />
continuously since 161 B.C.E. and developed there a flourishing artistic and<br />
intellectual life. Compared to the other European citied we visited, Rome's<br />
Jewry thrives.<br />
We change our flight so we may be in Israel for the Seder. With<br />
revived spirits from our flight on El A1, we return to our beloved Jerusalem<br />
and enjoy a lovely Seder with our advisor's family, American immigrants.<br />
The abysmal silence of dead Jewish communities shatters our hearts and<br />
we realize more poignantly the major reason for the existence of a Jewish State.<br />
Karen Tucker<br />
38
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33
HANUKA<br />
The candles lit, a blessing said, and the magic spirit<br />
begins to flow out:<br />
Flickering tiny flames unite in their task to softly<br />
light the room with love and hope and memories<br />
of a time when a war was won, but more important,<br />
the miracle that it was remembered.<br />
I become part of our long past, my head swirls with<br />
its enormity...<br />
I am in Spain and I know the glorious fire of a Golden Age;<br />
The cold wind blows about a lonely Russian town<br />
as I kindle the flame of Zion.<br />
I an at once in a small ghetto room in Germany<br />
and I see the distant lights of hope;<br />
and in Israel I light the candles of love<br />
for the world in spite of itself.<br />
But the children's eyes-those wide stares with<br />
large dark pupils that reflect the playing lights!<br />
Eyes that have never changed in wonder<br />
nor intensity throughout the Ages.<br />
It is they who taste the Holiday cakes, hear the songs,<br />
feel the ancient Joy, and sense the Truth.<br />
Sparks from the candles ignite a flame in their hearts-<br />
And truly the People of Israel Live on.<br />
Allan Goldfavb<br />
Snow swirling against the lights of the ear,<br />
Like small darts of fireworks going in the<br />
wrong direction.<br />
Dark slushly streets bring back memories of home,<br />
And small brown army jeeps bring me back<br />
to the present.<br />
Beaky Gronnev<br />
40
41
The Eyes of an Old Man<br />
I once<br />
Looked into the eyes<br />
Of an old man,<br />
And cried,<br />
Because,<br />
In those eyes,<br />
I saw myself.<br />
I saw<br />
What I was,<br />
What I am<br />
And what I will be.<br />
I once<br />
Searched into the eyes<br />
Of an old man,<br />
And trembled.<br />
For those eyes<br />
Burdened me<br />
With their laughter.<br />
Tney mocked me,<br />
Making me aware<br />
That<br />
The shackles<br />
Of my existence<br />
Still bound me<br />
T o a world<br />
Which possessed my soul.<br />
I once<br />
Gazed into the eyes<br />
Of an old man<br />
And saw in .them<br />
The tears<br />
Of mankind;<br />
The pain<br />
Of those<br />
Who suffered;<br />
The broken-down bodies<br />
0 f those<br />
Who were governed,<br />
The sneers<br />
Of those<br />
Who ruled.<br />
The cries<br />
Of those<br />
Who died,<br />
And the sighs<br />
0 f those<br />
Who never 1ived...<br />
1 once<br />
Peered into the eyes<br />
Of an old man,<br />
And was swept up<br />
I nto<br />
A ballet of 1ife--<br />
An intangible series<br />
Of uncertain<br />
M ovements,<br />
Graceful,<br />
Yet clumsy;<br />
A co Ilection<br />
Of mismatched moments<br />
Each leading nowhere,<br />
Y et,<br />
Each
Spelling out<br />
Why--<br />
A tale<br />
But could not<br />
I had hoped<br />
A man<br />
To ignore.<br />
Who asked<br />
Questions,<br />
...A tear appeared<br />
Which<br />
In the old man's eye,<br />
Would<br />
And,<br />
Never<br />
As it slowly<br />
Be answered.<br />
Made its way<br />
11 was<br />
Along those wrinkles<br />
The<br />
Which<br />
Salty droplet<br />
Formed<br />
Of<br />
His face,<br />
A<br />
I laughed.<br />
Bi tter<br />
Indeed,<br />
01d man,<br />
I laughed<br />
Who<br />
So hard,<br />
Had suffered<br />
I cried<br />
S',much<br />
For<br />
That<br />
I was confused...<br />
He had become<br />
0 blivious,<br />
... It was Indi fferent<br />
The tear<br />
Towards<br />
Of a child,<br />
Li fe.<br />
Sad,<br />
A man<br />
Because<br />
Who longed<br />
A<br />
For<br />
Cherished toy<br />
The day,<br />
Had been broken--<br />
When<br />
It would never be repaired.<br />
His soul,<br />
It belonged<br />
Woul d<br />
To a young man<br />
Leave<br />
Who tried,<br />
The confines<br />
In vain,<br />
Of<br />
To determine<br />
His<br />
44
Painfully<br />
Sore body<br />
And<br />
Find the<br />
Peace<br />
It had never<br />
E njoyed...<br />
And now,<br />
Those<br />
Eyes<br />
Bore<br />
Deep<br />
Into my<br />
Soul,<br />
They<br />
Pierced<br />
My heart,<br />
They<br />
Burned<br />
My insides,<br />
Till<br />
I<br />
Became<br />
Nothing<br />
More<br />
Than<br />
A shel1.<br />
"You<br />
Must live”'<br />
They said,<br />
"For<br />
Only then<br />
Will<br />
You<br />
Deserve<br />
To die.<br />
You<br />
Must<br />
Suffer,<br />
For<br />
Only<br />
Then<br />
Wi 11<br />
You<br />
Have<br />
Lived.<br />
But,<br />
You<br />
Must learn<br />
To smile<br />
For<br />
Only<br />
Then<br />
Will you<br />
Be born..."<br />
Frantically<br />
I tried<br />
To turn away<br />
From those eyes<br />
Who's haunting<br />
L ook<br />
Captivated me.<br />
Till now<br />
I<br />
