16Chapter 21- Taha's Warning and Evacuation Plans
"Ari, you must leave right away; you and your daughter," Taha said quickly, driving from Ari's mind the revelations of Hadassah's prison history.
"Why?" Ari asked.
"Don't ask why. Just leave! Don't let anyone see you. Just stay off the road. Go through the olive grove," Taha said as Ari stood up.
"What happened?" Ari asked.
"You must evacuate Gan Dafna before midnight tomorrow night," Taha warned.
"I don't understand," Ari said confused.
"Don't ask questions. Just do it! If the children aren't out of this valley in 24 hours, they'll be butchered like sheep. I've also been told that your daughter will be killed with them since she survived the war and knows who some of the murderers are. They were soldiers at one of the death camps she was in and she didn't die from the typhus in Germany like they planned she would," Taha said.
"Taha, if any of the men in the house are planning an attack on Gan Dafna, then tell me!" Ari said sharply.
"Haven't I told you enough already? Do you want me to dishonor myself completely? Good-bye, Ari," Taha said as abruptly as he entered. Ari followed him to the door.
"Taha, wait! Those are the same gangsters who murdered your father and those Nazis murdered my wife and almost my daughter. You can't get involved with them!" Ari said, gripping Taha's arm.
"I know what I am doing. I know what I must do," Taha said in a defeated voice.
"We grew up as brothers, Taha. If there's any trouble with the Mufti's men, let's face it. Together. The way we always have. I'll get word to Papa and we'll defend Abu Yesha and Gan Dafna instead of surrendering," Ari said.
"I cannot do it, Ari. Today more than ever before I realize that I am a Muslim. I cannot go against my own people. I cannot kill another Arab. If you were ever my friend than prove it now by leaving this house," Taha turned to the door. He turned back to Ari and touched Ari's shoulder and Hadassah's face. "May Allah watch over the both of you all the days of your life." Taha left then.
Ari exhaled slowly as the door shut. He felt both Kitty's and Hadassah's hands on his shoulder blades. He turned to look at the two people he loved the most in this world. Ari wrapped one arm around Hadassah and the other around Kitty, hugging them both. "I love the both of you so much," Ari said, kissing Hadassah's and Kitty's foreheads.
"We love you too, Ari. So what are we going to do, Ari, about Gan Dafna and the Nazis who want to kill Hadassah?" Kitty asked, her eyes reflecting worry.
"We'll go to Gan Dafna and rescue the children and I can try to rescue Hadassah since I wasn't able to during the war," Ari hugged Hadassah again.
"Hadassah, do you know who'd want to kill you?" Kitty asked.
"Every former Nazi in Germany who was at Westerbork, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Terezin, or Bergen Belsen. But the only one who knew that I would contract typhus at Belsen was the commandant at Terezin and maybe one of his toad-faced lackeys when they realized I wouldn't give up Yeshua Christ, even after they nearly beat me to death," Hadassah said, making a face.
"Toad-faced?" Kitty asked, amused.
They all resembled very ugly toads. I remember Mama washing my mouth out when I said the Jewish professors at the Jewish Secondary School were ancient and looked ready for the old people's home when I was forced by Nazi decree to go to a Jewish school. But later after we were arrested and in the cattle cars on our way to Poland, Mama said they looked like toads and that got everyone in the car laughing hysterically," Hadassah said with a small giggle that took Ari back to when his daughter was small. So she hadn't forgotten how to laugh!
"Your mother was probably right about not insulting your teachers, but after what the Nazis did to you, I think they needed insulting," Kitty said as Ari went to the window and opened, the cool night air seeping in.
"Papa, what are you doing?" Hadassah asked, touching Ari's forearm with her small hands.
"If I remember correctly, there's a tree outside this window that we can use to climb down," Ari said, craning his neck so he could see better.
"Climb down a tree?" Kitty asked nervously.
"Didn't you ever climb down a tree, Kitty? I used to do it in Rotterdam. But I was doomed if Mama and Oma found out," Hadassah said with a grin.
"What happened if she found out?" Kitty asked, amused.
"She'd get my Opa or Uncle Micaiah to switch my legs with Oma's wooden spoon," Hadassah said with a smile and then grimaced.
"It must have really hurt," Kitty said sympathetically.
"I've been hit with worse. A wooden spoon is a picnic in the park on Shabbat compared to a bullwhip or a grown man's fist," Hadassah said with a wince.
Ari sat on the window ledge. "Hadassah, Kitty, I'll go first. Kitty, you come next and then Hadassah," Ari said, kissing Kitty briefly and gently touching Hadassah's face with his warm, calloused palm. Ari jumped out the window, followed by Kitty and Hadassah.
