GLIMPSES OF USOM IN ISRAEL

May 15, 1955

Shalom (Peace be with you):-

            What an exciting and busy four months have passed since the last letter in this series was written.  Again and again our thoughts have been with you.  Indeed there have been an impatience and a concern that, in the midst of much activity, the time never seemed at hand for this written sharing of experiences.  It seems impossible that 10 months have elapsed since our plane touched the soil of the Holy Land.  Ere we know it, a year will have been completed.

            From many of you has come the question, “What are you doing?”  As you know, unexpectedly last February, a phone call from Governor Stassen’s office asked if I would come to Washington and review the possibility of accepting a position of leadership responsibility in our country’s supreme effort in the cold war to preserve peace and to build a world where freedom, understanding and brotherhood would reign.  As the full impact of what was involved developed, it seemed that I could only say “yes” even though my work at and my interest in Evansville College were of the greatest significance.

            So we have found ourselves here in Israel in a crucial leadership post.  We are your representative seeking to extend the hand of friendship and understanding to a nation which celebrated its 7^th birthday on April 27^th.  What a day it was!  I now know what our 4^th of July must have meant to the men and women who brought forth our United States of America.  Our first responsibility is to interpret our American concept of freedom and democracy, and then working cooperatively with Israelis, help them create economic independence or economic stability, or to use the “long haired” phrase, economic viability.  Look up the special article in Newsweek, May 9^th for a fuller understanding of all that is involved.

            Yet there is also a need for regional stability.  One is ever mindful of the Israel-Arab tension with its many problems and historical causes.  One must be careful not to be pro-Israel or pro-Arab, but vitally pro-American.  Objectivity reminds one there are two sides to the problem.  It will take patience and fortitude to win through to a peaceful solution.  May the God of all men hover over the hearts and minds of leaders and followers in these lands.  May He grant that the combined efforts of all who are seeking in good faith a solution be successful not merely that peace be maintained, but that a basic permanent solution be found.  That is America’s great hope.  Let not your hearts be troubled by news stories.  Progress is being made.  There has been hardly a break in the tempo of life in recent weeks.  There is a concern.  Events happen.  Yet there is a faith that a way will be found.

            In this situation, Sallie and I are having a very full life.  Never have we lived so vitally.  One is close to God in this land.  Never have we felt such a sense of achievement.  Never have our talents and abilities been challenged as they are in days that are long and weeks that go all too quickly.  Indeed, we feel we are counting in the struggle between freedom and totalitarianism, between peace and war.

            Our mission staff is composed of 80 administrative and technical experts from all parts of the States, a family of approximately 175 with wives and children.  We will be 90 or better in another two months.  Since last July, our Government has granted Israel $40,000,000 for Economic Assistance (1/2 is a loan and ½ a gift).  In addition there has been $9,400,000 worth of Agricultural Surpluses sold for local currency to build up normal reserve food stocks.  I have the responsibility with my staff for the negotiation of and the administering of these monies in Israel.  A dollar equals 1.8 Israeli pounds (IL).  During the Israel fiscal year, which ended March 3, American dollars provided IL 90,000,000 in a total Israel Development Budget of IL 192,000,000.  You can thus judge the significance of our aid.

            Our second program is Technical Assistance.  In the last year the United States provided $1,426,000 for this purpose.  Personally, I evaluate this program as being of the greatest importance, although of lesser monetary value.  It brings to Israel Americans with experience and “know-how” in Agriculture, Industry, Water Resources, Mineral Resources, Transportation, Health, Sanitation, Education, Public Administration, Housing, Labor and Mass Communications.  Here is a program of some 80 projects which cover these fields, where Israelis and Americans work side by side developing more efficient and economical ways of getting things done.  In this sharing of  knowledge, Israelis are helped to help themselves.  As the “know-how” is transferred, Israel moves toward self-sufficiency and the capacity to go it alone.

