To:
(Uncle) Ed Fingerhood
2742 N. 45th st.
Philadelphia, Pa
U.S.A
Spt 21
Ed... Ed... And I bet you've never watched the sun rise while in labors or seen the first rain clouds & felt the first rain drops in four months, while in labor as I do now!!! The wind comes up, the sky is darkening, my child comes soon, & my soul is elated! The children are doing a rain dance outside, they too are happy just a little rain (geshem) with just little drops on the sand but everyone is smiling & looking with joy. The fear of child birth is just another thing man has made rotten. It is a wonderful thing. If I were superstitious I would take the first rain for a sign that I should keep the child. I'm not superstitious, but I am happy.
Spt 23
And then I saw the sun go down & the moon come up while in labor (ever see a moon in labor?) But the next time the sun came up I had a boy!! And you know Ed, they say ever woman thinks her kid is the best looking thing ever born, but this one really is: fat – good looking, blonde, healthy, cries little, ect. (Actually it looks like an old man with the smallest tongue in the world) Here, one has natural child birth & they say I had a quick easy one. Didn't seem so at the time, but now it seems pretty great. Since I'm in a new, yet uncrowded hospital the Kibbutz nurse was there all the time. She said "push", nothing "push" again – still nothing – next time out comes the head & flingo – it comes out flying – great catch in midair – a blue fly ball . I played with him for a day, great fun, but then the Dr. who's a friend of mine, came & said "you're giving the chap away" & I said yes & so he said he was taking him now & I said oh no you're not, but he did, because even though I had decided I couldn't carry it out. Now it is better with him not here.
Spt 24
And it's over. The cross eyed social worker just took Yoray (means first rain). I kept sneaking to see him. He was a good kid. I can see now how a mother can forget her husband and give her all to the child. The only rotten thing was that my father arrived two weeks ago. (0 before when he was planning to come in Aug. I had to tell his friend the story who told me he didn't tell pop, but who 2) really did, so in he walks, a really uro man. ( He told me he wanted grandchildren… ) After I had been sewed up in come pop. Never saw anything more pathetic. In the Kibbutz he felt he owed something to everyone – (can't understand socialized living) & so he did someone a favor – who in turn did him one - & he payed him back again & so on & so on. Really bad news & quite comical.
All the nurses here are soldiers also & very good looking. Wanta join me. I hope you do come to Israel, it's a great land, especially contrasted with my father's views of living. How goes all in philly? Are you living in at #2742 or no?. There's a view from my window. It looks like a Spanish israely landscape – big trees – dry land – with the sun going down.
Alma
21-24 September 1961, Kibbutz Zikim