During cherry-picking season, workers in the orchards suspect every visitor. With cherries at a premium price in the market and the fruit-laden trees beckoning, who wouldn?t want to steal an opportunity to take home a basketful of the juicy delicacy? But one visitor just came to feast his eyes.
While visiting a moshav in the Golan where he and his family lived for 12 years, Mordecai Yaul of Alon Shevut in Gush Etzion took a pre-Shabbat stroll to the cherry orchards he had once tended. Yaul is a true lover of Zion, who relishes seeing the development, ?the fruits?, of every Jewish settlement in the land. He also deeply feels their struggles and, whether living in the Golan or Gush Etzion (where he learned in yeshiva, married and eventually returned), Yaul has always been actively involved in that development. He recently worked for several years for the Gush Etzion Regional Council, managing expansion of settlements after succeeding so well at Carme Tzur in his capacity as secretary there. Yaul is currently involved in the development of Sderot, the community near Gaza that is being continuously bombarded by missiles.
When he approached the Golan cherry orchard, Yaul?s intentions were, unfortunately, misunderstood and he was rudly sent away at the gate by a foreman whose interest in the cherry trees was strictly economic. Druze pickers are allowed inside, but Jewish lovers of the Zionist dream are prohibited from entering. Yaul?s vast experience in developing the land over the past 30 years has given him considerable patience and understanding. The disappointments in daily life here and the rudeness of fellow economically and politically pressured Jews do not prevent him from believing in the rightness of the Zionist adventure.
?Patience is the key to our success. We have to slowly and painstakingly earn our land. It?s a world of ?chic-chock? (fast), everything and everyone wants instant results. Many Jews don?t understand the importance of Yesha (Judea, Samaria and Gaza), nahalat avoteinu - the land of our fathers. They think that if too many hostile Arabs are making things unpleasant for us, we should give it up. But if Shechem and Hebron aren?t ours than nothing is,? argues Yaul. ?If Jews themselves don?t believe in our indisputable historical and religious connection to the land of Israel, what chance is there of asserting it to the rest of the world??
?The founders of the State of Israel understood this. They believed in the messianic vision of returning to the land which God gave to our forefathers and mothers and they refused to settle for Uganda,? he says. Yaul also recognizes that the same land is important to the Arabs. ?In 1948, they would not agree to any compromise or two-state solution and they won?t agree today either. Since they haven?t succeeded in getting rid of the Jews through war and violence, Oslo and now the Road Map are seen by the Arabs as the means of obtaining the whole land in stages. Especially Jerusalem is valued by the Arabs, who can not bear to see it in the hands of Jews or Christians.? According to Yaul, what is happening today is a continuation of an age-old struggle. The Arabs conquered Jerusalem from the Byzantine Christians and then the Crusaders tried to conquer it back. The present intifada is called al-Aksa, referring to the mosque on the Temple Mount; it is part of their holy war for Jerusalem and the rest of the land.
We, the Jews, have also been fighting all along for Jerusalem. Yaul explains why his work in developing and securing Gush Etzion has significance for Jerusalem, as well. Gush Etzion is in the hills of Judea or Yehudah. King David first ruled for seven years in Hebron and then in Jerusalem. The water source of Jerusalem is in the Judaen Hills and this area is the gateway to Jerusalem from the south. During the War of Independence, the battle in Gush Etzion was called Netzah Yerushalayim, Eternity of Jerusalm. Jews in Gush Etzion blocked the Arab advance to Jerusalem and suffered many casualties. It was the southern defense of the capital. This is also the area of the nahala, or portion of the land, given to the tribe of Judah, from which comes the line of kings called the Davidic Dynasty.
?The Palestinians and the Arab nations who support them have always seen us as the occupiers of the entire land, not just Judea and Samaria. Haifa, Acco, Jaffa and the Galilee are their next goals after kicking us out of Yesha. They lie to everyone about their intentions, but they declare them openly in the press and at the conferences of the Arab world. At Camp David, their true position came out when they insisted on Jerusalem and the right of return to all of Israel,? says Yaul.
Yaul reminds us that, up until 1948, there were hardly any Arabs living in the land of Israel compared to the three million living here today - as the result of labor practices, population growth and illegal immigration. There has been a deliberate effort to swell their numbers and the Jews? lack of vigilance is also responsible.