            Only last Tuesday, I spent an hour with Prime Minister Moshe Sharett reviewing our program.  We were in agreement as to the smooth functioning cooperative effort of our teams working together.  He expressed his personal and his country’s appreciation of the contribution the United States is making to Israel’s development.

            As one goes about this land, the multitude of white houses shining in the sunshine is a symbol of a new day as the majority of 750,000 immigrants are housed.  The record shows that an Import-Export Bank loan ($6,500,000) for building material and a counterpart expenditure of IL 32,000,000 ($17,700,000) have been expended.  Large additional Israeli funds are also involved.  Behind this accomplishment are the shining faces of men, women and children grateful for homes to call their own, ready and eager to make their contributions as partners in the development of this country.

            The expansion of the Haifa Port, as an effective center for import and export trade, has been aided in significant manner by our joint effort via counterpart funds.  I have been much impressed on several visits as I have seen the housekeeping and noted the efficient working layout.  It makes it one of the leading ports in the Eastern Mediterranean and should contribute substantially to economic stability.

            A thrilling development has occurred at Mash’aben, a settlement in the Negev, i.e., southern Israel.  On a visit months ago, I observed the construction of dikes and a restraining dam which would spread the torrent of water over some 500 dunams (125 acres) as it rushes down the wadi once or twice during the winter.  A ground penetration of 10 inches of water through this scheme means green fields in May and June and crops to sustain the settlement.  Imagine the anticipation with the coming of the winter rains.  And it worked!  Now our American and Israeli technicians are busy at other sites.  Some 100,000 dunams (25,000 acres) can be made fertile.  There is the possibility of agricultural support for 150 to 200 new villages in the desolate land of the south.  Do you catch excitement of technical assistance?

            Israel has many rocky hillsides where agriculture is virtually impossible.  At the same time, meat protein is greatly needed in the Israel diet.  Sheep are a familiar sight.  In addition, our technicians, Israeli and American, are busy with “Operation Cowboy.”  Only last week, in company with news men, I visited the ranch on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee.  Quality stock is being imported for breeding with native cattle.  Israelis are learning to wear high heeled boots and ride ponies.  A former German hospice is being renovated as a living and training center for 25 to 30 boys who will run the herd of 500 cattle and 1000 sheep.  Later they will be the herd managers for villages across the country.  Already there has been a significant increase in the country’s livestock within the past year.  Thus, Israel, using waste land, becomes more nearly self-sufficient in their meat supply.  This is technical assistance at work even as we are walking in the footsteps of Jesus beside the sea of Galilee.

            In another community north of Tel Aviv, an American public health team comprising a physician, a nurse and a sanitarian are working with local officials in a    Community Health Center.  With the city of Nathanya as its center, it covers an area including approximately 35,000 people in Arab as well as Israeli villages.  TB X-ray examinations, nursing service, and health education in the schools are all a part of a demonstration for other communities to emulate. You may have seen a report in the New York Times of Sunday, March 27^th, telling of my visit to Tira, an Arab village served by this activity.

            Finally, the Negev of the south is a challenging and mysterious land.  What does it hold in the way of natural resources?  We know that phosphate, copper and manganese exist.  Are there other secrets to be discovered?  Our Mission has brought to Israel, under contract, an American firm to bring expert knowledge to bear upon the problem.  They will direct explorations and train Israelis as the task is being done.  Imagine, finding an exploitable deposit of copper at the site of King Solomon’s copper mine.  It is happening.

ARTICLE IN JERUSALEM POST

OF OCTOBER 21, 1955

RAW FRONTIER POST INTO THRIVING TOWN

BY

DR, LINCOLN B. HALE

            There are few places where material achievements blend so smoothly with spiritual values and historic perspectives as in the town of Beersheba and its hinterland in the Negev.

            The raw frontier outpost is rapidly turning into a dynamic and thriving city.  The surrounding desert is dotted with an ever-increasing area of green patches.  Fulfilment of biblical prophecies is becoming here part of everyday life – a victory of faith over the desolation of man-made desert.

