Sites help tell the story of the building of Israel

VICKI CABOT
Contributing Editor

It's a beautiful tree, tall and full with the first green buds of spring covering its limbs.

It shades the front of a small cottage on a desert kibbutz, the former home of David Ben Gurion, the "old man" as his compatriots called him, the first prime minister of the Jewish state.

Ben Gurion planted the tree, a tiny sapling, more than three decades ago, just a few years after he moved to the kibbutz, called Sde Boker. Today it towers over the tiny desert community, a symbol of the life and strength of the Jewish state that he helped build.

Driving north from Mizpe Ramon toward Beersheba and then on to Tel Aviv, Sde Boker is one of three sites that offer visitors interesting perspectives on Israel's founding. The other two suggested stops in close proximity are the Israel Air Force Museum just outsitde Beersheba and the Ayalon Institute in Rehovot, a Tel Aviv suburb.

It was Ben Gurion who saw the Negev as Israel's future and pushed for development of water sources to make the land habitable. Today the kibbutz, which Ben Gurion joined in 1953 after serving as prime minister during the first five tenuous years of Israel's existence, is testimony to his vision. His small home sits in a green, grassy area surrounded by beautiful flowering plants and shrubs. The modest "hut," home to Ben Gurion and his wife, Paula, is preserved as it looked in the 1960s. Paula Ben Gurion died in 1968; her husband, five years later. They are both buried at Sde Boker.

On the first anniversary of Ben Gurion's death, the home was opened to the public. A short distance away from Sde Boker is the Israeli air force museum. Its display of aircraft used to defend the state since the War for Independence offers a short course in Israel's difficult history.

Even for those who don't know a MIG from a Lavi, the rows of bombers and fighter planes lined up across the tarmac engender a heightened appreciation of the heavy price Israel continues to pay for its existence.

Another short drive from the museum takes visitors to Rehovot, where a stop at the Ayalon Institute offers another view of Israeli bravery. The institute was a kibbutz that was used during the War for Independence as a secret munitions factory. A fascinating tour begins with a video presentation, then a walk through the kibbutz where visitors see the entrance into the underground factory in the floor of a bakery, and the exit, in the floor of the laundry. The tour guide tells the amazing story of the small band of patriots who descended into the basement every day to manufacture the bullets that were critical to the war effort. For secrecy, other members of the community did not know about the hidden factory.

The 45 workers manufactured 14,000 bullets a day, smuggled out at night in the bottoms of milk cans.