A Wall of Light - Edeet Ravel [58]
The only other time he said zift was when two men rolled on stage in Camp Bilu’im. It was an evening of plays. I was in the play that Daddy and Mummy put on. My brother David and I were supposed to sit at a table and run off when Daddy yelled at us and look scared but David laughed and that made me laugh.
After our play the curtain went up and there were two men wearing long robes lying on the stage hugging and rolling and making loud sounds and then the curtain went down. Everyone laughed. I asked Daddy why it was funny but he only said it was zift.
I don’t care if Miss Israel is zift because I won’t be Miss Israel anyway. Miss Israel sounds like something people in cities do. And Daddy says I won’t be pretty because I’m ruining my teeth sucking my finger.
I don’t know why the hugging men was zift.
Our First Year
2 December 1949. Surprising international incident occurred today. It seems that a U.N. committee is functioning on the border to straighten out some frontier questions between Israel and Lebanon. Attached to this committee were a number of Lebanese soldiers who apparently got lost and wandered onto our territory, whereupon they were immediately captured by Martin and brought to Eldar.
After some polite conversation in French we got things straightened out and sent the rather threadbare fellows back to Lebanon.61
Dori
We like the cabins a lot. Our beds are very close and we have those drawers. I don’t need a goodnight kiss any more because all I have to do is stretch out my hand and I can touch the person next to me. And the end part of my bed touches the end part of Lulu’s bed. We could touch each other’s feet if we wanted.
Diary of a Young Man
15 February 1923. In a few months the number of our children will grow from one to four.
Among the soon-to-be mothers there are many discussions regarding childcare and education. It seems that there is some opposition to full collective childcare, especially handing over the washing of children to others.
These questions do not as yet have a place in the Meetings; it would surely be very strange if someone brought them to the Meeting. On the other hand, the opposition to collective child-care is also strange.
20 August 1923. Our commune has two new members—two children were born, a boy and a girl. The boy has been named Eitan and the girl Amira.
The more children, the more worries. We don’t know how to look after four children at once. As long as we had only one child, no one was concerned. And now at every turn you meet worried mothers. The child isn’t nursing, the child is nursing too much, is this good, is this bad? Who knows?
Who would have imagined that we would have four children and face such problems?62
Dori
Shoshana does the Wake-Up today. We want to run out as soon as we finish our snack but Lulu opens the door of the cabin and screams snakes! and shuts the door fast.
We all run to the window. There are two huge snakes outside on the slope. Really huge—longer than a person. They’re twisted together like a braid.
We don’t know what to do. I go to the door to make sure it’s closed. Skye says the snakes are having sex but I don’t see how. They’re smooth all the way down.
So now we’re stuck. Shoshana is afraid too. Finally Skye decides to be brave even though she got bit by a dog the last time she was brave. She opens the door and walks sideways along the wall of the cabin just like she did with the dog. When she gets to the top of the slope she runs as fast as she can.
We wait for her to call an adult. We wait and wait. Finally an adult comes and looks at the snakes. She puts her hands on her waist and then she goes away! Why didn’t she save us?
One by one we do what Skye did. We slide next to the cabin and then run as fast as we can. I run all the way to the Room and I tell Daddy. I tell him the snakes are longer than the Room but he doesn’t believe me and he doesn’t want to come and see.
My brother David and No’am and