As Mordechai’s sisters and I dashed around making last minute preparations before the holiday, Mordechai and his mother worked hard re-planting 2 wild pear tree which they uprooted from the wadi below us. On Shabbot day (first day of Sukkot) my father-in-law was asked to speak to the volunteers. he became the biggest pioneer of all when he agreed to make the one and a half kilometer trek to the Tapuach community twice, once for prayers and once for the volunteers. The third day of the holiday was parents’ day on our hilltop. Prior to their visits everyone busied themselves making sure their homes were mess free and ready for the in laws inspection.
As for us, we enjoyed Sukkah happenings as planned. Now that the holidays are behind us, we’ve been returning to our daily schedules and chores as well as completing project which we had postponed. Mordechai and I (with a little help from Chana) finished planting over 30 plants and herbs in our garden. Just this past Friday, Mordechai connected them all to a drip-drop irrigation system, which to my delight means no more carrying around pails of water.
We also organized a hilltop cleanup. Today and tomorrow we will be joining together to finish cleaning up our hilltop before we get the first real rains. Chana and her little friends are thrilled to be able to put the little plastic and cardboard scraps in the garbage. In addition to beautifying our hilltop by getting rid of it’s garbage, we also succeeded in recycling some of the debris and using it here on the hill. We sorted out old tires which had been used by the tanks which patrolled the area. We laid the tires out where sewage and water pipes ran below the dirt road to protect the pipes. The tanks have not entered the area where our homes are for over a month and so in addition to the peace, quiet and dust-free air we were left with good tires which we will use to build a gym set for the little ones. A neighbor also used some of the tires for flower planters.
In addition to all of these activities, I am also quite busy preparing for my trip to the States. In approximately two weeks, Chana and I will be flying to sunny Florida to visit my family. I am excited to think that soon our family will be together again, even though, we will both miss “Aba.” I will have to give Chana ample time in Florida to talk to her “Aba” on the phone. In addition to leaving Mordechai to fend for himself for two weeks, it will also be a little hard to leave our quiet, simple and beautiful hilltop. Although we will be flying to the city with beautiful single family homes with large yards, none is quite as large as ours. Well, enough bragging done, I really can’t wait to be able to see my family and friends and get a bite at the famous “Saras” pizza. If it’s not too cold, maybe I will even take Chana for a swim in our family’s pool - something we definitely don’t have on our hilltop.
Until we go, however, I will be busy both fixing up our hilltop and to my best ability helping those settlements which have been destined for destruction. When I look out of our windows at the beautiful rolling hills around us with lights twinkling at their peeks I can’t help but smile with the thought that the Nation of Israel is returning to it’s land. To think that our government would call for the uprooting of even one of those hilltops truly saddens me. However, I know that those hilltops will never be dark again. We will keep retuning to our land and stay there till the end of days.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, October 22nd, 2002 and is filed under series.