Page 10 - Kol Bogrei Habonim - Autumn 21
P. 10
with string; their only lights, flickering skipped that essential phase in the life of a
kerosene lamps. The toilets were holes in the Movement worker.
mud; the wash places were rows of sinks out
in the open, and all of it far from the tents.
There were queues for food, queues for
medical care, queues left, right and centre
and no fights, no demands, just a smile and a
blessing. Probably if I had been there when
the North African immigrants were there my
impressions might have been different, but
one thing I must say in favour of all the new
immigrants who came then – people had
nothing and demanded little. When they left
the camps for tin huts or permanent homes,
they were given a few chickens, an ex-army
1952. David Eder Farm
bed, a kerosene heater on which to cook and The four girls are the 3 cooks in white from
they didn’t bang on the table and demand an the Chava; Right to left: Blanche*, Sylvia
apartment in North Tel Aviv and a Volvo as Polli (Flowers) Baalat haBayit, Irene
some of our later immigrants did! The more Davidson (Goodman) and Gloria (Tehila)
you give people, the more they demand Lipton (in the overalls, left), who worked
outside.
We finished our week there by going with the *Blanche was ex-service and older than us
new immigrants to their allocated village in and married “Manchester Sam” (?) and was
in Kfar HaNassi
the Judean Hills and showing them the
mysteries of flushing toilets and electric light. I never did work outside in the fields or on a
I remember explaining that toilets were not neighbouring farm. Once there, I became
for washing clothes in……. they learned very housekeeper after a short while, meanwhile
quickly. The men worked at reforestation, teaching handicrafts and folk dancing to the
creating the lovely forests which began to younger members of our community. I also
cover the bare Jerusalem hills. started a youth group in Brighton, and I used
to have to hitch there to try and save money.
The women worked in the home. I didn’t mind hitch-hiking in Israel, but I
loathed doing it in Britain. Luckily, I always
had back-up money, which I used more often
Then back to Britain where my parents met than not. It was there that I met Harold - but
me in London. They were not pleased with more of that later.
my decision to work in the Youth Movement
but accepted it and went home to Scotland One hitch was hilarious. I used to pretend that
and I went off to work in the Habonim Hostel I had missed the bus and was in a hurry to get
in Manchester before being sent to the David to my youth group. I was neatly dressed and
Eder Farm in Dial Post, near Horsham, to do looked respectable and so once a Rolls Royce
a spell of agricultural training as I had stopped for me and the chauffeur asked me
where I was going. The lady inside told me to
10
