GOLDA

Meet our new family member: Golda.

On our way to Shivta this Shabat we stopped very early in the morning for a coffee break at Park Golda Meir deep in the Negev Desert. This is a lovely picnic area with palm trees and an artificial lake, named after the former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir. Except of two or three men sitting with fishing poles at the lake, the place was empty of people. We settled down on a bench and poured our coffee when we heard the crying. About twenty meters away under a big garbage can sat the tiniest little kitten. Mi, mi, mi, mi.... I crumbled some cake and went over there to feed it. It was too small to eat by itself and certainly cake crumbs were not suitable for it anyway. Its mother was nowhere to be seen. It was pitch black, with beautiful big blue eyes, and very very thin. I already felt the tears in my eyes... I went back to our bench and we started to pack up and leave, when it came over. It sat down at my feet and looked up to me - and broke my heart! 

We had to go, we had the day in front of us, Shivta was waiting. We left, me crying and feeling so sorry for it. Oh, I wanted to save it, I wanted to give it a good life! I asked my husband in the car if he was planning to go back home the same way as we came and he - suspicious and knowing me very well - replied, no, we are driving back via the Dead Sea and Jerusalem (and he also knows how much I love that detour!). So, after our wonderful long morning at Shivta, after another picnic nearby, we headed for home - and I was pleading... 
We have a dog, and two cats, is what he said. That is enough, is what he said. You are crazy, driving home with a little cat in your lap, all that way, he said. I just looked at him - and in the end I broke his heart and at the intersection he turned left!!!

It was three o'clock and the park was swarmed with people, most of them having a barbecue, which is called "mangal" here. We went to look for the kitty, but it was not there. Another round near the place we saw it in the morning - no kitten. But somehow I sensed it, my husband was already near the car, but I went back once more - and then I saw it - still alone, scrunched under a picnic table, a tiny black ball, scared and full of dirt and sand, quietly hiding from all those people and all this action going on around it, smoke and noise and children running  and laughing. 

I took it in the hollow of my hands - now it was ours - now its life would be good, it would be fed and loved and cared for and admired and enjoyed! All the long way home it was sitting in the car between my knees and didn't budge. I was talking non stop, thanking my husband and deciding to call it Golda, if it is a 'she' and Meir if it is a 'he'!  Well, Golda, Goldie, she is! I took it to the vet the next day and he told me how and what to feed it, he thinks it is about three weeks old. I feed it with a syringe for now and it works very well.

This kitty is the sweetest thing! It is very beautiful! It has a strong will and is very determined in what it wants. It plays and jumps and summer salts, licks itself all over to have a good wash, and then bundles up in my lap and takes a nap - it is such a joy and we are all happy to have it!

Welcome you sweet little thing, you are not an "it" anymore, now you are a "she"! 
Thank you Uri!!