"I love that time has stood still here. When I arrive in Tel Aviv, everything is chaos"
Chen and Matan wanted to fulfill their dream of experiencing life abroad and moved to Berlin. But after October 7, they realized their life needed to be in Israel and returned to Kibbutz Afikim: "In Germany, there is a 14-month maternity leave and an apartment at a fair price. But the heart was here." She, a chef by profession, is cooking the last meals at the legendary Rotenberg restaurant, which is closing, and is already looking ahead: "I am developing something of my own in the field of cheeses and bread, which I love so much." The Weisbitan family on the sofa.
What do you do with the minus in the bank account, how much do you pay for the apartment, and what dream did you fulfill in the shadow of the war? People from all over the country talk candidly about life itself, before and in the shadow of the war. And this time: the Weisbitan family, Kibbutz Afikim. In the photo: Chen (37), Matan (35), Ori (11 months).
Life in the Kibbutz
The house? 2 rooms for rent. Paying 4,000 shekels plus 1,000 shekels in community taxes. Chen: "We are going to build a house here and take a mortgage." Weisbitan? Chen: "My last name is Weiss and Matan's is Bitan. We decided to combine both names into one last name." Afikim? Chen: "I was born here and went out. I lived in Jerusalem and did a degree at the Hebrew University, where we met. My hobby was always kitchens. I made cheeses at the dairy in Afikim before my studies but thought it wasn't a profession, and my intellectual drive prevailed. But I missed it. There is no dairy in Jerusalem so I started working in the kitchen of Chakra, which is an excellent restaurant."
Matan: "I was born in Acre and grew up in Kibbutz Gesher HaZiv, and I came to study in Jerusalem. On the first day, we sat next to each other and at first, we were good friends. Only in the last year did we become a couple. She hunted me." Chen: "I remember it the other way around."
The Berlin Experience
Chakra? Chen: "I worked in the kitchen and at that stage, I understood that this is what I want to do, and I wanted to experience fine dining abroad. For Matan, it suited very well." Matan: "I worked in advertising and wanted to experience life abroad, and if to return, then it should be by choice, although at that moment we didn't know what would happen. The destination was Berlin."
Berlin? Chen: "We landed in the middle of Corona, in the second lockdown, in October, without a clue." Matan: "I was looking for something in high-tech and didn't think that from November, before the holidays, there would be no one to talk to." Chen: "We looked for work each in our field but the restaurant scene was dead. For several months we walked around the city and tried and tasted everything possible, everything that was open. There were no tourists and no one was traveling. The city was empty, and everything was for us. For five months we lived on savings and I understood that I needed to lower expectations, and I started working in all kinds of bakeries." Matan: "After a few months, I was accepted to a startup in the field of artificial intelligence, even before the hype started."
Returning Home
Bakeries? Chen: "After a few months in bakeries, the restaurants started to return and I entered to work with chef Gal Ben Moshe at the Prism restaurant. This is a Michelin-starred restaurant. I started as a pastry chef and reached the point of being his sous-chef. It was a great school. At a certain stage, we started debating thoughts about children and where we want it to happen, and I felt that Berlin could not be my last stop. It is an amazing city but I felt that I have no time and that I am ripe to move on. October 7 was the catalyst that made us understand that we need to return. You leave the house and everyone behaves normally, and the world goes on as usual, and when you return home you are in mourning, frozen and cannot move from the TV. This gap was hard and you understand that this is not your home."
Matan: "At work, there were programmers and product managers from countries like Egypt. We were friends and played soccer together, and suddenly you see that everyone on social media is against Israel. I started to feel it in the day-to-day and wanted to return."
Chen: "After I left the restaurant, I fulfilled the dream of a tour in Europe." Tour? Chen: "We bought a car, Matan worked remotely, and we traveled between dairies in Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands. It was a dream. Everyone opened the door and hosted me because of my history at the Michelin restaurant. While doing so, I started imagining how I return home and do something with raw materials from my environment. And we returned. People asked me why we returned and I tried to explain to them that it is not rational. In the rational battle, Germany won without a problem. The standard of living there is much higher, you can afford more, there is a 14-month maternity leave, and there is an apartment at a fair price. There was everything but the heart was here. And we returned to Kibbutz Afikim."
New Horizons
Kibbutz? Matan: "I love the place and that time has stood still a bit here. When I arrive in Tel Aviv, everything is chaos. It is good for us to raise the child in the kibbutz. This is our place, but in terms of the country, we want it to be different here and we are not here at any price. It is important to us that our child grows up in a liberal country that cares for those who contribute."
What do you do today? Matan: "I am in marketing for a startup that develops software for quantum computing, which is the next big thing. The potential is for huge computing power and we want to be Microsoft, the operating system of quantum computing. Three times a week I travel to Tel Aviv early and return at nine-ten at night. There is a price when you live in the north."
Chen? "I have been the chef of the Rotenberg restaurant for the last two years. When I returned to Israel, Izhar, who was the owner and chef of the restaurant, was sick, and Hila his wife and I connected and I entered to lead the kitchen and came up with a new tasting menu of 12 dishes, based on seasonal produce from the restaurant's garden and agriculture in the area. Rotenberg is a special place that touches the connection between culture, agriculture, and kitchen. Izhar passed away a year and a half ago and Hila decided to close the restaurant this coming December and turn a new page, because no matter how many good things happen at Rotenberg, something is missing. It is a brave and correct decision. So we are now running the last meals until the end of the year. I am developing something of my own in the field of cheeses and bread, which I love so much. I also decided to build professional life around personal life and not the other way around."
