CAARI Restores Fire Damaged Forest

Tuesday is Forest Day and our destination was Horshim Forest – one of the sites of the terrible forest fires this past November that destroyed more trees than the Carmel fires in 2010. 

CAARI has worked in this forest for the past 4-5 years.  It is a special forest to Nahum, as it is in memory of his commander, Hezi Sapir z”l a platoon commander killed by a bicycle bomber along with two other officers.  


Although the temperatures were not exactly ideal, and rain was predicted, we packed the bus with our ‘picnic lunch’ and off we went determined to work! 

By the time we reached the forest, the sun was out, partly blue skies and we were ready for the challenge.  

We were greeted by Miri and Yashkeeh, Hezi’s sister and Father. Yashkeh is a survivor from the Lutzk Ghetto in the Ukraine and was a platoon commander in the Palmach. With Yashkeeh’s marching orders, we were divided into three groups. With pick axes, rakes, hoes, paintbrushes, we began our assignments as instructed, to restore the vineyard and antiquities that were damaged by the fire.  CAARI cleaned some of the marked trails and stone paths, dug drainage ditches, painted signs and picnic tables and by noon CAARI was ready for lunch.  Yashkeh took us to the overlook named for his son and Nahum our guide explained the defensive barrier built in response to the Al Aksa uprising in 2000, the green line and the Palestinian City of Kalkilyia and the Community of Alfei Menashe.

Community Service and visit to the Biblical Nature Reserve

Sunday, 29 January.  The weather was not so great over the weekend, but that didn’t stop the CAARI group!  They shopped, walked, visited friends and relatives and enjoyed a lovely Shabbat Dinner and Oneg Shabbat!  Now – rested and relaxed we began a new exciting week to welcome in the month of Shvat!

Following our morning community service, we boarded the bus for a trip to Neot Kedumn, the Biblical Landscape Reserve in Israel.  It is located halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. This unique Biblical setting allows visitors to see life as it was lived by our ancestors 3,000 years ago. 

After a ‘biblical lunch’ our biblical expert, Ya'ir, guided us through this magical setting.  The panorama view was extraordinary, as we could see the skyline of Tel Aviv, another view was the Judean Hills, with both Arab and Jewish communities.  As we walked through the nature reserve, Ya'ir discussed the various plants, trees and shrubs and their biblical reference.  For example, hyssop, which we know as tasty za'atar is mentioned several times in the Bible.  Ya'ir, surprised us with mortar and pestle for us to grind the fragrant hyssop.   We learned about the importance of water in the times of the Bible and the seven species – which we all can now name! 

 

We loved seeing the blossoming almond trees, which is a sign of spring in Israel!  In Israel, the almond trees are a better predictor of spring than the groundhog!  

Several of the CAARI  participants will be leaving tonight and 9 new participants will be joining the CAARI family!   

CAARI Cooks!

CAARI COOKS!   This afternoon 27 January,  we visited the Dan Gourmet  Cooking School where the Dan Hotel Chain trains its chefs, located in south Tel Aviv.  With aprons and recipes we prepared our Italian Dinner!  What fun and tastes good too! We are the CAARI Chefs of the Future!



Marcia and Marilyn at the Entrance of Dan Gourmet

Vic and Sharon eating the fruits of their labor

Joseph & Anne in their new aprons

CAARI pays attention to Chef Elad

Chef Elad teaches CAARI How to cook an Italian dish

Marcia, Hariet and Rosalie pay careful attention to the chef

Mark impliments what Chef Elad taught!

Barbara, Anne and Mary prepare tomato sauce

Arlene & Marilyn prepare tomato sauce

Mark & Elaine prepare tomato sauce

There can never be too many cooks in the kitchen

Who says too many cooks in the kitchen?

Sonya enjoys the CAARI cooking session

Elad demonstrates to CAARI some cooking tips

Sheila & Paula succeed in producing pasta dough on the first try

Preparing pasta from scratch

Connie successfully rolls pasta from flour and water dough

Arlene and Marilyn show their skill at preparing pasta from scratch

Sharon, Vic and Sonya display their pasta dough

Rosalie succeeds in rolling her own pasta dough

Arlene shows off her labor waiting for cheeses and tomato sauce

Chef Elad inspects Marks dough

Some people used surgical masks to prevent the spread of germs in the kitchen

Salad that CAARI prepared

Sharon, Sonya and Barabara discuss the cooking lesson over wine

Some of the baked goods CAARI produced

Marilyn demostrates how to drink wine with her meal

Chef Elad offers Foccacia to Arlene and Marilyn