No Time for Tears (21 page)

“I don’t mind, I welcome it. Besides, with your contacts with the Turks, it’s better you not risk yourself.”

The word went out, and the next evening, in great secrecy, the key men from Hashomer, the Jaffa Group, the Gideonites and Athlit were contacted to meet in Aaron’s laboratory.

Dovid stood looking over the group. “Thank you all for coming. In the past we’ve had our disagreements, but now we must bury them for the survival of our people. You know that what we are about to do is dangerous. To underestimate it would be foolhardy and dishonest. You must consider that you will be an enemy of the country, and if caught, you will be hanged. Those of you who have families should consider what that would mean to their safety. If any of you are undecided about this, the time to back out is now.” He paused, allowing the men a brief time to think. But all were in agreement … their lives were in jeopardy in any event. Whatever the cost, drastic measures had to be taken.

Dovid looked at Aaron who nodded in agreement, then Dovid went on. “It’s my belief that the kibbutzim as well as the Yishuv must know
nothing
about our activities, for their own good and ours. However, it’s a little different here in Zichron. The village obviously will be unaware of the activities that will take place, but key men working at Athlit should very gradually move their wives and children to a safer place. Any quick, mass relocation would cause suspicion … I now turn the meeting over to the assembly.”

Each man began with his own plan.

Yitzchak Lavinsky spoke for the Jaffa Group. “We could raise an army of three hundred men. Already trained and equipped with arms. Their mission would be to blow up Turkish installations—”

“And that,” Herman Belkind boomed out, “would bring Turkish reprisals down on the whole Yishuv. As a Shomer my job is supposed to be to protect the Yishuv.”

“So what do you want us to do, hire an army and fight the Turks in hand-to-hand combat?” Asher Meged of the Gideonites answered back quickly.

Absalom stood. “As a matter of fact, that’s more along the lines that I was thinking. However, mine isn’t quite hand-to-hand combat. I suggest a joint operation with the British. Eventually they’ll have to move across the Sinai to take Palestine and Syria. If we Jews here help them, it could be done sooner. It would involve the Gideonites, the Jaffa Group and Hashomer. All would be mobilized at a strategic point and the coast would be seized and held. Our flag with the Star of David would be raised and war declared against the Ottoman Empire in the name of the Jewish State. Obviously this action would be coordinated with the arrival of the British fleet and the landing of their army. Backed with their power I feel this plan couldn’t fail … the enemy would be driven out as they were when they attacked the Suez. And the British would welcome this strategy since it would save them from coming north across the desert.”

“And where on the coast could they possibly land, with the coast being patrolled as it is?” said Moses Bartov, the Shomer from Galilee.

“That’s just the point,” Absalom said. “Palestine will never be in a better position. Jamal Pasha sent the main army to Gallipoli, left only a token force here. A limited British unit could cut the Turkish army in half. While we hold the shore the British could land. Athlit covers the coast behind the ruins of Caesarea. A few hundred of your men could secure our position against an army of the size now in Palestine—”

“It’s not that simple,” Aaron said, “If you’ll forgive a military opinion from a scientist The shoals at Athlit and Caesarea would rule out landings, even the size you suggest The area between the shore and the landing area could never be taken. I just don’t think military action at this time would be advisable—”

“So,” Moses Bartov said, “we sit back and let the Turks do to us what they did to the Armenians? The pogroms we lived through were nothing compared to that. We lost a few hundred villages. But we survived. Compared to these barbarians the Russians were civilized. They rounded up every Armenian. They took people, town by town, hamlet by hamlet, house by house. Just to kill a few, you think? No … to wipe out an entire people. Not a man, not a child was to be left. They took them into the forest, the women and children, and left them to die of starvation. They told the men they were going into the army”—Moses spat—“they took them to the army … to the army of death. They killed every one of them. The worst massacre in the history of the world, and
nothing
was done to stop it If nations can stand by and permit a whole people be slaughtered like sheep, then take my word,
we are next.
Jamal Pasha has made no secret that he wants only Turks wherever they rule, only their religion, only their language … Well, everyone has to die, but I’ll die like a man, not like an animal led to slaughter. I’ll die with a gun in my hand … I’m for Absalom’s plan.”

