Dateline Jerusalem — Today I toured the Ayalon Institute, a national historic site just north of Rehovot, Israel.
What was allegedly an ordinary kibbutz in the years between the end of World War II and Israel’s War of Independence in 1948, was actually a highly secret underground munitions factory, operating under the vigilant eyes of the British.
Between 1938 and 1942, machinery for the production of bullets was smuggled from Europe into Lebanon and eventually made its way to Eretz Israel.
The Ayalon Institute was the brainchild of the Haganah, originally formed to protect Jews from the Arab massacres of Jews during British control of the land. The Haganah, the forerunner of the Israel Defense Forces, needed bullets for their sub-machine guns. If caught by the British, who used dogs to sniff out the munitions, the penalty was death for these young men and women volunteering to fight for Israel.
These young people, called “pioneer scouts,” were sworn to secrecy. They could not tell parents or spouses or anyone about what they were doing.
They actually operated in secret underneath a kibbutz outside the knowledge of other people living on the Kibbutz.
The other kibbutzniks were known as “giraffes” because their heads were in the clouds, totally unaware what was going on about them. The kibbutz had the usual kindergarten for children, a bakery, laundry, vegetable garden, cow barn, chicken coop, etc.
They all lived on the kibbutz and pretended to be going out to the fields to pick fruit and vegetables with the other kibbutzniks.
The Color of Courage
When parents and spouses began to question why they had white, pasty skin instead of a golden suntan from working in the fields, these young people started to sit under ultraviolet lamps, similar to today’s tanning booths, before returning to their homes in the evening.
Picture 45 people crammed into a small underground space during the hot and humid Israeli summers, with no air conditioning, 13 feet below a bakery and laundry.
They had to climb down a narrow spiral staircase to reach the munitions plant.
I am very claustrophobic, and I was unable to do it with the rest of the tour. Just looking down the stairwell made me nauseous and nervous.
And I waited to be the last down so I could be the first out!
The entrance to the stairwell was hidden underneath the large laundry vat that sat on what looked like a solid steel platform secured to the floor of the laundry.
Another Surprise
The tour guide pushed the vat and the platform rotated to reveal the narrow stairwell.
I had figured the entrance was in the floor somewhere, like a trap door, but never in a million years would I have thought the steel platform with a heavy laundry vat could be moved. In the bakery, the stairwell was behind what appeared to be a solid brick wall oven.
The production of bullets can be quite noisy. So the laundry was chosen because the washing machines make a lot of noise. The bakery was chosen to conceal the smoke and steam rising out of the chimney from the smelting process.
In nearby Rehovot, there was a cosmetics plant that produced lipstick. Empty brass lipstick tubes were used to encase the bullets. Then the bullets were smuggled out of the kibbutz in milk cans with false bottoms.
Who Needs to Go Below?
Therefore, if stopped by the British, they only saw milk in the cans.
Although I could not get myself to go underneath the ground to see the actual factory, what I saw and heard above ground was absolutely amazing.
Many years ago I had been to a winery in Rishon L’Tzion that also served as a munitions factory during the War of Independence with its weapons hidden inside and behind giant wine casks.
At the time, I was fascinated by the clandestine nature of the winery. Today’s tour of the kibbutz was even more exciting.
Having worked undercover as a cop before becoming an attorney, I have an adventurous side to me.
In Another Time
I wasn’t always claustrophobic.
It was not hard for me to imagine what it must have been like for these young pioneers to keep everything secret, living in constant fear of being discovered.
Israel has such a spectacular history. I hope to learn more of it and keep you all informed.
L'hitraot. Shachar
Shachar is the Hebrew name of a California-based attorney and former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy who moved to Israel last year.