The Night, It Lasted a Lifetime

Afterwards, the door opened
And the sun, like a good doctor Invited me to enter
out

It tapped my back, the sun
Breathe deep

All clear, he said
Shining light into me
To my depths

Still, he prescribes
Lots of soil and water
And once a day, to lift my gaze
And focus on the light
to tears

Sivan Har Shefi 

(English: Aliza Raz-Melzer)

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When I was a child, my classmates at school were the old-fashioned, innocent type, and the stories we read were in old-time, vintage Hebrew with naive drawings in bright colors. I don’t remember any of the characters from one particular story, but I do recall that it was about turnips. The children in the story sowed turnips in the garden, or ate them for lunch. I can’t remember the plot, but I vividly recall our astonishment and wonder as children: what is this turnip?! It looked to us like some exotic European vegetable, grown in harsh winters (maybe the children in the painting were wearing coats?) with a heavenly taste (the children evidently looked pleased with their meal).
The turnip is an ancient domesticated crop that was known in gardens of old in Greece, Rome, China, and ancient Egypt, after originating in China, Central Asia and the Near East. In Israel, turnips have been grown for some 2000 years, at least since the era of the Mishnah, which repeatedly mentions turnips as a common garden vegetable. In his book The Origin of Words, Avraham Shtal notes that the word “turnip” was apparently a general term for all vegetables, not merely the turnip we know today. Vegetables were once eaten together with bread to season and pique its taste.