Had been<br />
The child<br />
Of his<br />
Nightmares,<br />
The inheritor<br />
Of his dreams,<br />
45
For he was<br />
Mi sunderstood.<br />
My possessor,<br />
It<br />
And I<br />
Crept<br />
Was possessed;<br />
Through me,<br />
He was the potter.<br />
Li ke<br />
I, A<br />
His clay;<br />
Cancer<br />
PI iable,<br />
Destroying<br />
Lifeless,<br />
The dreams,<br />
Yielding.<br />
I<br />
His<br />
Strove<br />
Slightest glance<br />
To retain.<br />
Molded me<br />
I<br />
Into a million<br />
Searched<br />
Grotesque<br />
For<br />
Shapes--<br />
A<br />
My<br />
Soothi ng<br />
Only hope<br />
Lie,<br />
Was to be<br />
But found<br />
Shattered<br />
None.<br />
And<br />
All<br />
Ignored.<br />
I<br />
Could<br />
Enough,<br />
Do<br />
I could<br />
Was<br />
No longer<br />
Plea<br />
Bear<br />
For<br />
The truth.<br />
The<br />
It Tormented<br />
Power<br />
Me,<br />
To<br />
Making me<br />
Deny.<br />
A casualty<br />
To<br />
Suddenly,<br />
A<br />
My grief<br />
Life<br />
Seemed<br />
I<br />
To provide<br />
46
Me<br />
With<br />
An inexplicable<br />
Strength,<br />
A will<br />
To disclaim<br />
The old man's<br />
Reali ty.<br />
For now,<br />
I became<br />
The prophet,<br />
The soothsayer,<br />
The fortune-teller,<br />
The reader<br />
Of palms,<br />
Of minds,<br />
And everything else.<br />
But,<br />
I was more,<br />
For<br />
I was<br />
A parasite.<br />
I possessed<br />
The power<br />
To sap<br />
His strength,<br />
To peruse<br />
His mind,<br />
And,<br />
To rob<br />
His soul.<br />
The light<br />
Which<br />
B1azed<br />
From<br />
His eyes,<br />
No longer<br />
Held me<br />
In its<br />
Grasp.<br />
Instead,<br />
It<br />
Reflected<br />
Tal es<br />
Of years<br />
Gone by.<br />
As the pages<br />
Of his<br />
Life<br />
Unvield<br />
Themselves<br />
Before me,<br />
I envisioned<br />
How he<br />
Had once,<br />
Borne<br />
The will<br />
Of all<br />
Young men;<br />
How<br />
He had once<br />
Longed<br />
For<br />
The might,<br />
The wisdom,<br />
And the courage,<br />
To understand.<br />
Yet,<br />
He was<br />
47
N o more<br />
Than<br />
A<br />
Weakly<br />
And<br />
B1 ind<br />
Samson,<br />
A<br />
Young<br />
And<br />
Demented<br />
Solomon,<br />
A<br />
Frail<br />
And<br />
Cowardly<br />
David.<br />
Indeed,<br />
He had hoped<br />
For more,<br />
For<br />
He wished<br />
That he,<br />
Like<br />
Elijah<br />
The prophet,<br />
Could die,<br />
Yet live,<br />
And ride<br />
In a chariot<br />
Of God,<br />
Towards<br />
A world<br />
Of immortality.<br />
I could tell<br />
That<br />
He had<br />
Been crucified,<br />
Burned<br />
At the stake,<br />
Mocked at,<br />
Scorned<br />
Deemed a heretic,<br />
And<br />
A<br />
Common criminal.<br />
I could see<br />
That<br />
He was<br />
A Jew,<br />
A Gentile,<br />
A Bhuddist,<br />
An Atheist,<br />
An Agnostic,<br />
A saint,<br />
Yet<br />
A sinner;<br />
He<br />
Was<br />
A worshipper,<br />
Yet,<br />
He was God;<br />
He<br />
Was<br />
The Messiah,<br />
A leader,<br />
Yet,<br />
He was<br />
A follower.<br />
48
He was<br />
A man,<br />
Yet,<br />
He<br />
Was<br />
N othing.<br />
Having<br />
The upper hand,<br />
I<br />
Taunted him.<br />
I<br />
Laughed<br />
At his<br />
Ancient<br />
Self.<br />
"You are<br />
An old fool,"<br />
I said,<br />
"Look at me;<br />
I am young,<br />
But,<br />
I<br />
am wise.<br />
You have<br />
Taught me<br />
Very much,<br />
But,<br />
This amounts<br />
To very little.<br />
Your lessons<br />
Are illusions,<br />
And<br />
They<br />
Bear<br />
No truths.<br />
Your parables<br />
Form<br />
Senseless<br />
Paradoxes.<br />
You are<br />
The happiest man<br />
I have ever<br />
Seen,<br />
Yet,<br />
You<br />
Are<br />
The saddest.<br />
It<br />
Is you<br />
Who<br />
Is confused,<br />
And<br />
Not I.<br />
So,<br />
Stay away<br />
Old man.<br />
Return<br />
To your<br />
Place<br />
In the ground.<br />
Return<br />
To the<br />
Dust<br />
From whence<br />
You came,<br />
To the land<br />
Which<br />
Brought<br />
You up,<br />
In disgust..."<br />
49
...But<br />
N ow,<br />
I was drawn,<br />
Once again,<br />
To the tear.<br />
It had become<br />
A drop<br />
Of blood,<br />
And,<br />
As it fell<br />
Down<br />
Along<br />
His face,<br />
It seemed<br />
As if<br />
It contained<br />
A multitude<br />
Of tiny knives,<br />
Each<br />
Leaving<br />
A<br />
Small cut behind,<br />
From whence<br />
A new drop<br />
Flowed.<br />
And,<br />
All at once,<br />
Each bloody droplet,<br />
Cried<br />
For revenge.<br />
Each tear<br />
Became<br />
A judge,<br />
A jury,<br />
And a prosecutor.<br />
Each drop<br />
Pointed<br />
Accusingly<br />
In the direction<br />
Of the defendent,<br />
Who sat,<br />
Motionless,<br />
Lifeless,<br />
Obscured<br />
By<br />
The history<br />
He had forsaken.<br />
I could not<br />
Tell<br />
Who he was,<br />
But,<br />
N evertheless,<br />
I<br />
Pitied him,<br />
For<br />
His fate<br />
Was a forgone<br />
Conclusion...<br />
Suddenly,<br />
As if<br />
Overtaken<br />
By some virus,<br />
I began<br />
To feel weak.<br />
I<br />
Felt<br />
As if<br />
I was<br />
Inside-<br />
Out.<br />
50
My legs Indeed, But<br />
Could It could not, I knew.<br />
No longer Be my face, I now<br />
