Kibbutz Sdot Yam

In the late 1970s I lived right next to Caesarea, Israel on a kibbutz that actually, at that time, owned the land the old city sat on: Sdot Yam or, "Fields of the Sea". The kibbutz may still own it ... I don't know. I went to the ulpan in Sdot Yam ... a sort of school where you learn to read and write in Hebrew. Now that I'm older, I think that most of the books I currently read are either in Hebrew or Aramaic. I owe a lot to Sdot Yam.

Here's a link to a large number of photos from the old Roman town of Caesarea which, during the Crusades, was rebuilt as a castle by, I think, King Louis of France. There are any number of Roman ruins all over the place (there were so many that the kibbutziks even used the fallen columns and capitals as benches and tables), as well as what's left of the Crusader castle.

In this photo, if you click it, you can just make out some houses near the middle that belong to the kibbutz and just yards from where I lived. The stacks in the background belong to, I seem to recall, a power plant which was just being built while I lived there. At that time there was only one stack. I used to take long romantic walks on the beach at night with my girlfriend, Alexandra. Heady days. Lots and lots of memories.

Sdot Yam was founded as a kibbutz by Ben Gurion during the period when the British were refusing to allow Jews to enter the Holy Land. Because the old Roman seaport was still actually usable and all the land around it was and had been owned by Jewish groups, he knew he could settle the kibbutz without much trouble and then ships could come in at night, dock using the Roman wharf and off-load in safety. One of my friends on the kibbutz was a Norwegian sailor who helped in the operation (during WWII) and decided to stay.

I'm getting all misty ... [snurf] ...