Yom Haatzmaut

                                               Yom Haatzmaut  2018                               
                                       

   Look - no one really ever expected to see Yom Haatzmaut 2018. In fact, as I recall, no one
 really expected a world to be here at all - yet here we are. Surprise!! The issues today are 
universal acceptance of Jerusalem as the Capitol of Israel, rebuilding the Temple, and 
insuring SodaStreme a place in supermarkets all over the world. Who expected to see Tel 
Aviv  grow into a mega metropolis like it is in 70 years? Not me - and I was there back in 
1972 - after - men were broadcasting live from the surface of the Moon. This was the 
closest contact I'd ever had with the American Embassy. The Moon landing was being 
shown live from the embassy. I thought to go. As it was, I only listened to it from our
balcony in Bat Yam. You know, I worked on that camera - one of the camera's that went to
the Moon - and all I got in return was a cheapo listen on our transistor radio while millions of 
people watched it on TV - the largest audience ever in the history of the world. This was not
fair I tell you! It was also not fair that there was only one TV in Tel Aviv receiving that signal 
anyhow! It was not fair that there were hardly any cars either - or telephones - or washing
machines - or most anything - really - except the most important thing - of course -
 Independence. When was the last time Israel and the Jewish people stood on their own
land a free and independent people like this? I'll tell you when - never!! Now this was after 
the six day war - after taking back Jerusalem after thousands of years. An accomplishment 
very difficult to believe happened at all - overwhelming, especially in view of the suffering 
and tragedy that preceded the establishment of the new State of Israel. A surprise if you 
will. Like so many other fine things happening today. And, do you know what I think? I think life is supposed to be an endless succession of positive events and surprises - expansion 
and development as we grow and become - even ourselves - more. 

Saturn V

                                                         
                                                        Saturn V 

  
  
  There were two times in my life when I ran in total abject fear 

  One was flooring the accelerator of my dad’s new Super 88 Oldsmobile down the shore to lose the cops chasing us in their new Mercury Turnpike Cruiser. It was late at night and I simply didn’t want to get caught. I made a bad decision in trying to get away and now here they were gaining on us at every corner with their blaring red light and siren and, me, scared half to death trying to escape who knows what – probably a speeding ticket and now “running from the law” or “ignoring sirens” or worse – “endangering normal people”. There were three guys in the back making comments like; “they’re closing on us”. I had to do something. So, I floored it – right through the stop sign across Ventnor Avenue – hyperspace – no question about it – something beyond got us through this certain death and terrible social consequences for whoever crawled home. No, none of this – there is a G-d – no question about it. That car had a four barrel carburetor. We landed – somehow - in a driveway in back of a house well out of sight of passing police cruisers – turned the car off – got out…”we were just enjoying the night air officer – so nice here at the beach you know?” “What – no – we’ve been walking for hours now” – just in case -thinking as fast as we’d been flying through the air or however it was that we got there – while relieving ourselves, as I recall. 

   Yeah – it was scary, but nothing like the launch of the Saturn Five.   

   Don’t try this, you will die. I’m not kidding. There is no way to explain these things without referring to the magical forces that protect children. Call it what you will, there are forces that exist over and above our sphere and one thing they do is watch over children who play

with fire. Again, in remembering these things. I have a hard time believing that we escaped serious damage.

  There was something far more exciting and meaningful than the first small step by man and the giant leap for mankind. This was easily the ten years leading up to this historic event. Neither the landing on the Moon nor the ten years preceding it actually happened exactly as reported as many will attest firsthand. Well, there were not that many witnesses to the landing – even though it was televised everywhere in the world. There were very few people on the moon at that time. There were, however, lots of firsthand people on the earth to witness everything else, and this was far more unbelievable. Look, it is near impossible to land an untested craft on the surface of the moon - broadcast the event live - and then take off, rendezvous with another circling craft and return to earth with people and moon rocks. The most incredible part was and is that it actually happened!! 

We were totally caught up in the space race. The Russians were launching dogs and satellites and running circles around us. I was fifteen and experimenting with rocket fuels like everybody else. It was all over Popular Science, which, next to Popular              Mechanics and Motor Trend were my favorite magazines. I won’t tell you what I mixed up, because you’ll kill yourself just like I nearly did, but it was sure powerful. It had to be to beat the Russians. I do remember hammering finishing nails in between the wide copper tube and the socket I was using for a nozzle – just to tighten it up and make sure it didn’t blow out from the pressure. Ouch, I still get shivers remembering this. All the experiments with fuses. electrical filament fuses and a dry cell battery. “Jet X” fuses – sold at toy and hobby stores then – these were chemical fuses – you light them and they burn along till they reach the target – strings embedded with some kind of flammable material. No, this was just me and my friends following the moon program along and playing with our own models - of course. We chose the Jet X  for the Saturn V tube (Saturn V Rocket), leaned the rocket against an empty two gallon oil can, and attached about three feet of fuse, lit it and ran. We must have run about 60 yards or so and – Kaboom – off it went – not skyward mind you – even though this was the plan – but in every direction there was – like a mortar shell. In fact, having been in the Army for a little while and working very closely to the mortar units, it was exactly like a mortar round, loud, a bright flash, and scary as all heck. It was totally involuntary, but we just kept running and involuntarily laughing  – I mean laughing – couldn’t stop laughing. It was strange. 

  But, this wasn’t the fear – the fear came on the second shot. Now, listen, If this all sounds like high school to you, it’s because it was high school and this is what high school sounds like. Our second launch was more carefully done. Now that we knew what to expect, we could design a better rocket that would have more thrust and a safer launch pad. 

  A much larger copper tube was packed with easily twice as much “rocket fuel” and ultimately propped up against a dug out drainage ditch alongside a bend in an out of the way dirt road. The plan was to allow plenty of time to get out of any danger in case of the "lift off" problems we had on our first launch. It was a full horseshoe bend and the rocket was on the outside of one side and we would exit, following the road we came in on and leave plenty of fuse. Then, wait to watch it soar skyward and celebrate our creativity. Well, all of this went fine and we had lit the fuse, turned the bend in the road and were on the other side when it happened. A little blue Volkswagen with a smiling driver and about three passengers – kids, mind you – obviously all very friendly came put-putting along as carefree as you could imagine – right on target. Talk about perfect timing. Now, you cannot imagine what it was like to watch that little car make the turn down at the end of that dirt road. I should have screamed – jumped up and down – waved them off like on an aircraft carrier – you know? But I didn’t - none of us did anything – we just stood there with open mouths and experienced fear – raw fear. We remembered our last launch – vividly. I remember  driving with my wife down to the dead sea in Israel once - following someone who was traveling too fast for the curves in the road. At that time, very few Israelis had cars and had very little driving experience. I turned to my wife and said, “he won’t be able to make these turns at that speed – he’ll lose the road”. He did – went right off the road. Fortunately, nothing serious. You get used to driving – like riding a bike – you know? The rocket was going to blow up. We half expected it. Nothing happened. Nothing at all. We went back to check – after a good half an hour or so. The copper tube had turned all sorts of colors from the heat. Apparently, it had just lain there and burnt up. Thank heaven! I was fortunate enough to work for RCA in Hightstown, NJ years later. We had a contract with NASA for  one of the cameras that was sent to the moon and televised live pictures back to the earth. I think about this a lot when I write these little stories about the Saturn V – you know – about how the information gets publicized around the world…I think it was the excitement that actually lifted the Saturn V off that launch pad in Florida - my brother Denny said it was the money. We laughed about that a lot...