A Wall of Light - Edeet Ravel [9]
Often somebody has to sound out an individual or a problem beforehand, in order to prevent an uncomfortable and aggravating impasse during the Meeting. Certain simple procedural rules must be strictly followed, otherwise the democratic nature of the discussion may be intolerably violated.
Our third problem is recruitment. We have composed an appeal that will appear in the next issue of the YG periodical Youth and Nation:
We, the Pioneers of Eldar, demand as Jews that the entire façade of the cracked and crumbling mausoleum that is bourgeois society be ripped down and replaced with a new socialist structure based on spiritual and economic egalitarianism. Here we will create the new man and the new child, for whom collectivist values and high moral standards are natural and innate. We appeal to those who cannot warm themselves under the bright glow of an illusion. Join with us, struggle, and build.
Dori
Daddy holds my hand and we walk towards the Children’s House. Luckily he meets some people and stops to talk to them. If I’m very lucky it will be a long conversation.
I don’t know too many people on Eldar. I only know my Group and Daddy and Mummy and my sister Sara and my brother David and his two friends Noam and Amnoni and Amnoni’s sister Hagar because they’re twins and Coco because she has a shaggy dog and Dafna the nurse and Lulu’s father and mother and Mummy’s friend Edna who was my Minder when I was a baby. I also know Doreet who was my Minder before Shoshana but for some reason I never see Doreet. And I know Elan’s father. He’s the round jokey man who loves Sara.
Wait—there’s also Simon’s mother Nina. She does afternoon Wake-Up a lot of the time. She’s very nice. She works in the laundry.
The only other adult I know is Shoshana. Unfortunately.
Baby Diary
Born: 30 Sivan, 5715/June 20, 12:00
Weight: 3.450
Length: 52 cm.
Came home on 23 June.
June 20–29
I have a sweet, pretty daughter. She looks a little like my family, a little like David. Every day she grows and develops. She has blue eyes, blonde hair, a round face, a button nose, a sweet mouth. Her body is long. She lifts her head when lying on her stomach. She has the strength to kick and throw off her diaper when she demands food.
On the third day after she came back, the bellybutton fell. It’s still a bit moist and protruding. It’s been covered with Dermetol and a cloth belt.
She feeds seven times a day. For the first few days she fed every three hours. Yesterday and today she began to feed every three and a half to four hours. At night she gets a bottle half-filled with milk for her seventh feeding.
At first when she woke up between feedings she was given water. Water in general calms her. I feel now after nine days that I have more milk and she really does wait longer between feedings. She latches on firmly and well. She’s already found her thumb and has sucked it three times!
Edna L. is her Minder. She’s very good and dedicated. At the beginning, when I was very weak, she really helped me.
Naftali is on Guard Duty. He gives her the last bottle. There’s a good chance she’ll give up that bottle early.
Dori
We sing a song going back—
The voice of dodi
The voice of dodi
The voice of dodi behold it comes
Leaping over the mountains
Skipping upon the hills
I’m not sure what dodi means. I don’t think anyone would write a poem about the voice of their uncle. But the words are from long ago and Hebrew was a little different then. Daddy calls me doda even though I’m his daughter not his aunt so I know it’s something else too. The two other names I get called are sweetie and