A Wall of Light - Edeet Ravel [46]
There are those, however, who oppose the pool. In our Meetings, they argue that it’s too early, we haven’t yet created the necessary conditions—that is, intensive, communal life that is broad and profound. When those conditions are reached, the pool will come into being naturally.
Dori
Hannah has a different way of drawing the sky. Instead of one blue line on top she fills the whole space with light blue. And instead of pressing her crayons she makes everything pale. Like her.
I don’t know about not pressing but I have to admit that her sky is better. We want to copy her but we don’t like her so we pretend we don’t like her sky.
I asked Daddy if he could trace the beautiful gas station picture from the black book of paintings. He said he could! And he’s doing it! It’s going to take him a long time because it’s a very hard picture.
I’m so happy he’s tracing it! I’m going to have a copy all my own. I’m very lucky with my Daddy.
Landscape with Garage Lights, by Naftali
Dori
Another wonderful Hike with Carmella.
Some of the children are saying that if you cut a worm in half it becomes two worms. They find a worm and cut it in half and both parts start to move. But I don’t think the worm likes it. I don’t think there are two worms now. I hope they won’t do it again.
Suddenly I find a rakefet hiding under a boulder! Wondrous and dainty, with wings like a fairy’s—the song is exactly right. Delicate white with a tiny bit of dark pink at the bottom and then slowly turning into white. Oh I’m going to burst with happiness. I lie on my stomach and look and look. If only I could do more than look. That’s the problem with everything. All you can do is look.
Baby Diary
December 1.
Crawling backwards.
Dori
We had a letter from Jonathan. Shoshana read it to us. He said he likes his new kibbutz and he has a tricycle.
We’re all jealous. He’s a show-off.
He doesn’t miss us at all.
As a matter of fact I had a tricycle in Canada. I rode it all the way to the corner store and back. My brother David was raking the leaves with a boy who lived next door who always had a Band-Aid on his knee. A boy Daddy didn’t like but we played with him anyhow. I bought two pink popsicles at the store and when I came back the leaves were in a big pile and we jumped on them and ate our popsicles. A half for me a half for David and a half for the boy with the Band-Aid and a half for his little sister Louise.
Our First Year
24 July 1949. A big celebration in honour of Eldar’s first child, Avital. Indeed none of us, aside from the parents and one or two privileged individuals, has yet seen the infant (who must be protected from the microbes of ordinary mortals), nor was she able to participate in the large-scale festivities in her honour.
Eli even composed a song for the occasion to words by Edna. Archie delivered a lecture, with props, on the Care and Feeding of Infants, in which he explained the phenomenon of “leaking” in the young child—nothing surprising, he assured us, in view of the fact that the human being consists mainly of water.
Dori
It’s Hanukkah.
After supper we go to the Dining Hall and walk in the dark holding candles and singing Candle My Candle and We Come to Dispel the Dark. They’re both beautiful songs.
What I like best is when we sing—
We come to dispel the dark
With our candles glowing bright
Each one a tiny flame
Together a great light
Because it isn’t just a song. It’s what we’re really doing. That doesn’t happen usually.
Dispelling the Dark
Dori
We have to rush in the morning now that we’re going to Galron.
But by mistake Shoshana brought a soft-boiled egg for me from the Kitchen instead of hard. She says you’re just going to have to eat it. But I can’t eat a soft-boiled egg. I’ll throw up.
Shoshana says no one is leaving until Dori eats her egg. I start to cry but she won’t give in. I cry right into the egg. I move it with my fork but I can’t eat it. It doesn’t even look like food.
I cry and cry and