“In Morag, they call him the Redeeming Angel, while in other communities here they call him Yosef the Righteous.” The speaker is N’vei Dekalim resident David Banjo, and he’s referring to Rabbi Yosef Heikind, who lives in Jerusalem and travels to Gush Katif (2 hours away) every night. Rabbi Heikind comes simply to meet with Katif residents, and listen to their fears and trepidations about what the coming weeks will bring. Sometimes he meets with two families, sometimes with three – whatever he manages.”
Banjo told a visiting group from Beit El over the Sabbath, “You can’t imagine how important this is for us. Don’t call in advance and ask if you can come – they’ll probably tell you no. Just knock on the door and say, ‘Hi, we came from Beit El or wherever, and we wanted to know if we can come for a quick visit.’ What’s important is to be with them, to sense them, to give them a chance to express themselves. We’re with ourselves all the time, and this meeting of brothers is critical, it gives strength.”
…
“Listen to this story,” says Benny Cohen, a pensioner who has been living in N’vei Dekalim for 12 years. He spends many of his days in the Knesset, lobbying the lawmakers for their support for Gush Katif and northern Shomron. He recounts the following incident:
“Two weeks ago, I receive a call from [Labor MK] Amram Mitzna, who says he has a doctor friend whom he would like me to give a tour of Gush Katif. ‘It could help your cause,’ Mitzna said. Fine; we make an appointment for the next Tuesday. In the meanwhile, a group from the Ministry of Industry and Trade also wants a tour, and we combine the two. The doctor, it turns out, is a distinguished professor from Hadassah Hospital named Shlomo, who describes himself as Peace Now and Meretz – in short, quite left-wing. We go on the tour, we saw Kfar Darom and visited with farmers, etc., and at the end of the day, he didn’t turn into a right-wing fanatic, but he said to me, ‘I see I was wrong. I always thought that we have to get rid of Gaza, and that that’s the only solution, and there must be no delay. But now I see that it simply cannot be done the way I thought it could be, and certainly not so quickly. There are people here, and the whole thing has to be thought out much more carefully.’ Shlomo then said that he wants to bring in a whole group of left-wingers like him, and that I should give them the same tour. They’re coming this Wednesday…”
…
Anita Tucker – wife, mother and grandmother, one of the first residents in Jewish Gaza, founding member of Netzer Hazani, and non-stop spokesperson for Jewish faith-based settlement and Land-building in Gaza – told one of the many groups who come to visit her lettuce greenhouses today:
“…Our vegetables are top-grade, and we export them to countries throughout Europe. It happened once that in Scandinavia, they decided that since we in Gush Katif are so evil and have horns, we should have a special sticker saying ‘Made in Gush Katif’, so that our produce could be more easily boycotted. We suffered the insult quietly; what choice did we have? But what happened was that after a few days, the people of Scandinavia began speaking with their stomachs, and began choosing our vegetables over the others ones. Suddenly, we were being accused of unfair competition, and demands were made to remove the special Gush Katif identifying label!…
“Later, the European Union levied a special 6% tariff on our produce – but we didn’t mind anymore. Because we realized that when you have a good product, and when you have G-d’s blessing as we do, then their tricks can’t stop us – and they didn’t!”
…
The afore-mentioned Anita was speaking to a group arranged by new immigrant Shlomo Wollens, originally from the United States. He has taken upon himself to arrange a weekly bus for people who would like to see Gush Katif – usually for the first time in their lives. “The demand is so high that we recently made it twice a week,” Wollens said today, “and starting tomorrow, it will actually be every day.” The cost is just enough to cover expenses – and for those who can’t afford it, it’s even less. “It’s worth it, if we can get another few people to come to see Gush Katif. I come on every trip, and I love it each time.”
The usual itinerary includes Kfar Darom and its yeshiva, the greenhouses in Netzer Hazani, pizza in N’vei Dekalim and a talk with a local resident, the Yamit Yeshiva, Shirat HaYam, and the plant nursery in Atzmonah. For more information, see www.savethegush.com.
…
“I wish all the press reports were true,” says Yossi, a resident of Shirat HaYam (siratyam@actcom.net.il), “but the truth is that there aren’t a thousand people streaming here – yet. What we have is 24 families, including a few who just moved in; a few tents and sukkot (flimsy temporary structures), and some people are building a few more sukkot. Plenty of doing going on here… It’s not that we think that a few more families are going to make the difference – although if dozens of families come to every single community, then it could have some influence – but it’s rather all up to G-d, quite obviously. But we as Jews have to do what we have to do – and if people begin coming down here, then in the merit of all the kindness and friendship and helping that will be going on here, and all the bonding, this is what will hopefully arouse G-d’s mercies. We truly invite all of Israel to come down and join us.”