            The fascination of this region is not only in its biblical associations.  To walk in the footsteps of the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to look at king Solomon’s copper-mines, to enter the forbidding realm of Esau and to stand at the site of Lot’s tragedy, are only part of the stimulation one derives from the area.

            Another attraction, particularly for us Americans, is the similarity of the efforts in Beersheba and the Negev with our own frontier history.  Our drive to the Southwest is paralleled here by a drive to the South;  our pioneers were the counterparts of the preserving settlers of the young Israel Republic;  the determination and idealism of our forefathers are similar to the vigour and self-sacrificing spirit of the Beersheba and Negev citizens.

            We at the United States Operations Mission are proud and happy to be able to play a part in the inspiring efforts to revive Beersheba and its hinterland.  American technicians from various parts of the United States work here jointly with Israel experts;  U.S. taxpayers’ money,  pooled with that of the Israel citizens, is used here for development – in the form of technical assistance funds and dollar grants-in-aid together with counterpart funds in Israel currency.

            Let us list some of USOM’S activities in helping the development of Beersheba and the Negev area – in the field of agriculture and water resources, in the search for an exploitation of natural resources, in the extension of communications, in the promotion of new industries, in housing, health assistance and education activies.

            Perhaps the most important happening in this area in thousands of years was the opening of the Yarkon-Negev water pipeline in August, 1955, increasing the area of irrigable land in Israel by 25 per cent.  USOM’S economic aid to this project amounted to IL 19m., out of a total cost of IL 45m., plus an additional $4.5m. of Grant-in-aid funds spent in buying steel and pipe accessories.  In addition, USOM’S technicians were associated in the planning and construction of the pipeline in various stages of its implementation.

            New settlements in the Negev, in areas where for countless centuries cultivation has been largely confined to the sowing of barley following the first winter rains, have highlighted a number of agricultural tasks.  A USOM agricultural specialist, working together with Israel agronomists, is co-manager of the Ibim Testing and training Farm in the northern Negev, where experimental planting of crops on a commercial scale is being undertaken.  The Ibim Farm is also serving as an important demonstration of farming “know-how” for settlements throughout the area.  An important specialized function at Ibim is the systematic training programme of farm managers.  This has taken the form of a series of practical and theoretical courses attended by selected farmers from the villages in the area, many of whom have considerable farming experience and were thus able to benefit greatly from these management training courses.  Another expert is making a study of water-utilization of different crops in the characteristic soils and under the climatic conditions of the Negev.

            South of Beersheba, at Mashabei Sadeh, our range management experts, together with engineers of the Israel Soil Conservation Service, have completed the first water spreading project undertaken in Israel.  Despite the low rainfall last winter, sufficient run-off water was collected to irrigate a part of the prepared area, which produced the first irrigated crops in it history.  This project enabled the cows of the settlement to sample their first taste of green grass.  IL 60,000 were allocated to this project.  This has demonstrated that water-spreading can be applied in all areas in the Negev where natural conditions permit the collection and utilization of run-off waters opening up for cultivation of tens of thousands of dunams of formerly desert lands.  Indeed the Negev will bloom again.

            The agricultural development and settlement of Beersheba’s hinterland is only one aspect of the total programme for the area.  Another, and not less important aspect is concerned with the search for and development of the Negev’s natural resources.  These have been known to exist from biblical times.

            The Mineral Resources Division at USOM today numbers five top-level specialists, working side-by-side with Israel Experts.  A USOM technician, jointly with Israel experts, devotes considerable attention to operations at the Dead Sea, which contains the largest known deposits of potash in the world.  The sum of IL 7.3m., out of a total investment of IL19m. in the Dead Sea Potash Plant, has come from Counterpart Funds.  Another IL 1m. has been expended elsewhere in the Negev for minerals exploration and development.

