Visiting Aleh Negev, a 'remarkable oasis of dignity' for the disabled

Aleh Negev's therapy pool. 

By Julie Kravetz

I have been fortunate to visit Israel four different times. Each visit, I have felt great joy, respect, and awe for all that has been accomplished by this dynamic, vibrant, extraordinary nation.

On this particular visit, during a JNF solidarity mission, I had the honor and privilege of experiencing the village of Aleh Negev. 

This facility, established by Didi and Doron Almog, was created to provide high-level medical and rehabilitative aid to severely disabled adults and children in need of complex care. Didi and Doron recognized that Israel had not yet established a plan to organize care for aging, neurologically impaired children beyond the age of 18, and this created a great vacuum for parents needing critical services. The need for care does not recognize birthdays.

Upon arriving, it quickly became clear that Aleh Negev is a remarkable oasis of dignity, humanity and community in the desert, and it is flourishing with commitment and love.

A promenade to memorialize three teenage boys murdered by Hamas

To memorialize Gil-Ad Shaer, Naftali Fraenkel, and Eyal Yifrah -- three Israeli teenage boys who were kidnapped in the West Bank and murdered by Hamas terrorists last year -- and to enhance the quality of life in the area by making the Gush Etzion cluster of Jewish settlements safer and more secure, JNF is collaborating with the Gush Etzion Regional Council and the Gush Etzion Foundation to build a local promenade in memory of the boys who lost their lives. 

The three were awaiting a ride home from their yeshivas at a Gush Etzion bus stop when they were abducted in June of 2014, sparking the global campaign #BringBackOurBoys. People from many backgrounds and nations came together to call for the boys' release. Tragically, their bodies were discovered two weeks later. 

Judaism lost and found: One 'loud and proud' student's story

Current Alexander Muss High School in Israel student Hannah Brier (pictured above) shares some very personal thoughts from campus in Hod HaSharon.

It’s hard being the only practicing Jew in a school of 1,200. It’s hard missing school dances and sports games and rehearsals because they are always scheduled on Jewish holidays. It's hard spending every day with people who just don’t understand your religion isn't a joke.

I lost my Judaism. 

Walking down the hallway sophomore year I could see diversity almost everywhere: different skin colors, different ages, different personalities, and a few different religions. Why in such a diverse place is it so hard for people to understand my religion and me?

As I was Skyping with my friends back home, someone asked if I felt "more Jewish now that I'm in Israel." I laughed. That's it. I just laughed and continued on to a new topic. That was the wrong response. 

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."

Shavuot special recipe straight from Jerusalem: Tomato basil tart

Chef Tali Friedman shares her story and a yummy tart recipe, perfect for the holiday of Shavuot. 

In the heart of Mahane Yehuda, a bustling open-air market in Jerusalem, chef Tali Friedman has an atelier (French for studio) from which she runs culinary tours.

A culinary tour with Friedman starts off in Israel’s biggest market, engaging with some of the market’s 450 vendors and tasting the delicious flavors the market has to offer. Once the ingredients have been purchased, she takes you up to her atelier, where everyone -- even the participants -- roll up their sleeves and cook. At the end, they sit down for a lovely meal.

A heartfelt thank you to JNF, from Nepalese students who lost their homes

Following JNF's recent Presidents Mission and JNF's generosity toward the rehabilitation of Nepal, the following letter was written to JNF President Jeffrey Levine on behalf of 160 Nepalese students at Arava International Center for Agricultural Training. At AICAT, students from around the world learn advanced agricultural practices cultivated in the Central Arava desert that they can then take back to their home countries. 

Dear Jeffrey,

Thank you so much for the your generous donation to AICAT and we are really so glad that you are helping us too in this critical situation.

We are here 165 students from Nepal learning in AICAT, and in the end of the program almost we all of the students lose our houses. For a second we thought that our dreams to change the agriculture system in our country had broken into pieces. But you have given us the strength to do it more effectively. Thanks for filling the new hope inside us.

For these new IDF soldiers, it's about ability, not disability

Moor Masood and Tzufit Zandi. 

All new soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces start their first day at the Bakum, the absorption base where all soldiers are processed before being sent out to the various bases or units where they will eventually serve.

For Moor Masood and Tzufit Zandi, the journey to the IDF started six months ago when they came to the JNF-supported Special in Uniform program, which integrates young people with disabilities into the IDF. These women didn’t wanted to give up their dream of serving in the army, so they started a three-month life skills and occupational training program.