Bear the burden For Realized<br />
Of my Its contours That<br />
Body. Were It<br />
Was this N ot Was<br />
To be At all, I,<br />
The Familiar. I<br />
Outcome But, Who was<br />
Of the power If not mine The<br />
I momentarily Then Old Man.<br />
Commanded?<br />
Whose<br />
Would<br />
Could<br />
I, It be?<br />
Once more,<br />
Slowly,<br />
Fall prey<br />
I<br />
To the trap Lowered Joe l Abells<br />
Created<br />
My hands<br />
By<br />
Cautiously<br />
Those eyes<br />
Searching<br />
I wished<br />
For<br />
To<br />
My<br />
Avoid?<br />
Mirrored<br />
I<br />
Image<br />
Covered<br />
In<br />
My face,<br />
The old man's<br />
To shelter it,<br />
Eyes.<br />
From<br />
And then<br />
The arms<br />
I knew.<br />
Of<br />
I<br />
His glance.<br />
Was startled,<br />
But,<br />
And<br />
This was not,<br />
I was scared,<br />
51
tr^iinv<br />
d i*?u;<br />
t d<br />
D'TW v w b<br />
□ v bw<br />
nbiuri<br />
niDW^ DD3 IN<br />
u n<br />
i n n un<br />
□"DJ U N<br />
ini in*?<br />
*?Niin<br />
]V2 p,s*<br />
‘’I'T^n 7 n-
n'Vc'i-i-<br />
JER U S A LE M j ^ j MUNICIPALITY<br />
CITIZENS OF JER U S ALEM !<br />
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES O f AMERICA<br />
mr. RICHARD M . NIXON<br />
A TRUE FRIEND OF OUR COUNTRY, IS DUE<br />
TO COME TO ISRAEL FOR A STATE VISIT,<br />
MR. NIXON WILL ARRIVE IN JERUSALEM<br />
ON SUNDAY. JUNE 16 .19 74 AT 4 P J L<br />
CITIZENS OF OUR CAPITAL!<br />
LET US ALL WELCOME AND APPLAUD OUR DISTINGUISHED<br />
GUEST AS HE PROCEEDS ALONG THE STREETS 8F OUR CITY<br />
& SEPARATE ANNOUNCEMENT WILL BE MADE IN THE PRESS AND OR<br />
THE RADIO RELATING TO THE EXACT ROUTE OF OUR GUEST<br />
TEDDY KOLLEK<br />
S3
Do you remember...<br />
...thinking about how long a year in Israel would be?<br />
...your first falafel?<br />
..."hey, Motek!"?<br />
...your first Egged bus ride?<br />
...the first time you went to a movie in Jerusalem on a<br />
Saturday night?<br />
...when you found out you were supposed to save that little ticket<br />
the bus driver insisted on giving you?<br />
...Shikunei ha-Elef?<br />
..."'Alio, 'alio, 'alio, you student?...I give you special<br />
price!"?<br />
...how many Summer Ulpan classes you skipped?<br />
...going to Machane Yehuda for the first time?<br />
...when you went on your first tiyul and you were anxious to<br />
get back "home" to Jerusalem?<br />
...the Watergate Affair's end?<br />
...the first time you used an Israeli phone?<br />
Steve Love<br />
Running down the steps to catch the 9:20<br />
As I hand over<br />
to be punched<br />
the bus driver qazes into mv eves and<br />
murmurs<br />
Plopping down on any available seat<br />
before the bus whips around a dangerous curve<br />
I quickly skim the seats for familiar faces.<br />
Finding none, I settle down to contemplate<br />
the new day.<br />
e<br />
Beaky Gvonner
HANITA<br />
I see sunrise fiery crimson<br />
Mellow orange dominating<br />
Sky clouds mountain<br />
Upon which I Stand-<br />
All Present All Changing<br />
I gaze at fertile fields<br />
Banana grapefruit cotton<br />
Painted green brown wide-<br />
Hand of Gentleness Watches<br />
There! Forest on mountaintop<br />
Rugged mountains protruding rocks<br />
Stubborn windswept pines<br />
Noises of birds animals<br />
Reverberate across valley-<br />
Wild virgin Northern mountains<br />
Revolution of Creation<br />
Sea of distant misty blue green<br />
Very old wrinkled with waves<br />
Always fresh alive giving-<br />
All in me for me of me.<br />
We Are One<br />
The houses cling to the hills of Jerusalem, pressing against the bare<br />
rock and scrub asjf seeking protection and security from a long hostile world.<br />
The birds chirp and a dog barks in the distance. The sun slowly<br />
builds up strength for the long hot day as the night reluctantly evaporates<br />
from the hills. A bluish-purple haze covers the distance, while the<br />
houses rush to have their windows filled with the golden morning sunshine.<br />
As I turn to see a bird, loudly celebrating the new day beside me,<br />
he darts off, and the hills of,Jerusalem become bleached, the roar of<br />
climbing bus engines echo in the distance, and a new day has begun.<br />
56<br />
Allan Goldfarb
~ U' V \ \
58
The idea for this was developed from Prophetic Narratives, a course<br />
given in the O.Y.P.<br />
It is semi-based on what was learned in the class<br />
about II Kings 4:8-35 although the characterizations do not reflect<br />
the conventional understanding of the text nor the view of the author.<br />
A PROPHET'S NEED<br />
In the Galilean heat, Sha-el trekked with a brown sack clasped in<br />
his hands over his shoulder.<br />
We are approaching,<br />
he thought.<br />
Several steps behind him blond Hagazi watched his master intently.<br />
Sha-el was a man of communication expounding upon stories to increase<br />
Hagazi's knowledge of the world.<br />
Though the distance they walked was impossible<br />
to measure Hagazi was surprised that his feet ached for listening<br />
to his master made the distance short.<br />
what made them so were their truths.<br />
His stories were eerie and<br />
"When God created heaven and earth he created the generations of<br />
man as well.<br />