            At the Negev Phosphate Mines, the streamlining of the production processes, and finding suitable methods of upgrading the phosphate rock, has been the prime concern of USOM technical assistance.  Investigations into the possibilities of mining copper at Timna – the site of King Solomon’s Mines – have been carried out by USOM  geologists and the Longyear Mining Consulting Company of America, under a contract negotiated through USOM.  Our technicians have also been associated in the investigations of manganese deposits in the area, as well as surveying other natural resources including iron, clays and glass sand.  Among the major projects for the immediate future is a geological investigation to be undertaken by a USOM  geologist of the range of granite rock running north from Eilat to Timna.  Such granite formations usually contain valuable mineral deposits, and we are hopeful that our investigations there will be fruitful.

            In the long run the development of Beersheba and the Negev area will be dependent on adequate and cheap transport.

            The Beersheba-Na’an railway line is the first major link in the communications network being built to meet this need. The cost of construction of the whole line is being financed by Counterpart Funds of which nearly IL 5m. have already been released.  Our railroad technicians are assisting the Israel Railways in technical aspects of this important work.

            Beersheba was once the centre of caravan routes beaten out over centuries by the trampling of camels coming from all directions.  The old caravan routes are now steadily being converted to smooth-surfaced, asphalt-paved roads especially built to carry the heaviest load coming from the mining areas.

            USOM agreements with the Israel Government cover eight different roads in this area, including the important Beersheba-Nevatim-Kurnub road which will complete the Beersheba-Sdom development road, shortening considerably the distance from the Negev capital to both Sdom, on the shores of the Dead Sea, and to the Negev Phosphate Works.  Other roads in the plan will enable the opening up of areas which have hitherto remained completely undeveloped. 

            USOM’S Highway Construction Engineer, in cooperation with Israel’s experts, has been able to introduce a new method of asphalt-concrete pavement for roads designed to carry heavy loads.  Counterpart Funds have provided over IL 2m. towards this highway development programme.

            One of the most striking aspects of Beersheba’s revival is the steady industrialization that is taking place in the town.  As was to be expected, the new factories operating there are largely based on raw materials derived from the Negev.  Typical of these is the Israel Ceramics Works, Kharsa Ltd., producing ceramic sanitary ware.  We were able to assist this plan with a loan of IL 125,000 through the scheme of Industrial loans from Counterpart Funds, operated in cooperation with the Israel Government.  In addition, USOM’s Ceramic specialist, in assisting the management and staff to overcome technical problems, has also helped in devising a method of ensuring a uniform quality of raw materials, resulting in improvement in the general standard of the plants’s production.

            A substantial part of the newcomers to Israel had no practical or constructive skills.  A vocational Education programme has, therefore, had a double significance –

to teach these people trades in order to make them productive citizens, and to provide skilled workers for the country’s rapidly expanding industry and agriculture.  In Beersheba, and the Negev, this programme is basic to the development of the area, and Beersheba was therefore chosen as one of the first places for the establishment of a Vocational Education Centre, of which six are being set up in different parts of the country.  U. S. Technical Aid funds amounting to $456,000 were allocated for the equipping of these Centres, and our Vocational Education specialist has been closely associated with these efforts. The Beersheba Centre already provides training for 130 adult students, mostly men who have completed their army service, and this number will shortly be increased to 200 when the additional accommodation now under construction is completed.  The trades taught there are those which are specially needed in the overall development programme of the town and include lathe-working, precision tool work, carpentry, electric welding and automobile mechanics.

            Economic and technical aid has also been given to the Weizmann Agricultural School near Beersheba, where the future farmers of the Negev are being trained.  A special feature has been the provision by USOM of Israel’s first school bus for rural schools to take children from the surrounding villages to and from this school.  We hope that this will be the first step in vastly increasing the scope of agricultural secondary education, especially in immigrant villages where economic considerations have so far limited the possibility of widespread secondary education.

            Housing for new residents has been considered a particularly urgent task.  In Beersheba alone, the new city has expanded so rapidly that it already is far larger than the old town.  USOM;s contribution in this field, besides technical assistance through a housing expert, amounted to IL 1,420,000 in Counterpart Funds.

