East of Shiloh

I was going to call this post "Great Tremps Home," but then I changed my mind. Yesterday I did make totally fantastic time tremping, aka hitchhiking home from Kochav Hashachar which is southeast of Shiloh.

Today it seems so unbelievable that for years I had never been on the road between Shvut Rachel and the Alon Road, which is a very picturesque way of traveling through the Jordan Valley and to Beit She'an and further north and lots of communities to the south. It's also an alternative road towards Jerusalem.

From my house I can see Shvut Rachel to the east, and to the east of that, both north and south, there are more Jewish communities. It's government land that had never been developed, so it's available for new Jewish towns. The new Amona is slated to be in that general area, too. At present there are about 150 families in the various Jewish communities. They are considered part of the Shiloh Bloc of yishuvim, aka Gush Shiloh. Because the road, though paved, is barely one lane, there's no public transportation. The only buses that go there are the school buses to and from Shiloh.

Yesterday when I finished teaching in Yeshiva Tichonit Ahavat Chaim at 1:15, I rushed out to tremp, hitchhike home and quickly got a ride to the junction of Hakida and Achiya. I waited there just long enough to photograph in all directions with both my phone and camera.

And then I got a ride to the Shiloh-Shvut Rachel Junction, and immediately after getting out of the car another took me to my neighborhood. The whole trip from Teachers Room to right near my house took barely half an hour. So I certainly have no complaints. Some days and directions are easier and quicker than others. It's all in the Hand of Gd. And this is Gd's Land for sure. When you celebrate Jerusalem Day, include the celebration of the liberation of Judea and Samaria, too.

New Tremping Route

It has been a few months since I began working in Yeshivat Ahavat Chaim in Kochav Hashachar. I've tried all sorts of ways to get there and back, except for one tremping, that's hitchhiking via Shvut Rachel-Kida and the Alon Road. I keep saying that I'm going to take that route on a Monday instead of going via Sha'ar Binyamin or the Junction of the Alon Road and Highway 60, but I end up "chickening out." Yesterday morning, for instance, I made a point to get to Sha'ar Binyamin in time for the 10am #49 bus to Kochav Hashachar, since there are few rides in the morning.

Kida Junction

But when I finished work just and went out for a ride home before 1:30, I ended up tremping northwest though the mountains to the east of my house in Shiloh. Usually I get a ride home (to the Shiloh-Shvut Rachel Junction) from a staff member, but before I saw anyone I know, a car came out of Kochav Hashachar going to Maale Efrayim north of the Kida Junction. I got in and got off there. A few weeks ago a small "army post" was set up there to watch that part of the Alon Road, so it's not "standing in the middle of no place."


Since there are usually a few staff members passing at that hour, I was pretty confident that I wouldn't have to wait long. I was right, but it wasn't a staff member who picked me up; it was a woman from the Shomron visiting her children who live in the area. She dropped me off near the Achiya (or was it the Kida?) Junction. From there I walked to a bus stop and couldn't resist taking lots of pictures.

I was enjoying taking a nice slow look and taking pictures when pretty quickly a ride came out of the Achiya Road on its way to Shiloh. I got in and got out near our supermarket. I started walking up the hill to home until my next door neighbor stopped and invited me in.

I think that the entire trip took less than forty minutes, about double it would take traveling in one vehicle door-to-door. And I enjoyed it.

Powerful Apology

Add this to the many stories in my, and others', tremping sagas. Yes, this is how we survive, get around without a car, even when having to travel routes not served by public transportation.

Rainy day. Remember that even when it looks the stormiest,
the sun is actually shining, just hidden by the clouds, thunder
and lightening. 

Thank Gd this week it has been raining. Here in the HolyLand, rain in the winter is a blessing, meaning that a day like the one pictured here is a beautiful day in Shvat/February. Without rain, the land will revert to desert. Desalination is not a full substitute for rain.

Granted rain can be even more daunting than simple discomfort or inconvenience, especially when you don't have the use of a car and are dependent on siyata d'Shmaya and the goodness of others.

