Back to the future: Making Beit She'an a place young people return to

Photo: Nicolas Malamud 

Liron Avraham and Moriya Yaakobi speak at the kickoff event for the JNF-supported young adult leadership center in Beit She'an. Jewish National Fund CEO Russell Robinson came up with the idea for the facility.   

By Hermine Mahmouzian

A few months after arriving in Israel from Los Angeles, organizing our house, and getting the kids settled in school for what was to be our two-year adventure abroad, JNF CEO Russell Robinson asked me to do some work in the northern city of Beit She'an.

I had only been to Beit She'an once, when I worked on an archaeological dig there for a week while studying at Tel Aviv University many years ago. Who goes to Beit Shean? Well, I guess I was...

On one of my first visits I was introduced to a group of young adults, all in their mid twenties. Some attending university, some working in Beit She'an, and all complaining about the fact that there was no future for them in this city, one of the most ancient in the country. They had no motivation to return after their college years and already had their sights on Haifa, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem.

As part of JNF's $1 Billion Dollar Roadmap for the Next Decade, which includes a push to develop the country's northern region, we asked what JNF could do. What would make them stay in the area? They all said the same thing: we need a place to meet, to hang out, to learn, to celebrate.

The Arava desert: Land of goat milk and honey

Photo: Kayema Farm

Kayema Farm in the Central Arava desert produces more than 20 varieties of boutique French-style goat cheeses.

By Darryl Egnal 

Ran Porat is a rule breaker. When someone tells him something can’t be done, he sets out to prove the opposite.

When he decided he wanted to make honey in the desert, people laughed. When he said he wanted to breed bees in the Arava -- the driest, hottest part of the Negev -- they told him he'd never make it. He disagreed. He was young, straight out of the army, and he set out to show everyone how wrong they were. Today, the Porat Apiary is a successful family-run business with thousands of productive beehives throughout the Negev and is renowned across Israel for its unusual honey flavors.

Not far from the Porat Apiary is the Kayema Farm, a place rich with the flow of milk -- goats' milk. An unusual choice for the Arava, the decision has been enormously successful. After seven years of competing with the rest of the fruit and vegetable farmers in the Central Arava, the Ofaimme family decided to try something new and different. So they brought 20 Alpine goats to Israel and acclimatized them to the desert heat. The goats have been thriving in the area for the past seven years and their milk produces special cheeses and many flavored fruit yogurts.

Harvesting love with a wheelchair-accessible winepress

Photo: LOTEM - Making Nature Accessible 

With Sukkot just a couple of days away, we share a glimpse into a special type of harvest in Israel. During the summer grape-gathering season there, being in a wheelchair is no obstacle to getting in on the fun of pressing grapes. That's thanks to a custom-built accessible winepress at Jewish National Fund partner site LOTEM - Making Nature Accessible, which offers educational outdoor activities for children and adults with special needs in Emek HaShalom, the Valley of Peace.

The press is wide enough for wheelchairs to enter, and ropes hang from the roof for those who may not need a wheelchair, but require extra support standing. Participants press the grapes with their bare feet or wheelchair wheels and the juice slides into a pit. It is then collected in a large bowl, boiled, and enjoyed by all.

One answer to crowding in central Israel: Go North!

Photo: Anne Taillandier 

The historically rich northern city of Akko is looking to attract more tourists to its turrets and tunnels. 

By Tzivia Jennifer MacLeod

Israel's center is "imploding" from crowding and high living costs, according to Jewish National Fund Chief Development Officer Rick Krosnick. But tourism to the north will help take the pressure off by spurring economic development and encouraging population growth in another region. 

While close to 80 percent of Israel's land area is located outside the center of the country, tourists typically spend only a few hours, at most, exploring beaches, museums, and historical and natural sites beyond Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Krosnick said recently at the Go North Western Galilee Tourism Conference in the northern coastal city of Akko. The conference was co-sponsored by JNF and the Israeli Ministry of Tourism.

The challenge doesn't just lie in bringing visitors to the region, but in convincing them to stay longer to enjoy the area's rich historical sites, boutique artists, expert travel guides, and farm-to-table restaurants. 

Calling all JNF social-media superstars!

This Israeli firefighter just got a much-needed new tool belt. Hopefully he can pry it away from his daughter. #LoveGrowsInIsrael #JNF 

You just read about a JNF-sponsored field trip for Israeli children touched by war, and you want to share the story on Facebook. Or you're in Israel on a JNF mission and visited a site you think the world should know about. What's the best way to share JNF experiences and impressions on your social-media platform of choice? Here are a few tips to keep in mind, JNF social-media superstars.

After days of war, giving kids a chance to be kids

Israeli kids enjoy a much-needed yom kef, or fun day, sponsored by the Jewish National Fund. 

More than 2,000 Israeli kids enjoyed a much-needed reprieve from months of fear and tension recently when the Jewish National Fund took them on a field trip to the biblical gardens of Neot Kedumim, halfway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

In Israel, such a day is called a yom kef, or a fun day. The field trip included 1,500 elementary school students from Sderot, a city of 24,000 located less than a mile from the Gaza border. For them, the day offered dramatic relief from the tension they live with every day.

The fun day for the children from Sderot came together in just 72 hours. Driven by their desire to do something special for the children of Sderot, staff from JNF, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL), and Neot Kedumim, as well as administrators from every elementary school in Sderot, worked around the clock to coordinate the complex logistics of the day.

"Today was a day of relief for the children of Sderot," said Alon Badihi, executive director of JNF Israel. "We want them to know that we love them. We want to thank them for being there for the Jewish people. We want to send them the message of how important it is for Jewish children all over Israel to keep living their lives and to remember how to have fun."

Fear not, the younger generation gets it

Photo: Alicia Yaffe

JNF Social Media Executive Committee member Anne Taillandier samples the crop at Earth's Promise, a cooperative community garden farmed mostly by new immigrants from Ethiopia. 

By Vivian Grossman

I've often wondered whether generations to come will continue to fan the flame of Zionism. Will they understand the importance of how and why a strong Israel is critical to the quality of their lives in America? I've wondered how, with Holocaust survivors leaving us daily, the next generation will connect the dots and understand how Jews have survived for centuries despite countless attempts to rid us from the earth.

 

After recently returning from another amazing trip to Israel, I fear not. I spent a week with a group of rock-star social-media professionals from around the country who represent the leaders of tomorrow. They gave up their very valuable time to travel to Israel with the JNF and keep the message going. They're delightful, bright, funny, and serious, and they get that Zionism has a capital Z and is something to embrace. It's a word to be held in the highest esteem, not one to be disgraced.