A Friday Morning
Walking to Mazkeret Batya, in order to catch a sherut (mini-bus), is often a relaxing experience. Today was no exception. As I headed out to get our groceries for Shabbat, I passed the usual homes and farms, neighbourhood dogs Scratchy and Beka following me part-way, sun shining after a night of rain — the beginning of a good day.
At the edge of the moshav, I turned off the main road to take the shortcut we often take. (The walk into Mazkeret Batya is about 3 kilometres as the crow doesn’t fly.) The path cuts through an abandoned orchard. The trees have been uprooted and most of the wood hauled away. I’m not sure if it’s to give the ground a rest or even what sort of trees once grew in this field. Nearby are orange groves, so this could have been one once. But there are also many olive trees here in Yatzitz.
In addition to saving time, the shortcut offers a great view of surrounding fields and hills. Today I was surprised to see a flock of sheep walking toward me on the path. We often hear sheep bleating, but the only ones I’ve seen have been in a barn. I pulled out my camera phone to capture the scene.
An elderly man wearing a red & white kafiyeh, a young boy and an old woman were tending the sheep. “Cousins” is how we’ve heard Palestinans called. They said, “boker tov” (good morning), and the woman asked me in Hebrew how I was doing. “Be-seder,” (all in order / OK) I replied. I noticed how thin and sundried she looked. Her smile was yellowed and gap-toothed, and she reached out with the hand that wasn’t holding a cigarette to shake my hand. I smiled back, took her hand and asked, “tov?” (good?)
Kol tuv (all good).
Walking, I thought how I wish there were easy answers to the problems we cousins are having these days. I have to believe across the fence there are others who only want peace and to raise their children in happy times. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be enough of these cousins to make the difference. So we’ll have to wait awhile longer before everything is really “kol tuv”.
Returning from the supermarket — the groceries on their way by delivery van — I stopped again to take another photo of the view looking southeast.
Hills in the distance … possibly the mountains that climb up to Jerusalem … call to me: “See what a lovely land this is.”
Uncategorized | Stephen | 
February 15, 2006 2:14 am