A Newly Discovered Cranny

My brother and mom have been in Israel for the past week and a half visiting the family. It has been such a whirlwind week that I can't even remember everything we have done and ate along the way. The best part has definitely been the time spent together- oohing and aahing over Gal, long walks in the park all the way to the beach, and of course the full-out Israeli breakfast's at my sister's place every morning. We start our day right with fresh bread, cheeses, Israeli salad, fruit salad and yogurt... Since they are on vacation, none of us are holding back :) This past weekend the entire family went to Almog, a kibbutz converted to a guest house just north of the Dead Sea. It was so nice to spend shabbat together with all of my Israeli family... the only downside was that my grandma, who was sponsoring the weekend, couldn't make it to Israel after falling and injuring her shoulder. We are hoping that she will come in April.

Rather than describing the entire week in vague detail, I am just going to write about one tiyul (trip) that really touched me. I feel like I know Israel pretty well considering how many times I have been here since leaving the country at the age of 8. But every once in a while, I find a new nook or cranny that I have never heard of but it ends up being a treasure chest. Machon Ayalon was one of those treasures that I recommend to anyone visiting Israel and trying to get a better understanding of the struggle to create a Jewish State.

Machon Ayalon is a kibbutz located just outside the city of Rehovat. It was created by members of the youth movement in 1945 whose aim was to create kibbutzim and settle the land. They were approached by the Haganah, the Jewish underground movement during the British Mandate, with the dilemma of a lifetime- change their plans and instead of working the field and settling the country as they had foreseen, work in an underground clandestine ammunition factory to help the Haganah defend the Jewish people. The consequences of their decision could be fatal. The Kibbutznikim ultimately decided that although it deviates from their original plan and the consequences could be grave, this was their opportunity to make a significant impact on the future of the Jewish people.

The ammunition factory was built underground, with the British only kilometers away, in one month! The Haganah had the foresight to build the factory under a bakery and the laundry mat of the kibbutz. I love the reasoning behind it! It was built under the laundry mat for three reasons: (1) Should the British bring dogs to the area, the gun powder would be masked by the scent of the laundry soap... it also looks the same so any spilled gun powder would not be cause for alarm; (2) The laundry machine is very loud and covers up the sounds of the factory below; (3) Most importantly, there is a chimney that releases all of the steam from the laundry machine but also serves as a way for the underground factory to be ventilated. All of these reasons are very understandable and logical but I couldn't figure out why underneath a bakery. It was only when we entered the bakery and I saw the enormous oven that I realized the reasoning... the oven covers up the hole that was used to move the machinery underground. It takes and hour and a half to move the oven which is why the hole had only been used three times. Each morning the workers headed out to the field, where they were supposedly working, and entered the laundry mat through the back door. The laundry machine was moved and a narrow stair well was uncovered that led them down to the factory.

Ironically, many people in the kibbutz didn't know that there was an ammunition factory right below them. Those that were unaware of the secret were called giraffes because "their heads were in the sky and they couldn't see below them." The workers made every effort to keep this important secret. The Haganah created a "tanning room" in the factory so that the workers would get some color (they were supposedly working in the field but many were getting pale and sick). Additionally, each afternoon they would clean their clothes and hair to rid of the bronze pieces. There were many procedures in place to keep this mission a secret.

The workers produced approximately 14,000 bullets per day with a grand total of 2.25 million bullets. Thankfully, in the three years that the factory operated, there was no major incident. David Ben Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, called this one of the most important acts of courage during the struggle for the creation of the State of Israel. When Israel gained its independence in 1948, the factory was moved above ground as the secret was no longer necessary. I walked out of Machon Ayalon so proud of the struggles that people endured in order to create the state. It reminded me that Israel is such a young country, about to celebrate its 60th anniversary this May. While there are many problems here- the peace process, education, the religious vs. the secular, etc.- Israel is still in its defining stage. We can't expect to have all the answers yet nor can we compare Israel to countries that have been in existence for 200 years... they are not on the same plane. What we can do is look to the future and ask. "what do we want Israel to look like on its 200th birthday? And what do we need to do to get there?" Often times we lose perspective when talking about Israel and the Middle East; Machon Ayalon put it back into focus for me.

I will end this post with a story that our guide told us that really touched me. In the three years that the factory was operational, there was only one serious injury. There is a machine that trims the bullets because they are purposely made too long. The machine is called the mohel (for my non-Jewish readers- the mohel is the person that circumcises boys when they are 8 days old). The worker that operated the mohel was not paying attention one day and cut off his finger. An elderly gentleman came to tour the factory last year and as the guide was telling the story of the accident, the man raised his hand and says, "That was me!" and then showed his hand with the missing finger. He continued to explain that the job was boring and that he entertained himself by looking at the girl's legs that was working next to him. He then said, "Look at the women next to me... it was worth losing a finger for her!" The couple got married a few years after the War of Independence. The factory workers became a family down there... with the common secret and mission, they built a community of their own. So while maybe they didn't get the kibbutz that they originally expected, they gained a different purpose and in the process helped create the State of Israel.


(Addendum: I just found this great History Channel special about the Ayalon Institute... it really captures this incredible story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQNw5MA3DII)