Yesterday, when I finished work in Kochav Hashachar I had a ride in my direction from some other teachers who make a point of helping me out. The only way I was able to accept my job in Yeshiva High School Ahavat Chaim was because the staff offers rides, and there are enough who live nearby or pass Shiloh. Without that, the twenty minute ride through Shvut Rachel to the Alon Road would be a minimum hour with totally miraculous bus connections at Sha'ar Binyamin.

Frequently the teachers bring me either home or by the local supermarket, but yesterday when the engine was started it was discovered that the gas tank was almost empty. It was obvious that we were at risk of getting stuck on the way to the closest gas station between Shiloh and Eli, so I knew that they would just drop me off at the junction of Shiloh and Shvut Rachel. As close as it is to home, it's sometimes the most ignored by drivers. But I answered "perfectly understood," when they apologized for having to leave me there.

As I got out of the car, another pulled up immediately. I didn't recognize the driver, but she said that she's going "up the hill" in Shiloh and named a family that lives right near me. All I could think of was that the apology I had received from my fellow teachers was powerful enough for Gd to arrange this ride on that chilly, rainy evening.

GD IS TRULY GREAT!!

More in My Car-less Traveling Saga

Cross-posted on Shiloh Musings.

As most of you certainly know, we don't have a car. My husband's travel needs are relatively simple, so like many in the modern world he has no big problem commuting to and from work and other activities by public transportation. He actually enjoys the quiet time for napping and whatever. My travel needs are sometimes more complicated, but since there's no car on the horizon at all, I find myself enjoying periodic adventures.

Wednesday is my most complicated day of the week. Of course, it starts off simply enough, because I usually sleep at a friend's apartment Tuesday night. She's one of my "learning buddies," aka chevruta, so we travel together to Matan in her car, where we meet the rest of the group for our Al Haperek studies. After that we stay for Yael Ziegler's class,  "Kings, Prophets and Hurban,"  and then I rush to catch a bus plus in order to get me to Kochav Hashachar to teach on time.

In theory, it's possible to just catch the bus on Eshkol Boulevard if it's slightly delayed, though I frequently miss it. Last week as I rushed out of the light-rail (which I caught on Jaffa Street after getting off the 77 bus) at Ammunition Hill, I spotted the bus already standing at the traffic light. So I took a bus (after waiting a bit) to Sha'ar Binyamin and stood there for at least twenty minutes with a sign saying כוכב השחר KOCHAV HASHACHAR in my hands to attract drivers to that community who wouldn't have thought of stopping for me. It did help,and I got a ride and arrived on time.

So, yesterday, I decided to stay on the 77 until Eshkol Boulevard, although I knew I'd have to run a couple a hundred meters to a bus stop. As I caught my breath at that stop, I saw the 949--yes the bus to Kocahv Hashachar-- approaching. I signaled and got on very gratefully, thanking Gd for my great luck. I paid, sat down and relaxed. Everything was fine until about a half a kilometer from the city-line, the Jerusalem-Hisme border. The bus died.

So, I went out with another passenger to try to hail a bus or a ride at least to Sha'ar Binyamin or Hisme. The other buses wouldn't pick us up, because they are Egged Tavura and the 949 is Egged, so since it wasn't a proper bus stop they couldn't stop for us. Finally a young bearded man stopped, opened the door and said:

"Batya, come on in."

It ended up being a guy who had grown up in Shiloh, was my son's madrich, youth movement counselor, and my daughter had been his. He was on his way to visit his mother and was disappointed that he couldn't take me all the way home.

I asked him if I was crazy to get off at the Alon Road turnoff from Road 60, where there's a proper hitchhiking stop, with barriers and all. I've been asking many about it since there are many more possibilities for rides to Kochav Hashachar than Hizme and Sha'ar Binyamin. So that's where I got off.

Finally a young woman picked me up who was going to Kochav Hashachar and told me that it's a fine place to wait for rides. So now I know that I must find a tremp willing to drop me off there when I have to get to work.

