After an advance notice we received from Shoshana, on a hot summer day, such a pale boy appeared, not tanned, but beautiful. Speaks only English. A stranger in a foreign environment.
Shoshana, Eli's aunt, accepted Eli and accompanied him and his actions from the beginning until his enlistment in the IDF.
In those days we did not understand how much emotion, attention love and caring Shoshana had towards me.
Behind the apartment where we lived in the kibbutz, there was a piece of land that Eli turned into a flower garden. Plant, water, weed and see the fruit in his labor. We were all happy, and also tasted the fruits of the garden.
In my opinion, there, in this garden, were the first roots that connected Eli to the Land of Israel.
Upon graduation, Eli demonstrated his abilities as an employee in a field crop team and as a skilled tractor driver.
At the end of the arduous day of work in the field, Eli would return to take a look at the changes that had taken place in the beds he had cultivated.
Another event I will mention, that impressed me.
Eli enlisted in the IDF and went to an elite, combat unit and passed the tests and formation to be admitted to it.
This fact was an indirect and educative example towards his brothers, who like him contributed their share to our security here in the regenerating homeland.
Nahum Carmeli
