2003-07-25 Nir Am, Israel—Seniors
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Pioneers stay productive at kibbutz on Gaza's edge San Diego Jewish Press-Heritage, July 25, 2003 |
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2003-07-25 Nir Am, Israel—Seniors |
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By Donald H. Harrison KIBBUTZ NIR AM— The silverware clanks as the senior citizens speak of their lives as pioneers living on the Gaza border, but this is no dinner party. They work in the kibbutz-owned Michsaf silverware factory. It's not a requirement that people like Tova Cohen, 80, and Zina Lernerman, 83, put in four hours a day at the factory. Just the reverse, declares Lernerman, it's her privilege. "It is good to do something," she says. "It is good for the soul. I enjoy it very much." Lernerman¹s job is to pack the finished cutlery into boxes and then to label the boxes. As it has been through most of her life, work is a time for camaraderie. Now, "I am the only one at my home, though I have two children and eight grandchildren," she notes. Seniors comprise approximately one-third of the factory's 50-member work force, according to Yudit Herskowicz, 65, who schedules their shifts. "I come in at 4:45 a.m., and if someone doesn't appear I make a telephone call," Herskowicz said. "It is important that we find out what is happening, in case someone is not feeling well." "The good thing about this place is that people have a reason to wake up," she added. Sometimes seniors take a vacation from their labors, or are forced by sickness to stay away. However, whenever they return, "we always have a position for them." Herskowicz, a slight woman with a smile almost as big as she is, says working in the factory for the past 18 years gives her a sense of purpose and has helped her cope with her multiple sclerosis. "I work and smile, and people smile back," she says. "When I want to cry, I go to the bathroom to wash my face. The show must go on— in a positive way." Joshua Grossman drives many of his fellow elderly workers to work in a four-seat golf cart donated during Passover 2002 by the United Jewish Federation of San Diego County. Kibbutz Nir Am is in UJF's Israeli partnership region of Sha¹ar Hanegev. Without the cart, he said, the seniors would not be able to walk to the factory, which in some cases is as far as two kilometers from their homes. He also drives elderly residents to the medical clinic on the grounds of the kibbutz. Grossman said he came from Romania as an illegal immigrant to Israel in 1941 and was imprisoned by the British briefly before being allowed to settle in the city of Kiryat Bialik near Haifa. He moved in 1943 to Kibbutz Nir Am, south of Tel Aviv, to help build the Jewish state and to defend it against Arab enemies. He recalled that his marriage to Sara was the first one in the history of the kibbutz, and as a gift, he and his wife received a separate tent of their own. The tent was hardly the fanciest of accommodations, because "through the roof we could see more than five stars." Sara works today at home as a seamstress, but before that she used to milk the cows of the kibbutz. In 1946, Grossman participated in a historic water pipe-laying project that helped open up 11 new kibbutzim in the Negev desert and also to persuade a committee of the United Nations General Assembly to recommend that the Negev should belong to the Jews rather than to the Arabs when Palestine was partitioned. Grossman remembered that there was a big competition between the members of Kibbutz Nir Am and Kibbutz Dorot to see whose members "would put more pipes down each day." Besides driving the cart, Grossman also operates a machine that punches forks, knives and spoons out of strips of silverware. Another of the factory workers is Asher Ben-Or, 82, who served as the sales manager until 10 years ago. Now he too is a packer. "I work six hours, eat and then sleep," he confides. "I enjoy it here. In my life there are a lot of memories that make me stronger. The kibbutz is not strong economically, but I hope for better times." His son, Uzi, serves as production manager for the kibbutz. He had lived in South Africa for some years before returning to the kibbutz with a South African wife and a head filled with marketing ideas. Within a short time, the factory will have its own Web site and will market its silverware as Michsaf Holyland Products— the middle name intended to attract Christian buyers. Although the kibbutz is an aging one, not far from the factory one can hear the constant laughter and excitement of preschool children, many of whom come from outside the kibbutz. The seniors in Nir Am are delighted to see the children from the neighboring city of Sderot, because their numbers ensure that there will be enough attendance at the preschool to justify hiring teachers for the few kibbutz preschool children. Maya Ben Atar, one of the teachers, says the parents of Sderot like taking their children to the kibbutz "because it is in open spaces and in a place that is safe. The kibbutz has the right atmosphere." "Safe" is how she describes the kibbutz, even though it occasionally is in the news as the recipient of small Qassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip. Members maintain a defiant sense of humor about the rockets, which thus far have landed without causing any harm. The rockets are fashioned into sculptures and into garden planters, as if to say, "well, if you are going to send us these presents, we will make some good use of them." |
