KKL-JNF Chairwoman Ifat Ovadia-Luski, the first woman to hold the role: "KKL-JNF has always aspired to honor and commemorate the significant characters that shaped Jewish and Zionist history. I'm excited to invite all the people of Israel to meet the Zionist women who changed history.
The Hadassah Organization was founded on March 3, 1912 in New York by a group of women led by Henrietta Szold, who came up with the idea of having women working to promote Zionism in the field of medicine in Israel. The organization's first meeting took place during the Purim holiday, which gave the organization its name (Hadassah was the second name of Queen Esther). The organization's goal is to "strengthen Jewish establishments and foundations in Israel and to strengthen Jewish ideals."
The birdwatching station is located in an overlook porch on the side of the road, in a place overlooking the splendid view of the rocky Sorek Stream and the Jerusalem Mountains. The overlook is accessible to people with disabilities. The Sorek Stream Landscape Road leads to the overlook – it is a paved, accessible road, about 250 meters long. The road's starting point is the Nes Harim Information Center. The road is next to the Nes Harim Recreation Area, the largest recreation area at the US Independence Park.
The Martyrs Forest is planted along the slopes of the Kislon Stream, which crosses the Jerusalem Mountains. KKL-JNF started to plant the forest in 1946, with its six million trees commemorating the victims of the holocaust. The forest contains many memorials for the Europe's perished Jewish communities.
From the parking lot, two short trails go west. Travelers can take one of them to the memorial and come back in the other. One the side of each trail are signs with quotes from the diary of Anne Frank. One of them had a particularly strong influence on Pete Cohen, who created the memorial "Dear Kitty… our chestnut tree is flourishing. It is covered by leaves and look even prettier than it did last year" (from Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl, May 13, 1944). Pete Cohen, who also had to hide from the Germans in south Netherlands when he was a young boy, wanted to bring something of young Anne's world in her hiding. He created a small space from rusted steel, designed as a small room. At the corner is a single stool, too high to sit in front of comfortably. From this room, a small crack provides a view of the chestnut tree, with branches spread against a wall – a quick view of a piece of freedom from the despair of imprisonment.
Golda Meir was the fourth Prime Minister of Israel, from March 1969 to June 1974. Before that, she served as the Minister of Labor and Minister of Foreign Affairs. As Prime Minister, she led Israel during the War of Attrition and the Yom Kippur War. Golda Meir is the only woman elected as a Prime Minister in Israel, and the third woman in the world to hold the position (or an equivalent position).
The Golda Park is located at the side of the Revivim Stream which is about 40 kilometers long. It starts on the Hatira ridge on the Negev Mountain, passes near Yeruham, reaches the Mashabim junction and pours into the Basor stream near Halutza. On a nearby stream section, there was a large quarry, which seriously damaged the landscape. For this reason, KKL-JNF created the Golda Park in the location to turn it into a recreation site surrounded by nature. The park contains a creek running into a water lake, grass and recreation areas. The park is named after Golda Meir, who occasionally resided in Kibbutz Revivim.
Naomi Shemer Birdwatching Station at Ein Poriah
Naomi Shemer was born and raised at the Kinneret Group. Her original name was Naomi Sapir. With the encouragement of her mother, she began playing the piano at the age of six and continued to play until the day she dies in 2004. Shemer came to be recognized as one of the greatest songwriters of Hebrew music and her songs are a part of the Israeli and Zionist history. People who knew her told that she wrote her songs while looking at the Sea of the Galilee, which was her favorite place.
For this reason, as part of the renovations that took place in Ein Poriah after many years of neglect, KKL-JNF cleansed and re-opened the beautiful water pools and the aqueduct that leads the stream water to them, and created a picnic compound with benches and tables for visitors. Above the waterline of the Ein Poriah pool there is another scenic lookout, the Naomi Shemer Birdwatching Station. The place contains a large basalt rock with a plaque telling the story of Naomi Shemer.