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Post by louise on Jul 11, 2023 5:47:05 GMT -5
What’s on your mind — how to make kugel? This week’s Torah reading? Life goals? Prayer? We are all engaged in weight loss/weight maintenance journeys and we are all Jewish or at least interested in Judaism. We like to eat, we like to discuss. It is our goal here to provide each other support on our journeys, to share experiences, to call on our rich cultural heritage and texts, and to help each other grow spiritually.
Some of us take weekly turns starting the thread:
Frieda
Holly
Lee
Louise
Lynne
Peachy
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Post by louise on Jul 11, 2023 5:50:39 GMT -5
Will talk a bit about some historical highlights on my trip – one from our biblical past and one from the more recent past. We went to Petra, which is in Jordan (a Wonder of the World you may have seen briefly at the end of Indiana Jones/Last Crusade). We flew from Tel Aviv to Eilat which is a resort town at the southern tip of Israel and then took a long bus ride to Petra, followed by a long walk down into a mountainous valley (me, I took the golf cart option back up; some of my group walked, some rode camels or donkeys). Back to the resort town of Eilat. I looked on a map and saw that the water it was on was the Red Sea. Someone mentioned that Egypt was on the other side of the sea. Light bulb. So this is where it happened, where the sea was split as the Israelites left Egypt?! The sea is huge. An incredible moment for me anchoring me back into our Exodus story in a visceral way.
The other story is about the Bullet Factory. I kept hearing that this was important to see and couldn’t imagine that it would be interesting – wrong! The site is called the Ayalon Institute in Rehovot. It had been a kibbutz. In the early 40’s Israel badly needed ammunition in its fight for independence. Bullet making machinery was smuggled into the kibbutz unbeknown even to most of the workers at the kibbutz. With various cover stories a huge hole was excavated and the machinery was put underground and covered. One of the entrances into the bullet factory was through the laundry room – a big pressing machine was moved aside to reveal a ladder down to it. Great care was taken that no one except those that were involved could see the secret entrance or people passing through it. The risk was great as if they were caught they would be executed or imprisoned by the British. The cover story was that these workers went off to work in off site fields. To give credence to their story they had a sunlamp room where the workers spent some time to get color to their skin so they would look like they had worked outside all day. The machinery was very noisy so it was important that the washing machines were keot running. The kibbutz took in laundry from outside to keep the washing machines going (and make some money too). There was another entrance down a spiral staircase from the bakery. We went down those stairs and saw all the machinery that had been used, where the bullets were tested, and so on. They made 10,000 bullets a day. The whole endeavor blew me away – such detail, danger, and secrecy. Just as the Red Sea moment brought me in touch with our biblical past and struggle for freedom the bullet factory brought me in touch with the more recent struggle for independence. WOW!
So what’s today’s topic? Surely you can find something!
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Post by peachymom1 on Jul 11, 2023 13:28:32 GMT -5
What a fascinating account, thank you for sharing! It really makes me want to go to Israel even more than before!
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lee058
This space for rent
Posts: 23,299 
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Post by lee058 on Jul 11, 2023 16:01:41 GMT -5
Good afternoon everybody! Hope you are all well and SAFE!
I'll just share what's going on with me. I saw my primary doctor today, and he is very happy with me. I've lost ten pounds since the last time I saw him; my test results are great (including 5.1 A1C); and he thinks I'm doing great! Woo hoo!! I'm so fortunate to have such good medical care, with doctors who really want to know what is going on in my life.
Also on a positive note: As I've been sitting here at the computer, a beautiful cardinal flew down and landed in a flowering tree right outside my window. It was gorgeous. There are stories that cardinals are loved ones who have passed on paying a visit; I think they could be true!
Have a peaceful rest of the day, Lee
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Post by hollygail on Jul 12, 2023 7:56:46 GMT -5
Your description of seeing the Sea really got to me! Thank you not only for telling us about it, but for doing it in such a descriptive way!
I knew nothing at all about any bullet factory. I thought finding out 50 years later which well-known Israeli names had done WHAT? (including who was a member of which group of fighters and what they'd done) leading up to May of 1948 was mind-blowing! But learning about this bullet factory surpassed all those details... WOW!!!
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