And man, being subordinate to Gdd must be aware of time.<br />
This is one of the first things learned by the first generation, though<br />
they learned it the hard way. We must learn from them. Now listen..."<br />
Hagazi, a sharp listener was able to foretell the meaning of Sha-el1s<br />
narratives before they were fully expounded.<br />
But for some time it was like<br />
being deprived a blessing from God when Sha-el, while walking on the trodded<br />
glade would metamorphosis into silence.<br />
Not only was his voice silent but<br />
his face.<br />
It was as if the entire journey was taken in reticence.<br />
In the distance the mountain vertex formed the outline to a piece of<br />
a puzzle against the arched blue.<br />
From where they stood, the ground, lined<br />
with grass and multiples of purple rocks ,ran up the mountains detouring the<br />
huge boulders submerged into the elevated terrain.<br />
The clouds appeared inches<br />
away from the protruding stone, merging the entire picture into one.<br />
If the<br />
mountain could be penetrated, one would find God.<br />
Beyond these hills was a house and its plantation.<br />
The rich fields were<br />
59
enjoyed by the animals owned by a Shunamite woman and a man. The woman, dark<br />
and rugged was loved and feared by her husband. It was not long after they<br />
had settled there that he felt his authority dwindle while the subtle wit<br />
and cunning of his wife emerged into dominance. For reasons that he could<br />
not guess nor bothered to ask, she one day invited two wanderers into their<br />
home to eat and soon they became frequent guests,treated with the same hospitality<br />
and warmth. One day the Shunamite woman said to her husband,<br />
"I know that this man who comes here regulary is a holy man of God. Why<br />
not build up a little roof chamber with a bed, table seat and light and let<br />
him retire there whenever he wishes." The room was finished and the man of<br />
God sought rest there whenever he could.<br />
After repletion and resting in the upstairs chamber, Hagazi found his<br />
master in the same mood he had been in since he discontinued his story of<br />
Jacob, Leah and Rachel on the path outside. He looked at his master intensely,<br />
seeking a sign but finding confusion. His eyes were straight, expressionless;<br />
the skin on his face was like barks from a tree deep and obscure. It<br />
uttered an affirmation of incomprehensive Nothingness and Hagazi was forced<br />
to look away.<br />
"Lord God of Israel, I am your servant. I have spoken your words to the<br />
people Israel and performed miracles in Your name. All this You had me do<br />
and I did. But by Your will and great plan I am also human."<br />
"Hagazi."<br />
Hagazi jumped.<br />
"Call this Shunamite woman."<br />
The Shunamite woman appeared at the threshold, her personality reflected<br />
in her firm but respectable stance. Her face, beneath a veil of pretented<br />
innocence and curiosity indicated a definite vehemence of success.<br />
Slowly the intention of this woman became clearer to Hagazi.<br />
"Say to her, you have done all this for me, what may I do in return?<br />
How he must want to say it to her himself, though Hagazi.<br />
"Shall I tell of your deeds to the king?" Hagazi asked her.<br />
She said, "I am content here, among my own people."<br />
Very well put, thought Hagazi. An artist. It occurred to him that she<br />
had been planning this moment for quite a while. It is obvious what she wants,<br />
a woman at her age.<br />
60
arri val.<br />
"Is it well with you and yours?"<br />
"It is well."<br />
She headed straight to Sha-el and Hagazi had to catch her arm just<br />
before she came too close.<br />
Leave her.<br />
and has not told me."<br />
There is something bitter here and the Lord has hid it from me<br />
Hagazi knew too that her son was dead and that she had come to Diace<br />
blame on his Master.<br />
Sha-el sat down, his right hand on his left bsaast and said to his servant,<br />
"Go and take my staff; see and speak to no one on the way and place the staff<br />
of the face of the chi Ids."<br />
Hagazi's hand reached out to receive the staff but his master's eyes<br />
were looking towards the sky.<br />
ground crying stone tears.<br />
The Shunamite woman was on her knees, head to the<br />
Hagazi thought, was he not a man of God? For the first time he saw his<br />
master as a man.<br />
How could he respond to the call of a woman without assurance<br />
from God?<br />
The. Shunami te woman spoke, "As the Lord lives and the soul lives I<br />
will not leave thee."<br />
Where does she get the courage to speak to a man of God like this?<br />
Hagazi ran ahead.<br />
When he arrived at the house and found the boy's body lying on the master's<br />
bed, he wondered what would be done and feared for his master's life.<br />
When Sha-el arrived he ordered the two of them to remain outside while<br />
he went inside the room with the prostrate body.<br />
"Master don't! It is against God. He will not let you do it."<br />
Sha-el closed the door.<br />
would be the last remnant of his master.<br />
It suddenly dawned on Hagazi that the door<br />
He looked at the Shunamite and watched<br />
her expressionless eyes stare at the angle the floor made with the door.<br />
