The picture on the left is one of the photos from my portfolio. Many of my writings and stories in this blog reflect back to the two years I lived in northern Israel as a volunteer on a border kibbutz called, Gonen. A 'kibbutz' is a community of Israelis who have decided to live in a collective settlement. They share the responsibilities of working, raising the children, running the business of the community and looking out for the interests of the members. What you are looking at is something that belongs to the members of Gonen. You have never seen this 'thing' before and never will again. This is a working Russian T-34 tank.
In this picture, the tank has undergone some clever modifications so that it could be useful to the workers in the settlement. The first thing you will notice is that the tank is painted yellow. This paint job is to prevent the pilot of a passing Kfir or F15 fighter jet from thinking it was a real Russian T-34 tank. The tank also had its turret gun removed and was fitted with a 60 foot boom with a 'cherry picker' cage at the end so that someone could stand in the small cage and trim the tops of trees.
The kibbutz workers would drive the tank to their fields of trees to be trimmed and then cut down for use in the factories. The worker in the cherry picker would navigate up and down the tops of the trees trimming and pruning while another person drove the tank slowly up and down the rows of trees all day. As someone who drove the tank for several months, I can tell you that it is fun for about 10 minutes then it gets monotonous. The drivers seat is in the very front of the tank under where the turret gun would be and the giant diesel motor spits smoke and oil all over the inside of the tank (and up your back) while you drive it. There are basically three gears and a clutch and brake inside and the treads are maneuvered with levers that stop one tread so the other can keep rotating to turn the tank. It is very loud in the tank so I used to wear headphones all day. The operator in the cherry picker would communicate his signals by a series of air horn blasts. Those times when I got to work in the cherry picker were much more fun than driving the tank itself and riding atop the 60 foot boom while the tank was moving was pretty cool. The hydraulics in the basket were not that great so when I would press my foot onto the 'down' pedal, the boom would shoot down really fast until it got near the ground then stop suddenly.
Here is an archive photo of a World War II Russian T-34 tank on the battlefield. At that time, the T-34 was a feared weapon and was considered to be one of the best tanks in the world.
The members of kibbutz Gonen found their old tank after the Six Day War and had it brought back to the settlement so they could 'fix it up'. Gonen was built as a frontier settlement on the old Syrian border many years before the annexation of the Golan Heights in 1981 by Israel. The tank was supposedly used by the Syrians in their war with the Israelis although it was, by that time already very old. This particular tank is maintained and used as a piece of farm equipment. Talk about 'turning your swords into plowshares'.
Anyway, now you can say that you have seen a photograph of a yellow Russian tank (it even has a sun bonnet on the top to keep out the rain). You have learned a bit about an Israeli kibbutz. And you have seen a photo of the tank when it was in use by the Russians during World War II.
After you read this entry, be sure to read the one entitled 'Flying Kites in the Holiday Season' which will be posted soon. The Flying Kites blog entry is about two young people who are out to save orphaned children in the Third World and is much more important than this short, pointless one about a worthless yellow tank! Yellow Russian tanks never got anyone in the holiday spirit but I assure you that the one about our friends working in Kenya and India and their remarkable story will get your holiday season started off on the right foot.
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