A Thousand Kisses A Novel and History based on the True Story of Sara Aronson, Nili Hero by Marsha Levin     Have you ever heard of the Nili Spies who sought to free Palestine from Ottoman rule by spying for the British? The author first came across this intriguing tale on a visit to Zikhron Ya’akov's Nili Museum where the protagonists' family lived and where much of the action of the narrative takes place. A novel and history of love and espionage set in First World War Palestine, based on the life of Sara Aronson and her brother Aron, famous agronomist, botanist and discoverer of the original wheat, as well as that of co-narrator Avshalom Feinberg, poet, lover and spy. Sara’s story, one of courage, betrayal, risk and danger, is a compelling narrative of an ordinary woman in extraordinary times, in a little known period, whose actions changed the face of history in unexpected, tragic and redemptive ways. If one must have a disclaimer, than the following is true. This i...

PROLOGUE - Avshalom’s Ghost  CHAPTER 1 - The Early Years - Growing Up in Zikhron CHAPTER 2 - Aron’s ‘Agricultural and Botanical explorations in Palestine’  CHAPTER 3 - The Building of the Jewish Agricultural Station at Atlit     CHAPTER 4 - Avshalom’s Trip to Villa Morel in Lebanon CHAPTER 5 - Aron in America and the Sisters at Home  CHAPTER 6 - Our Town, Aron’s Plans and  Many Obstacles CHAPTER 7 - Finding Wild Wheat, Aron's House, Friends and Enemies  CHAPTER 8 -  The Baron’s Visit and Malka’s Illness CHAPTER 9 - Avshalom and Sara at the Station at Atlit and the Baron's Purim Ball  CHAPTER 10 - The Temple at Dor, Two Rival Ideologies and Malka’s death                                         CHAPTER 11 - Haim Abraham and Sara’s Marriage and Life in Constantinople     ...

Avshalom & Sara ‘How strange it is to write of one’s own death...  I fell, somewhere in the Sinai desert not far from Rafah in today’s unhappy Gaza, in the then, Ottoman Empire. A primeval landscape of sand dunes, stretching as far as the eye can see under a brilliant desert sky. The sound of horses, a gunshot. A man who I do not recognise, lies in the sand, blood congealed on his chest, his eyes closed. Golden light suffuses the scene. A tiny date pit sprouts into twin leaves, the tiny plant grows into a tall date palm tree. The date palm stands tall in the empty desert, its branches spreading against the sky...’    

Malka & Efraim Aronson & their Six Children They had come from Bacau in Romania - not to be confused with Baku in Azerbaijan - where Jews had lived for some centuries in conditions of the usual pogrom and persecution inflicted upon their people by their rulers and the peasant population. The ideas of ‘ Hoveve Zion ’ began to take root here around 1880. The idea was to found agricultural settlements in the Land of Israel, revive the Hebrew language and create a Jewish national confsciousness. The appeal - in Yiddish -began: ‘To our brothers in faith, sons of Israel from Bacau. You all know the necessity to support the holy purpose of colonisation in Eretz Israel . We make an appeal to every one, depending on their wealth, to make a contribution for the holy purpose, and we will publish in newspapers all these donations with the donor’s name. Thanks to such actions we will set off singing for Zion... ’ The Departure of the Aronson Family on the Thetis, 1882 And while not exactly...