Feb 3 - Horshim Forest Work

Excerpts from Rosalie

Shalom again...

"First of all, the weather.....which has been in the upper 60's..... today and tomorrow in the 70's....and sunny....Secondly, our activities are so varied and great, I look forward to each day with great anticipation.....and I have not been disappointed. Many of us are from the Boston area and stayed up to watch the game - congrats New England Pats! 

 Tuesday, Feb 3, - after breakfast, we went to the Horashim Forest to help with their spring cleanup....collecting litter and putting fresh coats of paint on stuff in their picinc area....I chose to be a painter.....and I have done that before...and have the paint stains on my sweatshirt to prove it." Rosaile

This forest is very special to our guide, Neil.  

The forest is in memory of Neil's Platoon Commander, Hezi Sapir, who was killed by a suicide bomber in Gaza along with two other officers of his reserve batallion  20 years ago on 11.11.94.  Each year, we are honored to help Yaska, Hezi's father and his sister, Miri, who take pride in this forest.  The forest has a playground, many walking paths with impressive cyclamen and anemenies in bloom, antiquities and a beautiful overlook east.  The park was even being used the day we arrived, lots of picnic benches, walking paths through lovely spring foliage, ancient olive presses, and a view of the valley. Yashka divided us in teams and each team had a different project - making a water channel for the water fountain, clearing the weeds along the road, painting and of course there is always litter to pick up!  Yashkeh and his late wife were both Holocaust survivors from a small town in the Ukraine called Lutsk. Yashkeh in his day was a platoon commander in the Palmach and is even mentioned in Avraham Eden's book, "To The Ink Flag".

We all took to our tasks!  After our chores were done, some of us took a walk through the forest and then our traditional picnic lunch which included Hamantashen - a Purim favorite - although it was TuBshvat!! HMMMMMMM!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this day! 

CAARI