Israel: On And Off The Tour

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Gezer children play at a day care center, complete with a dismantled car.

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ossi, our cab
driver, has a little doubt in
his smile when we ask him
to take us from the
Jerusalem Hilton to a kib-
butz called Gezer. He says
he knows where it is. The
truth is, this man who can
get you through the city
streets in minutes, knows
sort of where Kibbutz Gezer
can be found.
It's not that Gezer is in
any way a secret. If there is,
however, a description of
what paradise must be like,
then the pathways not far
from Tel Aviv take us away
from the traffic into a world
of farmland, hard-working
kibbutzniks, and, of course,

the jewel on this kibbutz, its
baseball diamond.
We wait for a lazy tractor
to move aside. We're near
old Ramle and the Latrun
Road. In 1948, Jordanian
soldiers killed 28 Israelis as
they ate dinner. The kibbutz
had even to close down for
years until its current
founders came and rebuilt
the kibbutz to its current
condition.
Among those founders are
Miri Gold, an Oak Park
native, with roots at
Shaarey Zedek and Berkley
High School, and her New
York husband, David
Leichman.
Miri Gold's life is full at

Gezer. She and Mr.
Leichman have three chil-
dren: Eliora, 11%, Arishai,
8, and Alon, 4. She is in
charge of the kibbutz's
kitchen and absorption cen-
ter. There are 250 people
living and working on this
kibbutz, including 100 chil-
dren under the age of 15.
Ms. Gold also often leads
the prayer in the kibbutz's
synagogue, and she teaches
bar and bat mitzvah
lessons.
Her husband speaks and
writes nationally and inter-
nationally on the kibbutz
movement. He leads tours
through the kibbutz and
like everyone else, lends a

David Leichman and Mid Gold stand outside their Gezer home.