Page 44 - Kol Bogrei Habonim - Winter 20

EXTRACT FROM HER 1951 and Second-class passengers were going off
DIARY THAT DESCRIBES
HER ALIYAH
JOSE PATTERSON
T night in Haifa, but since we woke up the hotel
uesday, 17th April, 1951 Jose’s diary.
7 pm: We can see the Carmel
mountain range very clearly now as
we are approaching Haifa. We’re all very
excited and joking about the smallness of the
Carmel! The decks are crowded now, and
hardly anyone ate their hasty supper. I can
hardly believe that this really is Israel. The
lights of the houses are just lighting up, and
we can see the twinkling lights of the shore.
Behind us, the red ball of the sun is just
disappearing under the sea. We hear that all
passengers will go down tonight, but the
immigrants will have to remain on board all
night. The last blow. We’ve got longer to stay
than the tourists. Couldn’t help thinking of
the many who came this far and were turned
back, and how they must have felt.
th
Wednesday, 18 April.
It seems quite like a nightmare to imagine
that we’re really on Israeli soil, that we have
spent a night in Haifa, and that everyone
around us are Israelis. Last night was a
memorable one. I found it hard to reconcile
myself to the fact that all tourists and First
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the boat, and we, immigrants, would have to
remain all night. Luckily, we decided to fight
and won. We (literally) fought our way round
the Customs, fought our way on to a little
boat, and soon found ourselves in the
Customs shed. We saw only Leslie Green
and Helen Rubenstein, but it was a link from
the past. Pandemonium and supreme chaos
reigned everywhere, but eventually we got all
our luggage together, put it into the left-
luggage office, and Leslie took us to a hotel.
Emmie (from the Manchester Bayit) had told
us that we must go up the Carmel on our first
proprietor, we decided to stay in our room for
the night.
10am: Passed through the Customs with ease
and received great courtesy – that’s one up on
the tourists anyway. Saw A. M. & S, who
told us that they are going to an immigrant
hostel for two or three days. We are going to
Kibbutz Kfar Hanassi, this afternoon.
In spite of wet weather and poor visibility, we
enjoyed the bus journey through the Galilee
and Upper Galilee, and even managed to get
a glimpse of the Kinneret – the Sea of Galilee
– surrounded by beautiful hills. The views
were truly magnificent with large areas of
barren, stony hills, which made us realise the
need for people like us – pioneers ready to
help build the land. As Joseph told us, “They
have saved some work for us to do in Israel!”
I felt (and still feel) in a bit of a whirl at seeing
the kibbutz and the chaverim I know. It was
something of a revelation for David, who
knew every other person very well whom he
hadn’t seen for years. He certainly felt at
home. The kibbutz is quite well-established,
considering it is only a year since they started