Eretz Museum - January 31

Today, after another delightful day at school in the a.m., we spent the afternoon at the Eretz Yisroel Museum....the one built around the tel (dig) that Ralph and I saw in 51.....it is made up of many pavillions and full of lots to see......our group spent most of our time seeing an exhibit of Biblical paintings......but the real fascinating part was the exhibit on the Herzliya Gymnasia......the first school where everything was in Hebrew.....while there, we started speaking with a gentleman who told us the school was torn down...one month after he was graduated.......and he got very emotional and started to cry.....a very touching moment.....and then. to my delight there were some drawings of the school made by Nahum Gutman (yes, that is his name.....not Natan, as one of my recipients pointed out to me) who had gone to the school.  All in all, it was a fine day, as we wended our way through the raindrops which stopped and started all day.  

Tomorrow is a free day, but again rain is scheduled.  Looking forward to Shabbat and perhaps some dancing.  

Wishing all of you a Shabbat Shalom. 

American Colony in Jaffa - January 30 from Rosalie Whitehill

Shalom Again! Yes, I am very happy and well, and hope you are all the same.After subbing again in the school I like best on Wed. a.m......where they play my favorite music to change classes, I came back to the hotel to the news that I will be going back there for the rest of my time here......at the principal's request.......so I feel like "singin in the rain"

After lunch we went to Jaffa to visit the American Colony......that was started by about 87 Christian people in 1886.....who came with their pastor from Jonesport...near Portland, Maine....but were not prepared to farm the Israeli soil and so it lasted only 2 years, and then it became a German colony and after many transitions it is now a temple/hostel.....clean as a whistle....and the area is being restored and really is impressive.......a story I never knew.

 The evening lecture was the second by Miri Eisen, a really dynamic speaker, who again spoke about borders....this time about Syria.....and of course, the news that Israeli planes had attacked a convoy of arms headed for the Hezbollah in Lebanon.  And the full story is probably not out yet.

Lecture on border with Syria

Forest Day - January 29

 Today was our scheduled forest day. The few clouds,threatening rain and cooler temperatures did not deter our group.  We made our way to the beautiful Canada Park.  This is an amazing park not only in area, but in the history and archaeological finds that go back centuries.  Jessica Larson, from the JNF Israel Canadian Office greeted us along with Mire, the forester.  We hiked a short distance to an area that had to be cleared to prevent future forest fires and that we did....even though a light rain persisted!  To warm us up, we were served 'forest' tea, made on site with fresh herbs from the forest - very tasty.  Meir Malka, founder of the CAARI program met us and worked with us in the forest.  After the area was cleared, Meir took us for a tour of Canada Park.   Our picnic lunch had to be held indoors and Meir was able to use his influence and get us into one of the elementary schools.  Then we had an 'eye opening' tour of the growing Beit Shemesh community.  Time for dinner and we had a lovely one at Margo's, at Kibbutz Zorah!
Shalom to all!
CAARI 2013