“It’s important to us that the members of the group get to know different aspects of Israel, rather than just visiting family and tourist sites,” emphasized
Lynda Bigielman, a representative of
KKL France’s Endowments and Estates Department. “During this trip they are visiting places they’ve never seen before, getting to know different sides of the country and observing at first hand KKL-JNF’s extensive activities for the benefit of Israel.”
Every month the Seniors Club, which has been in operation for three years now, holds meetings and activities in France, and once a year the group members pay a visit to Israel.
The itinerary of their Israel visit included a variety of fascinating sites that present different facets of the country, such as the Atlit detainee camp, where pre-state immigrants were held; the Caesarea ruins; the Gadot Lookout on the Golan Heights; the Katzrin Talmudic Village; the ancient Beit Alfa synagogue; the Harod Stream; the Beit Shean archeological site; Masada; Ein Gedi and the Qumran caves.
KKL-JNF Endowments and Estates Department advisor
Yitzhak Mopsik told us: “It’s very important for us to help the participants to strengthen their relationship with Israel and KKL-JNF activities, and they can best do this by coming here for a visit and seeing things for themselves.”
We joined the group members for a day of excursions in northern Israel four days after their arrival in the country. Our starting point was the Druze village of Isfiya on
Mount Carmel, where we met Haeyl Azzam who guided us through the Druze Nations and Flavors visitors’ center.
At the center, which provides a view of the magnificent landscapes of Mount Carmel, Azzam told his guests about the Druze religion and Druze life in Israel. “Isfiya was founded about four hundred years ago, and we’ve discovered the secret of co-existence here,” he explained. “The Druze religion advocates modesty and simplicity and it does not emphasize its difference from other beliefs. That’s how we’ve ensured our continued existence throughout history. Our most important message is that every guest who visits us must feel at home.” And, of course, there was no way to talk about the Druze heritage without tasting some of the community’s traditional dishes, which these visitors greatly enjoyed.
From there the group moved on to tour the Jewish Resistance Fighters’ Museum in Acco, which commemorates members of the Jewish underground movements active in the Land of Israel in the time of the British Mandate, many of whom were held captive in Acco Prison. The museum is located in the Acco Fortress, which was built in Ottoman times and had served as a military base before being used as a jail.
The visitors toured the jail cells and listened to an account of the historic events that had taken place at the site. When they reached the cell where eight resistance fighters had been hanged by the British, they spontaneously broke into a chorus of the Israeli anthem HaTikva (The Hope).
Eighty-one-year-old
Rosa Zohar had relatives who lived in Acco and were eventually buried there. “I’ve been to Acco many times, but I’ve never visited the Resistance Fighters’ Museum before,” she said. “This is the third time I’ve taken part in a Seniors Club trip to Israel, and on each occasion we visit new places and meet interesting people.”
Lunch was at Kibbutz Lohamei HaGetaot (Ghetto Fighters), where the visitors caught a glimpse of communal life in the kibbutz dining room. With the help of its Friends worldwide, KKL-JNF has developed a number of projects on Lohamei HaGetaot. These include the
Ghetto Fighters Museum, access roads, the entranceway and the establishment of a spacious amphitheater. A reservoir that provides water for irrigation was also built with the help of JNF USA. Friends of JNF-KKL Germany helped to upgrade the amphitheater and dedicated a garden adjacent to the museum in memory of the one million children murdered in the Holocaust. The Friendship Garden at the museum’s Center for Humanist Education was founded thanks to a donation by Friends of JNF USA, and the Yad LaYeled Museum was established and landscaped with the help of donations from KKL-JNF’s Friends in Canada.
Ninety-three-year-old
Jacques Bornstein was joined on the excursion to Israel by his daughter and son-in-law, who had met up with him in London. His younger sister, who is ninety-one, immigrated to Israel two years ago. “I’ve got a profound connection to Israel,” he said, and added with emotion: “My wife died nine months ago, but thanks to activities with a group of this kind I feel less alone.”
The next stop on the itinerary was a lookout point beside
Birya Forest, on the way to Tzfat. This forest, which attracts hikers and nature-lovers from all over the country, extends over an area of more than 20,000 dunam (approx. 5,000 acres) in the Upper Galilee. KKL-JNF began planting the forest in the 1950s, and has developed recreation areas, preserved archeological sites and built scenic routes, footpaths and cycle trails.
The day concluded with a visit to Tzfat, the capital of the Galilee and one of Israel’s holy cities. The delegates visited the famous Ari Synagogue, strolled around the artists’ quarter and absorbed the city’s unique and richly fascinating atmosphere of Kabbala, mysticism, art and history.
Renée Fitoussi of Paris is involved in KKL-JNF activities in France. “As a Jew and a lover of Israel I consider support for KKL-JNF’s work to be very important,” she said. “Naturally I’ve visited Israel a great many times, but taking part in a KKL-JNF delegation is really quite different from an ordinary visit.”