In Tzippori Forest on November 6, 2018, KKL-JNF held a ceremony dedicating the Yitzhak Navon Forest, which includes an international center for education. The forest was named for Yitzhak Navon, the fifth president of the state of Israel. The ceremony included the laying of a cornerstone for the Yitzhak Navon Center for Education, which will be built in the forest.
Tzippori Forest is one of the outstanding KKL-JNF forests in Israel. Tens of thousands of youth come here every year for summer camps with their youth movements,
hike along its paths and are imbued with love of the land. The forest also boasts a fun and challenging cycling trail.
The
educational field center that already exists in the forest will be transformed into an international center for education that will promote education for leadership, ecology and Zionism for local youth and also for youth delegations who come to Israel from abroad. The new center will be built according to international standards, and will be a source of information and inspiration for the future generation of Jewish leaders, emphasizing values such as coexistence, acceptance of the other and tolerance, in the tradition of
Yitzhak Navon, Israel’s fifth president. The center will help strengthen the connection between young people and the state of Israel, Judaism and Zionism.
In his address at the ceremony, KKL-JNF World Chairman
Daniel Atar said:
“We see ourselves at KKL-JNF as successors of President Navon’s path in that we put education at the center of our activities, along with promoting informal education in Israel. This campus will host young people from Israel and abroad who are our future generation of leaders. It is here that they will be enriched by Zionist heritage, knowledge and love of Israel – values that President Navon worked to further his entire life, with the hope that they would be continued by future generations.”
Erez Navon, the son of the fifth president, said that building the Yitzhak Navon Center for Education is “the beginning of a great tradition that renews the historical covenant between Navon and KKL-JNF. Navon sought to find that which was shared by all the different sectors of the Jewish people, which is sort of analogous to how KKL-JNF plants trees that blossom and prosper everywhere in Israel. Navon was committed to improving the status of Israel’s peripheral regions, which have been colored green by KKL-JNF. Navon called for the cultivation of the young generation, and KKL-JNF’s educational projects are a practical realization of this call.”
KKL-JNF board member
Haim Cohen said that this was a “symbolic and very important way of closing the circle that connects between Yitzhak Navon and KKL-JNF. Although he is no longer with us, his heritage will live forever on Israel’s paths, milestones, KKL-JNF forests and at this educational center, where young people will learn about the worldview, tolerance and integrity of Israel’s fifth president.”
Also participating at the ceremony was the Spanish Ambassador to Israel, HE
Manuel Gomez-Espo, who praised the initiative to build the center and said that Navon’s heritage will help to strengthen and solidify the ties between Israel and Spain.