When a community of Jews is forced out of their Gush Katif homes and into a new neighborhood in the Chalutza Desert in the Negev, they are faced with the question of what to build after establishing places for learning Torah. Do they set up farms for continuing their agricultural businesses? Schools? Infrastructure?
For the families in Yated, one of the most important things for them is a playground for their children.
To listen to the whole radio segment, starting at 3:20 on the program, click here.
Yehudit Yeruslavich spoke to Israel National Radio's Yishai Fleisher about Yated as the expulsion victims try to make a new life in the Chalutza Desert, located south of Gush Katif. Yeruslavich left Atzmona with 20 other families who moved to Yated, where they hope to build a permanent home at Chalutza, which in Hebrew means pioneer.
Yeruslavich and community are temporary residents in the communities of Yated and Yavul at the moment. In Cholot Chalutza, they have started planting potatoes, wheat and carrot crops and have built a Talmud Torah, a girl's "ulpana" high school and a boy's yeshiva high school.
Meanwhile, the younger children became bored, but they received a timely and beautiful playground donated by Milton Breslau in memory of his wife Norma.
Fully equipped with swings, slides and seesaws, the park that recently was dedicated helps many of the children make new friends and adjust to life in their new homes. The playground is a gift not only for the children of Cholot Chalutza but also for the women of the community, providing an environment for them to meet other mothers while supplying safe and healthy entertainment for their children.
The Cholot Chalutza neighborhood has grown to 75 families, with many families joining in a solidarity effort to strengthen the community.