ALIYA OPENS

We are at the end of one period of our collective history and on the threshold of another. The period that is now coming to a close could be called simply: "The War Years." They were difficult years, strange years, filled with development and achievement, and also with frustration and disappointment. So many things happened, and so many things were not done that should have been done! We managed to maintain a collective farm for six years without aliya, but there were rarely more than twenty-five people here at any one time; we developed a much more productive economy than we have ever had before, but we did not achieve self-sufficiency for any long period of time.

Many things, large and small, come to one's mind: the spring and summer of 1943 when we had money in the bank and joked about granting a subsidy to Merkaz Hechalutz; the bleak days when the boys went off to the army and we saw no one taking their place; the Habonim convention, where we were impressed by what we saw yet could not feel ourselves as much a part of everything as we should have; the pleasant days husking corn, the eager days waiting for spring, the bitter days of blow-torches and frozen fountains; the first time we used the harpoon in the barn, the day the old corn-crib was finally torn down, the first summer of Camp Avodah.

If we try to summarize it all, we can say that it was in this period that we first succeeded in giving to Cream Ridge a certain character and significance, that despite many obstacles we have held together one of the basic institutions of the movement, and that despite a discouragingly long list of shortcomings we have been able to live together successfully the kind of life which we have chosen for ourselves.

And now the future. What will it be like? What will happen to us in the next twelve months?

One can make no more than a few tentative predictions. Hectic days lie ahead, tense days filled with excitement. Long before the twelve months have passed, a number of us, perhaps five or ten or twenty, will have started on the final steps of our individual aliya» Can you foresee the excitement of saying good-bye to each other at the train or, better yet, at the boat? Can you foresee how avidly the first letters from Palestine will be read?

For those who leave soon this will certainly be a year never to be forgotten. The last farewells to family and friends, the first minutes as the boat pulls out, the weeks on the ocean, finally the first glimpse of Palestine, and we will understand and sense and half-sense and be bewildered by a thousand things.

We shall see Naame and the Americans and try to answer all their questions about America and the movement and the farm. And then will begin the process of acclimatization to the reality of Palestine. Many of us will probably not say much for a while; we will work and try to absorb and understand as much as we can. Undoubtedly we shall think often of those who are yet to come, and we will wait for them eagerly so that perhaps, when we all are together, our own new settlement can be begun.

Meanwhile those who remain on the farm will face a severe trial of readjustment. The feeling of stability within the group will disappear or at least be greatly weakened. We will have to become accustomed
to many new faces and probably many new ideas. Young and inexperienced chaverim will have to take things over, will have to assume responsibility for matters they may not feel entirely qualified for, will have to make decisions. This will not be easy, but somehow it will be done. Spurred on by the nearness of aliya, and perhaps by the generally stepped-up tempo of developments which lie ahead for the movement and for Zionism, we may be able to develop a more intensive system of training, technical and cultural, and a more stimulating group life than we have ever known before.

This year will be decisive not only in our individual and group life, but in Zionism. The answer to the future of Zionism will have to be given soon. Whatever it may be, we have our own calculations and our own understanding of events; and we know that what we do this year will to a great extent determine what will happen in the next five, and that upon our achievements in the next five years rests the future of Zionism for perhaps fifty years. It is in a mood of exhilaration that we should prepare to do whatever we shall have to during the coming years.

ALVIN WEINGROD, Cream Ridge, 1945