And don't think that getting home from Kochav Hashachar didn't cause stress, too. There is no direct way, so I have to speak to other teachers and get a ride somehow.

Kochav Hashachar is just north of Rimonim and southeast of Shiloh. They are on the Alon Road, and Shiloh is on #60.

The best rides are when I'm taken via Kida/Shvut Rachel which at its worst will leave me a mile or kilometer and a half from my house. But recently, after hectic stressful searches for a ride out, which leave me with little patience to teach my difficult students, I end up with a ride that drops me off at Givat Asaf, the Beit El junction. When there I whip out my שילה SHILOH sign to attract drivers going north. That's what happened yesterday. I caught a ride, thanks to the sign of course, to the Shiloh Junction, where I got a ride to the Shvut Rachel-Shiloh Junction, then another ride to the middle of Shiloh where the stores and Kupat Leumit clinic are. And there I got tired of waiting, started walking up when a neighbor stopped to give me a ride to my door, B"H, thank the Good Lord!!

Never Say Never!

It has taken me a few weeks to blog this. I really can't believe what I'm working at, yet, again. After leaving teaching almost ten years ago, I'm back in that difficult, uncomfortable saddle. Yes, I'm back to teaching EFL high school English to boys, weak students, "false starters," according to the still popular euphemism, MLD* or just plain ornery** and disinterested.

Boys like these had been my specialty about fifteen years ago, and recently when I've run into some former students and told them that I've returned to teaching they are my biggest cheerleaders and fans.

No, I'm not back in the same school, where I had taught for over a decade. I'm now teaching in Yeshiva High School Ahavat Chaim, which is in Kochav Hashachar, southeast of Shiloh, and the alma mater of my two sons, who graduated in the second and fourth graduating classes.

Why did I leave my easy job at Yafiz, selling clothes, which I really did enjoy even though the salary was the bare minimum according to law?

There are many reasons, which I can't go into right now. But the main one was that I couldn't sleep well working night shifts. I'm a morning person by nature, and working, getting myself in a "hyper mode" until 9:30pm to deal with customers plus and then having to stay awake and alert until I was home well after 10pm, meant that frequently I couldn't fall asleep until well after midnight.  I was not hired as a night shift worker; it was just to do it "sometimes."

Is teaching EFL here in Israel better today than it was when I agreed to be fired?

To be honest, no! The things that irked me then are worse now. And now there is no, even mildly, convenient way to travel between my home and Kochav Hashachar by public transportation. Every night before teaching I have to call other staff members to arrange a ride. So far, it hasn't rained when I've had to travel, so the mile, kilometer and a half, between my house and the pickup point is a nice morning's walk. Going home also requires similar logistics. But there is one thing I enjoy now, which I didn't have in my former teaching job. The staff I work with now really makes an effort to go out of its way to help me and others. It also helps that my teaching hours are morning and afternoon. In my former school it was only afternoon/evening, I'd finish as late as 7:15pm, and nobody cared if I was stuck waiting an hour for a ride in my direction.

Teaching is a talent I have. I can pretty much teach anything I know and have. I don't mind having to "change a lesson plan" on the spot, because the kids just don't know one of the prerequisites. That's a key for success as a Remedial Teacher.

Because I have to travel when others need to get to work, which is earlier than me most days, I take advantage of the computers in the Teachers Room for my lesson planning. One of the reasons I didn't want to return to teaching is that it can take over your life. I only teach two classes and have very few students.

I don't know if my salary will actually be much better than the one I had gotten from Yafiz, but I did need a change. I also don't plan on doing this very long and told that to the department head. But as we all know, life is full of surprises. May Gd give me the health and humor to continue and succeed.

*Mild Learning Disabled, normal to high IQ suffering from one or various conditions like dyslexia, dysgraphia, ADD, ADHD, poor motivation etc.

**If at first you don't succeed, just give up and disrupt the class so efficiently nobody can learn anything.