Representatives of the Spanish village of Castrillo Mota de Judios (Jew's Hill Fort), formerly known as Castrillo Matajudios (Kill the Jews Fort), visit Israel to discover their Jewish roots, and spend a day with KKL-JNF; planting trees in President's Forest and visiting the biofilter in Kfar Saba.
For representatives of a small Spanish village visiting Israel, it was a day of planting roots in the Holy Land and tasting the fruit of the vine, of learning about maximizing scarce water resources and making new friends, in their quest to connect to their own ancient Jewish roots.
Last year the village made headlines when it changed its name from "Castrillo Matajudios"- or "Fort Kill the Jews"- back to its original name of "Castrillo Mota de Judios," "Jew's Hill Fort."
The name of the historically Jewish village had been changed during the Inquisition to ward off suspicions of the Inquisitor, and last year, they voted to reinstate its original name. There are no Jews living in the village now, though its residents are mostly all descendants of the original Jews who had been living there since 974 C.E.
During a week-long visit to Israel organized by the Centro Sefarad-Israel - an arm of the Spanish Foreign Ministry which aims to serve as a bridge between Spain and the Jewish world- and KKL Spain, the group held a twinning ceremony with the northern village of Kfar Vradim, and visited sites in the north including Akko and Nazareth, holy sites in Jerusalem and the Dead Sea and Masada.
Heading the delegation was the mayor of Castrillo Mota de Judios, Lorenzo Rodriguez, and joining him were town councilors Agustin Alonso and Antonino Calleja, Castrillo Mota de Judios archaeology director Angel Palomin, and architect Gonzalo Villareal. They were accompanied by Centro Sefarad Israel Director General Miguel de Lucas and Director of Documentation and community manager Rosa Mendez.
Expressing a keen interest in creating a friendship forest, the delegation also spent the day learning about the work of KKL-JNF.
“We are hopeful that this visit will lead to immediate cooperation between KKL-JNF and the village in projects of forestation and ecological preservation,” said KKL-JNF European Desk manager Moria Gilbert.
On June 22, the visitors began their day with KKL-JNF by visiting the Tzora Forest Planting Center in President's Forest just outside of Jerusalem, where they planted saplings of the indigenous Terebinth tree. They were greeted at the planting center by KKL-JNF Chief of Protocol Andy Michelson and KKL-JNF Public Relations Director Elisha Mizrahi.
“After reading the history of your village, you being here is like coming full circle,” said Michelson. “The reflection here is on the positive. We are very glad to have you here. We are a very small country and you are a very small village and it is very nice for us to have connected with you, it makes us feel much bigger than we are. This symbolic ceremony will help bind you to the Land of Israel.”
Noting that KKL-JNF has been making Israel green for the past 115 years, Michelson said KKL-JNF has planted over 240 million trees since 1901. He added that KKL-JNF has also branched out since its beginnings and is now also involved with creating sustainable water resources, tourism projects, bicycle paths and playgrounds for all of Israel’s citizens.
“Thank you for honoring us by being here,” said Rodriguez. “Small things become big when they are done from the heart. I think there is incredible work done in Israel. It is a great pleasure to see all this greenery. It is incredible what you have done with your work. We were very surprised to see how much could be done with so little.”
After reading the planters prayer, the mayor and his colleagues got down to work and planted their saplings. When Michelson joked that they were about to get their hands dirty, Villareal noted that one never gets his hands dirty by touching earth.
KKL-JNF forester Eran Zabadi, who is responsible for the tree planting center, said that KKL-JNF places great value on maintaining planting centers where visitors can come and plant trees all year round. Normally, he said, trees are planted during the rainy winter season, but in these centers, the saplings are watered also during the summer in order to ensure they take root.
“Those who chose to plant a tree in Israel chose to be a bit like Don Quixote. We always go a bit against reality,” he said referring to the Spanish literary hero known for battling windmills. “But our first prime minister said he who does not believe in miracles is not being a realist. Planting a tree here has a very deep value and meaning in all religions. People come here with stories of joy and of sorrow.”
Mizrahi noted that both he and Zabadi had heard stories of their Spanish heritage from their grandmothers.
“We also miss this part of our homeland there in Spain,” he said. “Our origins in Spain are part of our heritage.”
The delegation members, farmers by profession, got down to work and with great diligence, planted the Terebinth saplings and marked the location so that they would be able to find their tree the next time they came to visit. Rodriguez dropped in a Spanish coin along with his sapling for good luck.
Zabadi explained that the Terebinth tree created the lower level of the local forests.
“I will come back with my wife and daughter to see how high the tree has grown,” said Rodriquez, who, like the others of his delegation, was awarded a special certificate of appreciation after the planting.
Mendez said that she was deeply affected by the act of planting a tree in Israel.
“It is the connection with the earth of the land that I love and I feel connected to. I am forever connected to this land now,” she said.
Following the ceremony, the group made the short drive to the Tzora Winery at the neighboring kibbutz of the same name, where they were treated to some wine tasting of the various boutique wines.
Next on the itinerary was a visit to the KKL-JNF bio-filter in Kfar Saba, which was the pilot of a project which has now expanded to three other locations.
Intrigued by the process of purification, harvest and usage of urban water, the delegation listened to a description of the bio-filtering procedure by Haim Messing, KKL-JNF director of the Central Region.
The bio-filter uses vegetation well adapted to purifying urban runoff water for reuse, he said. In Kfar Saba, the bio-filter is located in the middle of a large garden in the city’s green neighborhood. The water treated by the bio-filter is then usable for irrigation of the garden. Although possible, getting the water to potable level would require more processing and would be more costly, he said.
The bio-filter catches 80 percent of the rainwater that runs through the streets, said Messing, and costs 40 percent less than the desalination process. It works all year round, in the summer purifying water from the underground aquifers which have been replenished from the rainwater, he added.
“Our goal is to reduce the cost of water for the average Israeli by creating an agreement with the water authorities to give municipalities credits for the water they use from the bio-filters, allowing individuals to be charged less for the water,” he said. “It is not just the issue of how much it costs and when I get my return back. The idea is that if we did not do this the dirty water would go into the aquifer with the pollutants and would damage the ocean water as well.”
“KKL-JNF is doing some very interesting things,” noted Alonso.
“The concept of planned sustainability and restoration of natural resources, and the ecology of the country is stunning,” added archaeologist Palomin. “Israelis are very connected to this land, independent of the political issues.”
Summing up the group’s impressions, Lorenzo said what they had seen in the short visit with KKL-JNF was “magnificent.” They were also so grateful for the wonderfully warm reception they had received from all the Israelis they had met, he said.
“The work that KKL-JNF does to implement these programs is magnificently important,” he said. “We had an idea of it but seeing the green all day in reality allows you to really appreciate it.”
“We have gained a tremendous impression of the capacity of a country with a lack of water able to do so much. Spain is using some different methods to recuperate runoff water but this is very interesting,” said architect Villareal. “We have an image of Israel as a desert, and even though my father who has visited Israel told me how green it would be and how much I would like it, I didn’t realize how true that would be.”