Inside Sha-el stood silently over the body for some moments. Then he<br />
stretched himself upon the boy, hands to hands, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes,<br />
61
Sha-el turned to his young comoanion, "What can be done for her?"<br />
Master, are you so blind? Can you not understand? Remember what you<br />
told me of Solomon?<br />
A faint smile crawled on the mouth of the Shumamite. Hagazi had guessed<br />
right. She had won. He had no choice but to suggest to his master the primary<br />
objective of all her hospitality and false kindness.<br />
"She has no child. Her husband is old."<br />
" Cal 1 her back."<br />
The Shunamite stepped forward.<br />
"At this season, when the time comes around, you shall embrace a son."<br />
The Shunamite laughed. "My lord, man of God, do not lie to your handmaid."<br />
Sha-el said no more and Hagazi indicated that she should leave.<br />
When the boy grew old enough to work in the fields he looked neither like<br />
his father or mother.<br />
The sun was strong, a good day for the crops but not for the tillers.<br />
The Shunamite woman maintained her position in the household and her husband<br />
and son worked in the fields. She was, however, nrenarinq the afternoon<br />
meal when the door opened and a servant walked in with her child hanging<br />
motionlessly in his arms. The Shunamite gasped, her utensil splashed into<br />
the pot and ordered the servant to lay her son on her lap. She massaged his<br />
warm body and prayed. Gradually the boy's body became cooler and then, cold.<br />
She had to stop, eyes wet, and almost almost fainted. "He deceived me."<br />
The Shunamite woman carried the body of her son uo to the bed of the man of<br />
Ggd, called out to her husband to fetch one of the asses and a servant and prepared<br />
herself to leave. She mounted, turned her ass to go and did not stop until<br />
she reached Mount Carmel.<br />
His old but keen eyes distinguished her in the distance and though his<br />
movements and face were nnrevealing, his heart raced.<br />
"Hagazi, the Shunamite is afar. Go and ask is it well with her? with<br />
her husband? with the child.?"<br />
Hagazi had hoped thathis master would not have to see this woman for a<br />
long time. As they approached each other he tried to analyse the meaning of her<br />
62
and cried and prayed to the God of Israel. He arose and paced the floor<br />
clutching his chest. Strangely it felt that he had walked this way on this very<br />
green rug once before for the same purpose.<br />
A sneeze.<br />
Sha-el saw water trickle out the boy's nose and felt the pain in his<br />
bosom.<br />
Hagazi could not hold himself back. He flung open the door and suddenly<br />
standing before him was the young boy. The Shunamite's eyes sparkled white<br />
and random movements of her lips emerged into a triumphant smile.<br />
On the cot they saw Sha-el gasping for breath and holding his heart.<br />
"I didn't think He would let it bs done."<br />
"Why did you do it?1<br />
"Do you think we are not human? I had to do it. To show Him."<br />
"You knew what would happen to you?1<br />
"Yes." And closed his eyes.<br />
But the prophet3 that shall speak a word presumptuously in My nccme3 which I have<br />
not commanded him to speak3 or that shall speak in the name of other gods3<br />
that same prophet shall die.<br />
Deut: 18:20<br />
Lenny Getz<br />
63
FREEDOM - THE ANOMALOUS VISION (A poem written on Pesach)<br />
People degrade the meaning of freedom by overuse<br />
They speak of it like it was a commodity-<br />
Something that could be bought or sold,<br />
like a kilo of balony or a roll of toilet paper.<br />
Only through wisdom can its acquiring begin.<br />
Slaves can be freed in a physical sense,<br />
but no one can free them internally.<br />
A person can rebel against the external oppression by violence,<br />
but the internal rebellion is a self-destructive one.<br />
Kris Kristoffersen defined freedom as another word<br />
for when there's nothing left to lose.<br />
Nothing...<br />
No pride, no lifelong goals, no feeling for a sense<br />
of propriety, no desires, lusts, passions...<br />
How ironic that one must be willing to<br />
give up everything in order to have everything,<br />
that is to have the pleasures of freedom.<br />
Few survive in this abstract domainthe<br />
rest let society or sub-societies and their norms dictate all behavior.<br />
The people we come into contact with,<br />
even most of our friends, are the enforcers.<br />
How can rebellion against the oppressor begin<br />
when the oppressor says, "I am your friend"?<br />
We have no Moses to lead us out of our<br />
societal and personal realms of imprisonment, so freedom<br />
is something we can only work at, hope for, and dream about.<br />
But one can be happy in one's dreams.<br />
Gary Rissman<br />
64
JERUSALEM; the face visible yet hidden, the sap and the<br />
blood o f all that makes us live or renounce life. The<br />
spark flashing in the darkness, the murmur rustling through<br />
shouts of happiness and joy. A name, a secret. For the<br />
exiled, a prayer. For all others, a promise. JERUSALEM:<br />
Seventeen times destroyed yet never erased. The symbol<br />
