Eilat - Bird Center, Red Mountain Therapeutic Riding Center (Feb. 19)

We are up with the birds!  

Yes, early - even before breakfast.  Some of us are saying, "why are we here", but after a few words from our passionate guide,  Noam Weiss, whose love for the birds and environment have given us new meaning to being a bird watcher.  We arrived early to see the ringing that the staff does and some of us got GENTLY handle the birds after the ringing.  

According the Israeli Bird Ringing Center, Israel lies at the heart of one of the world's largest migration routes and twice a year, hundreds of millions of birds pass through the region on their way to and from their Eurasian breeding grounds. 

CAARI visited the Center at the beginning of the Spring Migration - birds flying from Africa to Europe and Scandinavia.  Most of these birds only stop for a brief refueling session and continue the journey, others remain to winter.

The importance of Israel's few remaining natural habitats is crucial to the survival of millions of birds. The Center has a special meaning to the CAARI group.  About 15 years ago CAARI dug and planted over 200 trees.  The trees are now quite large and provide a wonderful environment to all types of birds.  We viewed the birds in the pond and Noam identified each of them! Lots of pictures! 

Back to the hotel for breakfast - hmmmm - where does one begin in the buffet?  Rested and feed, we are back on the road to the Red Mountain Riding Center located at Kibbutz Grofit.  

The  Riding Center provides weekly horseback riding therapy for nearly 200 children and adults with physical and mental disabilities as well as emotional and behavioral issues.  Over the years, CAARI has visited this impressive Center and seen it expand to meet the needs of the neighboring communities.   .  It is associated with JNF and provides a great service to the area.  

CAARI Heads South

CAARI group at Nebi Meri

Hard to believe that 5 weeks have passed so quickly.  Rain over the weekend, but today we are ready:  bags outside our rooms, 7:00, breakfast, goodbye to the City Hotel Staff, and off to Eilat, with stops along the way. 


By Pearl: 
"The first stop was at the Nebi Meri Overlook which is within shouting distance of Gaza. I was even able to take some photos of Gaza in the distance.  From there we went to Sederot which is growing exponentially. All new homes have double roofs and safe rooms. JNF USA has built a community center for the children, who can take part in activities and receive counselling because many are traumatized as a result of rocket fire. Stopped by Nir Am Reservior, a Canadian JNF project.  

Howard modeling some of the metal rocket 'art"

We then visited Haluziot communities, all within range of missiles from Gaza. The families living here are mainly evacuees from Gaza, although many new families are moving to the area. As a matter of fact, one resident make ornaments from the medal from rocket parts. 

The new community center, Medical Center and synagogue in Shlomit are impressive structures. It is amazing to see how so many families are willing to move here. They are very patriotic Israelis indeed."  

Wendy in the hothouse 

 Yedia, our guide and staff person from JNF really gave us a great tour.  He showed us the hot houses, where they grow various vegetables, including tomatoes, which we sampled - tasty!  From there we visited the new Medical Center which provides medical services to the communities who otherwise would have to get to Beersheva or Eilat.  Lovely new facilities donated by Leona Helmsley - we have heard about her generous contribution and now see in in action.  After the warm hospitality, including lunch, we continued our drive south.  .  

Driving through the Negev desert is amazing with lovely desert views and interesting landscapes.   Here and there a community, hot houses and again desert.  We arrive in Eilat and happy to see our hotel, the King Solomon,  and the sumptuous dinner.  The hotel is packed!  Tomorrow an early day!  

'Ben Gurion Epilogue' - A CAARI Evening Event

Over the past summer and spring some of us in USA and Canada attended film festivals in which we saw the 'Ben Gurion Epilogue'.  Here in CAARI we had as a speaker, Yariv Moser, the producer of the film.  What a story he told us about how they had footage of a interview with Ben Gurion, but not the sound and how the project was put together.  He was terrific.  After the discussion, we saw the documentary and then he took questions.  As Fern says: "How do you top this"? 

If you haven't seen the film, do so! 

from Wikipedia: 

Yariv Mozer's documentary features excerpts from a previously unseen interview with Israel's founder.

"Ben-Gurion: Epilogue, about the legendary founder of Israel, is not so much a documentary as an invaluable historical document. Featuring footage from a six-hour interview with David Ben-Gurion that has never been seen before, Yariv Moser’s film is essential viewing for anyone interested in Israeli history. Currently receiving its U.S. theatrical premiere at NYC’s Film Forum, where it is sharing a screen with the thematically complementary documentary The Settlers, the film should have an extended life in ancillary markets.

The interview with the 82-year-old former Israeli leader was held at his remote, isolated home in the Negev Desert in 1968, five years after he had resigned from the government. It was done as research for a feature film about Ben-Gurion which was released in 1970 but quickly faded into obscurity. The black-and-white footage, discovered at the Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive in Jerusalem, was missing the soundtrack, and the audio portion was subsequently retrieved from the Ben-Gurion Archives in Negev. They have been put together here for the first time."

Touring Latrun & GAHAL exhibition at Palmach Museum - experts by Pearl, Montreal

Hmmmmmm, another rainy and chilly forest dayscheduled.  Not great to be working in mud so Susan and Neil made other plans for us - touring Latrun, the Armored Corp Museum located near Bet Shemesh on the 'road' to Jerusalem.  

by Pearl: "We went to Latrun, the the Israeli Armored Corps Memorial. Latrun was a British base in the Ayalon Valley, which Israel tried and didn’t succeed in capturing 5 times during the War of Independence. Our guide, Neil, told us that two Canadian volunteers stole an an armored truck from the British and helped to establish the corps. However, the young female soldier corrected him and said they were Irish because Canadians are too polite. 


There are many tanks of different eras on display including the Merkava, which is built in Israel of a secret alloy. By the way, the original name of the area was La Tour des Chevaliers. There is a memorial wall on which are the names of all who perished in the armored corps."

The Tel Aviv portion of the CAARI Program is coming to an end.  Simply Marvelous!  What we have seen, accomplished and heard over the past four weeks has been a VERY memorable and rewarding experience - from the volunteering to hearing from excellent & diverse speakers to visiting so many different sites, that most tours don't experience.  CAARI does it all!

by Marilyn and Frances:"This is a story of Holocaust survivors who fought in the war of Israel‘s Independence in 1948:so tough coming from DP camps, can't speak the same language , escaping on illegal ships, put in DP camps in Cyprus: so sad 50 per cent of fighters were survivors traumatized by loss and deprivation.

We owe so much to them.Together  Sabras and Holocaust survivors they fought together in 1948.
Israel is a country of challenges. They overcame so much to establish the State of Israel. This trip is so worthwhile.. the diversity of the people who fought for Israel to be victorious is amazing..but they came together for Israel. Difficult battles , many wounded,severely wounded could not be evacuated,despite lack of training .. language problems..some speak German, Polish, Yiddush, Arabic. So many challenges.. to make the Holocaust survivors fit into Sabra army. This experience makes our life seem trite. We were all deeply moved by this exhibit, movie, discussion.

Tonight  the Prima Hotel staff thanked us for staying the four weeks in the City Hotel.  The staff were great and we certainly appreciate them.   

 Aaron Greener an archaeologist who 'dig's' in Timna Park near Eilat spoke to us.  It was an great introduction to what we will be seeing when we tour Timna.  Looking forward to seeing this Park and the geological formations, copper mines from Egyptian times and now we learn from Adam, that it might be from before.  Always something NEW or OLD in this country!  

Time to think about packing and getting ready for our trip to Eilat and Jerusalem.  
Shabbat Shalom! 

CAARI 2018