The Comings and Goings of April, 2010
Spring and Seder Pesach go together like hand and glove. Unfortunately though, it is also a time when the piles of extra-calorie packed irresistible matzot and matza balls pile on extra body weight - showing up all too clearly on the post-Pesach scales. Thank goodness Pesach comes but once a year!
After the Pesach period holiday and some much appreciated time spent with family, it is back to work for the International Department staff members – the majority of our seminar participants coming this month from Germany – most of whom on their Easter break from teaching, studies and so forth.
JOHANNES EPKE and friends from AHLEN, GERMANY, spent a day visiting Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek - after which they undertook an in-depth tour of the Green Line-Security Fence route from the Salem army base (near the Megiddo junction) to the village of Barta'a in Wadi Ara and a number of places in-between!
Johannes (in red shirt) and friends from Ahlen at the kibbutz Holocaust Memorial and cactus gardens
For the third consecutive year, Johannes has brought a group of friends and colleagues on a visit to Israel and the Palestinian areas during their Easter holidays – and for the third year running International Department staff member Lydia Aisenberg has received Johannes and friends at her home - Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek - and guided them on a tour of the neighboring Wadi Ara region. This year high-school teacher Johannes was accompanied by other teachers and friends - all hailing from the city of Ahlen – among whom a journalist, engineer, nurse, executive secretary and financial officer.
On a day with exceptional visibility, the German folk were able to see from the Salem vantage point the Palestinian village of Zabuba (an Area B) as well as the Palestinian Autonomous city of Jenin (Area A) and to visually follow the path of the security fence from the Gilboa range of mountains, across the Jezreel Valley floor and up the Amir mountain range to Umm al-Fahm.
The views over the West Bank, across the Jezreel Valley toward Haifa and from Katzir to the Mediterranean coastline from the other vantage points en-route to Barta'a, all proved equally as stunning.
"This has been, as always, an impressive day that has given us all a great deal to think about and discuss," said Johannes before the group continued on their way – and the long journey ahead to the Dead Sea!
Left: Zabuba village, security fence in foreground, path of fence across the Jezreel Valley in the background and right: Zabuba and Jenin in the distance
CHRISTOF PIES AND GROUP FROM KASTLLAUN, GERMANY
History teachers from Kastellaun chatting with a young Palestinian in East Barta'a
High school history teacher Christof Pies has been bringing groups to Israel and the Palestinian areas since the year 2000. Christof became involved in German-Israeli-Palestinian dialogue; organized a successful visit two years ago of the rather large and special 'No Limits' choir from Kastellaun; student exchanges and much more.
Each year Christof brings students and teachers to Israel & Palestine, a tour of Wadi Ara, the Green Line and security fence and a visit to the village of Barta'a with Lydia are almost permanent fixtures on his and the group itinerary, and so it was this year.
On a particularly hot day, Christof and the 13 history teachers (including the head of the German History Teachers Union) began their tour in the Umm al-Fahm Municipality rubbish dump! Not a very salubrious venue one must admit, but it as this site one can see the security fence, Palestinian village of Anin and a large swath of Palestinian villages big and small running along the lip of the slopes of the Amir Mountain range all the way to Jenin.
A view over the Dotan valley, visit to the rather busy checkpoint at Reichan and viewpoint from Katzir over Barta'a were all undertaken before traveling down the mountain to Barta'a for a walkabout, chat with a few local residents and a little bit of shopping in a local spice shop & meal in a local eatery.
KINDERLEHRHAUS, GERMANY
Thirteen educators, belonging to the Kinderlehrhuas e.V and coming from Recklinghausen and nearby areas of North Rhine-Westphalia, arrived in Givat Haviva after touring the Negev, experiencing a community Pesach seder night in one of the southern kibbutzim, visiting Lochemi HaGhettot Holocaust Center and museums and touring the Galilee.
Under the leadership of Gerda E.H. Koch, the educators – who are involved in interfaith encounters and peace activities in their communities – participated in a Givat Haviva International Department organized day seminar consisting of a lecture about and extensive tour of the Amir mountain range, Wadi Ara and village of Barta'a, returning to campus for an overnight stay.
"Some of the group met with Alex Elsohn (the Givat Haviva representative in Germany) before coming to Israel and we were looking forward to having the opportunity to spend some time here and get to know the area as well," explained Gerda E.H. Koch as the day drew to a close.
