In honor of TuBishvat, the New Year for Trees, KKL-JNF organized free walks around the Central Israeli cities of Rishon LeZion and Holon, during which participants discovered amazing old trees in the middle of urban surroundings and learned about their secrets and stories.
In Rishon LeZion the tree walk for Tu Bishvat took place on Friday, February 2. The day began with an audio-visual presentation at the Museum of Rishon LeZion that told the story of the first water cistern dug in the city in 1882. It was hard to imagine how this now-thriving and modern city was once “sand dunes, thorns and thistles”, as one of the first settlers described it at the time. The old water cistern is part of the museum, which is located on the site where the city was first built and where trees were first planted.
Due to the large number of people who came for the KKL-JNF outing, they were divided into two groups, one of which was led by veteran KKL-JNF guide and tree expert Yaakov Shkolnik. The group included a number of longtime Rishon LeZion residents, including Naftali Rafael, who has been living in the city for 48 years. “It’s funny,” he said. “Although we love going on hikes throughout Israel, we never really did a walk like this in our own hometown.”
When Shkolnik stopped by a sculpture of Moishe Dudel, an eccentric character familiar to all the locals, Naftali recalled how Moishe used to go to the local coffee shops to sell newspapers. When asked how much they cost, Moishe answered, “ten pounds”, and when someone pointed out that in the newspaper itself it said that the price was 2 pounds, he retorted without batting an eyelash, “since when do you believe everything written in the newspapers?”
The first tree the group saw was a mulberry tree planted by Menashe Maierovitch, who was known as “the last Bilunik” (the nickname for the ‘Palestine Pioneer’ movement at the end of the 19th century). Shkolnik explained that many such trees were planted in the Middle East towards the end of the nineteenth century, with the hope of developing a silk industry based on the silkworms that eat the trees’ leaves. Tens of thousands of mulberries were planted in Israel, but the industry never really took off, partially due to competition from Lebanon.
From there the group proceeded to what seemed to be a neglected and empty lot, where Skolnik showed everyone a Bengali ficus tree. These trees have what is known as aerial roots – roots that are suspended in the air before breaking ground. Shkolnik explained that this tree originally grew in Indian jungles, where the competition between the huge numbers of plants is fierce. A seed falling into the ground has a very small chance of survival, so the ficus tree seeds become embedded in other trees and send out their aerial roots. As the tree grows and expands, the roots eventually choke the host tree, while the ficus thrives. The long roots reminded participant Yaakov Machlev of ‘Tarzan’, and although he is a chemical engineer at Teva International, he couldn’t resist swinging on one of the roots, to the horror of his wife Rivka.
It would be difficult to do a tree walk in Israel without seeing some eucalyptus trees.
“Eucalyptus trees are popular all over the world,” Shkolnik said. “Unfortunately, they were attacked by a wasp that was causing the trees to die everywhere. KKL-JNF experts travelled to faraway Australia, where they discovered a natural predator of the wasp that solved the problem. KKL-JNF shared this solution with countries throughout the world, as part of its policy of making its knowledge available for everyone anywhere in need of it.
Yaakov Machlev added that during the War of Independence, a shell fell on one of the trees but didn’t explode.
“And before the Six Day War, Eli Cohen, Israel’s agent in Syria, advised the Syrian generals to plant eucalyptus trees next to their military fortifications for shade. When the Israeli Air Force attacked the Golan Heights, they knew where to bomb thanks to the clusters of eucalypti.”
Back in the beautiful park where the walk had begun, the group was surprised to see a couple dressed in the height of late nineteenth-century French fashion. And in fact, the couple introduced themselves as Baron and Madame Rothschild who had come to see how Jews were working the previously barren land and creating a new country. “All this,” they said, “thanks to the KKL-JNF Blue Box, which enables Jews all over the world to donate money to purchase land.” Needless to say, the Rothschild couple were actors hired by KKL-JNF, but that didn’t stop anyone from wanting to have their picture taken with them.
The event was organized by KKL-JNF Projects and Events Director Mira Zer together with Tzipi Gozez from the Rishon LeZion Museum. “We did a pilot walk last year in Holon,” Mira said, “which was very successful, so this year we did the same in Rishon LeZion. Next year we hope to organize similar activities in additional cities.”
Yael and Dan Levi immigrated to Israel from Switzerland four years ago and were on the walk with their two young children. “This is a wonderful way to learn history and about trees,” Yael said. “Even though our children are too young to understand much, they’re having a great time.”
Yaakov Shkolnik explained to the group that unlike human beings, “trees can produce new embryo cells, so they can theoretically live forever. They die only due to fires, disease or human intervention. They are a symbol of life and growth. Tu Bishvat, the New Year of the trees, is a good time to remember that KKL-JNF, Israel’s forester, has brought life and growth to our country’s barren hills, covering them with greenery since its inception and until today.”