Women's march for children at risk

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Meitar hosted a women's march!
Groups and individuals from as far away as Beer Sheva came to walk along a brand new section of our tayelet/promenade,  which will eventually go all round Meitar's periphery.

Hundreds of women and children and a few guys registered (with a 20 shekel contribution)  and got the white T shirt saying "Nashim tso'adot lema'an yeladim," meaning Women march for the sake of children.

It was a fund-raiser and awareness-builder  for the Summit Institute, which works for "psychosocial rehabilitation" and tries to find foster homes for at-risk children. 
Foster care is not so well known in Israel, I understand.

A Summit woman came to the march starting point bearing balloons.

She was soon noticed and mobbed by the mothers.

Soon we were all stretched out along the new promenade.
In this section it parallels Nahal Habsor, the Besor River.
The river, or at least its bed, is to the right; the outer-most houses of Meitar's newest neighborhood, under construction, on the left.

The musicians led on and gave us energy with their African drumbeats.
The late afternoon sun was still plenty hot. 

You can enlarge these photos, remember.
See two girls in orange?
They walked up behind me, giggled, and said "shalom!"
Their shirts said "Hura Regional Council" so I realized they were Bedouin from the nearby Bedouin town of Hura!
Turns out that their whole class and teacher came to march with us.
More about that in tomorrow's post!
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The Israel Trail -- so close to home

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The Israel National Trail goes right through  Meitar's backyard.

Wiki describes it: 

The Israel National Trail, (Hebrew: שביל ישראל‎, Shvil Yisra'el) is a hiking path that was inaugurated in 1995.
The trail crosses the entire country of Israel. Its northern end is at Dan, near the Lebanese border in the far north of the country, and it extends to Eilat at the southernmost tip of Israel on the Red Sea, a length of 580-620 miles (1000 KM).

The trail is marked with three stripes (white, blue, and orange)  and takes an average of 45-60 days to complete.
The Israel National Trail has been listed in National Geographic's 20 most "epic trails."
 It is described as a trail that "delves into the grand scale of biblical landscapes as well as the everyday lives of the modern Israeli."

Here there is a play on words:
Lalechet beshvil / bishvil  habriut =
Walk for health / Walk on the healthy path.
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(Linking to SkyWatch Friday and Signs, signs.)
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UPDATE:  More info at http://www.natureisrael.org/INT

and a Trail map at   http://www.natureisrael.org/cms_uploads/Israel%20National%20Trail%20Documents/IsraelNationalTrail_map.jpg

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Just go over!

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Today the blessed sun returned after our six straight days of rain.

The unusual heavy wetness  was too much for this ancient agricultural terrace wall, and the stones collapsed onto  a section of  green-and-white-marked hiking trail in our valley.

I prayed the heavy rocks would not start falling again as I was climbing over.

It reminded me that the Rebbe Maharash (of Chabad) had this saying:
"The whole world says, if you can't go under, go over.   
I say, forget going under, just go over!"
 
Meaning that often there is no time or energy or need for painstakingly working through a problem, so we should  jump to the most direct, simple, and powerful solution and just DO it.
Usually this is the most outrageous solution to the challenge, but that's OK. 

Just start by stepping right over it, as though there were no obstacle to begin with.

Maybe that’s why obstacles are there in the first place--so we will go higher. 

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Park HaMesila, the Railway Park

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In my wanderings yesterday near the German Colony neighborhood, I was delighted to see the progress that has gone forward in the creation of the Jerusalem Railway Park.

I remember not so long ago when the Emek Refa'im section of abandoned tracks  was overgrown with brush; it had sat desolate since 1998. 
In June 2011 I saw first signs of the railway's rehabilitation, although at the time I didn't realize  just how big a project was planned. 

Now people can stroll on it and bikers can ride on the new bike path.
The Tichnun-Nof Landscape Architects'  guiding principle was "to create a harmonious sequence of pedestrian promenades, bicycle lanes, and a linear park creating an interlock between the neighborhoods on both sides."

The space between the 19th century iron tracks has been covered in colored architectural concrete with wooden overlays on the moldings.

More about this unique urban park:
the philosophy behind it  (and photos!)
and
practical information
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A most modest Bailey bridge

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The annual Jerusalem Houses from Within weekend was Nov. 4-5.
However, buses stop running for the Sabbath; in fact, in my little village the last bus comes through at 2:30 pm Friday and the next one is not until Sunday morning.

So, not having a car, I decided to walk to the Shabbat guided tours in the nearest place, Ein Kerem.
Counting the getting there and back and the walking inside Ein Kerem, I clocked 7.5 hours on my feet.