Tour guide for the group was Chanan Cohen, a member of Moshav Lachish and former member of the Hashomer Hatzair movement (Nahariya 1948-1956) and one of the founders of Kibbutz Nir Oz (1956-65). Seventy plus year-old Chanan has fond memories of time spent in his youth on seminar at Givat Haviva and was a pleasure to hear of his past experiences in Hashomer Hatzair and particularly of his time spent at Givat Haviva so many years ago.
Lunch time in Wadi Ara village of Arara
Left: Gerda E.H. Koch of Kinderlehrhaus (on right of photo) and in the right photo, sitting on the left of the table, Israel tour guide and former Hashomer Hatzair member, Chanan Cohen.
LIONEL CAPRILES & FAMILY, from exotic CURACAO in the CARIBBEAN
Mr. Lionel Capriles (front, center) with children and grandchildren at Givat Haviva with Lydia (right)
It certainly is not every day – in fact it has never happened before – that we receive visitors from Curacao in the Caribbean. Mr. Lionel Capriles, the 77 year-old patriarch of the Capriles family, was joined by 16 members of his extended family for a tour of Israel and en-route from Jerusalem to Caesarea the family paid a call to the International Department at Givat Haviva where Lydia explained about campus activities and explanation about where Givat Haviva is physically situated.
Six year-old Dylan (left in photograph) was the youngest of the children and teens in the family entourage. Dylan, who took a deep interest in the Peace Pole on the central lawn, received a copy of the book 'Children Write Peace' as a memento of his short visit to Givat Haviva. However, although pressed for time, the family was impressed with what they heard and before leaving purchased 17 of the very distinctive Givat Haviva tee-shirts (25 year-old Angelique pictured below one of the new purchases).
So, if you are planning a visit to the exotic Caribbean Islands, and Curacao in particular, don't be surprised to see Givat Haviva there before you.
Back home in Curacao, Michele Russel-Capriles (7th from left) emailed that the group had enjoyed their visit to Givat Haviva. "Good luck with all your endeavors. Givat Haviva is doing very noble and necessary work."
GERMAN STUDENTS ON WORK ASSIGNMENT AND STUDIES IN ISRAEL
Left to right: Nattie Verber, manager of the Art Gallery, Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek talking with Diana Rubanenko from Tel Aviv and German students Miriam Heitz, Stefani Lenk and Marco Meyer, and visiting the Holocaust Memorial in the kibbutz.
For the last 3 months Berliner Marco Meyer has been undertaking a work assignment with the Jerusalem branch of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the oldest and largest of the German party-associated foundations (SPD), and supporters of Givat Haviva projects for shared citizenship.
For many years Givat Haviva has enjoyed a very special relationship with the Friederick Ebert Stiftung and the International Department a close working relationship with Foundation staffer Anita Haviv. Anita organizes visits to Israel for the organization known as Bundeszentrale bringing five or six groups of educators and journalists annually to Israel, a seminar with Givat Haviva usually on their itinerary -comprising a lecture and in-depth tour of the surrounding area with department speakers and guides.
Marco Meyer, who is about to return and continue his studies in Germany, a friend Miriam Heitz (a student from Dusseldorf studying at Tel Aviv University) and Marco's girlfriend, Stafani Lenk – also a student from Berlin and on a one week holiday in Israel – joined Israeli acquaintance Diana Rubanenko for a visit to International Department staff member Lydia Aisenberg at her kibbutz, Mishmar HaEmek.
Diana, who is originally from Britain, was a volunteer at Mishmar HaEmek in 1967 – together with Lydia – and the two have been close friends since. Expressing an interest to know more about kibbutz, the kibbutz movement and the activities in the field of peace education, Diana brought Marco and friends to Mishmar HaEmek where they were shown around, chatted to people from the kibbutz and visited the Holocaust Memorial of the kibbutz, still covered in flowers placed their by kibbutz members a few days before during the Holocaust Day Remembrance ceremony – and had the chance to talk about the work of Givat Haviva and relationship with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
INTERNATIONAL VOLUNTEERS AT KIBBUTZ HAZOREA
Following last month's successful seminar dealing with the Arab citizens of Israel, Jewish-Arab relations in general and an extensive tour of the Green Line and visit to Barta'a village, the subject of '100 Years of Kibbutz' was dealt with this month – held at Hazorea under the auspices of Givat Haviva.