            The face of Beersheba, and of much of the Negev, has completely changed during the past seven years.  It will continue to change as the many development projects in the town and the Negev area reach fulfilment.

            I have said before that we of USOM feel a sense of deep satisfaction in our role in this adventure.  For us the blending of the past, present and future engenders a sense of faith.  We are dealing in material things – in housing, irrigation, sanitation and mineral research – but in historical perspective the issues seem to transcend the bare terms of the

projects.  The peaceful conquest of the desert is the road to a better future.

             

THE SYMPHONY WHICH IS THE SPIRIT OF

ISRAEL

  November 9, 1955        

  Shalom (Peace be with you):-

            The trip to the States last June is but a memory:- yet a choice treasure, for it carried the unusual experience of two homecomings in a little over a month.  There was all the joy of going home to America; - to loved ones, familiar scenes, the hills of Connecticut, picturesque Washington symbolic of our devotion, a bustling country with its pastel colored cars, democratic America with a heart that is encompassing a world, and generous America that is giving of its wealth and spirit to many peoples.

            Then in turn, was the thrill of coming back home to Israel almost a year to the day when we set foot in this Holy Land:- to eager upturned faces awaiting us in the dark at the airport, - to our apartment inspiring with its mementos of a life’s experience and fragrant with flowers that humble friends had provided, - to devoted co-workers engaged in the task of building a better world society, - to a countryside where fields and hills were garbed in the brown dress of summer, dotted here and there with the brilliant green of an irrigated plot; - to a speaking engagement within less than 24 hours to the Haifa Israel-American Friendship League celebrating our Fourth of July, - to inspired Israeli friends who are pioneering mid difficult circumstances, - to a land which is using well that which America is sharing with her, - to a spirit that glows and burns with an abiding conviction of “man’s inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

            Since then the days, weeks and months have gone by with a kaleidoscopic panorama of activity and events.  Vicariously you live with us as we think of you in the many doings that would be of interest to you.  There is so much on every hand that would intrigue you.  Even as I am writing, a large torch light gathering of youth, which we can see from our window, is underway.  The movements of my pen are accompanied by mass singing and mass cheers echoing in my ears.  In a few minutes, Sallie and I will be off to a piano recital by Solomon, the noted pianist, whom we heard two weeks ago in a superb rendering of the Beethoven Emperor Concerto with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.  Parts of the slow movement became poetry.

            Amid it all, Sallie and I are most impressed by the dynamic quality of life which is reflected in the lives of the persons with whom we come in contact.  Something happens to a people when they are possessed of a great vision, a dream of what life can be, a hope that life can be good for them and their descendants.  Israel is a land populated by men and women of purpose, be it the Minister of Finance seeking the way to financial stability, Naomi, the charming Yemenite young woman who helps Sallie, a manager showing his industrial plant, the Mayor of Beersheba reclaiming the desert, a former Chief of Staff explaining his amazing excavations at Hazor (Joshua II.1) dating back to 1400-1800 B,C,, the leader of youth directing a youth camp, a youth village or a torch light ceremony, or the Prime Minister going to Paris.

            Many visitors in these recent months have been exhilarated by the spirit that is Israel.  I spent two of the three days of Governor Harriman’s visit traveling the country with him by car and aeroplane.  He was deeply impressed as was former Governor Dewey whose reactions were expressed at a luncheon we shared at the Prime Minister’s.  It was our privilege to spend evenings with several tour groups from America who had visited the Arab countries before coming to Israel.  Their enthusiasm for what they found here was contagious.

            This week’s visit of President Herman Wells of Indiana University and his mother was a particular joy.  We met them in old Jerusalem where we spent a couple of days amidst the Christian sites with their ever fresh memories and then came into Israel.  It was a joy to share experiences here in this land with an old and dear friend who was caught up by the dynamics of what he witnessed.  I left them to Sallie for the last two days as a regional conference, attended by Mr. Hollister, Director of I.C.A., and associates from Washington and Directors from the 15 Middle East countries, took me to Cairo.

