Greet & Meet in Tel Aviv - Jan. 19 and 21

Dear Family and Friends,
The CAARI Program officially opened the community service portion of the program in Tel Aviv tonight! The group that had been touring in Eilat and southern Israel were warmly greeted by those that arrived from the States and Canada and the City Hotel Staff. "It is so wonderful to see freinds from the previous years and to see so many new faces, said Rosalie Whitehill (New York). I arrived early and was so surprised to see Sid and Nancy Golden (Toronto), Diane Abrams and Gloria Kaufman (New York) for breakfast - it was like I saw them yesterday. This is what is so wonderful about CAARI!"
The next morning a "Train the Tutor" workshop was presented by former CAARI participants to give ideas and techniques to new participants. Lots of great ideas were exchanged making all feel a little more comfortable about the upcoming community service work. CAARI will be working in 10 elementary schools throughout Tel Aviv, mostly in low socio-economic neighborhoods - and two local rehab centers.
CAARI participants enjoyed the sunny weather to get familiar with Tel Aviv - shopping at the shuk, visting with family and friends and there is always a "cafe afuk" at a local outdoor cafe!
"Blogged "by Rosalie Whitehill - Friday evening, many in the group went to the Orthodox synagogue nearby where last year, we thought the rabbi's singing and dancing really made the Kaballat Service come alive with joy......well, the congregation size has more than tripled.....and I could hardly believe when the rabbi addressed our coordinator( female) to ask about our group and then welcomed us.....we were a larger contingent of women than men. And, of course, we had a fun oneg....after our shabbat dinner. Saturday, I went dancing on the tayelet (boardwalk) and was so pleased to know just about every dance for the first hour......mostly oldies.....good for me...as I am an oldie."
Others joined Rosalie at the Folk Dancing and were amazed as they watched the dancers and listened to the rhymethic music. See the pictures for the weekend!
Wishing all our friends and family a Shabbat Shalom from CAARI.

CAARI's Fourth Day

Written and photographed by Nahum Eisenstadt

The fourth day of the CAARI program, 19 January, began early with an hour drive from Eilat to a Kibbutz called Neot Smadar, once an abandoned IDF Nahal outpost, reestablished and reinhabited in 1989 by a group of determined pioneers from various cities in Israel with a dream to create a new environment, an environmentally friendly community in the form of a traditional collectivized kibbutz. We met one of the kibbutz members, Anat, who explained the first project of the kibbutz members was to build a tower that is still the major landmark. The membersa were not experienced engineers and made many mistakes that they would learn from later on pouring concrete etc. CAARI climbed the steps to the top for a breathtaking view of the surrounding country side. The kibbutz has a goat dairy, winery, pottery workshop and carpentry shop as well as vacation units that couples and small families can stay over for a week end. The last two pictures show the development of the kibbutz lands from the top of the tower built by the first kibbutz members together. The agricultural areas are the fruit of the assistance from the KKL-JNF that built the wastewater treatment and agricultural infrastructure for the olive trees and agriculture in this unique desert environment. The first picture shows the largest building on the kibbutz that contains the carpentry and pottery workshops and the tower that we climbed up to view the kibbutz fields.

CAARI Visits Town of Mitzpeh Ramon

Written and photographed by Nahum Eisenstadt

Our fourth day of touring included a stop to meet the town council members of Mitzpeh Ramon, founded in the 1950's as a development town in the Negev. CAARI met a number of important figures in the devlopment of the town today. To begin with Joshua Schmidt a Phd in Anthropology who serves in the Town of Mitzpeh Ramon's, Department of External Relations, gave a brief history and overview of the development of the town from the first immigrants deported from North African countries as a result of the War of Independence through present day situation. We also heard from the head of the Education Department in the Town of Mitzpeh Ramon, Aryeh Broideh, about the two high schools and two Elementary schools that serve the more than 1200 school children in the town of Mitzpeh Ramom. He says that the problem is not money but getting good teachers to come to Mitzpeh Ramon and live there. He also emphasized the great contribution that KKL-JNF has made to the town through the years. Today the town is aproximately 5200 people and is planning on reaching 15,000. This picture shows the CAARI participants listening to the briefing by Joshua and Aryeh in the municipality meeting room adjacent to the Mayor's office.

CAARI in Mitzpeh Ramon

Written and photographed by Nahum Eisenstadt

After the orientation and briefing about the town of Mitzpeh Ramon in the Municipality building meeting room, we went to visit one of the two high schools. This school is called the Shalom School where the peace strategy of Yitzhak Rabin is commemorated. It is an unusual school emphasizing the Arts, where both fine arts and performing arts and the exact sciences are both nurtured. Ronit, the principal, met us and showed us around. She is in the middle of the picture with the black shoes on. Here we are standing at the entrance of the school. We saw the science labs and classrooms and the performing arts rooms where there is a large auditorium for performing arts and a large studio for painting and sculpture etc.

Maktesh Ramon (Crater) Overlook

Written and Photographed by Nahum Eisenstadt

The last stop before the three hour drive to Tel Aviv (for the beginning of the four week volunteer part of the CAARI program) was the famous overlook on the Danny Caravan Sculpture Promenade in Mitzpeh Ramon. This was made possible through the generous help of the KKL JNF which has made a tremendous contribution to this small and troubled town through the last 50 years.

This overlook, called Har Gamal, is a suspended wooden platform overlooking a 30 kilometer long erosive geological window made possible through millions of years of erosion by wind and water, not by the impact of meteors. It shows 250,000,000 years ago what was happening under one of the mountain ridges of the Negev. This pictutre shows the cold temperatures at 1000 meters(3300 feet) above sea level at the Har Gamal overlook on the Ramon Crater with some of our hardier CAARI participants.