Shabbat - Welcoming new participants and enjoying the day in Tel Aviv

Great weekend!  Weather perfect, but rain is in the forecast!  CAARI is welcoming new participants and they began to arrive on Friday.  Many of us enjoyed the late morning down at the beach and the Israeli dancing! 

Visit to Intelligence Center

Thursday after community service we visited one of the 'off the beaten track' sites, but a very important place.  The center is located a little north of Tel Aviv.  Several people spoke to us about the various agencies that are involved with intelligence - you may be familiar with the Mossad - this is just one of the units.  We visited a very moving Memorial to those that have fallen during their service. 

Moti with group at Memorial

Mark and Moti

Clare and Burt

Group in Library

Cynthia going through book of names

Yorum discussing terrorism and maps

Community Service by Rosalie

Wednesday was back to school.....cannot tell you how much I am enjoying singing and laughing with the youngsters and hugging them as the period ends.....always too soon.

The kids are wonderful and eager to participate in whatever I suggest.  Today we said goodbye to Joan and Val who were just wonderful teaching the children. 

This morning, after our classes,  we met with the principal, as the other two CAARI people are leaving tonite.  The meeting included student representatives from our classes......a delightful change from previous meetings.!! They all told us what they liked about the program - they love the conversations as it helps them improve their English.  This is what we want to hear.  Presents were presented to Joan and Val.  It was a wonderful opportunity for us to hear from the children along with the principal and school coordinator who did a marvelous job organizing this meeting! 

Enjoy the pictures!  The students are just wonderful and very special! Rosalie

 

 

January 28 - - Yellin House & Educational Speaker

Today, we had to have a change of plans due to the weather.  Rain was predicted and Neil and Susan had a change of plans - good thing as the rain really came down this morning and we were supposed to be working in the forest! 
In the morning, we had a speaker from the Ministry of Education who discussed the education system in Tel Aviv - the issues and challenges.  By afternoon, the sun was shining as we made our way toward Jerusalem to a small town outside the City - called Motza.   The Yellin House is a charming recently restored 19th century building with a history that goes back to the 1830's. This was one of the country's first Jewish farms and early hostel for those making their way to Jerusalem.  These buildings were restored with the help of the Jewish National Fund.

CAARI and Project Leket by Anice Stark

As in the past years, we travelled to the fields near Rehovot to look for the areas where we have picked fruit in the past.  This area is undergoing new construction so it was a little difficult to find our specific area!  We were going to pick clementines.  We did pick this fruit a couple of years ago and the experience wasn't memorable, the fruit was high on the trees and there is a way to picking clementines.  One has to hold the fruit and twist like a light bulb. Sounds easy, but when the fruit is high on the tree it is much more difficult. 
Imagine our surprise when we saw the orchard heavy with fruit!  About 5 of us started working on this tree and the fruit came off easily, it was wonderful.  We were able to fill our baskets quickly, even counting the time we spent tasting the fruit.  In a very short while, we had picked close to 1000.  pounds of clementines, we would have done much more, but the truck was waiting to take them to the delivery depot, and hopefully many poor and needy families had some fresh fruit.  This organization provides fruits, vegetables and other foods to impoverished families.  It was our pleasure to be a part of this mitzvah!
Warm Regards,
Anice Stark (Toronto)