Friday, December 19, 1980 25 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Determination of Cochin Immigrants Turns Wasteland Into Successful Moshav By JOAN SILBERSTEIN United Jewish Appeal They came with their To- rah. They had nothing else. Forty-eight families from Cochin, India — traders, shopkeepers, small businessmen — came to Nevateem in the empty Negev desert in 1955 bear- ing only scrolls of the Law in shining silver cases. These men and women who had never farmed were returning to the land — to plant crops and build new lives. Their initial goal was simply to stay alive. Since the time of Ab- raham and the 12 Tribes of ancient Israel, no one had lived on the site of Nevateem, no crops had grown. The British offi- cially designated the area s "uninhabitable." In ±947, small groups of courageous settlers tested life in Nevateem. Unable to develop a via- ble community and to de- fend themselves during the War of Independence, they fled. Nothing but a few hovels remained. It was to these deserted houses with open holes for windows and doors that the Cochiners came. The structures were roofless, with sand two feet deep covering the floors and climbing the walls as if to bury them. No one had set foot in Nevateem for seven years. "Finally Levi Eshkol, the prime minister, gave up home. He said that it would be better to keep us all in some kind of hotel than to invest any more money in this set- tlement. "The government asked us to leave the land, but our parents refused. They loved the land and they taught us to love it too." "Our parents wanted us Zionism Series on Israel TV JERUSALEM (JTA) — A 19-part television series re- counting the history of Zionism will be broadcast on Israel television begin- ning Jan. 6. According to officials of the Israel Broadcasting Authority, it is the largest television production ever undertaken in the country. Titled "The Pillar of Fire," the series was three years in the making and cost $1 million. Kits Distributed NEW YORK (JTA) one million Hanuka kits were distributed by the Lubavitch movement to na- tions on four continents, in- cluding Israel, Australia and South Africa, according to a report by Rabbi Shmuel Butman, director of the Lubavitch Youth Organiza- tion. Each kit contained a menora, 44 candles, a brochure with the Hanuka calendar and the laws and blessings of the holiday. to learn," says Shimon It- zhak. "When they didn't have food for themselves, when the children were needed to work and to earn money, they made us go to school. We went to agricul- tural trade schools. When we came out, we knew something. We were 14, 15 years old and we took mat- ters into our own hands. "We planted cotton, peanuts, onions, tomatoes. We taught our fathers, mothers and sisters what to do. Everyone worked in the fields, proving to the authorities that all we needed was will power and water and the land would be like gold. "In 1960, five years after we came, the first crops were sold." In 1962, with food on their tables, the people of Moshav Nevateem could afford to begin construction of their homes. Family by family, they moved to individual homes from the 24 square meter huts where five, even 10, people lived together in one room. There was still no running water, no electric- ity, no gas for cooking and no telephones. _ The first orchards were planted that same year, and the following year the Na- tional Carrier was put into operation, a system of un- derground pipes bringing water from Lake Kinneret hundreds of miles south to the Negev Desert. Moshav Navateem's orchards flourished. Among the pro- duce of the harvest were the first apricots in the history of modern Israel to be ex- ported to Europe. - The moshav was con- nected to the country's elec- tric grid in 1965. For Daniel and the other children brought to Israel from In- dia, it was the first time they had electricity in their homes. Daniel was 17 years old. Greenhouses were built and the people of Carter Offers Saudis More F-15 WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Carter Administration has offered to begin deliv- eries of 60 F-15 fighter planes to Saudi Arabia in January, a year ahead of schedule, but without as- surances that the combat capabilities of the planes would be enhanced by the bomb racks and extra fuel tanks that the Saudis want. The State Department said that the U.S. supply of weapons to Saudi Arabia and the increase of oil prices' by Saudi Arabia for the sec- ond time in three months, made known Tuesday at an organization of petroleum exporting countries meet- ing, are not related. The offer of earlier deliv- ery of the F-15s was made in November by Gen. David Jones, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Saudis have not accepted the offer. He that will believe only what he can fully com- prehend, must have a very long head or a very short creed. —Cohon FIRESTONE JEWELRY Wholesale Diamonds & Jewelry . Remounting Jewelry & Watch Repairing, SUITE 318 ADVANCE BLDG. 23077 Greenfield at 9 Mile (313) 557-1860 LIFE'S SPECIAL EVENTS SHOULD BE RECORDED FOREVER VIDEO TAPE YOUR SPECIAL OCCASION • Weddings • Bar Mitzvas • Private Parties • Anniversaries • Birthdays • Etc. See Our FULL-SERVICE Studio LEGAL TAPES, INC. Children of Nevateem were a driving force in the development of the moshav founded by immigranis from Cochin, India. The immigrants turned a near wasteland into a several million-dollar-a-year ag- ricultural moshay. Nevateem entered the flower growing business in 1968. Within 10 years, the business, was brining in annual receipts of $1.5 million dollars. WATCH SALE 35-50% OFF In 1975, 20 years after the people from Cochin immig- rated to Israel carrying their Torah, the first tele- phones were installed in the homes of Nevateem. An in- fant boy born during the journey to Nevateem had grown into a man of 20, married, and was a father himself. Today, the economy of Nevateem is based on ground crops, greenhouse flowers, and a growing poul- try business started in 1979. The original 48 families have multiplied to 93. There are 512 people in the corn- munity, 250 of them under the age of 18. In the 25 years of Nevateem, no Cochiner has left the moshav to live elsewhere. No one has moved to another town or city, kibutz or moshay. No one has left to live abroad. Nevateem remains as one extended family. At the center of Nevateem there is a synagogue. When the Ark is opened, there is not one To- rah, but 10. The 10 Torahs were carried one by one as groups of Cochiners came to Israel. 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