A Wall of Light - Edeet Ravel [26]
Sometimes they get a ride, sometimes they don’t. To tramp up and down these hills with a heavy sack of bread on one’s shoulders, in rain or hail or snow, is no joke, and since I’ve never done it myself, being a mere woman, I’m not competent to describe the intensity of the experience.
This week, Amos came home so weatherbeaten and exhausted from the trip that he couldn’t drag the bread up the hill the last 500 metres, and he was in bed for two days after the trek.
Dori
Shoshana is in a bad mood again. Lulu and Elan have to soak their tushies in a pail of water because they have itchy spots. They’re not allowed to scratch because scratching makes it worse. But it’s like when you have a mosquito bite—you just can’t help scratching.
But it seems Shoshana caught Elan scratching.
She grabs two rags from the rag-bag and then she grabs Elan and throws him on a bed. Gilead’s bed. She makes us all come with her. She ties Elan’s wrists to the metal part of the bed so he won’t scratch. We all have to stand next to the bed and watch and laugh. We’re not laughing but Shoshana pretends we are.
Elan has the scared smile. His wrists are skinny and he shivers. Shoshana screams you see what I have to do you see what you make me do!
I’m going to tell Daddy. He’ll have to believe me this time.36
Theories of Education37
We all understood from the start that educating our children properly was the single most important facet of the kibbutz project. In order to create a society dedicated to principles of justice, equality and humanity, we had to ensure that our children received the best possible education.
In pursuit of this goal, I began my work in 1911. At that time I became acquainted with two books: in Hebrew, Psychological Discussions for Teachers, and in German, Aus der Praxis der Arbeitsschule by Pabst. Two volumes of The Free School, in Russian, also came into my hands. One article, ‘Independent work and the joy of creativity’ captivated me, opening up before me new philosophical vistas. Two years later I went to study in Germany and Switzerland. For a whole year I waited in Leipzig for the summer course in methodology of activity orientation. I read everything I could find on general psychology and progressive teaching for ten to twelve hours a day—Gaudig, Ley and others. One book that impressed me was Dewey’s The School and Society, although not all his methods attracted me. In 1921, two extremely impressive studies reached me. One was the work of S. Schatzky, Brand New Life, and the other was by Bernfeld, on Baumgarten’s experience.
After reading Bernfeld, and more importantly, after living with young children at the school in Tel Aviv, I underwent a revolution. I gave up experimental psychology and threw myself into the study of psychoanalysis. Much later on I came into possession of the studies of A.S. Neill. I read them all with the utmost enjoyment.
Dori
I dreamed God was a giant who could skip over mountains with a single step. My brother David was holding his left hand and I was holding his right hand and we leaped over the mountains with him.
Finally we reached some ruins in Yehupitz. That was where God lived. There was a round floor made of smooth white stone and old stone columns all around. Some of the columns were broken because they were so old.38 I had to go to the toilet but there wasn’t any toilet paper so God gave me two rocks instead. Rocks! How can I wipe with rocks? But I didn’t say anything because that’s all God had.
Yehupitz isn’t a real place. It’s just something you say when you don’t have an answer. Like when I ask Daddy where Mummy is he says Yehupitz and laughs.
In my dream God looked a little like the Friendly Giant from television. I loved that show. Especially the beginning with the beautiful tune and the little chairs in the castle. You could choose