February 16, 2008
Welcome to Kibbutz Nir-Am

In deciding to spend a month near Israel's border with Gaza, I looked at several possibilities. One was to stay in Sderot, the city struck by the most rockets. Another was to stay at Kibbutz Nir-Am, which is between the Beit Hanun, the primary source of rocket fire, and Sderot, the target. Through the internet I contacted two people on Nir-Am, and set up the rental of a small and inexpensive apartment for one month.

But arriving here on the night of February 16, 2008, I quickly realized that the two people I contacted were a large portion of the people on the kibbutz fluent in English, and one of these two contacts was unavailable. So because my Hebrew is not good (an understatement) I thought I had made a mistake and was planning to move over to Sderot. That's when I was "rescued" by the family of Uzi and Marcell Bar-On.

Marcell, originally from South Africa, had made a speech in Chicago which I had read and which was part of the motivation for me to come to the Sderot area. And since I have arrived here, her family has graciously taken me in, included me in their Shabbat meals, let me go along on field trips, and overall made my trip a remarkable experience.

Their life seems so normal and happy that at times I forget that at any moment a rocket could fall into their house and explode.

Maya (left) and Marcell Bar-On. Within 24 hours of this photo being
taken, a rocket fired from Gaza fell with 80 feet of their home.
Another rocket has fallen within ten feet of their home while
their children slept inside.

The photo at the top right of this page was taken March 1, 2008, around seven p.m. The next day, at around 5 p.m., a kassam
launched from Gaza landed within 80 feet of the Bar-On home, the second rocket to hit near them in the past two weeks.