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February 20, 2009
JNF is more than trees
Organization looks to include young leaders.
DEENA LEVENSTEIN
Every person who attended the Jewish National Fund (JNF) dinner at the home of Nancy and Gary Segal last Sunday has a story of how they have come to be such strong supporters of Israel in general and how they came to support the JNF specifically.
Susan Hector, the new president of the Pacific Region chapter of JNF, said that she was not brought up with Zionism. "I didn't always feel this way about Israel," said Hector. "I grew up in Vancouver and I went to public high school and I didn't really care. I certainly didn't grow up a Zionist. And it was going to university, realizing what's out there in the world and having kids of my own and seeing things sort of openly that made me realize things. I have certainly changed my views."
Harvey Dales, JNF past president, on the other hand, grew up very differently. His father, a Holocaust survivor, always instilled in Dales the idea that Israel is his life insurance. "I was raised with the notion from him, as a Holocaust survivor. Holocaust survivors believe that if Israel had existed, the Holocaust wouldn't have happened."
Dales was the youngest person to act as regional president for JNF.
JNF Pacific Region is trying to pass these Zionist ideals to the younger generation. The importance of getting the younger generation involved in Jewish leadership is something that reverberated throughout the Tu b'Shevat Taste of Israel Dinner, which was attended by approximately 60 people.
"Harvey had a lot of initiatives that I'm following through on," explained Hector. "For one, he brought more youth onto the board.
"When I came on the board," Hector continued, "It was a lot of the older generation who worked for JNF and they all worked very hard. And if you go throughout history and our past presidents, people have done amazing work. But now we have to move on and have a more youthful approach to things."
As if to accentuate this idea, all the food was prepared by a young Israeli chef, Motti Buhbut. A chef at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Jerusalem until recently, Buhbut was flown in from Israel and prepared an eight-course meal. The dinner included an entrée of tilapia in lemon sauce accompanied by potato and yam puree. Buhbut, who a few months ago took a position as head chef at Ramat Rachel Hotel, won gold for this dish at the 2007 Chef's Competition held in China. His countenance made it a pleasure for university student Maya Perry to help him with the elaborate dinner preparations.
Another theme of the evening was educating people about everything that JNF does.
Hector said that one of her goals over the next couple of years is to publicize what JNF does, "beside planting trees and irrigating."
A short, multimedia presentation shown before dinner explained that JNF develops scarce water resources, preserves Israel's "archeological jewels" and has "investments in 21st-century nano-technology."
According to the video, JNF also refurbishes streams and rehabilitates rivers in Israel.
There are so many "little" things that JNF does that most Canadian Jews are probably unaware of, said Hector. For example, JNF makes invitations for occasions such as bar/bat mitzvahs and weddings. For each invitation that is mailed by the guests afterwards to JNF in Israel, a tree is planted in the name of the person who was celebrating. If there were a few hundred people at the occasion, there could be a small grove of trees in the person's name in Israel.
Araleh Lapidot, the current shaliach (emissary) for JNF in Vancouver, will be finishing his three-year term in August of this year. He has been living here with his wife, Elisheva, and their two children, aged 12 and nine. He said of his time here, "I learned a lot. I found that the Vancouver community is a really warm community that supports Israel and supports JNF very much."
Deena Levenstein is a freelance writer from Toronto, Jerusalem and now Vancouver. You can read her writing at www.deenascreations.com.
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