Historical Background and Interviews
III. A New Beginning A New Beginning
and presented himself to us in a very delicate and proper way.” Ac- cording to Moshe Trosman, Aharon was always the “social” leader of the group, while Kalman Offlr, who later became a command - er in the Haganah, was the “physical” leader. “Aharon never lost his leadership in the group — and is still the leader, even today,” said Trosman. Rubinstein said he was “always a little envious of Aharon because he worked in the office. Also, his room was on the first floor, and he always had books and was always reading. He was a likeable guy and everyone took to him, especially women.” Trosman remarked, “Aharon never took advantage of his handicap. On the contrary, he got a driver’s license and worked hard.” For others in the group, the kibbutz’s socialism was uncomfort- able. “Coming from my background, with my father owning his own business, kibbutz life didn’t appeal to me,” said Leon Ru- binstein. He worked in the fields after classes, picking tomatoes or apples, or thinning out new com and dropping rat poison in holes — it was backbreaking work, he said. He worked mostly with the sheep, however, milking them in the morning and tak- ing them out to the field in the afternoon. The kibbutz made a delicious salty cheese from the sheep milk. The kibbutz also had a small apple orchard, grapefruit orchard, vineyard, and a herd of about one hundred cows. According to Rubinstein, Yagur was very wealthy by the time the Dror group arrived. “They tried to acclimate us to the country so that we would love it and love life on the kibbutz. They took us on outings to the mountains; as kids, we might have roamed the streets of our shtetls, but we had never taken hikes into the countryside. They taught us songs and dances — the Zionists were very dedicated at that time.” But the secular- ism of Yagur bothered him, and he remembered walking four or five miles for Kol Nidre and other High Holiday services in 1946 and 1947 with some other youngsters. “The walk was dangerous, and the shul was so small we couldn’t get inside, so we sat outside and listened,” he said. corn
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