The lights of Gan Dafna were well lit as Ari, Kitty, and Hadassah entered the compound that same night. The radio room was warm compared to the outside. Even with a long-sleeved shirt of Russian design and a pair of pants Hadassah still felt the brisk chill in the late November air.
5 people were in the room and looked to them. "Ari, how are you?" Dov Landau asked, shaking Ari's hand.
"I'm fine. How many guns have you got?" Ari asked, going to the radio.
"8 and 180 molotovs. The British confiscated the rest," one of the men said.
"Yes, I know. I've heard," Ari said, looking as if he had a headache.
"Jordana went down to the fortress to try to get them back," the same man said.
"There's a detachment of Palmach's on the way. But the Jerusalem road has been cut in a dozen places. I sneaked in to let you know. Also Joseph ben Aaron wanted me to give this to you. He said he's sorry that he couldn't deliver this in person and that may Yeshua keep you as you walk in the faith of your fathers," Dov said, looking at Hadassah and holding out her Star of David. Hadassah felt her eyes fill with tears as she took it with trembling fingers.
"Thank you, Dov," Hadassah said, feeling her father's strong hand on the back of her neck, rubbing her head gently. With shaking hands she fastened the necklace around her neck.
"I still think that is the most unusual and beautiful Star of David I've ever seen. I've seen gold and silver stars and the ones worn on the clothes when my husband had an assignment in Delft, Holland during the war," Kitty said.
"It's special to me. My father gave it to me ten years ago. It's my past and my future. That's why I couldn't let the Nazis steal it. It would be like Esau selling his birthright for soup," Hadassah said in a broken voice.
"What is the plan? We plan to fight to defend the kibbutz and the village until the end. Nothing is to be surrendered," Dov said, changing the subject and handing Ari a cup of coffee.
"Is the transmitter working?" Ari asked.
"Yes," the first man said as they walked to the radio.
"Then send it," Ari said. "Gan Dafna expects an attacking force by tomorrow night. Get the Palmach on the way. Tell them to hurry. We have 300 children here and 8 guns. That's all," Ari said, taking a drink of coffee as the door opened and Jordana entered the room. She kissed both Ari and Hadassah's cheeks.
"Ari, Hadassah, the commander refuses to return our weapons. He said it would only provoke violence. He also said that he knows that it was Hadassah who blew up the wall at Acre Prison. He says if I want to blame someone, I should blame Hadassah. He won't even interfere in local problems any more, except to punish troublemakers. He even said that if Hadassah causes any more trouble, he'll see that she rots in jail. I said she was only fourteen, but he said that she's a Christ killer who pretends His mercy is for the Jew," Jordana said forlornly.
Hadassah's eyes filled with anger and tears. "Unbelievable. I never pretended any such thing! Yeshua's mercy is for everyone. It is for the Jew as much as it it for the gentile," Hadassah said, her breath coming out in sharp gasps.
"Careful, Kichel. We don't need you to have one of your asthma attacks," Ari warned.
"All right. I'm calm. I'm not going to get angry," Hadassah said in a brittle voice.
"I guess he thinks we're troublemakers if we try to defend ourselves and the children. And he knows that the border is alive with armed Arabs. I also think the Mufti's men, along with some former Nazis, have taken over Abu Yesha. Taha warned us to evacuate here before midnight tomorrow," Ari said, sitting down and taking a sip of coffee. Ari thought briefly and then looked at one of the women. "How many children do we have here under the age of thirteen?" Ari asked quickly.
"About 250," she said. Ari thought just as quickly as the question he just asked.
"Well, we'll have to get them to Beth Amal tonight, and secretly, so the Arabs don't know. We'll go around the valley instead of through it. That'll take us closer to the border, but we'll have to risk it. We'll go through certain villages undetected and on the other side of Mount Tabor," Ari said, between sips of coffee.
"You cant get down the other side of Tabor in day time much less at night. You'll kill half of them, including your daughter," the man who had been doing all the talking said grimly.
"Well, I'd rather lose half of them and Hadassah there than all of them here," Ari said in a low voice. "And with luck, we'll be back at sunrise. That'll mean that the older children will have to handle things until we get back," Ari said.
"Papa, what if they attack tonight?" Hadassah asked, noting the unspoken question on everyone's mind.
"That's a risk we are going to have to take. Dov, you organize outside defense. Jordana, you take the inner area and make it look as though we've got a thousand people here. Let's get to work," Ari said, standing up and they went to the dormitories and bungalows.
