Picking fruit for food bank for Project Lecket

Perfect day to pick oranges and we picked - almost 2000 pounds of oranges!  Way to go CAARI!

Volunteer Work, Visit to Ben Gurion's House & speaker

Greetings from  Rosalie Whitehill.
Today was our first day of community service and it was very special .  CAARI  was assigned their schools and taxis and off they went!
(from Rosalie)Yes, the children melted my heart......in the first minutes......and I had the good time with kids that I haven't had for a year!!!!  So many smiles......just marvelous!!  Looking forward to seeing them again tomorrow......and the English teacher is a delight, too.....so interested in making this a good experience for us and the kids!!  The school is located east of Jaffa in south Tel Aviv......And my room-mate, Diane, said she kinda knew it would happen  this way........so it was a great morning. The  afternoon visit to Ben Gurion's house.....to which I haven't been in about 30-40 years.....since my last visit to the Tel Aviv home of this wonderful, brilliant and so unpretentious man, they have added a small house in back (donated by the neighbor who owned it) in which we saw a very moving film about Ben Gurion (always something new for me when I revisit sites with this group).
Tonite we have the first of a 2 part lecture on Israel's Northern Border.....speaker is Miri Eisen, but have not had time to google her so I really don't know what to expect.....but I do know, I am rarely disappointed with the program.

Greeting Joyce and Marion

A lovely Shabbat - some attended services at the local Conservative Synagogue - others took part in the folk dancing on the Tayelet and some greeted Joyce and Marion who arrived today. 
All of the group is looking forward to our first week of community service. 
Shavua Tov to all! 

Friday in Tel Aviv

After our orientation and 'train the tutor' most of the group headed to the shuk and crafts fair.  The sun was shining, temperatures in the 70's and just a glorious day for browsing, shopping and getting ready for Shabbat. Wishing all our friends and family a Shabbat Shalom!

More on Wednesday - 16 January

After our forest work we visited the Memorial dedicated to the 44 people who tragically died in the fire. What can one say? Continuing our journey, we stopped by the Druze Village, Ossifia, for a 'light 'lunch and a discussion of the Druze community.  Our guide was very informative and the cook outstanding!  It was truly a feast!

 Next stop  - Ein Hod for a visit with a special artist who collects music boxes.  You are probably thinking of those small music boxes, but his collection included all types including the gramophone and other boxes made in Europe over 100 years ago. It was an impressive collection and Nissim gave us an entertaining presentation!

Our last stop of the day was Tel Aviv, where we will be for the next four weeks.  We were welcomed by the staff and former CAARI participants who joined us in Tel Aviv.

Wednesday - January 16 - Forest work for CAAR

 JNF FOREST DAY - The winds were blowing - really blowing, but that didn't stop CAARI from working in the Carmel Forest.  Two years ago, this forest was ravished by a tragic fire and still today foresters and volunteers are working to clean up the forest.  We arrived the same time that 4 buses of high school students arrived.  However, our forester, Alon, told us that the teenagers thought it was too windy and left.  Not CAARI - we worked on and cleared out a section of the forest.  See below!

Alon, JNF Forester giving us instructions

Burt Figler clearing the brush

Joan Hulkower trimming trees

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