He is 62, and retired in 2012 from his position as a communications engineer in the Information and Communication Technology Division of the Israel Police. Immediately thereafter he searched for a place where he could volunteer and give to the community. "I love helping people. Giving does me good," he attests about himself. He came to Ilanot after volunteering in the Day Center for the Elderly in Kfar Yonah, where he gave to those who came video lectures about places in the world, from his experience as a tour guide abroad.
He was looking for an additional place to volunteer, one in which he could also indulge his bike-riding hobby. That is how, through KKL-JNF's website, he contacted KKL-JNF volunteer coordinator Yael Benin, who directed him to Ilanot. "Yael connected me with another volunteer who is also a retiree from the police force, and we started meeting here in Ilanot and patrolling. We're talking about 2013, when KKL-JNF had just begun to take care of the Garden and hardly any people came here. As a resident of Kfar Yonah for many years, I was also always curious about what was here, but the place was desolate," he says.
He was looking for an additional place to volunteer, one in which he could also indulge his bike-riding hobby. That is how, through KKL-JNF's website, he contacted KKL-JNF volunteer coordinator Yael Benin, who directed him to Ilanot. "Yael connected me with another volunteer who is also a retiree from the police force, and we started meeting here in Ilanot and patrolling. We're talking about 2013, when KKL-JNF had just begun to take care of the Garden and hardly any people came here. As a resident of Kfar Yonah for many years, I was also always curious about what was here, but the place was desolate," he says.
In 2014 Ilanot was officially declared a botanical garden KKL-JNF completed the restoration of the trees in the area, paved paths and placed signs and benches around. Bit by bit, the news spread about this special garden in the heart of the Sharon, on Route 4. "Today," Avi says, "on nice Sabbaths thousands of visitors come here." The team of volunteers has also grown since then, consisting of ten people by now, most of them women. "We are a very tight-knit unit and devoted to the place," says Avi, who in the meantime has been appointed head of the Ilanot volunteers and responsible for reception of the public. He even got a three-wheeler in order to give tours of the Garden. "We meet occasionally for trips in the area, initiate group visits to the Garden, bring the place to the attention of the surrounding community, and are very careful about keeping the rules of conduct of the site."
Training the volunteers
All the guides in Ilanot undergo training by the Garden's chief botanist, Ayalon Kalev, and are certified guides. Each volunteer comes for three to four hours every week. They receive the visitors at the information stand at the entrance to the Garden and conduct training and tours on site. In addition, the volunteers pass out garbage bags to the visitors so they can collect trash, explaining to them the importance of maintaining the cleanliness of the Garden and forests. "Sometimes groups of volunteers are referred to us for an organized activity. After receiving them and giving them an explanation about the site, they divide up into groups and each one does a different task: cleaning, pruning, painting, according to need. At the end they receive a guided tour of the Garden."
Avi currently comes to Ilanot almost every day. "I come here every morning for a few hours, patrol the Garden, check that there are no hazards, that no branch has fallen, that the paths are clear, that the garbage cans have been emptied. Today I'm already a part of the management team of the Garden and feel that I'm a full partner in all of KKL-JNF's wonderful work here," he says, adding, "it's an incredible place. There's parking, there are clean bathrooms and picnic tables, and not everyone knows that there's also a wonderful garden here as well. Many groups stop here because it's a convenient rest stop on their way, organized and clean. The job of us volunteers is to suggest to them to also walk around the Garden, and some of the groups do so."
For families visiting Ilanot, the volunteers always suggest that they play the interactive game "The Magic Forest," that has stops at ten unique trees in the Garden. At every station, the children hear information about the tree and get a hint as to the next tree. Whoever goes through all the stations and solves the riddle at the end can contact KKL-JNF and receive a certificate and a small prize. "People are happy to do the whole game. "I have to say that children today are very smart, they know a lot and they ask clever questions," Avi says.
