Peres vists kibbutz in Jordan Valley he helped found

Peres greeted by old friends as well as by kindergarten youngsters and schoolchildren.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
peres lamb 224 (photo credit: GPO)
peres lamb 224
(photo credit: GPO)
Conventional wisdom says that you can't go home again. But when President Shimon Peres, as guest of the Jordan Valley Regional Council, returned on Tuesday to Kibbutz Alumot, which he helped to found more than 60 years ago, he said that he felt as if he had been reborn. Regardless of any position that he had ever filled in Israel, he said, the kibbutz always remained close to his heart. Indeed, it was as a shepherd that Peres honed his leadership skills. Speaking to members of his family and to kibbutz veterans, Peres recalled his satisfaction in successfully leading his flocks of sheep along the banks of the Lake Kinneret and then bringing them back to the kibbutz. Peres was greeted on arrival by old friends as well as by kindergarten youngsters and schoolchildren. Though very pleased to meet the companions of his youth and to see the new generation of children born on kibbutz and the new families that have settled there, Peres was no less interested in catching up with the latest techniques of sheep breeding. It was very moving for him to return to his kibbutz "which is situated in the most beautiful place on earth," he said. Kibbutz Alumot is expanding, and has received applications from 64 families who would like to live there.