On Friday June 10th the event began with a procession of tractors pulling gaily decorated wagons carrying bikkurim, the traditional first fruits in honor of Shavuot, consisting of the finest local agricultural produce and, above all, plenty of children. As the convoy wound its way through the picturesque streets of the veteran community, local people emerged from their homes to cheer.
A KKL-JNF Yaarit forest-fire truck and two of the organization’s 'mule' all-terrain vehicles joined in the procession. The ATVs pulled decorated wagons with two different themes: Hula Park and forestry (complete with saplings from a KKL-JNF nursery). KKL-JNF presented some of the saplings as a gift to the community, together with the agricultural produce brought in by the local farmers. When they reached Weiss Forest on the outskirts of the Metulla, everyone stopped and got ready for the traditional Shavuot ceremony.
“We have staked our claim to the soil of our homeland, we are settling the country and determining its northern border de facto,” declared Metulla Council Chairman David Azoulay. “Shavuot is an agricultural holiday, and also a time of new beginnings. This is a wonderful period and we’re developing the community with the help of our Friends at KKL-JNF. May we all enjoy many years of flourishing agriculture and love for our country.”
The Shavuot event is just one of a number of 120th anniversary celebrations that KKL-JNF is supporting in Metulla. On this occasion KKL-JNF decorated tractors, contributed prizes for the winners of the competition for the most attractive float, and donated twenty olive trees to the community in honor of the event.
KKL-JNF is currently promoting two major projects in Metulla: upgrading Park HaMaayan (“Spring Park”) at the entrance to the community, where residents can enjoy the natural springs as they stroll along the footpaths or rest in the seating areas; and the establishment of an open-air amphitheater for events and gatherings, with funding provided by KKL Belgium. Friends of JNF-KKL Germany also supported the creation of the newly inaugurated Dado Scenic Lookout just outside the town.
“Israelis come to spend time in Metulla not only because of the magnificent views, but also because of what the community represents: love of the land, agriculture and Zionism. These are precisely the values that KKL-JNF promotes,” said Yiftah Harhol, Director of KKL-JNF’s Northern Region.
Hila Parienta, a teacher from Metulla, presided over the ceremony. “We have a beautiful community, and together we are celebrating its one hundred and twentieth birthday,” she said. The delightful children of the Alon kindergarten charmed those present with a dance to the strains of Eretz Zavat Halav U-Dvash (“A Land Flowing with Milk and Honey”).
Metulla’s rabbi, Baruch Fechter, made a speech in honor of the holiday: “Metulla’s first pioneers settled here at Shavuot. The entire community of Israel gathered at Mount Sinai on Shavuot – the festival of the giving of the Torah. In the same way, we have gathered here today. When we look around us at what we have built, this is the decisive response to all those who hate us. Let us pray that the Holy One, Blessed be He, will grant us peace on the border.”
After the ceremony was over, twenty-nine young couples got up on the stage with their own personal first fruits – the babies born in the course of the past year – and the Chairman of Metulla Council presented each couple with a certificate of congratulations. Amit Stillman, mother of eight-month-old Noa, was among the parents. “It’s very exciting to show little Noa off to everyone and meet all the other babies in the community,” she said.
Throughout the ceremony the local children waited patiently for the moment they had all been looking forward to: an opportunity to enjoy the various activity and craft stations that had been set up in the woodland. A drumming circle helped to get them into the swing of things, and thereafter they painted logs, stroked kids and ducklings in the petting zoo, tasted fruit and vegetables from Metulla’s fields and orchards and joyfully wolfed down slices of cheese cake baked in their parents’ kitchens.
“The tractor procession was fun, and now we’re enjoying activities in the forest. It’s great to meet up with all the other children,” declared eight-year-old Hila Allegranti-Inbar as she summed up the day’s events.