Steph in Israel. Day 5. I ❤ JLM. — The Kaplan Family Follies

Happy JNF day! Today I had to get up early, like 6:45 AM early, because I was told I had to be at the Ayalon Institute (The Bullet Factory) by 8:45 AM. Mindy made me all nervous about timing, so I got up quickly, got a cab, and was at the factory before 8:20. The group I was meeting didn’t show up until 9.

Now I’ll explain. Every Wednesday, JNF hosts a tour of a few sites that they support. This tour is open to the public for $50 and includes lunch. So me, Mindy, and Dana (all AMHSI staff) met the 9 others on today’s tour.

One of JNF’s action areas is heritage preservation, meaning the upkeep of important sites that tell Israel’s history. The Ayalon Institute/Bullet Factory is one of them. We got a great tour from a woman named Tamar. We saw a short movie, and then toured what was the underground factory. The factory was located on a Kibbutz, hidden under the laundry room. They made 2.5 million bullets between 1945 and 1948 (roughly). A few funny things:

First, they would call everyone on the kibbutz who had no idea what they were doing ‘giraffes.’

Second, the sound from the laundry would cover the sound of the factory, but in order to have enough laundry to constantly keep the noise going they started a business doing British soldiers’ laundry. So basically the British were paying for the opposition to work against them.

Third, there was one point where the Palmach blew up a train nearby, and the people in the factory went to help them (obviously pretending just to be kibbutz workers). The British were so thankful that they started popping into the kibbutz for a beer here and there. Problem was, the workers didn’t want them showing up unannounced, so they started feeding the British room temperature beer, claiming this is how they liked it. They told the British that they would be happy to put some beer in the fridge for them if they told them they were coming over. Funny.

After the bullet factory we got on a minibus and drove down south to a JNF reservoir that overlooks Gaza. Israel recycles 90 percent of its “grey” water, meaning everything but drinking water. That’s a huge number, as the next highest is Spain with about 18 percent. We saw Gaza city and its suburbs. I really enjoyed being there with people who had never seen that before, because they finally understood how CLOSE Gaza actually is to these towns.

From there we drove 5 minutes to Sderot to visit the JNF Indoor Playground. This is an indoor playground that was built in an old factory. There are four bomb shelters in the playground. It was built because parents were no longer taking their kids to playgrounds because in the 15 seconds they have when the siren goes off, they wouldn’t have time to find their kid and find shelter. This way, the kids play inside and can run to one of the four shelters within the time frame, and their parents don’t have to worry. Also, the shelters aren’t just shelters, one is a birthday room, one is a discotheque, one is a soccer area, and one is a music room. I have a student who is doing an at home concert to raise money for that music room as his Bar Mitzvah project. It was so depressing to think about how necessary it was, but it’s so great that it’s there and I encourage everyone to visit when they get the chance.

“He who believes is not afraid”

From there we drove to Be’er Sheva, the crown jewel of the south. JNF is super involved in Be’er Sheva. We drove along what will be a riverpark (a la San Antonio), and made our way to lunch. Lunch was at a nice meat restaurant and we had a private room. They stated by bringing us an array of salatim, laffas, hummus, fries, and falafel. It was amazing. We all ordered mains as well. I had chicken. For dessert there was Baklava. I think people pay about $50 dollars for this tour (I can get you a 10 percent discount) and its TOTALLY WORTH IT for lunch alone. Well, almost for lunch alone. But for a driver, tour guide, and lunch, $50 is a STEAL. Next time you’re in Israel, do it.

On the way to Be’er Sheva we saw a dump truck that took a corner too fast and fell over.

After lunch we went to the Be’er Sheva Amphitheater where we just looked around, and that was the end of our tour. The bus was going back to Jerusalem, so I figured I might as well go too! It took a while to get back as the traffic is awful, but we made it. I then found out that my colleague had left her jacket and book on the bus, so I now had to carry that around all night. I ended up wearing her jacket because it was cold. Thanks.

In Jerusalem I hopped on the light rail to Machane Yehuda and started making my way around. I walked through the shuk but didn’t buy anything, and then passed marzipan. There were no rugelach, but I did get a caramel donut. This was better than the one I had in Hod Hasharon as there was actual caramel in the donut. I continued and made my way down Ben Yehuda. I stopped at Ann for Kippahs for pop pop, but they didn’t have what he wanted. I told them I would come back in February. I stopped in a Judaica shop where I picked up a cup for our Havdala set that we broke a while ago, stopped at Aroma for a coffee and to buy Tzvi a mug, and then made my way down to Mamilla. I didn’t buy anything at Mamilla, but spent a good 5 minutes just looking at the donuts at Roladin. Maybe tomorrow.

Finally I got on the light rail back to Machane Yehuda to meet Yoni Bain, a friend from college and good old friend of Tzvi’s from Los Angeles. While I was waiting for Yoni I stopped into this specialy bake shop that had everything you’d want for baking. They had amazing looking chocolates, a ton of liquid food coloring, star tips, prebaked pie shells, and so much more. It was such a great place. I bought 3 chocolate bars. Then I met Yoni and we went to Ishtabach for dinner, which is apparently a new popular restaurant but I hadn’t heard of it. It’s actually a Kurdish restaurant and they only serve one thing - Shamburak, which is basically a fried meat calzone. I got brisket, and it was also filled with mashed potato and spices. It was SO good. Like really really delicious. It also came with some side salads.

After that we walked through the shuk because I decided I should get dried fruit now. Did I mention that I was told by JNF that I’m taking a second suitcase home filled with kids transcripts. The suitcase can’t possibly be 50 pounds, so now I’m fine to buy whatever and I’ll never be overweight! I led Yoni to Rosemary, the overpriced but delicious dried fruit store. I think I spent over $100 on dried fruit. No regrets.

Yoni and I were talking about how everything is better here and he asked why I wouldn’t move. Right now my main concerns are doors that are too thin, and toilets that don’t flush. Yoni and I walked down to Ben Yehuda and finally parted ways. I got a cab back to campus, which took about an hour, and packed a little.

Tomorrow is ‘symbolic day’ for the kids, so I think we plant a tree and go to the Kotel. We shall see!