"Hazorea have an interesting and extremely curious-to-know group of volunteers right now and it is both challenging and very rewarding to be dealing with so many young people from such diverse backgrounds who participate in the seminars," reported Lydia after this month's activity.
Volunteers (from left to right) Won, Ayoung and Youl from South Korea looking at photographs of the 1930s in Hazorea
Below, the volunteers – and volunteer coordinator Racheli Sharon (bottom row, right) - holding up photographs of the kibbutz taken from the 1930s through to present times
AKADEMIE FUR KONFLICT TRANSORMATION in the Forum Civil Peace Service
pictured above with Ms. Samira Mahameed, Director of the Peace Library at Givat Haviva who showed them some of the items in the Arabic language newspaper collection
Four students, three from Germany and one from Luxembourg, on a 3 week field trip in Israel spent a day on campus at Givat Haviva and out and about in the Wadi Ara region.
The students, all 28 years of age, are coming toward the end of a four-month intensive training course in Bonn intended to impart the practical skills and knowledge needed for civil conflict management in crisis areas.
Anselm Schelcher, who made the request to visit Givat Haviva, had visited Israel and the Palestinian areas during his German civil service spending a year working at Bet Uri in Afula. Anselm speaks Hebrew and Arabic (which he studied at university in Germany) and hoping after the present training course to find work where his experience and languages will be put to maximum use.
Anselm and his companions, Carole Reckinger, Uli Dahlmanns and Cheryl Feldmann, showed great interest in the work of Givat Haviva, were grateful for the opportunity to spend time on campus and in the area talking to Givat Haviva staff members and Palestinian businessmen in Barta'a village and promised to keep in touch and let us know where their peace service work will take them in future. We, of course, wish them every success in their important task of contributing to conflict resolution in areas of crisis.
Uli, Carole, Anselm and Cheryl at the Haviva Reik Memorial on campus at Givat Haviva before setting out on to visit the Dotan Valley, Katzir and village of Barta'a
MEMBERS of the ROCKLAND JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER
Rockland JCC members at the Katzir Observation point
Members of the Rockland JCC stop and chat with young police officers, all law graduates, on a course for new recruits being held on campus at Givat Haviva, and group member Brenda Lender – a former president of the Rockland JCC board and organizer of her fellow members trip to Israel
A delegation of 15 members from the Rockland Jewish Community Center on tour in Israel called in at Givat Haviva on their way from Jerusalem to the Druze village of Ussifiya on the Carmel mountain range.
Rockland is situated in the State of New York with a Jewish population of around 100,000.
The Rockland JCC tour to Israel was organized by Brenda Lender, a former president of the JCC Board of Directors, who commented that quite a few of the group had never been to Israel before, including incumbent JCC president, Joel Zbar who was accompanied by his wife Anne. Anne Zbar participated in a Jewish Federation of Rockland County women's mission to Israel in recent times returning home with many stories and special experiences to share with her husband – who was then convinced to come as well.
One of the group members commented that many people in the States read about the situation in the Middle East but don't personally connect to it and that's why it was so important for them to come and see for themselves.
The Rockland folks spent some time in the Jewish-Arab Center for Peace madaffi where Lydia explained some of the history of the named-after Haviva Reik campus and information about Givat Haviva activities, on and off campus. On the way back to the bus before taking a tour of the Amir mountain range, the American guests were given the opportunity for a short chat with a number of policewomen participating in a course on campus. All the young ladies were law graduates who saw their future careers serving Israel in the police force.
Following the tour group member Linda Gertsley commented that she was very impressed with Givat Haviva's educational programs and projects for shared citizenship endorsing her own belief that only through education would there be positive change in the future. Linda, who originates from New Orleans and is involved with the innovative educational program Semester at Sea, has a daughter presently volunteering in Israel with an organization caring for refugees – and she was most interested in the International Department's program, the Intensive Arabic Semester.
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So, folks, that was the month that was and already bookings filling up our diaries for the summer months. Seems the International Department is facing a truly busy summer season what with groups and the beginning of another Intensive Arabic Semester mid-July. Have a great summer – Hilit Ben-Zvi, Uri Barel & Lydia
SUMMER IS BREAKING OUT ALL OVER …
Text and Photographs: Lydia Aisenberg