Moses sat down and knew he had moved the group. Aaron was affected too, but he had to remind them that brave words wouldn’t solve the problem of rocks and shoals that prevented any large-scale landing.

Aaron had put a damper on the men’s spirits … and then Dovid stood. “I’d like to ask you a question, Aaron, since you’re the one who moves the most freely among the offices of the Turkish government.”

“Go ahead, Dovid.”

“Well… after the Turkish counterattack on the Suez collapsed, the Turks were beaten and they retreated into Palestine. I waited for the British to take advantage, to make a forward thrust. They didn’t Why do you suppose that was?”

Aaron knew very well the answer, and left it to Dovid to give it… “I’ll tell you, Aaron … the British lacked an intelligence network in Palestine and Syria to tell them the situation in the enemy camp. I believe they know now that they lost the advantage when they were on the offensive in the Suez because of lack of intelligence inside Palestine and Syria. They’d jump at the chance to work with us now. We know this country. They’ll accept our plan, Aaron. How can they afford not to? We can offer the British a network of surveillance—”

Nachman Shamir broke in. “You mean spying … why don’t you call it by its right name, Dovid? And what are we supposed to do in the meantime? It could take months to gather the kind of information you’re talking about.”

“You’re wrong. Every one of us has more information than the British have. The real problem is to keep things quiet enough so that we don’t put the Yishuv in danger. So, I’m not asking you to twiddle your thumbs. We can do two things at one time … while we’re gathering information, you can acquire all the arms that you can and train as many men as possible. Take my word, those of you who want to take up arms so badly will have your opportunity. When the time is right. The Turks will lose, and if the British accept this proposal it will be sooner than you think.”

In spite of his former reluctance to become involved, Aaron agreed. “Now, it’s very late and tomorrow night we meet again.”

It was four in the morning when Dovid returned home. Quietly he let himself in, hoping not to awake Chavala, but she was waiting. She lit the kerosene lamp and looked closely at him. “What was so important? … Something is going on, I know it, I feel it. You don’t usually discuss wheat and oats till four in the morning.”

How was he going to tell her? Not only that he was now a spy, but that he was also sending her away.

“Dovid?”

He paused for a moment, then, “It’s late, it’s a long story, I don’t know where to begin—”

“With the truth.”

He told her as little as possible, but how could he not tell her of his own involvement? He owed that to her. Telling her that she and the families of the other leaders would have to move out of Zichron was the most difficult job. Quietly, he tried to explain … there’d be no departure en masse, they’d leave on the pretext of visiting families, sickness—

“
Dovid …
what you’re saying … You are going to be a spy for the British? My God … what happens if you are caught?”

“You wouldn’t be involved, that’s why the less you and the others know, the better.”

“
Involved?
” She laughed miserably. “I’m your
wife
… I
am
involved. Dovid, you must get out of this before it’s too late—”

“I can’t do that, Chavala … You remember the night I came back from prison? You know how I acted when you questioned me … well, I couldn’t really tell you what I thought because I had no one to support it. Now I do … you said that night that we all fought in our own ways. Well, this is my way, the only way. I devised this plan. I ask you to try to understand how important—”

“I don’t give a damn. I suppose I’m a selfish woman who can see no further than that her husband was spared … I’ve no big visions, Dovid. I just want you to live: I want you …I want to be with you … I won’t be sent away—”

“Please, Chavala, don’t make this more difficult than it already is—”

“Sheine was right… I should have stood up to you, Dovid, insisted we go to America … God, it’s the only sane nation on earth, that’s why they aren’t in this war…”

Dovid knew that for all her show of spirit Chavala was weeping inside. But he couldn’t back down …. “But we are
here,
and nothing can change that except to try to end this horror as quickly as possible—”

“And sending me away will bring peace faster?”

“No, but it will be safer—”

“Dovid,
please
… I beg you once again, tell Aaron and the rest of them that you—”

“
No
, Chavala. I’m doing this for myself, I admit it, as much as for Zion. If I don’t, I’ll never be able to face my son, or live with myself. Or be worthy of you.”