The best way to go is a lonely path through the woods.
Here is the trailhead for the Hadassah Trail.
The signs in the photo indicate that part of the way, it is also the Jerusalem Trail.
You can see it is pretty rough, especially after a recent rainfall that brought loose stones.

Shvil Hadassah has signs telling you what you are looking at or where you are.
Dial the number, press 14, and you get a recorded explanation of site #14.
Hmm, too bad I don't have a cell phone.

The Hebrew on the sign has no vowels so I had to guess what it said.
Gesher Bali -- the Bali Bridge?
But wait, we're not in Bali and I don't see any bridge.

Then I figured out that it probably meant to say Bailey bridge !

Oh, OK! Right under my feet!
A little Bailey bridge sitting on the ground, a gishron.

To the left was a gully leading down from the Hadassah nurses' and students' residences up on top of the mountain, so I imagine run-off during rainy season necessitated the "bridge."
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Finally, something (albeit small) to contribute to Sunday Bridges!
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I wonder as I wander

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These Ws are for ABC Wednesday.

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We photo bloggers are prone to wanderlust.

While wandering around the Swiss Alps, I was always relieved to find a yellow Wanderweg sign and know I was actually still on the trail.

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Now that Israel is getting some long trails (like the Israel Trail and the Jesus Trail), we are also getting some standardized signage.

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Last month I found a new (I think not quite official) sign added.

The writing under the yellow arrow says "The Gilad Schalit Trail (temporary name)."

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Hamas in the Gaza Strip has been holding our young soldier prisoner for the last four and a half years.

More information about this in my previous posts.

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The pensive, sung in a minor key, Christmas carol comes to mind--"I Wonder as I Wander."

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I hope that everyone walking these renamed paths will wonder about Gilad, wonder when he will be freed to return to his family, free to hike the peaceful hills.

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Wilderness in our back yard

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A new stretch of path, about an hour's hike, was completed during the past year in the Hills of Jerusalem.

(All photos enlarge when clicked.)

Last week I missed the bus to my moshav (village), which you see above in the center of the photo, and decided to try out the new path.
The trailhead is at the bend in the highway and leads down some new steps into the forest.

Suddenly I was totally alone in the quiet wilderness!
I could only dream about such close-by nature and long for it when I was growing up in Chicago.

Lots of terrace walls, some of them thousands of years old.

And here and there a shomera.

I don't know what they would be called in English. Maybe a corbelled stone farmer's hut?

I think in Arabic it is il-girna.

Here is the other side.

This one is nicely preserved. Many are half in rubble.

This one short stretch of path had been "paved" with sharp stones.

Good that I had my hiking boots on. (Actually I don't have any girly shoes. LOL)

At the bottom of the valley is some flat land. Not much, but enough to do some small farming.

I reckon agriculture was practiced in the wadi and on the terraces right up until the mid-20th century.

The trail ended and I emerged on this, what once was our village's only road to the outside.

From here it is just a slight climb of ten minutes up to my house.

Down and to the left of the barrier is a nice underground spring.
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Thanks for your company along the way.

That's it for That's My World Tuesday.

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Summer hiking in the hills

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Summer often brings visits of friends from the United States.
Luckily my village (moshav) in the middle of the Jerusalem Hills is surrounded by forests and interesting hiking trails.
Walk five or ten minutes from my house and you can pick up the Israel Trail or the Hadassah Trail or the Trail of the Springs.

Meet Kristine and Mark. Mark was the director of Heifer Ranch in Arkansas for most of the six years (1996-2002) that I lived and worked as a volunteer there.
If you don't know about Heifer International, check it out. They give livestock and training to needy folks around the world.
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Robin, another blogger here in Israel, has a meme every Sunday about what summer means for us. You are welcome to visit or join in the fun.
Hope to meet many of you when you come visit Jerusalem someday too! Shalom.

Trails to terraces

To the Israel Trail turn left.
Trail marker.
The trail less traveled. . .
Terraces, ancient ones, are all up and down the Jerusalem Hills.
Terrace walls.

Into the hill country, to a town of Judah

I was out wandering alone down near the spring when these Russian monastics came by and asked me directions to Ein Kerem.
Ein Kerem is the lovely ancient village believed to be the birthplace of John the Baptist. From here near the spring it is only maybe a mile and a half walk.
 I pointed (we had no common language) to the path that goes around the hill, through the woods, down to the valley of Nahal Soreq.
It can be a problem when the our trail signs are only in Hebrew.

Having lost the way plenty of times in my life, always glad to direct a pilgrim in the way he should take!
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