You shall be called repairer of the breach

.
I walked down to the valley this afternoon to see how winter is changing the charred landscape.

In July 2010 a fire burned the forest on the hills west of my village (shown here and here).
In June 2011 the Keren Kayemet foresters started sawing down the dead trees and putting in firebreaks.
Recently they must have gotten down to the more cosmetic touches, like sawing the two small trees that you see in the photo above.
The problem is, those trees had been growing out of the ancient terrace wall.

Their removal left a big hole.
I left the photo nice and big so you can click on it and enjoy the beautiful stones in detail.
With nothing to support them, that row of stones is not long for this world, I fear.
And once there is one breach in the wall, more will follow.

I love Isaiah's prophecy in Isaiah 58:12:

You will rebuild the ancient ruins, raise foundations from ages past, and be called "Repairer of the breach [or: of broken walls], Restorer of streets to live in."

Jerusalem is surrounded by hills and the only way to raise crops was to build agricultural terraces.
Farmers picked rocks from the ground and built the terrace walls; they may have had to bring in soil for each little plot.
They devised irrigation channels from the many springs in the Jerusalem Hills.

In the bottom of the valleys they built dams, as pictured above.
When rain water rushed down the valley from the hills, these dams stopped the soil from being washed away.
.
In Biblical days, farmers were able to feed their families from these terraces and also most of the great throngs of pilgrims who ascended to the Temple in Jerusalem on the pilgrimage festivals.

In recent centuries, up to 1948, Arab farmers grew many fruit trees and I'm not sure what else in the hills.
I admire all who did this hard work in a not easy land.
.

Good-bye trees, thanks guys

.
Having just missed the infrequent bus to my village yesterday, I started the 35-minute walk home along the road.
But what's this?!
Almost all the trees, albeit dead trees, along the right side of the road had been cut down!
.

Then I saw the sign:

CAUTION !
KKL [Keren Kayemet LeYisrael] is thinning out the forest in this area
in order to create firebreaks and to keep the forest healthy.
You can call us at 02-6204672.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
KKL, Mountain Region
.
Carefully I looked over the steep and now bare slope.
Down below, a man was attaching a rope or chain to the log so he could skid it out with the tractor. (Click on the photo to find him.)

Others were cutting down tall pines, sawing them up into smaller lengths, stacking them and getting them ready to load on trailers, boiling a pot of coffee . . . .
I felt a tinge of envy . . . .

Last July a forest fire killed these trees in the valley.
.
That's my moshav (village) in the photo.
The only road out of our village was closed, with fires burning on both sides of the road.
The fire was stopped at the very gate of our village, thank God.
It was a scary time watching the flames come nearer.
There was no way for the fire trucks to get down into the valley, and the few small planes could not work fast enough.
.
That is why I am so glad that the wake-up call is being heeded now.
Keren Kayemet-Jewish National Fund is on the job, bless them.
.
And I did, I called the telephone number on the sign, and said a big thank-you.
Even got to speak to the head Forester of the Mountain Region, Eli Yaakov.
He said "Before new trees can grow, the burnt ones must be cut down."
.
Let us hope and pray the new trees will never feel the pain of a forest fire.
.

Toasted turtle, fried figs

.
A sad shot for today's Camera-Critters.
This evening I took a walk around the spring, just ten minutes walk from home.
It looks so different after last Sunday's forest fire.

I found a toasted turtle (dead),

fried figs,

and stripped stones in ancient terrace walls all up and down the hills.

.

Sigh . . .

.

Like day and night

.
The full moon rose at 8 o'clock last Sunday over our neighbor mountain in the Jerusalem Hills.

Just five hours before that same moonrise, that same mountain was enveloped in smoke.

Here you can see the ancient terraces, black and all their vegetation burned.

.

Miraculously the forest fire was stopped just outside our village gate (on the right side of this photo).

And the two villages on top of the higher hill were also spared at the last minute.

By early evening it was all over, after 250 acres of woodland had gone up in smoke.

.

For SkyWatch Friday. May we, and you, know no more smokey skies, amen!

.
(For more about the fire, please see my post from yesterday and from Sunday.)
.

So close!

.
Three days ago a forest fire began near the spring in the valley just below my village.

Besides burning 250 acres of woodland, it totalled several dozen cars.
Today I found seven burnt cars still there in Hadassah hospital's parking lots.
I imagine these are the older vehicles that lacked insurance.
Their poor owners. What a shock for them.

Look how close to the Hadassah Medical Center buildings the fire came!

They were on high alert, ready to evacuate the patients if necessary.

I fear it never would have worked.

We who work or live in the Jerusalem Hills are surrounded by forested hills and few roads.

If these are on fire you are in big trouble.

A long white chicken coop in my moshav is visible through what was the window of the car.

.

The fire was stopped at the very gate of the village.

And the airplanes and firetrucks and firemen contained the blaze at the doors of Hadassah.

I would call that a miracle!

We are so grateful.

.
UPDATE 2018:  All about our National Fire and Rescue Authority at their website.
. 

Burning!

.
A forest fire is burning just outside two sides of my village!
It started down in the valley, near our spring and spread to Hadassah hospital.
Cars were damaged in the Hadassah parking lot before the fire could be controlled.

The neighboring moshavim/villages up on the mountain were being evacuated as of 3:00.

I walked closer to take pictures and could see the flames and hear the shouts of the fire fighters in the forest right above the gate to our moshav.

They have such pitiful old equipment.

Two planes are helping.

But now there is a new moked, a new fire starting up near Kennedy Memorial and Khirbet Sa'adim.

This in the photo is where I take walks in the evening. Our beautiful nature is now black and smoldering.

The buildings on top of the hill are the periphery of my village, near my house. The fire came that close!

.

Over 500 dunams of natural woodland have been destroyed in the past few hours.

.

It is a hot and windy day.

Pray for us!

.
UPDATE: Now, at 8:30 p.m., things seem quiet and under control, thank God.
Radio is now saying it burned 1000 dunams (= 247 acres) of trees (mostly planted by the Keren Kayemet/Jewish National Fund).
Careless, thoughtless visitors to our spring caused this emergency by making a bonfire. grrrr!
.