            There have been visits and trips with many official visitors from Washington including my direct superior, Cedric Seager who is the Director for the Middle East area of ICA.  Among the many Senators and Congressmen I was particularly happy to welcome and old fried Walter Judd.  I gained the distinct impression from all of them that they were much impressed by the spirit of the people, by the development of the country.  They felt that there was a great deal of misunderstanding in America relative to Israel, her purposes, her problems, and her relations with her neighbors.

            A strange comnination was Yom Kippur and the discovery of oil.  They fell within the same week, oil on September 23, and Yom Kippur on September 25.  How Israel vibrated with the possible economic implications of the oil strike.  It will be six months or more before an adequate evaluation can be given.  Then came the hush of the Day of Atonement.  We attended the Kol Nidre service (I in the front of the synagogue, Sallie in the gallery with the women).  There in the faces of men, the voices of the cantor and choir, and in the full knowledge of the history that lay behind, one came closer to an understanding of the Spirit that is Israel.

            The spirit glowed again as the Yarkon-Negev pipeline (see last letter) was dedicated with pageant, spoken word and music.  As a climax the President of Israel threw the switch and the first water sprayed into the air from a twenty-foot Menorah (the seven branched candle stick).  A similar enthusiasm was displayed at the dedication of a vocational school in Jerusalem with which the USOM assisted in construction when Ambassador Lawson and I spoke.  These are but suggestions of completed tasks which are recognized week by week and reflect the creative spirit of Israel.

            One who dwells day by day in this land must pause and think to realize what difficult and troubled days these are for Israel.  There is a quiet going ahead with the daily tasks and creative activity.  There is a calm confidence that a way will be found particularly when there is such a profound desire that peace be maintained.  There is the knowledge that the borders are not quiet, that saboteurs have crossed the frontiers and murdered workmen as they have been finishing their day’s work in the orchards.  Ben Machnes, Evansville College grad, had one of his workers shot miles from the border.  They know Egypt refuses to negotiate a peace and talks the distruction of their land.  

            Yet for fifty years, Jews have been building a nation where violence was always near.  A leader in the music world commented to me the other evening that the day he arrived in Palestine in 1936, thirty-five Jews had been killed in riots that day.  There is a conviction that God in his infinite wisdom will permit a people, many of whom have been persecuted and despised through the years, to keep a homeland.  So a spirit rooted in centuries of life provides a steady courage with which to face frontier incidents, the death of loved ones in defense of homeland and the personal sacrifice of irregular mobilization.  So daily life moves ahead with its creative activity largely unperturbed by dangers that have the rest of the world disturbed and worried.  The news as given in America must be a real concern to you.  Yet be not anxious about our physical safety or our inner spirit.  We are observing that which is truly a great adventure.  As a boy studying American history, I often wished that I might have lived in the days when the United States was being born and shaping her destiny.  Certainly here in Israel, we witness such an experience. Remember pioneering America!  “Give me Liberty or give me Death.”  “I regret that I have only one life to give for my country.”  There is a great spiritual affinity between Israel and our beloved United States.

            I was privileged to speak on October 27^th to a United Jewish Appeal Study Group from America at their closing session.  I went up to Jerusalem.  Let me share some excerpts with you.

            “We meet tonight at a time of great stress and strain.  Indeed the whole world is in turmoil.  It calls for men of courage and faith that the great purposes and values which are our dearest possessions may burn ever more brightly.  In such a time we should lift the torch ever higher.