o f survival. JERUSALEM: the city which miraculously<br />
transforms man into pilgrim; no one can enter it and go<br />
away unchanged.<br />
Elie Wiesel<br />
A Beggar in Jerusalem<br />
65
"Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;<br />
let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof.<br />
Let the field be joyful and all that is therein:<br />
then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord."<br />
Psalm 96: 11-12<br />
No other song of celebration could be more appropriate a description of<br />
the vibrancy of spring in Eretz Israel. The land wears a smile, as do the<br />
sunburned faces of the people - a parade of tourists, students, soldiers,<br />
families, who become as involved with the rebirth of the land as a momma dog<br />
with her pups. The air is fresh, fields are sprayed with wild flowers like<br />
a never ending rainbow, aqua skies cut the mountainous horizon, freckling<br />
stars. The spring is such a positive time, electric and alive, especially in<br />
the Eretz. Beginning with Pesach, there is a sense of cleansing; houses are<br />
cleaned of winter time smells, of old chametz and non-Pesach dishes.<br />
New apartments loom where only a few months before a flock of goats resided.<br />
Greeness like in the Land of Oz, and the streets smell of soft, fresh tar.<br />
In spite of the political conflicts, the constant uncertainties, the internal<br />
tensions, there is such a feeling of anticipation, renewal and life as can<br />
only be found in a people pregnant with hope.<br />
Last week we celebrated two holidays, rather, we expressed a single<br />
concept in two very different ways. Monday night at 8:00 a siren blew to<br />
commemorate Yom Ha Zikaron. The solemnity and heaviness seemed to tease the<br />
warmth of the April evening. Another siren on Tuesday morning announced<br />
the start of the procession; streams of mourners poured into the national<br />
forests, families migrated to cemeteries. I could not help but think,<br />
"We have become a nation of mourners." Each face held claim to a lost<br />
husband, brother, son, lover. Each wrinkled forehead told a history all<br />
its own. Three wars later* and where are we today? Piling into graveyards,<br />
finding comfort in a prayer, a hand held, a familiar face.<br />
After the programs, the prayers, and the sunset, came a transition<br />
so stark that I felt, at first, a bit frightened and ashamed. This was<br />
Yom Ha Atzmaut. It was like nothing that I had ever experienced, and made<br />
66
the fourth of July look like a bar-b-que at an old age home.<br />
Jerusalem<br />
was transformed into a giant carnival; bright lights, bands of music,<br />
dancing in the streets, throngs of people, young and old.<br />
with chocolate smeared faces.<br />
Wide-eyed kids<br />
The streets throbbed with the blood of a<br />
nation. Campfires covered the Judean Hills like the Milky Way. And the<br />
mixture of sweat and falafel from a people drunk on life.<br />
A tiny voice ran through my mind as I danced the Horah at Yemin Moshe,<br />
a whisper crept into my thoughts and would not let go.<br />
"Where are all those<br />
people I saw this morning? Where are the mothers of all those dead soldiers?<br />
Are they here dancing too?"<br />
I looked around me; amidst the spin, the blur<br />
of faces, the shadows of light, I saw a people who knew the essence of life,<br />
who held on to it with such tenacity, not in spite of death, but because of<br />
it. The rebirth of the spring, the hope and the faith, unfolding before me.<br />
The dancing stopped and the singing began: 'Yismichu ha shamayim e-<br />
tahgale ha eretz...'<br />
(Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad).<br />
Amy Hirshberg<br />
April 22, <strong>1975</strong><br />
67
Wandering is...<br />
watching two little children play and remembering<br />
how painful or happy the past has been.<br />
observing the sunset while perceiving a constant change of<br />
conditions, one moment it is x and the next moment it is y, yi, yang<br />
realizing a constant transition flowing from one fieTd<br />
to another until there are no longer any nameable catagories<br />
to flow to.<br />
Walking, searching, tramping, wondering-<br />
One really never knows where one is going - until it's too late.<br />
But one always knows where one could end up; just like a man<br />
who looks over the edge of a cliff and sees an abyss.<br />
One who wanders wanting permanence is trapped in a hopeless<br />
endeavor because one is always wandering.<br />
This endeavor to them lacks promises, never ceases, and always consumes.<br />
We are forever traveling on,<br />
That is the way is-<br />
There may be a twinge of sorrow, a tear of regret.<br />
But we MUST be always traveling on.<br />
A categorized, labeled entity is not our destiny.<br />
A lack of labeling destroys phoniness, creating<br />
momentary irresponsibility which can be honesty.<br />
Wandering takes many forms...<br />
a pilgrims search through countries for spiritual palaces,<br />
the hitchiking of an idle hermit, the regulated traveling of a tourist,<br />
or even the slippery sneakings of a thief.<br />
One. can wander excitedly because of lust, through<br />