Their children are taught to hate Jews and fight for Palestine. Any agreements they sign with us are tactical - Islam teaches Arabs to aspire to ruling the world. Al-Qaeda?s interest in terrorizing the U.S. and attacking the symbols of its power is no different than the Arab interest in ruling the land of Israel, according to Yaul.
?They build illegally non-stop, blatantly showing that they don?t respect our rule,? says Yaul. ?Despite there being so many large Arab lands, they want Israel, as well. Our ability to grow and prosper is strangled by their antagonistic presence in our land. As Abba Eban once said, ?we have a ghetto, not a country.??
Yaul?s life and work has been incessantly devoted to trying to break out of that ghetto through hityashvut, settling the land despite the limitations the hostile Arab presence places on us. One evening during Pessah, while visiting the Yaul?s, we had the privilege of being guided around Yamin Moshe with our friend Mordecai. He poignantly explained how Jews from Jerusalem withstood much hardship to break out and leave the overcrowding and relative security of the old city to build a neighborhood beyond the walls.
Yaul?s work in expanding settlements in Gush Etzion was done painstakingly with strict attention to legal considerations. Aerial photographs were used to determine where Jewish population centers could push out into State lands without disturbing privately-held Arab lands. Fences, roads, electrical and water infrastructure were all arranged to enable Jews to inhabit new neighborhoods adjacent to existing communities. Provisions for proper sewage treatment were made so there would be no contamination of the environment.
In contrast, rampant illegal building and farming by Arabs is polluting land and water on a huge scale. ?But the damage to the environment is nothing compared to the continuous loss of Jewish life in shootings and suicide bombings by Arabs on the roads and in the settlements of Yesha, as well as elsewhere in Israel,? laments Yaul. ?Arabs who destroy this land and its people, including themselves, cannot truly love it.?
Patient lovers of Zion like Mordecai Yaul are developing the land with care for future generations, who will hopefully be able to live here in peace and prosperity. And they know that there is already much to be thankful for, including the cherries.
--------------------------------------------------------
Leah Epstein is a writer, educator, songwriter and performer. She has a B.A.from Brown University and an M.Sc. in Adult and Continuing Education from the University of Wisconsin. She made aliya in 1981 and has lived with her family in the pastoral Golan Heights for over 20 years.
While visiting a moshav in the Golan where he and his family lived for 12 years, Mordecai Yaul of Alon Shevut in Gush Etzion took a pre-Shabbat stroll to the cherry orchards he had once tended. Yaul is a true lover of Zion, who relishes seeing the development, ?the fruits?, of every Jewish settlement in the land. He also deeply feels their struggles and, whether living in the Golan or Gush Etzion (where he learned in yeshiva, married and eventually returned), Yaul has always been actively involved in that development. He recently worked for several years for the Gush Etzion Regional Council, managing expansion of settlements after succeeding so well at Carme Tzur in his capacity as secretary there. Yaul is currently involved in the development of Sderot, the community near Gaza that is being continuously bombarded by missiles.
When he approached the Golan cherry orchard, Yaul?s intentions were, unfortunately, misunderstood and he was rudly sent away at the gate by a foreman whose interest in the cherry trees was strictly economic. Druze pickers are allowed inside, but Jewish lovers of the Zionist dream are prohibited from entering. Yaul?s vast experience in developing the land over the past 30 years has given him considerable patience and understanding. The disappointments in daily life here and the rudeness of fellow economically and politically pressured Jews do not prevent him from believing in the rightness of the Zionist adventure.
?Patience is the key to our success. We have to slowly and painstakingly earn our land. It?s a world of ?chic-chock? (fast), everything and everyone wants instant results. Many Jews don?t understand the importance of Yesha (Judea, Samaria and Gaza), nahalat avoteinu - the land of our fathers. They think that if too many hostile Arabs are making things unpleasant for us, we should give it up. But if Shechem and Hebron aren?t ours than nothing is,? argues Yaul. ?If Jews themselves don?t believe in our indisputable historical and religious connection to the land of Israel, what chance is there of asserting it to the rest of the world??