            “Come with me to Lachish on a July morning.  In our jeep we toured the new developments in all stages of growth.  Finally we stopped at a new non-military youth settlement.  Some 40 young men and women had arrived the day before and pitched their tents.  We found them busy preparing foundations for their wooden houses.  We were the first visitors.  It was a beautiful site atop a knoll with a vista of rolling hills on three sides.  I was interested in discovering how the group was formed, and why they had come.  My questions provided the story youth challenging one another here and there until the group was started on its great adventure.  Then came an experience I shall long treasure.  One of the boys’ faces suddenly became animated.  His eyes became dancing lights as he explained:  ‘You see the important thing is that we have an idea.  We have an idea.  That is what brought us together’.

“Yes and what an Idea!  It was born in this land some 3,000 years ago – a simple concept and yet potent – the profound truth that there was one God and that in His sight each individual was entitled to the dignity and the freedom to live befitting God’s love of His people. 

“In the alchemy of time that idea went forth to all parts of the world and has fired the imagination of men to creative effort on behalf of individual freedom, the pursuit of happiness and the ways of peace.  On a bleak December day, George Washington gathered his tattered men about him to cross the Delaware River.  It was a desperate attempt.  As the men awaited the darkness to screen their crossing they pondered the future as they gazed at the floating ice their boats must conquer.  Was it the end of all their dreams?  One author conclude his description of the event with this truth:  ‘And Knox knew, and Green knew with fierce joy, that this was not the end, that for their kind there could never be an end, but only new beginnings.’  So it must ever be for men who pioneer and create. 

“This concept fundamental in the birth of our nation has found further expression as the United States, finding herself in these years in a position of world leadership, has sought to extend the hand of friendship to the nations of the world in a program of mutual assistance.  Underlying the many practical activities that comprise the program is the desire to help men find greater economic security, to strengthen the way of life that enhances human freedom and individual creative expression, and to build a world of peace.

“It seems appropriate that in the fullness of time, the idea has come back to the land of its inception.  In the joint activities which the United States Operations Mission shares with Israel we have in common a great creative concept.  Together we seek to build not only a stronger Israel and United States, but also the kind of world our faith envisions.  The finest aspirations of our joint venture are seen in the shining face of the boy of Lachish and the followers of Washington crossing the Delaware………………………………..

“It is in the realm of the spirit that the strength of Israel rests.  One finds it in many places: - in the shining face of the boy of Lachish, - in the concentration of the factory worker as he plies his trade at a new and strange machine, - in eager students as they shape with their hands and minds metal and wood at the trade school bench, - in the industry of workers in field and on the roadside as one passes through the country, - in the dedication of government officials who give of themselves without thought of self, - in the quiet worship of the Kol Nidre service chanting:

            “Lo!  As the potter mouldeth plastic clay,

            Its forms his varying fancy doeth display;

            So in thy hand, O God of Love, are we,

            Thy bond regard, let sin be veil’d from Thee,’

In the devoted services of men and women supporting and leading the many humanitarian and social service activities that abound in Israel, - in the complete freedom and joy of children as they romp and play, - in the inspired faces of men and boys dancing about the Torah as they lift up in exultation the Law of Life, - in the devotion of men and women around the world who, like you who are gathered here tonight, give of their energy and substance, - in the hush of the evening at Yad Chaim Weizmann on November 2^nd as a nation remembers.  These coupled with many others are the symphony which is the spirit of Israel.

“It all adds up to a boundless, ceaseless energy that creates and builds.  Therein lies the strength of Israel for the future.  Down the long vista of the years, be it the past five, six or seven decades or the past twenty, thirty or forty centuries, one can see this spirit glowing in the hearts and lives of the descendants of Abraham.  Even as it has been the inspiration of achievement in the past, so it still will challenge and strengthen the men and women who are building now a nation dedicated to human freedom, individual creative expression, love of God and the ways of Peace.”

Shalom,

/s/ Aunt Sallie & Uncle Lincoln

(The following is a handwritten note)

Dear Bobo -  Time has gone so fast – and here it is – your birthday month – How could I forget!! We’ve been terrifically busy – ever so you’ll remark.  Love to each of you.  Do  write if you can find a moment.

Glad your house was on a hill during these recent weeks.