Photograph: Yasmin Lahav
The usual tour route in Ilanot lasts about an hour, and includes several attractions such as the English maze, the circle of casuarinas (she-oaks), and other special trees. All together over 700 kinds of trees have been planted in Ilanot, divided according to continent of origin. Among them are no fewer than 160 species of eucalyptus. During a tour of the Garden in preparation for the article, Avi shares with us interesting stories about some of the trees. For example, take the Peruvian Haplorhus, an endangered species, which collapsed in one of the recent storms. Happily, the foresters managed to produce seedlings from its cuttings and will soon plant it in the same place. The bay laurel in the center of the Garden is one of the biggest in the country and Avi has a special love for it. "According to one of the versions," he says, "[the Hebrew name for the tree] ער is an acronym for 'on the head,' alluding to a wreath of laurel leaves. Once, a group of students from Rehovot's Faculty of Agriculture sat under the tree. I did an entire turn around the Garden and when I came back they were still sitting here and learning about the tree." When we meet the woolly she-oak, Avi reveals that its nickname is the "hairy tree," because if you get close to its trunk you really see hairs similar to a beard, that the tree even replaces from time to time.
But it's not only the trees that have interesting stories. Volunteering in Ilanot sometimes leads Avi to interesting and exciting meetings with visitors in the site.
"Not long ago, Sergio Uzan came here - the father of Dan Uzan, the security guard at the synagogue in Copenhagen who was murdered in a terror attack. Uzan Sr. donated money to build a disabled-accessible path out of wood for the circle of casuarinas and made an unplanned visit to the Garden. I led him and his siblings to the site, and he got very emotional, to the point of tears, at seeing the path."
KKL-JNF employees had planted the circle of casuarinas in the 1950s, Avi recounted, when they wanted a shady place to rest during their breaks. That's how the idea came about to plant the trees in a circle. "According to the stories," Avi says, "one man stood in the center and stretched a rope to another man who then walked around him at that distance, and at every step they planted a sapling. Altogether there are 39 trees in the circle, and indeed, the place is shaded for most hours of the day, and is sometimes used as a classroom or gathering place. There is good energy emanating from the circle. I've already seen groups meditating here several times."
We continue the tour in the English maze, and Avi leads us along its paths while explaining all about the trees and bushes and the signs placed in the maze that teach about the different uses for the trees. The square at the center of the maze is called "Paris Square," and is tiled with thousands of stones arranged in circles. Avi has a story about that as well: "When they constructed the square, the builders started tiling from the outer circle and couldn't get to the center. The engineer came and told them to take it all apart and start over. They again started from the outer circle, and this time, too, they failed to reach the center. Until finally, a smart engineer came and revealed that they had to start from the center."
A marriage proposal among the trees
Avi once met a couple in this square a moment after the marriage proposal had been made. "I entered the maze, and in the central square I see a table, balloons, wine glasses and a big sign saying, "Will you marry me?" It seems the girl agreed, because a few minutes later all the parents arrived as a surprise. That was the second marriage proposal I saw in the Garden. The previous time, I saw a couple sitting in a different corner in the Garden with wine and a cake. I asked what was happening, and the girl told me that she had just been asked for her hand in marriage. 'Can I say "Congratulations"? I asked, and she answered: "You can say it, but I haven't told him 'yes' yet." By the way, there are many couples from the region who come here to get their pictures taken on their wedding day, mainly around noon on Fridays."
We continue the tour and Avi just keeps on amazing us with stories about the special trees in the Garden and other interesting meetings he's had along its paths. A couple passes by and Avi asks them courteously if they were enjoying their visit. "This place gives me a lot of meaning and joy," he sums up. We have nothing left to say except, "Well done."
So, the next time you're on Route 4 between the HaSharon Junction and Dror Interchange, go into Ilanot and search for the volunteer on the three-wheeler. You are guaranteed a fascinating and enjoyable visit.