Hanukkah,Christmas,NewYear(Hogmanay),'s 75t h Birthday ….it's all happening at Matzuva -hoping for a better year with peace on earth including !!! ------

Goodbye 2014……..

In retrospect the resurgence at Matzuva has continued throughout the year despite our financial shortcomings but the fact is that the community will number close to 1,200 residents in the coming months. The discussions regarding a new neighborhood for our second and third generation kids are ongoing. It will become a reality either on the hill to the east presently occupied by the chicken runs or towards the west beyond the present security fence facing the Mediterranean Sea. Questions regarding pensions are still on the agenda and the linkage between the local committee and the kibbutz committee continuance ironing over present necessary adjustments for the benefit of the Matzuva community. 2014 has seen the continued dominance of Matzuva Agriculture in the entire Western – we have visited the Matzuva cemetery too many times during 2014. The Matzuva cemetery is situated on the road down to the northern road. The band of Matzuva founders and veterans is now unfortunately just a handful. In my work in the kibbutz archives I found a weatherworn board thrown away in a field showing the living quarters at Lower dated January 1940. It shows a sketch of a small tin hut that served as a dining room and 5 bell tents with the names the occupants. In February 1940 this small group of pioneers went down the hill crossing the northern road and went up the rocky hill to the south of the road to found Kibbutz Matzuva joining Kibbbutz Hanita (1938) and Kibbutz (1939) as the only Jewish communities north of . We have tapes evidencing the personal experiences of these early settlers as well as those of later reinforcements from central Europe who survived the Holocaust and the consequent blockade by the British navy before the end of the British mandate. Many of them were interned for a year or so in detention camps in Cyprus prior to the establishment of Israel. The tapes of our Holocaust survivors have been passed over to "Yad Veshem" Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem for eternal storage and we are now looking forward to receiving copies of this material back in updated media at our archives.

Shelters - The Beautiful Israel Council has awarded Kibbutz Matzuva with a 5-star Award in a national competition for excellence of readiness and condition of its 25 bomb shelters in the kibbutz north of the entrance road that include residential, communal and children's facilities. We have recently negotiated with the YES Satellite TV company the installation of satellite TV programs in all these shelters – hopefully we will not need the bomb shelters but who knows!! The new community neighborhoods have newly built residential housing with a security room meeting the current required standards in each house. The old kibbutz housing has smaller security rooms added on over the years.

Waste Disposal – Israel is slowly moving over to the separation of waste materials. Our Mateh Asher Regional Council including 32 communities in the Western Galilee is one of the leaders in this field.

Throughout Matzuva there are now numerous salvage points with dry and wet bins, cages and bins for written material, cardboard, tins, glass as well as a central facility for old and surplus computing material and other media. Residents at Matzuva are cooperating in this scheme which is also in the interest of the community itself. The regional council collects salvage twice a week.

Dogs and Cats: If only we had the same degree of cooperation with dog owners we would enjoy the natural beauty of the kibbutz in its rural setting. Throughout the years there have been decisions galore regarding dogs that remain unheeded but we all know that the problem and solution actually lies with their owners. Dogs should be on a leash or within a closed area when unattended. Some owners disregard this decision while others have found a loophole by letting their dogs out free in the early morning or in the late evening and consequently pedestrian residents walking on the sidewalks regularly have to dodge the droppings of our four-legged friends.

My wife Irene and I love animals having been dog owners ourselves in the past but have always kept cats. We have two cats at the moment, Noodle and Nudnik! Thanks to the ancient Egyptians we know every cat has good toilet manners!!

Fame at Last!...... Î Noodle at Stonehenge (on the computer)

Rules of the Road (or Highway Code in the U.K.) Slowly the Matzuva community is coming to terms with the safety issue regarding motorized travel within the Kibbutz. In accordance with the infrastructure program sidewalks have been added and traffic signs and warnings are being added around the kibbutz. Parking areas have been built but some residents still park next to red paved Î sidewalks while others drive opposite the traffic signs on one-way roads. Speeding and parking is particularly dangerous during the arrival and departure times of kindergarten kids on our narrow roads and the hope is that the Matzuva Local Committee will address this issue without further delay.

Cultural Activities at Matzuva – The cultural committee is always on the go.

Hogmanay (definition, meaning, audio pronunciation, synonyms and more). What is Hogmanay? In Scotland, the last day of the year and the parties to celebrate it is to drink and sing "Auld Lang Syne " that is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788) or just Sylvester – (In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve (also Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries and a keyword at Matzuva), on the last day of the year, on December 31. Whichever way you mark it or celebrate it at Matzuva it's "Matzuva's Big Booze-Up" …………….. with the Ga'aton brook running red until it reaches Nahariya and the sea. Any sober and self-respecting Ulpan student or working Volunteer will have cherished the event when we were all so much younger and any one working in the banana plantation the next day would surely not find the way into or out of bed never mind the banana plantation - Thus the tradition carries on……

The Emergence of the 50+ Generation - With a marked decrease in the number of veteran members their social and cultural activities are also unfortunately on the wane. The weekly meetings at the Moadon (clubhouse) are at best intermittent which is a shame. Meanwhile younger Matzuva members have begun to organize activities for the 50 to 80 age group at the kibbutz and beyond. This is in addition to the Mateh Asher Regional Council "Seniors Association" that incorporates regular walking visits in the country and abroad (Ireland, Portugal already with a visit to Morocco in 2015) as well as the Seniors Association varied educational courses at . A devoted band of the 50+ committee keeps the seniors busy with regular activities includes Orna Zeira, Ilana Chen, Tamar Reuven and Max Nathans and other volunteers. Most of the participants are kibbutz members with a sprinkling of residents from Matzuva's community neighborhoods. This week there is Bingo evening at the moadon.

