Bet Alef

I had a choice between going to Hebrew and a day trip to the North to visit a kibbutz. I chose the latter since I love going to kibbutzim and want to take a trip up to the North since I've been mostly going to the coast lately. It was a good choice considering that I had some doubts about what the experience will bring.

The drive took about 2 hours and I slept for a good part of it... I was more exhausted than I thought! Anyway, Grandma did fine with the driving. The cousin, Rachel, came to meet us at the entrance. Zev's family was from Poland and Rachel was second-generation Israeli. Her English was very good considering that she did not have much practice. She was a wonderful hostess. The kibbutz, Bet Alef, was lovely as it was located at the foot of large hills up in the Galilee region, not very far from the sea. But it was so close to the Jordan-Israel border that you could see them from the distance. The location, the surroundings almost reminded me of Amanda's home in Montana when I visited her.

After serving us some cold drinks, we headed over to the common dining room. I was enthralled by the beauty of everything that I saw. Grandma could not see what was beautiful about the place because it was a very old kibbutz. I told her it's the simplicity and the nature that drew my attention. In the common dining room, I got my first experience as I did not do any of it at the Ravids'. So we had dined in a typical Israeli fashion- hot meal. There was chicken, schzintels, fried fish, lots of different cold salads, some hot starches, etc. Rachel told us about herself and how she came to be where she was. When her family first immigrated from Poland, they settled in Tel Aviv and then they moved to the kibbutz some time ago. She also told us about her daily life. We learned that the kibbutz was founded in 1922 and grew mostly figs and olives, and sold milk.

After lunch, we had some pecan pie back in Rachel's little house. Then her uncle came in and that was one of the best parts of the day. We talked a lot about Poland- its future, economic situation, and whether Polish Jews like them have returned to Poland. Her uncle told us that he served in the Jewish Bridage, a branch of the British Military during WWII. He fought against Rommel in North Africa and in Italy. That was how he learned English- by living with the British Army!

I threw Rachel a quick question out of curiosity due to a heated discussion with Kobe the night before, did she think of herself as a Jew or an Israeli first? She said what's the difference?

Then we all jumped in cars and drove out to see the cows and the fields. The kibbutz also have chickens but they're only for eggs so they get their meat from another kibbutz. It had been such a long time since I've seen cows and got up close to them! The last time I saw them was when I was in Montana. I saw some very cute calves- obviously separated from their mothers. Then Rachel's husband showed us Israel's first automatic cow milking machine. They trained the cows to come to the machine when their udders hurt them so we found two cows waiting to be milked. The machine was being cleaned so we headed out to see where they grew black figs. The busband gave us a little economic lesson about the figs and the olives and how they have competition from Turkey. Then we went back to check on the cows. There was one standing in the machine being milked! Grandma got a very big kick out of it, especially that the cows were particularly smart animals. There was really no one there to watch the whole process since the machine had the ability to fix itself onto the cows' teats. It was certainly an incredible sight.

Afterwards, Rachel took us up to the old synagogue down the road. We watched a short film on its history and architecture. There was a huge mosaic floor, filled with symbols and such. It was pretty cool.

Grandma asked if I could see myself living in a kibbutz, for life... or better yet, since I've been to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and kibbutzim, where would I live? I love kibbutzim but not so isolated as Bet Alef is, way up north away from busy areas, but something more like where the Ravids are- in a kibbutz but close to fun places like Hertzilya and Tel Aviv. I don't know. I'm very flexible- I can usually adapt my energy level for my companions. Anyway, I'm not interested in thinking about this right now.... I feel that I need to see more of Israel and visit more places though I'm thinking that I'd like the coast since it's more free-wheeling and easier to get around.