The spacious cellar of the home was converted into a dining room. There, the boys used to drink their morning tea, with a slice of bread with jam, before leaving for their day's work. The daily hot meal and the solemn Shabbat Eve meal were also served in this facility.

After the Shabbat Eve meal, the curriculum director, Hori, gave a speech, usually interpreting the next day's Torah portion to the trainees and the entire staff. One evening, when he was finished, I asked a question, in which I not only challenged his interpretation but also offered another, based on comments of Rashi, the famous Medieval Torah and Talmud commentator. Hori's face lit up with pleasure. He thanked me for my “scholarly” remark and encouraged me to do so again in the future. The boys seemed amazed. It was an unprecedented event, apparently, that a staff-member should take an active part in the weekly sermon, let alone that his remarks be approved by the lecturer. After the audience had dispersed, Hori invited me to his office, asked me to sit down, and told me very kindly how surprised he was by my question and still more, by my challenge to his interpretation. “Where did you get such knowledge? I am sorry for not having known more about you beyond your formal data. I am glad to have found my equal to converse with!” I seized the opportunity to tell him more about my family, my past, my education, and myself. We parted as friends. My rash intervention made a huge impression on the boys and raised our prestige among them immensely.

In the spring the boys used to play soccer in the spacious backyard of the Home. On these occasions I used to act as referee. Sometimes I even joined one of the teams (as my teacher used to do, years ago), and the boys appreciated my participation. Because the yard was sloping slightly, one of the teams had to play "upwards". Hence I suggested switching our Sunday games to the woods of Buda, where we could find level clearings more suitable for the game. Everybody agreed and thus started our Sunday excursions to Buda. Rachel, Tzipi and Lea (a good-looking girl who had joined our team some time earlier) prepared the sandwiches and drinks for the day. Our days together in the woods contributed greatly to the pleasant, familial atmosphere in the Home.

During breaks in the game, and afterwards, while the boys devoured the delicious sandwiches, we sat around in a circle and talked about our everyday problems. Among other topics, I brought up superstitions, with which teenagers were often raised in remote rural regions, and against which even city boys were not always immune. I explained how futile and sometimes even dangerous they were. The boys accepted my views, especially since my quasi-confrontation with Hori, and ceased believing in nonsense and absurdities, like oaths, blessings, supernatural forces.

Another Sunday we discussed the aching "Jewish Question", since the very existence of our Home and the fact that they were trainees and not students of high schools or universities begged this question, like the anti-Jewish legislature and the anti-Semitic attitude of the non-Jewish world around us. The question was becoming more and more acute. Where did it come from? Was there any solution? I told them about the new settlements in Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel. Those who came from traditional families knew about the historic yearning of Jews for Jerusalem and the promised redemption by the legendary Messiah. Had not the time come to do something to hasten this redemption? There was an answer, the Halutzim, the pioneers building the new settlements, new towns and villages, who were restoring our alt-neu (old-new) Homeland in Eretz Yisrael. The solution of Anti-Semitism was Zionism, what was going on in Eretz Yisrael. The discussion went on and became more and more vivid. Nobody cared for the soccer game any longer; they wanted to hear more about our Wonderland in Zion.

I told them about the Halutz movement that had already caused much wasteland to bloom, brought life to the wilderness, dried swamps and established towns and villages. This was the solution to our national problem, to "transplant" the Jewish people into our Promised Land and turn it from a nation of merchants into a working and productive society; thus creating a new type of Jew, one who earned his living "by the sweat of his brow". I told them about our youth movement and about the Kibbutz. They kept asking questions long after arriving home. I promised to continue the discussion the following Sunday, when we gave up our soccer game in favor of further discussion about Eretz Yisrael. Tzipi spoke with the younger ones while I dealt with the older group. By and by, they became enthusiastic and urged me to help them join our Movement. I promised to help them, but warned them of pitfalls in this step, because the authorities of the Jewish community and the OMZSA sharply opposed the Zionist movement, and rumors of our activity might endanger not only themselves, but the very existence of their Home. This demanded strict secrecy, even toward Hori. On one of our Sunday excursions, two members of our central office, Uri and Nesher, joined us in our clearing to perform the Admission Ceremony for our young candidates. It was an unforgettable experience of great enthusiasm and elation.

His mood lasted all the way home; however, after our return, Hori asked the three of us into his office. Unlike his usual behavior, he was tense and serious and said in a menacing tone, "It has come to my attention that you have been busy with Zionist activity and even influenced the trainees to join an illegal Zionist organization. You should know how dangerous this is. If the OMZSA management gets wind of it, all of us will be fired immediately and the Home shut down!" I felt all the blood oozing out of my face. Dumbfounded, I stuttered something that we were only talking with the boys, and so on. Tzipi was no less frightened. Seeing my embarrassment, Hori burst out laughing: "Don't worry, I was only joking. While you were busy organizing the kids, Lea managed to clue me in. We are entitled to a warm Mazel Tov! Now go and continue your noble activity, but act discreetly, lest the authorities get wind of your doings!" Lea laughed with him and we joined in too, breathing with relief. We were happy for Lea and for our cause.

Our success was complete; not only did we recruit the boys for the Movement, but the manager had also joined our initiative. The boys stopped idling about in the streets in the evenings; when they finished their work, they rushed home to gain more time to talk, to ask yet another question. We used our growing influence to demand strict discipline from them, to keep their rooms clean and their beds and belongings tidy. The orderlies swept the rooms before leaving in the morning. The whole lifestyle of the Home improved. Hori was very happy with the change and credited us for it. Doubtlessly this brought him still closer to the ideas we represented.

The Movement rescued many Zöldmáli boys during the horrible events that followed several months later. Most of them ultimately did arrive in Israel and are still living in a Kibbutz as I write this memoir.

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