3 Merhavia (1921–1925)

3 Merhavia (1921–1925) Almost from the moment she set foot in dusty, hot and humid Tel Aviv, Golda was determined to leave the cluster of small yellow buildings, unpaved streets and and sand dunes that tried to pass as the world’s “first Hebrew city”, and fulfill her dream of living on a kibbutz. She jokingly echoed the general feeling that instead of milk and honey there was plenty of sand. She had a vague idea of what life on a kibbutz would be like, how it was organized and functioned. What she knew was more of a myth than the harsh reality, but enough to convince her that this should be the life for a young and idealistic couple. Perhaps one of the main errors committed by Golda and her group was to immigrate to Palestine without even seeking the moral, organizational and mainly financial backing of a large social and political body. Since they came on their own, nobody felt any moral obligation to look after their needs, offer assis- tance and suggest job and housing possibilities in the new country. Golda and her friends were not aware of the fact that they were part of what became known as the Third Aliyah (wave of immigration to Palestine) which started in 1919 and ended in the mid 1920’s. They followed in the footsteps of the Second Aliyah (1904–1914), whose members were the founding fathers of Israel, men who would play a key role in Golda’s future work and private life. Among them were David Ben-Gurion, Berl Katznelson, David Remez and Zalman Shazar. By the time she arrived, they were instrumental in establishing a labor party, a federation of trade unions (Histadrut), an underground defense organization (Hagannah), and a number of kibbutzim and moshavim. Although the Jewish community numbered less than 90,000 souls, it already had a number of governing bodies such as the Elected Assembly and the National Council that ran its affairs. The World Zionist Organization was represented by the Zionist Commission whose offices were in Jerusalem and they dealt mainly with the newly created Mandatory government. Golda was a quick learner and rapidly grasped the new realities of the country. Meanwhile, Morris reported to his mother that Golda was giving English lessons because of great demand, and was being paid 3 to 4 Egyptian pounds a month, a respectable sum equivalent to 50 dollars. He found work in a store in Tel Aviv and later in a British-owned store in Lod, ten miles east of Tel Aviv, earning a weekly salary of 3.25 pounds that also included per diem as he was spending most of the week in Lod, joining Golda in Tel Aviv on weekends. Sheina and her children were supported by Shamai who sent them 100 dollars a month. They all lived in a two-room apartment, with rudimentary furniture and waited for their trunks to arrive.1 1 Erez, ed., The Third Aliyah Book, Vol. I, pp. 237–238. DOI 10.1515/9783110492507-003, © 2008 Yediot Aḥaronot: Sifreḥemed, published by De Gruyter Oldenbourg. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivs 3.0 License. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ 26 3 Merhavia (1921–1925) Golda herself sent a detailed report to Shamai written on August 24, 1921, in which she for the first time analyzed the political situation in the country. She knew that in April 1921 Palestinian Arabs had launched major riots against Jews in Jerusalem and Jaffa, killing a number of people and destroying property. The Arabs were once again signaling to the British authorities that they would never come to terms with the Balfour Declaration or the British Mandate which was to implement the declaration and help the Jews build a national homeland for themselves. The Arabs were insistent that Jewish immigration be stopped, Jews should not be allowed to purchase land and the Balfour Declaration and the entire Mandate system must be cancelled. Later they demanded immediate inde- pendence with majority rule. This meant that the tiny Jewish community (known as the Yishuv) would have to fall back on British protection as it started creating the infrastructure for the future Jewish state. In her letter, Golda noted: Shortly after the pogrom (1921 riots), the Arabs were great heroes, but now chalutzim (pio- neers) are again arriving regularly. But as I said, not one of us can foretell the future…There is only one way: he who is a Zionist, he who cannot rest in the Galut (Diaspora) must come here, but he must be ready for anything. Economic conditions have gotten worse since the pogrom, but even for the brief while that we are here, we can already see some improve- ment. All say that last winter was a boom and everything would have been marvelous if not for the riots. Another fact is important for me. Those who talk about returning (to America) are recent arrivals. An old worker is full of inspiration and faith. I say that as long as those who created the little that is here, are here. I cannot leave and you must come. I would not say this. I did not know that you are ready to work hard. True, even hard work is difficult to find, but I have no doubt that you will find something. Of course, this is not America, and one may have to suffer economically. There may even be pogroms again, but if one wants one’s own land, and if one wants it with one’s whole heart, one must be ready for this.2 It can be assumed that this paragraph reflected bitter arguments with Morris who already demanded that they return to America. For her, going back to the United States would have been an admission of failure. She had to justify the reason for immigrating to Palestine and was determined to stay despite the difficulties. To achieve one’s goals one had to be stubborn and have steely convictions. These traits she possessed. In another part of the letter she attempted a political eval- uation. In those early years she still trusted the British, but in retrospect, she misread their intentions: First, the political situation. I am no politician and cannot exactly describe to you the poli- tics of England. But one thing is clear to me. If we will not go away, then England will help us. 2 Letter quoted in Nachman Tamir, ed., Golda—A Compendium in her Memory, Tel Aviv, 1981, pp. 107–108. 3 Merhavia (1921–1925) 27 True, one feels the English Government quite heavily in the country but this does not frighten me. England will not choose the Arabs over us to colonize Palestine. Almost since the day they arrived, Golda began to plan their move to a kibbutz. She had not come all the way to Palestine to live a drab, dull life in Tel Aviv. She was already a seasoned campaigner for the Poalei Zion movement in America, an experienced organizer, speaker and fundraiser. It was unthinkable that in the land of her dreams, she would be reduced to giving English lessons to children of wealthy Tel Aviv families. She made inquiries how to go about joining a kibbutz. Morris did not show any interest in the project. In fact, he disliked the idea from the very beginning when she had first raised it in Denver. But apparently he did not put up a major fight, hoping that she would outgrow this fad. The tragedy that followed was all of Golda’s making. She chose Merhavia, a place she knew little about. Had she checked more carefully, she would have discovered that Mer- havia, like most communal settlements that survived World War I, was in poor shape, economically and socially. Founded in 1911, and situated in the heart of the Valley of Jezreel, Merhavia was initially an experiment in cooperative agriculture developed by the German Jewish sociologist Professor Franz Oppenheimer. In 1909 he proposed the cre- ation of an agricultural farm in Palestine to be administered by a professional agronomist. The members would be paid a monthly salary and would also receive part of the community’s profits according to their particular expertise and pro- ductivity. Once the farm would be self-supporting, argued Oppenheimer, its members would manage it. The idea was aimed at providing an answer for the need of modern Jewish agriculture but one that had to take into account the lack of any significant experience in this field. Many similar ventures failed before 1914. In 1919, there was a renewed attempt to revive the cooperative settlement by a number of recently demobilized American Jewish members of the Jewish Legion who remained in Palestine. In that year, there were 23 settlers in Merha- via (15 men and 8 women) who, with the help of some hired hands, cultivated 129 acres of barley, 20 acres of fruit trees and 11 acres of vegetables. They also operated a barn and chicken coop and sold their dairy products to nearby towns and other villages. But the system of permanent as opposed to transient members was bound to create problems. The general atmosphere was grim, one of claustro- phobia typical of small closed groups. This arrangement did not last long. In 1921, 20 ex-legionnaires settled in Merhavia, most of them members of Poalei Zion in America, who at least shared a similar ideological background.3 3 For the history of Merhavia, see Yehuda Erez, The Merhavia Book, Tel Aviv, 1964.

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