confusion, or even under the auspices of insanity.<br />
It doesn't matter what facades are used - wandering is basically mental;<br />
a state of mind.<br />
69
Forever missing what was<br />
Forever wanting what could be had<br />
Forever thihking of what can't be.<br />
Wandering can be an eternal process.<br />
Gary Rissmart<br />
70
IN BLOOD<br />
Impatiently I await the hour when the mighty<br />
silver eagle will carry me home.<br />
Like a tree uprooted I thirst<br />
for the precious life<br />
giving soil.<br />
Deceivingly barren it is far more fertile then any other.<br />
It is the same ground to which in time I'll give my life,<br />
perhaps before my time as part of the price.<br />
Sorrow and joy do battle within,<br />
goodbye tears like April showers<br />
may bring old dreams to flower.<br />
Mother - America GOODBYE!<br />
I'm off to meet my chosen bride.<br />
Two loves - two thousand miles and more apart.<br />
A distance more them the difference between <strong>1975</strong> and 5735.<br />
A divided heart that long ago decided against G.M., nine to five,<br />
a suburban haven and Merry Christmas.<br />
Divided I decided for eternity.<br />
I am a link in a Priestly chain.<br />
On my eighth day in blood was sealed my claim.<br />
Robert Brack<br />
71
MAKING THE SCENE IN DOWNTOWN JERUSALEM<br />
I was sitting on a rail on King George Street the other day, spitting<br />
garinim and watching the traffic accidents, when my friend Oscar strolled<br />
up. Oscar always smiles. Oscar smiled the day a bottle hit his leg in the<br />
aisle of a local movie theater. Oscar smiled an entire 30 minutes, bankbook<br />
in hand, while a teller drank coffee. Oscar smiled when someone bruised<br />
his elbow trying to get on an Egged bus. Today, Oscar wasn't smiling. Perceptively,<br />
I assumed he was upset.<br />
"Oscar, what's the matter?" I asked. "Why the long face?"<br />
"Don't you know what day this is?" he muttered.<br />
"Grounding day?" I half-heartedly queried.<br />
Oscar snarled: "No, it's May 3rd."<br />
"So what?"<br />
"So that means I have to go back in two months!"<br />
"To prison, or something?"- I was noticeably confused..<br />
"No, idiot, to the States!"<br />
I was now noticeably unconfused. So Oscar had the "Leaving Israel"<br />
blues. I decided to console him.<br />
"Listen Oscar, aren't you looking forward to filling your lungs<br />
with that good old New York City air again?"<br />
"Very funny." Oscar harumphed.<br />
"Seriously, don't you remember what Mayor Lindsay once said about<br />
never being able to trust air that he couldn't see?"<br />
"Come on, give me a break."<br />
"Look Oscar, don't you miss locking yourself in at nights in the<br />
safety of your home, and watching everyone else get mugged through the<br />
wi ndow?"<br />
"Believe me, I could live with the crime, the pollution, and<br />
everything else. But the important thing is not just what I would go back<br />
to, it's what I'm leaving. Jerusalem, the Old City, my friends here at<br />
Hebrew University, the people. I'm telling you man, I feel at home here."<br />
72
I saw that I was getting nowhere fast. Oscar was rapidly slipping<br />
into a deep state of depression. I decided to pull out my heavy artillery.<br />
"But Oscar, what about your family? Don't you miss them?"<br />
"Of course. But it's my Grandma Gertrude."<br />
"Oh, I'm sorry. Is she ill?"<br />
"No, no, but when I get off the plane at Kennedy, I just know<br />
she's going to say - 'Bo, how was Israel?"'<br />
"So can't you answer?"<br />
"In 25 words or less? And then everyone I see will ask me that<br />
question, and everyone is going to want a quick answer. How do I answer<br />
that question? How do I sum up my emotions about Israel, my experiences<br />
that took place over the course of a whole year? It would take another<br />
whole year, at least!"<br />
I was losing him. Another few minutes and he would be beyond my help.<br />
I was running out of ideas when suddenly an argument broke out between two<br />
Sherut drivers about whose turn it was to buy sandwiches, while the customers<br />
fidgeted nervously in their seats. Upon hearing this, Oscar lifted<br />
his head, and the trace of a gleam began to emanate from his eyes.<br />
"You know, Steve, I was just thinking. After the One Year Program<br />
is over, I go back to the States and I'm a senior in college, right? That<br />
means I only have one year left, right? So I can always come back after<br />
that year, right?"<br />
"Of course, Oscar" I gladly agreed.<br />
Oscar was the same old person again. He smiled, bid me Shalom, and<br />
danced away. I happily turned back to the traffic, brushing a garin seed<br />
off the tip of my nose.<br />
Steve Montag<br />
73
Shalom to You Jerusalem<br />
It's been many long-short months<br />
Since I set foot on your soil<br />
Soaked in deep with blood<br />
And sweat of long, hard toil.<br />
I've wandered in your streets,<br />
Your shouks and alleyways<br />
And learned about your past<br />
About your long-gone days.<br />
But now I've got to go, I hate to leave,<br />
But I must be on my way.<br />
To go back to my friends and family.<br />
It'll be too long<br />
Till I touch yoru earth again<br />
Till I climb your hills<br />
