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Adele Raemer
Life on the Border with the Gaza Strip

Shavuot? I’ll have to give you a rain check

I can't celebrate this harvest holiday if I'm not home on my kibbutz rejoicing with those brutally torn from us on Oct. 7
Shavuot 2023, Kibbutz Nirim (Adele Raemer)
Shavuot on Nirim, in happier days

Shavuot is my favorite holiday. It always begins sometime between Passover and Independence Day, when I am asked to choreograph a funny “dance”. I always say yes, because the evening of home-made dances won’t happen if we all said no, but I always cringe at first, and postpone. My rule for rehearsals: no more than two weeks before the holiday, and rehearsals don’t last longer than half an hour. Whoever comes, comes, and the MOST important thing is to have fun throughout the process.

Photo credit: Adele Raemer Shavuot 2023, Kibbutz Nirim

Then we get to the day of the holiday. It’s the holiday where everyone who knows someone on a kibbutz anyplace, renews connections to get an invite. Because there is NO place that does Shavuot better than the kibbutzim.

Photo credit: Adele Raemer Shavuot 2023, Kibbutz Nirim

Shavuot on kibbutz is humongous bales of hay and tractors hitched to wagons, touring the fields, proudly showing off our agricultural prowess to the guests. It’s the bearing of the first fruits and dancing proudly with the babies born that year. It’s cheesecake, of course.

Photo credit: Adele Raemer Shavuot 2023, Kibbutz Nirim

In preparation for Shavuot, weeks earlier, each branch of the kibbutz hosts the different age groups of our children, and educates them about the work they do. Then, on the day of the celebration, proudly together they strut their best produce.

Photo credit: Adele Raemer Shavuot 2023, Kibbutz Nirim

But this year…. this year there IS no Shavuot for me. Because if I cannot celebrate with my family and friends in the fields of Kibbutz Nirim, if I cannot ride the tractors to the celebration site, or dance the silly dance with those willing to go with my flow, then there is no Shavuot for me. If I cannot take pictures of our gargantuan combine harvesters harvesting the wheat through clouds of dusty earth in our golden fields which our farmers work so hard all year to nurture, then there is no Shavuot for me. There is no Shavuot for me if we cannot celebrate with those people who were ruthlessly torn from us on that Black Sabbath back in October.

Photo credit: Adele Raemer Shavuot 2023, Kibbutz Nirim

Nothing in our lives has been the same ever since, so although Shavuot is my favorite holiday, there is no Shavuot for me this year. Even despite the fact that Kibbutz Shuval have warmly opened their gates to all of Nirim to celebrate with them, a fact for which I am extremely grateful, there is no Shavuot for me this year.

Next year, however….

We will return to our kibbutz on the border. We will rebuild and replant.

We will reclaim that which was brutally stolen from us.

We will bury and mourn our dead and please God we will rejoice in those whom we get back – one way or another. Our hearts are broken but our spirits are not, and we will return to reclaim what is rightfully ours: our fields, our homes, our community and our joy of living in the Western Negev and fulfilling the Zionist dream, making it bloom.

About the Author
The writer (aka "Zioness on the Border" on social media) is a mother and a grandmother who since 1975 has been living and raising her family on Kibbutz Nirim along the usually paradisiacal, sometimes hellishly volatile border with the Gaza Strip. She founded and moderates a 13K-strong Facebook group named "Life on the Border with Gaza". The writer blogs about the dreams and dramas that are part of border kibbutznik life. Until recently, she could often be found photographing her beloved region, which is exactly what she had planned to do at sunrise, October 7th. Fortunately, she did not go out that morning. As a result, she survived the murderous terror infiltrations of that tragic day, hunkering down in her safe room with her 33-year-old son for 11 terrifying hours. So many of her friends and neighbors, though, were not so lucky. More than she can even count. Adele was an educator for 38 years in her regional school, and has been one of the go-to voices of the Western Negev when escalations on the southern border have journalists looking for people on the ground. On October 7, her 95% Heaven transformed into 100% Hell. Since then she has given a multitude of interviews. She has gone on five missions abroad in support of Israel and as an advocate for her people. In addition to fighting the current wave of lies and blood libels about the Jewish state, she is raising money to help restore their Paradise so that members of her kibbutz can return to their homes on the border, where they can begin to heal. If you wish to learn more about how you can help her and her community return home, please feel free to drop her a line.
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