Dovid sat down on the edge of the bed, exhausted.

Dawn had just broken, and Chavala looked out to the small backyard and saw the palm trees silhouetted against the Palestinian sky. Strange, she thought, the things people think of at moments like this. Dovid had planted those trees just before their son Reuven was born … that was nine years ago. They had borne the fruits of their labor … would Dovid live to see his seed grown to manhood?

Quietly now she asked, “Where will you take us?”

“To Jerusalem, into the Old City. No place is safe, but at least the Turks have left the shrines alone.”

Chavala knelt in front of her husband, then put her head in his lap. “What will I do without you?”

“And I without you? In war families are apart…”

Chavala tried to remember the years they’d lived here in Zichron … such happy days, dancing and singing at the village threshing-floor on hot clear nights after the harvests … picnicking and swimming in the ancient harbors of Caesarea. She’d watched Raizel going off with other young people to parties in other settlements. And Dvora racing ahead, laughing as her long hair billowed out against the mild wind … Now … they were gone … nothing was left… nothing more to say, except… “When will I go?”

“Later today.” He was grateful to her for making it easier than he’d have thought possible. Easier for him, but he knew what was going on inside her, beyond the words … “Come, lie down next to me, I need to hold you…”

They fell asleep close in each others arms, as though trying to deny the separation that was coming.

When Chavala and Dovid walked up the stone stairs to the old apartment in Jerusalem, they stood in the center of the room, neither quite knowing what to say.

Dovid picked up his son and held him, looked at the soft brown eyes of the little boy and tried to remember all the good things … How happy the child was when he would take him to Athlit. He loved the laboratory best. Dovid would adjust the lens of the microscope and Reuven would smile at the wonders of the world he discovered through it “I’m going to be a scientist like you,
abba.
When I grow up …”When he grew up? What kind of a world would it be? Dovid only hoped that what he was now doing would make it a safer, better place for his son to grow up in. And his son’s son…

He turned to Raizel. He hadn’t realized how lovely she’d become. It wasn’t possible that all the years had gone by so fast He could remember seeing her minutes after her birth, and now she was a young woman of almost twenty. Raizel was like her mother. Wise, yet shy. So giving of herself, she hadn’t gone to the Galilee when she’d so badly wanted to … papa came first, and three times she’d refused marriage because she felt in her heart that Chavala needed her more … it was as though she would make up for the pain of Sheine and the abruptness of Dvora’s marriage and going off … and ease the awful fear caused by Moishe’s absence at war, his being wounded… And little Chia, for whom he’d built a shed for her goat, now she was already eleven. So much had happened to them in that short span of time. They’d known death and hunger, love and joyous times, and now this war … Chia clung tight to him, calling him
abba
, as she always had. “I’ll miss you,
abba
.”

Taking her to him, he forced a smile. “I’ll be here so often you won’t have time.”

Chavala listened to the sweet deception, wishing it were true…

Their parting was so painful no words could say what either one of them felt. Except deep down in Chavala was a fear she could not force out…

They were at the crossroad of their lives.

T
HANKS TO HIS GREAT
success in destroying the locusts, Aaron Aaronson had authority from Jamal Pasha to go anywhere he thought there was a need for his services. He and his designated associates from Athlit were allowed to go into even most restricted military areas. Aaron, as agreed, stayed as inconspicuous as possible. His prominence gave him access, but was also a more visible target. Further, if it became necessary to leave the country for any reason, it was important for Do-vid and Absalom to be well-connected with Jamal Pasha to carry on in his confidence.

Dovid and Absalom had been with Aaron several times to see Jamal Pasha and the Turk seemed to relate better to Do-vid’s low-keyed manner than to Absalom’s extroverted tone. Not that the pasha disliked Absalom, but Aaron sensed that on those visits when the two had gone to Damascus, the pasha’s Oriental mind somehow resisted, even resented, Absalom’s sureness and jocular behavior. Since the pasha’s mood was more than receptive these days, due to the wheat production, Aaron felt it was best for Dovid to go on this mission. And Dovid agreed.