Till I walk thru your valleys again.<br />
And it'll be too long<br />
Till I see your walls again.<br />
But for now<br />
And until then,<br />
Shalom to You Jerusalem.<br />
Your people I have known<br />
In all their different ways.<br />
Carved into my heart,<br />
There they will forever stay.<br />
The beauty of your hills,<br />
The forests all around,<br />
The beautiful sunsets,<br />
I will not soon forget.<br />
All the friends I've made, I'll miss<br />
Them I'll never see again.<br />
But to you I always can return<br />
Though it'll be too long.<br />
And it'll be too long<br />
Till I touch your earth again<br />
Till I climb your hills<br />
Till I walk thru your valleys again.<br />
And it'll be too long<br />
Till I see your walls again.<br />
But for now<br />
And until then,<br />
Shalom to You Jerusalem.<br />
Larry Sklar<br />
74
It is May 8. In less than 6 weeks Israel will be a memory. And I am<br />
trying to figure out how to figure out how to express this year in words.<br />
It is a difficult task.<br />
Sitting here, watching a glaring sun sink slowly towards the horizen,<br />
I can see three buildings directly within my line of vision.- On the extreme<br />
left is a large, oddly shaped structure. Its dull white walls perch high<br />
above the rocky ground on which it tests. The Israel Museum seems to represent<br />
a good part of this year. Within its confines is an accumulation<br />
of tradition ahd culture. It is a history of Israel, past. Many of the<br />
sights I have viewed this year display the ruins of an ancient Israelite<br />
nation, a heritage rich with life.<br />
Directly in front of me is a brown brick edifice planted in the midst<br />
of a garden park, with trees and grass surrounding it. The Greek-Orthodox<br />
Monastery symbolizes religion, which has been for me, an enormous part of the<br />
year. Significantly, I think, this aspect of the year is not represented<br />
by a Jewish structure. The Jewishness of Israel need not be represented by<br />
a building. Israel is, in its name, in its People, and in everything about<br />
it, a Jewish State, and its primary identity will always be that of a Home<br />
for the Jews. Yet it can also be a settlement for other people, Now, times<br />
are hard and life here is by no means perfect. A State is fighting to survive -<br />
amongst a largely hostile world. Perhaps, for the present, Israel cannot be<br />
a perfect host to all Peoples. But it must be remembered that the Jews<br />
were Chosen to set an example to the rest of the Peoples of the world, and in<br />
some future day, a day of true peace, Israel will be a nation to welcome all.<br />
Behind the Church of the Cross is the Knesset. It is, by far and away,<br />
the most distinguished looking building of the three. Ensconced in a small<br />
forest of evergreens, it is a manifestation of politics and law, both of<br />
which have been prime topics of conversation during my stay in Israel.<br />
Whether by parlimentary action, or Cabinet debates, theis building represents<br />
Israel's present, and future. Within its walls, many of the principles<br />
on which this country was built will stand of fall.<br />
So, there we have it: History, religion, tradition and culture; Past;<br />
75
and politics and law; present and future; three essential characteristics of<br />
this year, and of this State. And the most important of all, that has yet to<br />
be mentioned. It lies within the smaller buildings, closer to me. It is<br />
the people-the society of Israel. They are the ones who are preserving history,<br />
preserving religion, and legislating the laws. They are living, and working,<br />
and dying to preserve this State, Israel. Without them, for us, this year<br />
would not have been.<br />
The sun has now set. The sky is a pinkish blue, a beautiful part of a<br />
fading day. As this year approaches twilight, I know that its memory will<br />
always lie deeply inside me. Whether I will return or not, that is for time<br />
to tell. But regardless of that, these days will always remain as a unique<br />
part of my life - the people, the places, and the events. It has been a year<br />
of love, of happiness, of disappointments, and sorrow, and, of coarse,<br />
education. And for me, this year is, and always will be - really it will never<br />
be "has been", and for that, I will be forever grateful.<br />
David Wilder<br />
76
YEARBOOK STAFF<br />
Editorial Board:<br />
Lenny Getz<br />
Allan Goldfarb<br />
Shannon Hegarty<br />
Janet Kern<br />
Judy Kollman<br />
Garry Rissman<br />
Ellen Rosenberg<br />
David Wilder<br />
Art:<br />
Shannon Hegarty<br />
Garry Rissman<br />
Photography:<br />
John Germanow<br />
Debra Hirshberg<br />
Typing:<br />
Judy Kollman<br />
Myra Krupkin-Schindler<br />
David Wilder<br />
Proofreading:<br />
Debra Hirshberg<br />
For the OYP:<br />
Moshe Margolin<br />
Special Thanks to:<br />
Rachel Schachter<br />
Leah Weitz<br />
Amira Segal<br />
THIS YEARBOOK WAS MADE<br />
POSSIBLE THROUGH A<br />
GRANT FROM THE<br />
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE<br />
OF THE AMERICAN FRIENDS<br />
OF THE HEBREW<br />
UNIVERSITY<br />
Trinted in Israel by the Hemed Press3 Jerusalem<br />
(<strong>1975</strong>)