We went next to the gravesite of David Ben Gurion and heard some of his story. Then, on to Beer Sheva, which has grown quite a bit since I last visited in 1986. We were invited to a pre-school/kindergarten for Jewish and Arab children, part of a program called "hand in hand" meant to create primary social relationships between Jews and Arabs by creating a bilingual curriculum. The kids went to play with the Israeli children while the adults heard from the leadership about the project and its mission.
From there, we went to the Ayalon Institute outside Tel Aviv, to learn about a group of young people who created and operated a clandestine ammunition factory in a basement of a kibbutz between 1945 and 1948. When we finished, Marci and the girls went with the group to the hotel while I stayed behind to conduct two more interviews, this time with the Rosenfelds. Melodie and Sherman came out of Berkeley in the 1960s. I was introduced by Irene Resnikoff, our synagogue educator who is along on the trip. Little did either of us know that I actually studied Sherman's student days at Berkeley and I reported on it in my counterculture chapter for California Jews. It is always humbling to meet historical actors whom you have described in print. Fortunately, he thought I did an accurate job (and actually made only one mistake in over-crediting him for something). For the SF and BHDS readers, he was the one who organized a "sit in" and a "pray in" at the SF Federation in 1971 to demand that it fund Brandeis Hillel Day School. Special to Sam, Amy, and the rest from Advancement, I did give him an appropriate donor thank you! Special to Cal alum.. Go Bears...and Sherman and Melodie were the founders of the Israel Action Committee at Berkeley. (Special to those engaged by Reform Judaism in Israel. Mike Nitzan, whom I interviewed a few days ago in Jerusalem, was the first Reform wedding at Kibbutz Lotan and he sought, unsuccessfully, to have his marriage become a test case through the Israeli legal system. ).
Sherman brought me to the train station. I hopped on a Tel Aviv bound train and made my way to the hotel. We enjoyed dinner at Susanna's in Neve Tzedek with Stacy Friedman, Ellen Levin, and the kids. Query? Where did the shrimp on that menu come from? Welcome to Tel Aviv!
Oh, yah, and one more thing...it's HUMID here.
Marc
Shayna and the children at the Arab/Jewish school..
Rebecca playing soccer at the Arab/Jewish school..
Marci and the other adults learning about the Arab/Jewish school..
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