BABES IN THE WOOD JEWISH FAIRYTALE SWELLENDAM - JANUARY 2007

"Travelling Rabbi" Moshe Silberhaft, with Tovi and Maiyan Karidi

 


Babes-in-the-wood Mistorin and Keshet Karidi

 

A "chai" incorporated into one of their classical mosaics

 

The story of Maiyan and Tovi Karidi and their children, Mistorin (9) and Keshet (5), is akin to a Jewish version of a babes-in-the wood fairytale.

The woods are the green forests on the outskirts of the country town of Swellendam, a two-hour drive from Cape Town, and the babes are the family who live among the myriad creatures that inhabit the lush vegetation.

Home schooled, Mistorin and Keshet, are totally unaccustomed to city life. Keshet even shuns a shopping spree to the nearby town of Worcester and cannot wait to run free in the land surrounding his home. His sister, dressed in her ballet clothes, dances around the forest like a woodland nymph.

Like their parents, they are fluent in Hebrew and English, but the three children of an Israeli couple, who work in a fruit-packing concern in Swellendam are the only real contact they have with their peers. There is no telephone as there is no available line and no cellphone reception in the area. Maiyan keeps in touch with the outside world when she takes her computer and cellphone to the closest reception point. They drink pure water and live off the fruits and vegetables of the land, always cognizant of kashrut.

For Tovi, a sabra and Sephardi Jew, with family roots in Turkey, sports a Bucharan kippah and wears tzitzit under his tie dye shirt and jeans. Maiyan is like a maiden of the forest in her tzniyus top of white cotton and flowing skirt. A mosaic artist, Hebrew-English linguist and former equestrian, she was born and raised in Cape Town before working on Kibbutz Nahal Oz in Israel and Moshav Ein Habesor, as well as attending ulpan in the late 1980s.

In 1993, she returned to Israel to teach English privately and work in childcare. In addition to furthering her linguistic studies, she worked and trained in an archaeological dig in Caesarea, where she restored ancient mosaics and frescos. It was there she met Tovi, the artistic creator of exquisite ceramics, which he says are “Divinely inspired”. They were married in November,1997.

Back in South Africa, Maiyan assisted her new husband with an art course for children, as well as with maintenance and interior design.

The next year the Karidis built a house in the shape of a Magen David, with mosaic features (mosaics are their passion and their profession). The house is perched atop a hill adjacent to a waterfall which joins a stream that runs into a river. Because of the hill and the running waters bypassing their home, the Karidis were the only people near the river, whose home was left standing after a massive flood in 2004. But it wasn’t as easy as all that.

“We were stranded with no form of communication for five days, surrounded by swirling waters with debris from all the houses that were destroyed. Deep freezes, television sets and refrigerators floated past us, as well as all the snakes and animals that drowned in the flood. We were beginning to think we would never escape and then, miraculously, a helicopter arrived and lifted us to safety.”

During the same year the Karidis established a pottery studio – Mystica Mosaics - and created their own wood-fired ceramic tesserae for mosaics and wall art.

In 2005 they were commissioned to build a water feature and mosaic for a 300 square foot surface at the entrance to an art gallery in Swellendam.

“We are different because we make all our own pieces by hand as opposed to most mosaic artists who buy commercial pieces and assemble them,” said Tovi.

His wife adds: “Throughout our commissions, we manage to incorporate into the mosaics some form of Hebrew lettering or Jewish symbolism, of which our non-Jewish patrons remain totally unaware. They ask us for all sorts of designs, but I draw the line when asked to do a crucifix.

But this idyllic lifestyle has its drawbacks. The Karidis feel their children are becoming isolated and need to grow up in a Jewish community, although they observe Shabbat and festivals, when Tovi conducts services. He is especially proud of the succah they built on a deck over the river.

“The children are at home with nature. They fearlessly identify poisonous snakes and scorpions and are totally au fait with the drill. But this way of life cannot go on forever,” said Maiyan.

The work of “Travelling Rabbi” Moshe Silberhaft, of the African Jewish Congress and Country Communities Department of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, was brought to the attention of the Karidis.

They put their problem to Rabbi Silberhaft, who drove out from Cape Town to see them, with a view to assisting them to settle on the Island of Mauritius, where he recently opened a shul and Jewish centre for the 70 Jews living there.

Tovi greeted the rabbi with the washing of hands, a mark of respect, according to Turkish Jewish custom. Maiyan told the Rabbi: “Mauritius to us represents the best of both worlds – the natural beauty outside of city life, but with Jewish community living as a bonus. I have a vision: How wonderful it would be to work on a surface – the wall or floor of the building that belongs to the Jewish community on the island. We could do a Jewish theme and people (especially Jewish tourists) could come and watch the process while we are at work. And we would relocate our studio there.”


Tovi feels they could also train locals with a view to job creation in the tourism industry. He has magnificently handcrafted mezuzah covers, seder plates and other Judaica.

Rabbi Silberhaft, who has the reputation of caring for every single Jew, no matter how far from a city he or she lives, says he will set the ball rolling with Mauritian Jewry and help wherever possible.

“We’ll give it a good try and let our children have a chance to grow up there,” said Maiyan.

“This is our time to move on,” Tovi adds. “And when, in the future, the next time comes around, we will go home to Israel.”

Maiyan and Tovi have a website: www.mysticamosaics.com