Banjo told a visiting group from Beit El over the Sabbath, “You can’t imagine how important this is for us. Don’t call in advance and ask if you can come – they’ll probably tell you no. Just knock on the door and say, ‘Hi, we came from Beit El or wherever, and we wanted to know if we can come for a quick visit.’ What’s important is to be with them, to sense them, to give them a chance to express themselves. We’re with ourselves all the time, and this meeting of brothers is critical, it gives strength.”
…
“Listen to this story,” says Benny Cohen, a pensioner who has been living in N’vei Dekalim for 12 years. He spends many of his days in the Knesset, lobbying the lawmakers for their support for Gush Katif and northern Shomron. He recounts the following incident:
“Two weeks ago, I receive a call from [Labor MK] Amram Mitzna, who says he has a doctor friend whom he would like me to give a tour of Gush Katif. ‘It could help your cause,’ Mitzna said. Fine; we make an appointment for the next Tuesday. In the meanwhile, a group from the Ministry of Industry and Trade also wants a tour, and we combine the two. The doctor, it turns out, is a distinguished professor from Hadassah Hospital named Shlomo, who describes himself as Peace Now and Meretz – in short, quite left-wing. We go on the tour, we saw Kfar Darom and visited with farmers, etc., and at the end of the day, he didn’t turn into a right-wing fanatic, but he said to me, ‘I see I was wrong. I always thought that we have to get rid of Gaza, and that that’s the only solution, and there must be no delay. But now I see that it simply cannot be done the way I thought it could be, and certainly not so quickly. There are people here, and the whole thing has to be thought out much more carefully.’ Shlomo then said that he wants to bring in a whole group of left-wingers like him, and that I should give them the same tour. They’re coming this Wednesday…”
…
Anita Tucker – wife, mother and grandmother, one of the first residents in Jewish Gaza, founding member of Netzer Hazani, and non-stop spokesperson for Jewish faith-based settlement and Land-building in Gaza – told one of the many groups who come to visit her lettuce greenhouses today:
“…Our vegetables are top-grade, and we export them to countries throughout Europe. It happened once that in Scandinavia, they decided that since we in Gush Katif are so evil and have horns, we should have a special sticker saying ‘Made in Gush Katif’, so that our produce could be more easily boycotted. We suffered the insult quietly; what choice did we have? But what happened was that after a few days, the people of Scandinavia began speaking with their stomachs, and began choosing our vegetables over the others ones. Suddenly, we were being accused of unfair competition, and demands were made to remove the special Gush Katif identifying label!…
“Later, the European Union levied a special 6% tariff on our produce – but we didn’t mind anymore. Because we realized that when you have a good product, and when you have G-d’s blessing as we do, then their tricks can’t stop us – and they didn’t!”
…
The afore-mentioned Anita was speaking to a group arranged by new immigrant Shlomo Wollens, originally from the United States. He has taken upon himself to arrange a weekly bus for people who would like to see Gush Katif – usually for the first time in their lives. “The demand is so high that we recently made it twice a week,” Wollens said today, “and starting tomorrow, it will actually be every day.” The cost is just enough to cover expenses – and for those who can’t afford it, it’s even less. “It’s worth it, if we can get another few people to come to see Gush Katif. I come on every trip, and I love it each time.”
The usual itinerary includes Kfar Darom and its yeshiva, the greenhouses in Netzer Hazani, pizza in N’vei Dekalim and a talk with a local resident, the Yamit Yeshiva, Shirat HaYam, and the plant nursery in Atzmonah. For more information, see www.savethegush.com.
…
“I wish all the press reports were true,” says Yossi, a resident of Shirat HaYam (siratyam@actcom.net.il), “but the truth is that there aren’t a thousand people streaming here – yet. What we have is 24 families, including a few who just moved in; a few tents and sukkot (flimsy temporary structures), and some people are building a few more sukkot. Plenty of doing going on here… It’s not that we think that a few more families are going to make the difference – although if dozens of families come to every single community, then it could have some influence – but it’s rather all up to G-d, quite obviously. But we as Jews have to do what we have to do – and if people begin coming down here, then in the merit of all the kindness and friendship and helping that will be going on here, and all the bonding, this is what will hopefully arouse G-d’s mercies. We truly invite all of Israel to come down and join us.”