"Relocation within the country": Hava Graboz left Tel Aviv's kitchens for the kibbutz dining hall

Hava Graboz, daughter of the late painter and columnist Yair Graboz, recounts her move from Tel Aviv to manage the dining hall at Kibbutz Sde Boker. She shares her culinary career, her connection to food through her father, and the feeling of "relocation within the country" as an alternative to leaving for abroad.

Hava Graboz, 50, recounts her dramatic transition from Tel Aviv's restaurant scene to managing the dining hall at Kibbutz Sde Boker. Graboz, daughter of the late painter and columnist Yair Graboz, previously worked at upscale restaurants like Eli Oli, Orna and Ella, and even interned at the two-Michelin-starred restaurant Oasis on the French Riviera. Now she feeds 70 kindergarten children and 130 diners daily at lunch, and over 200 during holidays. She defines the move as "relocation within the country" — an alternative to leaving for abroad. Graboz shares her special bond with her father, Yair Graboz, expressed through their shared love of food, and describes him as "much more Jewish than people who live here" despite being an atheist. She also criticizes the lack of institutional recognition of his death, noting that the Ministry of Culture and the municipalities of Ramat Gan, Givatayim, and Tel Aviv did not pay any last respects to an artist who worked in the country for decades.