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Rachel Saperstein is a teacher at the Neve Dekalim ulpana and a spokeswoman for the Katif Regional Council.
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By Rachel Saperstein
August 10, 2005
Our houseguest Reya Eisen called the older women sharing the small classroom here in Gush Katif "Friends for Life". They sleep on thin mattresses, wash their clothes in the school bathroom, share a tiny refrigerator and enthusiastically welcome a new woman into their overcrowded nest. Indeed, Friends for Life.
They are among the thousands of men, women, teenagers and families huddled in tent cities, overheated trailers, schoolrooms, public shelters and parks. Despite the closures, identity checks, warnings, beatings and arrests they manage to come.
Every community is overflowing. Thousands of visitors packed our synagogue this past Shabbat. A local bar-mitzvah boy read his Torah portion to the huge throng.
Hundreds witnessed a circumcision at the Tifereth Israel synagogue, the wooden structure built by the youth of Gush Katif. Locals and visitors joined hands to sing and dance.
Last night we held our Town Hall meeting. The walkway leading to the entrance of the meeting hall was lined with young people. They sang, danced, applauded and cheered each Gush Katif resident walking to the hall. Young girls, smiling brightly, handed each woman a lollipop with a small card attached: "Be Brave. Have Courage." I hugged the girl and burst into tears.
The meeting was both serious and raucous. We were given the government rules and regulations pertaining to our packing. We were given the exact times that the area would be shut down to all traffic. We were told of the monetary losses we would suffer if we did not leave on time. We were told how our possessions would be (mis)treated if we did
not do our own packing in a container provided by the army.
Forty eight hours after the Fast of the Ninth of Av we are to be expelled forever from Gush Katif.
And the people began to shout and cry: "We are not packing! We are not going!" The people of Gush Katif clapped, whistled, shouted and smiled.
The government of Israel did not expect the vast majority of residents to be in their homes, unpacked and unwilling to go. The police did not expect thousands of visitors to stream into Gush Katif. The army brass did not expect soldiers to simply look the other way.
Gush Katif has created Friends for Life. It is a badge of honor to be here, physically be here, to have dropped out of one's placid life and comfortable home to sleep on a thin mattress in a crowded tent or schoolroom.
This is a pure moment of truth.
The Friends for Life come to my home every evening for Torah lessons with Rabbi Chaim Eisen. Together we pray for this edict of Expulsion to be rescinded so we may share as friends the joys of Gush Katif forever.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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