Right from the start, in the 1930's, beauty was an essential goal and job description at Kibbutz Yad Mordecai, and at most times you see the the mature and gorgeous patternings of a landscape planned not just for harvest bounty but also for loveliness. Flowers for the bees for honey, yes, oranges, lemons, sweet clementines to feed the kibbutz and to market worldwide, yes, but also bouganvillea and palms just to make this place pretty. But right now during Sukkot, when the Children of Israel build scant temporary huts with sparse rooves of treebranches spaced so the stars can peek through, Yad Mordecai is under construction, each kibbutz house a mess of concrete foundation stone and building supplies. The State of Israel is attaching a heavy concrete safe room to each and every kibbutz home. No stars shine through these ceilings.
A Sukka is our declaration of faith that we are sheltered, that a little snow and wind coming through the roof, or even the intense hot sunshine that comes through the roof here, is okay with us. We are of this windy world, and our faith sustains us. Couple that, here in Yad Mordecai, with a faith in our own ability to build concrete kassam-proof rooves over each family's home. Spread over us your shelter of peace. And give us the strength and wherewithall to build concrete safe rooms. And grant us the wisdom to live in the balance between faith and self protection.
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to explain:
*Kibbutz Yad Mordecai is right beside the Gaza Strip. From the cowshed (where Mommy's nephew Tomer just doulaed the birth of a new baby calf on the first day of Sukkot, Tomer being named after the date tree (Tomer) planted at his birth, beside his twin brother's Erez tree, 32 years ago, and the trees bring shade and beauty to Shlomit and Dani's home today) .....from the cowshed you see right into Gaza.
*Mommy's Uncle and Aunt Golda first joined the proto-kibbutz back in Poland, and came here to Israel to build the real kibbutz. The alternative was to stay in Poland with their brothers and sisters, who all perished between 1942 and 1945. Except of course.....................
*Yad Mordecai was built in the 30's and 40's. When the State of Israel was declared in 1948, Yad Mordecai was not within Israel's borders!
*Gained militarily, evacuated, lost, regained, it is now in the area where Code Red is heard at erratic intervals, and kassams fall.
*On a personal note, Yad Mordecai is where I, Nomi, waited for Beno in 1973, listening to shellfire in the near distance, until he could get leave to visit, following the Yom Kippur War.
*And when Adam first joined the army, the very first job he was given was to guard Kibbutz Yad Mordecai.
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