KIBBUTZ SDOT YAM

In the late 1970s I lived right next to Caesarea, Israel on a kibbutz that actually, at that time, owned the land the old city sat on: Sdot Yam or, “Fields of the Sea”. I went to the ulpan there … a sort of school where you learn to read and write in Hebrew. As about 75% of the books I read currently are either in Hebrew or Aramaic, I owe a lot to Sdot Yam.

Here’s a link to a large number of photos from the old Roman town of Caesarea which, during the Crusades, was rebuilt as a castle by, I think, King Louis of France. There are any number of Roman ruins all over the place (there were so many that the kibbutziks even used the fallen columns and capitals as benches and tables), as well as the remains of the Crusader castle.

In this photo, if you click it, you can just make out some houses near the middle that belong to the kibbutz. The stacks in the background belong to, I seem to recall, a power plant which was just being built while I lived there. At that time there was only one stack. I used to take long romantic walks on the beach at night with my girlfriend. Heady days. Lots and lots of memories.

Sdot Yam was founded as a kibbutz by Ben Gurion during the period when the British were refusing to allow Jews to enter the Holy Land. Because the old Roman seaport was still actually usable and all the land around it was and had been owned by Jewish groups, he knew he could settle the kibbutz without much trouble and then ships could come in at night, dock using the Roman wharf and off-load in safety. One of my friends on the kibbutz was a Norwegian sailor who helped in the operation (during WWII) and decided to stay.

I’m getting all misty … [snurf] …

Next year in Jerusalem …

KIBBUTZ SDOT YAM

In the late 1970s I lived right next to Caesarea, Israel on a kibbutz that actually, at that time, owned the land the old city sat on: Sdot Yam or, “Fields of the Sea”. I went to the ulpan there … a sort of school where you learn to read and write in Hebrew. As about 75% of the books I read currently are either in Hebrew or Aramaic, I owe a lot to Sdot Yam.

Here’s a link to a large number of photos from the old Roman town of Caesarea which, during the Crusades, was rebuilt as a castle by, I think, King Louis of France. There are any number of Roman ruins all over the place (there were so many that the kibbutziks even used the fallen columns and capitals as benches and tables), as well as the remains of the Crusader castle.

In this photo, if you click it, you can just make out some houses near the middle that belong to the kibbutz. The stacks in the background belong to, I seem to recall, a power plant which was just being built while I lived there. At that time there was only one stack. I used to take long romantic walks on the beach at night with my girlfriend. Heady days. Lots and lots of memories.

Sdot Yam was founded as a kibbutz by Ben Gurion during the period when the British were refusing to allow Jews to enter the Holy Land. Because the old Roman seaport was still actually usable and all the land around it was and had been owned by Jewish groups, he knew he could settle the kibbutz without much trouble and then ships could come in at night, dock using the Roman wharf and off-load in safety. One of my friends on the kibbutz was a Norwegian sailor who helped in the operation (during WWII) and decided to stay.

I’m getting all misty … [snurf] …

Next year in Jerusalem …

Today’s my first Blog Anniversary!

Check here for my first post covering the rally in support of the Danish Government at the Danish Embassy here in DC, organized by Christopher Hitchens.

It was during all the Mohammed Cartoons meshuggas. I had just bought my first camera … a Sony CyberShot 7.2 MegaPixel (which has a video function as well as taking high resolution photos), and I trotted down to the Embassy to check it out and lend my own support.

The video of Christopher Hitchens is at the bottom of the post, so keep scrolling. In between you’ll see photos of both Hitchens and Andrew Sullivan who attended the rally.

I’ll repost the video here, too:

Seems like more than a year. What a great time.

Michelle Malkin kindly featured the post and off I went…this year’s promising to be just as interesting. And then there’s the election. Heh.

I still use the Sony for most of my stills and some video … now I’m generally using a Canon Elura 100 for most of the videos and a still-photo every now and then, though the resolution isn’t great (compared with the Sony) when used for photos.

For Presidents Day, here’s a video taken from a 16mm film my dad made of John Kennedy’s funeral here in DC. There’s no sound.

I was in 3rd Grade at the time … it’s cliche but it’s true: I’ll never forget that moment. It was recess and I was on the swing set. My teacher, Ms. Connor, came out onto a balcony overlooking the playground and asked us all to come inside. She was very serious and sad … scary for a kid that age. I remember clearly scrapping my feet and halting the swing as quickly as I could: then getting in line quietly with the rest of my class as we climbed the steps into the darkened hall leading to our classroom.

I’m not sure what happens at those moments … the brain must have some sort of function where it can capture critical info even in retrograde and post it as IMPORTANT for future review. Certainly, no one knows instantly and for certain at the exact moment of impact that such things will come back to haunt.

Anyway … my dad caught this. A perspective you’ll not see anywhere else, though not necessarily of any more import. Just another citizen journalist standing where no one else has stood, or could stand. It must be in the blood.

I never noticed before, though, that the horse was so fractious.

Google Earth is replacing a lot of its low resolution overviews with some higher resolution stuff. This is one of the newer images. It’s of Kibbutz Beit Kama in southern Israel, between Beersheva and Kiryat Gat. Clicking the image will make it larger.

I lived here from 1976 to 1977. Some stuff has changed, but surprisingly little, at least from this perspective.

I lived in one of the buildings near the center at the bottom of the image. I worked primarily in the Pardess (orchard) growing and picking oranges, grapefruits and lemons.

Lots of great, great memories. Really, one of the happiest times in my life. If any one else has memories of this kibbutz, or if you were there around the same time, please contact me. Between 1978 to 1979 I moved to another kibbutz farther north, S’dot Yam. Sadly, the Google Earth image of that is still very low-res.