Yitzchak pats Chaya’s hands. ‘If we are to save her, she must leave, whether she wants to or not.’
‘I think a few days, maybe a week, is all we need. If the rumours are true, it will happen soon, and afterwards, I will bring her home. And Cibi? Where is she?’
‘You know her, she’s off with the Hachshara.’ Chaya doesn’t know what she thinks of the Hachshara, a training programme to teach young people, just like Cibi, the skills necessary to make a new life in Palestine, far away from Slovakia and the war raging in Europe.
‘Still learning how to till the soil?’ the doctor jokes, but neither Chaya or Yitzchak are smiling.
‘If she’s to emigrate, then that’s what she will find when she gets there – lots of fertile land, waiting to be planted,’ says Yitzchak.
But Chaya remains silent, lost in her thoughts. One child in hospital, another young enough to escape the clutches of the Nazis. And the third, Cibi, her eldest, now part of a Zionist youth movement inspired by a mission to create a Jewish homeland, whenever that might be.
The truth has already dawned on all of them that they need a promised land right now, and the sooner the better. But, Chaya surmises, at least all three of her children are safe, for now.
CHAPTER 2
Forested area outside Vranov nad Topl’ou
March 1942
C
ibi ducks as a piece of bread sails past her head. She scowls at the young man who threw it, but her twinkling eyes tell a different story.
Cibi had not hesitated when the call came, responding eagerly to the desire to forge a new life in a new land. In a clearing in the middle of the woods, away from prying eyes, sleeping huts have been constructed, along with a common room and a kitchen. There, twenty teenagers at a time learn to be self-sufficient, living and working together in a small community, preparing for a new life in the promised land.
The person responsible for this chance is the uncle of one of the boys also undergoing the training. Although he had converted from Judaism to Christianity, Josef’s sympathies still lay with the plight of the Jews in Slovakia, despite his change of faith. A wealthy man, he had acquired a piece of land in the forest on the outskirts of the town, a safe space for the boys and girls to gather to train. Josef has only one rule: every Friday morning everyone was to return home, before the Shabbat, and not return until Sunday.
In the kitchen, Josef sighs as he watches Yosi throw a crust of bread at Cibi. Travel arrangements have already been made for this group – they will be leaving in two weeks. His training camp is working: eight groups have already left for Palestine – and yet here they are, mucking around.
‘If the heat of Palestine doesn’t kill us, your cooking will, Cibi Meller!’ Cibi’s attacker yells at her. ‘Maybe you should stick to growing food.’
Cibi strides over to the young man and wraps an arm around his neck. ‘You keep throwing things at me and you won’t live to make it to Palestine,’ she tells him, squeezing just a little.
‘All right everybody!’ announces Josef. ‘Finish up and get outside. Drill starts in five minutes.’ He pauses. ‘Cibi, do you need to spend more time in the kitchen working on your bread-making skills?’
Releasing Yosi’s neck, Cibi stands to attention. ‘No, sir, can’t see them improving, no matter how much time I spend in the kitchen.’
As she speaks, twenty chairs scrape across the wooden floor in the makeshift dining room, as young Jewish boys and girls rush to finish their meals, eager to be outside and begin training again.
Forming untidy rows, they stand to attention as their teacher, Josef, approaches, beaming. He is proud of his brave recruits, so willing to embark on a dangerous journey, leaving behind their families, their country, as war and the Nazi occupation rages around them. Older, wiser, he had foreseen the future for Jews in Slovakia and invoked Hachshara, believing it was their only chance if they were to survive what was coming.
‘Good morning,’ says Josef.
‘Good morning, sir,’ the trainees chorus.
‘And the Lord made a covenant with Abraham .?.?. ?’ he prompts, seeking verse knowledge from the first book of the Bible.
‘To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates,’ the group responds.
‘And the Lord said to Abraham .?.?. ?’
‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.’ They finish the sentence.
The solemnity of the moment is broken by the grumbling of a truck struggling to make its way across the clearing. After it pulls up beside them, a local farmer clambers out.