September 1 – Last Letter from Israel

David’s Comments:

“Tomorrow I am leaving with Paul (the one I am going to Europe with) and another American and an Israeli for a trip to Tel Aviv and Haifa for few days. “
Bob planned to stay in Haifa and Tel Aviv from Sunday September 1, thru Thursday September 5^th. I do not have any letters past September 5^th and don’t have any information.

“Of course, my travel dates in Europe are as yet indefinite.”
We know he went to Europe as we have a picture of him in Paris. My dad never talked about Paris. The only time I remember him talking about the French was when he organized a boycott against Charles DeGaulle and Georges Pompidou following their arms embargo against Israel.

”When I get to New York at the airport, I will call you”
In 1957 it was almost impossible to give a clear time when to be picked up from the airport. There was no internet and Bob had no access to a phone.

“Mail from you is hard to find since the Jewish Agency mixes things up.”

I do not know exactly what the role of the Jewish Agency was in the distribution of mail. It is possible that they held the mail for the different youth groups and would sometimes mix up the mail, since the groups slept in different locations. This made it difficult to know where to forward the mail to.
I was planning to schedule a meeting with Gideon Patt, who headed my mother’s tour group in 1957. Gideon Patt, who eventually became Israel’s Tourism Minister, is the only one who could have answered my question on how the mail was sorted. Sadly, he passed away in April, 2020.