The poetry of Israel: A JNF housing mission, recounted in rhyme

The author, second from right, with other members of JNF's Housing Development Task Force.

By Scott Nadler

We loaded up the van with our luggage,

And our leaders discussed the day's plan.

Traveling south from Ashdod to Sderot,

The housing mission began.

We hit the road bright and early,

It was a 30-minute ride -- 

Zest and excitement filled the air,

Our hearts filled with pride.

There were eight of us volunteering

From different states, all with bravado.

From New York, Illinois, and Pennsylvania,

To Arkansas and Colorado.

Zionist spirit of Halutza pioneers is highlight of JNFuture Israel trip

 Photo: Joshua Robbin Marks

The new JNF-Halutza Medical Center serving the residents of Shlomit.

By Joshua Robbin Marks

The highlight of the action-packed JNFuture Ultimate Israel Experience tour this May was visiting the amazing communities of Halutza in the northwestern Negev. 

Seeing these modern-day Zionist pioneers flourishing right next to Gaza and Egypt was proof of the success of Jewish National Fund's Blueprint Negev initiative to improve the quality of life in southern Israel and attract new residents to the region.

The communities of Shlomit, Bnei Netzarim and Naveh were built for the Gush Katif residents evacuated from Gaza during the 2005 disengagement. These communities are rapidly developing to accommodate more families. We saw new homes, a synagogue, a community center under construction, greenhouses, crop fields, and solar farms. We also went on a tour of a new medical facility and took advantage of new trees recently planted to provide shade from the intense desert heat. 

In Israel, artsy bomb shelters bring comfort, beauty to kids in crisis

The painted bomb shelters in Israel's Negev desert create beauty from trauma.

Chaya, 9, used to get off the bus one stop early on her way home to Yated, a moshav in southern Israel. 

One day, her mom asked Chaya why she got off at the bus stop farther from home. The stop closer to her house, Chaya replied, houses an ugly gray bomb shelter, and looking at it made her feel bad. The shelter at the previous stop, on the other hand, looks pretty, she said: "It’s painted and gives me a better feeling." 

A local artist, along with local kids, painted a mural on the bomb shelter as part of a JNF project to beautify shelters and make them less threatening to kids in the communities along Gaza's border. Since March, more than 450 flaming kites, balloons, and rockets have been launched from Gaza at the Eshkol and Sha'ar Hanegev regions of Israel. The devices have terrorized residents and scorched thousands of acres of agricultural land and forests. 

1,000 strong in Israel: First day of volunteering 'made my heart so happy,' student says

This winter alone, the JNF hosted over 1,000 young people in Israel -- through programs such as Alternative Break, JNFuture Volunteer Vacation, Alexander Muss High School in Israel, JNF on Campus' Caravan for Democracy, and Taglit-Birthright Israel-Shorashim. We will be profiling some of the trips, and you can see more directly through the eyes of the participants by searching the #PoweredByJNF hashtag on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. 

By Lindsay Mysior 

Photo: Lindsay Mysior/Instagram

Alternative Winter Break participant Lindsay Mysior in Tel Aviv. 

After going on Birthright, I immediately wanted to return to Israel. When I heard about Alternate Winter Break, I knew it was a great opportunity to go back and not only travel, but give back to the people and the land. Today, our first day of the program, was such a great experience, and it is amazing to see how much of an impact 40 people can make in such a short amount of time. 

After waking up and eating breakfast, we played a few icebreaker games to get to know each other better before heading off to our work project for the day. Then we got on the bus and drove to Halutza, a small community located near the corner of Egypt and the Gaza Strip founded by former residents of Gush Katif, a bloc of Jewish settlements in Gaza evacuated by Israel 10 years ago. (For scenes from Halutza, see our photo gallery below.)

Starting over: A tree from Gaza plants new roots in rabbi's yard

Photo: Anne Taillandier

This road sign, a tangible reminder of Rabbi Eli Adler's life in Gaza, holds a prominent place at his new home 
in Halutza. 

By Leslie Katz 

Affixed to the outside wall of Rabbi Eli Adler's house in Israel's Negev desert is a road sign. Gush Qatif, it says in Hebrew, Arabic, and English. An arrow points left. Following the arrow would lead to the Gaza Strip, located a few miles away and the place where Adler lived and taught for years before Israel evacuated the rabbi and his community from the territory in 2005. But really, it could be inferred, the sign points to Adler's heart, where he holds a deep and lasting connection to the Gush Katif bloc of Jewish settlements he and his family called home. 

Adler now lives in one of three communities -- B'nei Netzarim, Neve, and Shlomit -- that make up Halutza, a small cluster of towns founded by Gush Katif evacuees. Where there once was only vast desert, Adler and other modern-day pioneers have in a short 10 years created a thriving world of homes, schools, synagogues, solar fields, and farms that yield bountiful crops unexpected in any desert.

From Gaza to Halutza: Stories from 10 pioneering years on a new frontier

Photo: Robert Kerzner

The Halutza community of B'nei Netzarim. 

By Megan E. Turner

Standing on a hill overlooking B'nei Netzarim, one of the small communities that comprise Halutza in the southwestern Negev desert, one can see a dry, rocky sandscape spread all around.

The sky seems a little bigger here, without urban life blocking its grandeur, but this expansiveness also serves as a reminder of the isolation necessary to create it. This is indeed pioneer land that finds residents building something from nothing, all while coping with the difficulties of remote desert farm life and the painful memory of a life that once was.

This Israeli jewelry features fragments of Hamas rockets

A rocket shard shaped like the state of Israel adorns this "Israel Rocket Necklace."

By Leslie Katz 

The rockets that fell on Israel last summer would, to most Israelis, represent nothing but chaos and destruction. Yedidya and Shiran Harush look at the twisted metal and see those things. But they also see strength, resolve, even beauty.

 

The husband and wife team has collected shards of rockets that rained on their community – Halutza in the remote northwest Negev desert on Israel's borders with Gaza and Egypt -- and crafted them into stylish necklaces, the kind you might find in a high-end boutique.

The rocket jewelry "symbolizes love versus hate and create versus destroy," says Yedidya Harush, the Jewish National Fund's liaison to Halutza, which was founded in 2005 by Israelis evacuated from their homes during Israel's disengagement from Gaza that year. "It means that they tried to destroy us but we create."