?The founders of the State of Israel understood this. They believed in the messianic vision of returning to the land which God gave to our forefathers and mothers and they refused to settle for Uganda,? he says. Yaul also recognizes that the same land is important to the Arabs. ?In 1948, they would not agree to any compromise or two-state solution and they won?t agree today either. Since they haven?t succeeded in getting rid of the Jews through war and violence, Oslo and now the Road Map are seen by the Arabs as the means of obtaining the whole land in stages. Especially Jerusalem is valued by the Arabs, who can not bear to see it in the hands of Jews or Christians.? According to Yaul, what is happening today is a continuation of an age-old struggle. The Arabs conquered Jerusalem from the Byzantine Christians and then the Crusaders tried to conquer it back. The present intifada is called al-Aksa, referring to the mosque on the Temple Mount; it is part of their holy war for Jerusalem and the rest of the land.
We, the Jews, have also been fighting all along for Jerusalem. Yaul explains why his work in developing and securing Gush Etzion has significance for Jerusalem, as well. Gush Etzion is in the hills of Judea or Yehudah. King David first ruled for seven years in Hebron and then in Jerusalem. The water source of Jerusalem is in the Judaen Hills and this area is the gateway to Jerusalem from the south. During the War of Independence, the battle in Gush Etzion was called Netzah Yerushalayim, Eternity of Jerusalm. Jews in Gush Etzion blocked the Arab advance to Jerusalem and suffered many casualties. It was the southern defense of the capital. This is also the area of the nahala, or portion of the land, given to the tribe of Judah, from which comes the line of kings called the Davidic Dynasty.
?The Palestinians and the Arab nations who support them have always seen us as the occupiers of the entire land, not just Judea and Samaria. Haifa, Acco, Jaffa and the Galilee are their next goals after kicking us out of Yesha. They lie to everyone about their intentions, but they declare them openly in the press and at the conferences of the Arab world. At Camp David, their true position came out when they insisted on Jerusalem and the right of return to all of Israel,? says Yaul.
Yaul reminds us that, up until 1948, there were hardly any Arabs living in the land of Israel compared to the three million living here today - as the result of labor practices, population growth and illegal immigration. There has been a deliberate effort to swell their numbers and the Jews? lack of vigilance is also responsible.
Their children are taught to hate Jews and fight for Palestine. Any agreements they sign with us are tactical - Islam teaches Arabs to aspire to ruling the world. Al-Qaeda?s interest in terrorizing the U.S. and attacking the symbols of its power is no different than the Arab interest in ruling the land of Israel, according to Yaul.
?They build illegally non-stop, blatantly showing that they don?t respect our rule,? says Yaul. ?Despite there being so many large Arab lands, they want Israel, as well. Our ability to grow and prosper is strangled by their antagonistic presence in our land. As Abba Eban once said, ?we have a ghetto, not a country.??
Yaul?s life and work has been incessantly devoted to trying to break out of that ghetto through hityashvut, settling the land despite the limitations the hostile Arab presence places on us. One evening during Pessah, while visiting the Yaul?s, we had the privilege of being guided around Yamin Moshe with our friend Mordecai. He poignantly explained how Jews from Jerusalem withstood much hardship to break out and leave the overcrowding and relative security of the old city to build a neighborhood beyond the walls.
Yaul?s work in expanding settlements in Gush Etzion was done painstakingly with strict attention to legal considerations. Aerial photographs were used to determine where Jewish population centers could push out into State lands without disturbing privately-held Arab lands. Fences, roads, electrical and water infrastructure were all arranged to enable Jews to inhabit new neighborhoods adjacent to existing communities. Provisions for proper sewage treatment were made so there would be no contamination of the environment.
In contrast, rampant illegal building and farming by Arabs is polluting land and water on a huge scale. ?But the damage to the environment is nothing compared to the continuous loss of Jewish life in shootings and suicide bombings by Arabs on the roads and in the settlements of Yesha, as well as elsewhere in Israel,? laments Yaul. ?Arabs who destroy this land and its people, including themselves, cannot truly love it.?
Patient lovers of Zion like Mordecai Yaul are developing the land with care for future generations, who will hopefully be able to live here in peace and prosperity. And they know that there is already much to be thankful for, including the cherries.
--------------------------------------------------------
Leah Epstein is a writer, educator, songwriter and performer. She has a B.A.from Brown University and an M.Sc. in Adult and Continuing Education from the University of Wisconsin. She made aliya in 1981 and has lived with her family in the pastoral Golan Heights for over 20 years.