Hanukkah Veteran member Esther Yiftach-El relates how in the early years of Matzuva the focus of the adults was on education and recreation of the small number of children during the nineteen forties of the last century. The first kindergarten children's nurse was the late Emet Nadav. She saw the great significance of the Hanukkah festival and it's story of the victory of the Israelites over the Greeks against all odds and that the kibbutz adults should establish a special program and fully participate in it for the benefit of the Photo: Eliyahu Koren 1946/7 Matzuva kids. This festival of lights has over the years been a central activity for kibbutz kids at Matzuva with numerous members providing the input of members devoting their spare time with a variety of events for the kids leading up to the amateur theater production held in the spring on "Children's Day". It is held over 36 hours including a lunar park with various attractions and stalls on the main lawn. In the evening there is a festive meal for the kibbutz kids and this is followed by at least three showings of the children's theater show with the latter one being open to residents of the regional council.

Matzuva Squash Court…the only one north of Akko

Ohad Fliderman . The fact that Matzuva is setting up a squash court has not gone unnoticed and mention of Ohad's enthusiasm and inspiration. The national and local press have reported on the voluntary work by Ohad and other Matzuva residents. Meanwhile the kibbutz has been granted finance for repair and upgrading of its tennis courts. Meanwhile in accordance with infrastructure work safety barriers and a tarmac path have been put in place alongside the entrance road to the kibbutz

** Once again we would like to draw your attention to the new project named "Aliya to Matzuva" and our appeal for support to turn this idea into reality for all to enjoy.

New Project at Matzuva – We need your help!! "A Miniature Matzuva" …but not exactly Madurodam!

This new project called "Aliya to Matzuva" is the brainchild of Nitzan Reuven. The location is the little hillock to the north of the new circle immediately past the main gate into the kibbutz. The target date is the 75th Anniversary of the establishment of Matzuva in 1940. The project has been designed by architect Itzik Ben-David, a resident of Matzuva, along with the input of kibbutznik Ezra Segali and the Matzuva Trustee Noam Netzer.

The idea is to include replica items such as the security wall around the new settlement, a watch tower, the first bell tents and hut of the fledgling kibbutz including basic agricultural implements of that period. We will publish a more detailed map of the project in the coming updates.

"ALIYA TO MATZUVA" PROJECT

North ↑ To Shlomi

PROJECT

PERIMETER ← SITE

FENCE →

MAIN ROAD INTO KIBBUTZ MATZUVA MAIN GATE *to the south → of the road the community neighborhood NEW ↑ TRAFFIC CIRCLE

Background: Way back in February 1940 the first settlers left the "" Camp at Lower Hanita and crossed the northern border road and began to climb up a hill on the southern side of the northern road and in doing so established Kibbutz Matzuva. This was at that particular time a daring and significant step that determined that the area north of Akko would become in 1948 an integral part of the fledgling State of Israel. This became the Western Galilee region right up to the border with Lebanon ratified by the Rhodes Armistice Pact of 1949. The Matzuva land had been purchased from wealthy Arabs in Beirut and was one of the few Jewish communities north of Akko in the Biblical area of the Tribe of Asher (one of the 12 tribes of Israel).

Conditions were frugal and tough with no water within reach and these young adult pioneers lived in tents with a single shack that served as a dining room and communal center. The initial diet was made up of carobs and olives with water being brought by road from Nahariya. In this sparse environment the first child of Matzuva was born. He was named Nitzan and was the pride of his parents the Reuven Family and the small community. Sadly, Nitzan's father was killed near Akko while on a mission for the Hagana resistance in 1943. At this time Palestine was then under the British Mandate while across the border nearby was the French mandate over Lebanon that during the WW2 was under Vichy control.

Today, Nitzan is in his mid 70's but still working as a motor mechanic for Matzuva Agriculture. He is married to Tamar who is also a daughter of founder members. I spoke with Nitzan recently (who is a neighbor of ours) about his aspirations as a proud grandfather. He told me of his dream to ensure that the early days of Matzuva be somehow remembered not solely in words but also in a tangible way for present and future persons of the wider Matzuva Family. I asked Nitzan what idea he had in mind!

He said that we would love to establish a "Miniature Matzuva" depicting physically how Matzuva became a reality in 1940. He subsequently spoke with Noam Netzer the kibbutz trustee who embraced the idea. Nitzan identified a little hillock not far from the main entrance to Matzuva with the kibbutz to the north and the community neighborhoods to the south. At this site a retro of Kibbutz Matzuva 1940 is to be erected as a visitor's center attracting visitors to the Western Galilee as well as the hundreds and hundreds of volunteer guests and Ulpan alumni who we hope will make a nostalgic visit to Matzuva and Israel to meet residents and take a walk down Memory Lane.

We need your assistance and generosity to turn Nitzan's dream into a reality that will bring back in most cases pleasant memories of younger days including the kibbutz experience of work, study and camaraderie bringing together young adults from numerous countries and backgrounds.

The project has been recognized and approved by the Mateh Asher Regional Council and the plans have now been submitted for approval. The cost of the project is not finalized at this stage but we will keep you informed when known.

Once again I recommend readers to visit Max's Photo Album on this website for a pictorial view of life at Matzuva through his excellent and original quality photos and videos. Enjoy! Baruch

MATZUVA AGRICULTURE Growing with Love

Until the next update – keep well and be in contact.

Best wishes to all our readers Baruch - Matzuva, December 22, 2014

M A T Z U V A ’’S 7 4 t h Y E A R 104 YEARS OF THE