Our days- Wednesday and Thursday - 26- 27 Jan.

Ah, what a few days we have had. The weather has been superb! Our community service work continues every morning. During lunch at the hotel we talk about our morning experiences ... what the kids did ..what happened in rehab.. we all have something to say. Usually Susan comes in to say...time to go and we begin our afternoon touring adventures. On Wednesday we had a special treat. None of us really knew what to expect, except that we were going to Beit Guvrin. What was that? On the bus and off we went. The same for Thursday - we were going to Israel Aircraft Industries - would that be boring? Here is Rosalie's Whitehill's description of these 2 days!

"Wednesday was another marvelous day with the students....singing songs, chatting and laughing.....and they are so happy, their smiles and cheery thank you are priceless.

In the afternoon, we went by bus to Bet Guvrin....close to Jerusalem again....where we had an archeologist guide take us through some caves on Tel Maresha....we saw some caves that had what appeared to be pigeon cubbies cut into them, and then some bell shaped caves that were absolutely beautiful.....huge and colorful striations....and after that we went to the Valley of Ella, where the battle of David and Goliath took place....and our guide read from the bible as we were standing there. In the evening we had a speaker from the IDF - he is in public relations - now that is a challenging position!

Yesterday, Thursday, after school, we visited the Israel Aircraft Industry plant near the airport......saw many different models of drones that are developed by Israel for the rest of the world......also saw Gulfstream business jets that are built here before being sent to U.S. for glamorous finishing touches. Israeli technology and expertise in developing new products is awe-inspiring. "

Friday was a FREE day and the group enjoyed a variety of activities, some went to the symphony, others a museum, others shopped at the crafts market - it was a lovely day to enjoy the sunshine and warm temperatures. A group went to a neighborhood synagogue for a wonderful Shabbat service - what a way to welcome Shabbat. Dinner back at the hotel followed by the Oneg Shabbat.
Shabbat Shalom to all.
CAARI 2011

Forest Day, folkdancing and more.....

Shalom,

Another wonderful day - worked in forest rebuilding ancient terraces and trimming olive trees.

Lunch at great restaurant in Kibbutz Tzora - Cafe Margo. Learned about spices at Tavlin. Danced with Sara and Micha. What a day! Will write more later, but wanted you to see the pictures!

CAARI 2011

CAARI picks fruit for Project Leket

Shalom,
Another busy CAARI day and a great way to start the week. First of all the sun is shining and we love walking out of our hotel, looking to the right, for a view of the blue Mediterranean Sea! Our day started, of course, with breakfast and conversation about what we did over Shabbat! Some of us visited with family and friends, others went to shul, others went to the dancing along the board walk and others just rested!
All of us leave for our community service work in taxis in groups of 2 -4 people departing the hotel from 7:30 - 8:30. The children are so excited to see us and we are excited to see them. We feel we are making connections with them and see the progress in the their English conversation. Each of us has a different experience that we share with the group over our next meal - lunch - back at the hotel.
This afternoon we drove to an orchard in Rehovet to 'glean'. And...glean we did - we picked over 200 pounds of clementines. We were assigned to finish picking one of the fields. Not such an easy job picking fruit - you have to gently turn the clementine so not to damage the stem. MMMMMMMM - some of the damged fruits had to be eaten by us - pretty sweet and tasty! We did a 'mitzva' today! Natalie and Ron thanked us for our hard work - they were surprised that we were able to pick that much fruit - and they gave us all T-shirts - which we shall proudly wear!
Our evening activing was a speaker, Nicki Maor, from the Israel Religious Action Committee. She brought us up-to-date on the conversion issues which has been controversal here in Israel and the States and Canada.
Another great day! Tomorrow - a day in the JNF forest.
Shalom,
CAARI 2011

Sunday, Jan. 23 - Tel Aviv

Shalom,

Great weather today, sunny and in the 60's. We are expecting rain at the end of the week, but right now we are enjoying what we have. We began our day with community service, lunch (got to eat) followed by an interesting visit to the Peres Peace Center in Jaffa with a magnificent view of the sea. We toured Jaffa and then...dinner at Maganda!

Having a great time!

CAARI 2011

TuBshvat Tree Planting by Marcia Bercov

Hello again,
And Happy New Year. Well, another kind of New Year's celebration, this one the New Year of the Trees, Tu B'Shevat. All of Israel marks this holiday by planting trees in different parts of the country.
This event is organized by the Jewish National Fund, or Keren Kayemeth L'Israel, as it is known in this country. This year planting took place in three separate areas, one in the north, one in the south, and one in Modi'in, about half an hour's drive from Tel Aviv. Trees came from the JNF tree nursery, which CAARI visited on a previous trip. And the trees, countless flats of them unloaded from trucks onto the ground at the foot of prepared hillsides...what a sight. JNF staff prepared the ground, digging holes for the seedlings and placing a flag next to each hole, as a marker of the site and a souvenir for the planter.
For me, planting a tree in Israel in person give me a very special feeling of connection with the land.
For many years, this was something which our family did by proxy, so to speak, from Canada. We contributed money to JNF for trees to commemorate many kinds of occasions, like the birth of a child, a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, or in memory of someone who had passed away. JNF would then send a tree certificate to the family. Actually we have one sent by my Grandmother on the occasion of our marriage. But I digress. Today our group,having arrived early at the site, had the privilege of planting a tree before most of the people came. Mine is up on the hill, near a large rock where I hope the rain will collect and keep it well watered. After our group planted, Neil, our guide, recited the Blessing for the planting of trees in Israel, a very beautiful moment for everyone.
Then the crowds arrived - large groups of people, many families with young children whose faces lit up when they received their seedlings. Our group, located at two different stations at the bottom of the hill, handed out the seedlings, and some of us accompanied groups up the hill to help them. I escorted a large number of the most adorable little ones, probably about four years old, from the SeaHorse Nursery. Another memorable group consisted of half a dozen young soldiers, with rifles on their shoulders and seedlings in their hands.
In all, we distributed some 8,000 seedlings. What looks like a rocky hillside today will become a forest in years to come.
This is all for now. Shabbat is coming and we will welcome it very soon.
Shabbat Shalom and best wishes from Israel.
Marcia and Ron