The first full day of programming at the CCAR convention was devoted to Tikun Olam. We were offered a variety of excursions around the country devoted to some of Israel's most pressing Social Justice issues.
In the Middle East, and especially in Israel, water is among the most precious of commodities. Despite near universal recognition of this fact, the dumping of industrial and human waste into Israel's waterways is one of her most pressing environmental issues. A group of us traveled to Tel Aviv accompanied by representatives of Tzalool (clear waters) to learn first hand about this issue and their efforts to address it.
Our first stop was the Yarkon River. Until 1997, the Yarkon was primarily known for the beautiful Tel Aviv city park whose boundaries it defines. However, about 12 years ago it was the scene of a deadly tragedy that remains a black mark in Israel's collective memory. During the opening ceremony of the Maccabiah Games, the Australian Team was crossing a bridge leading to the stadium when it collapsed sending athletes into a Yarkon river choking with toxic pollutants. Ultimately, at least two of the four deaths among the Australian team were attributed to the waters of the Yarkon rather than the collapse itself.
Since that time
, a dedicated effort to clean up the Yarkon has ensued. Starting from the site of the '97 collapse, our group went for a guided bike tour (yes, even in Israel I found a way to go biking) along the Yarkon to see the results of those efforts and learn what Israel's environmental movement is doing to ensure clean water for future generations. Through a mix of legal controls on dumping and the use of natural methods for cleansing waterways, the Yarkon is slowly coming back to life. Water fowl and aquatic animals were visible throughout our ride and we saw rowers return to a stretch of the river from which they had been formerly banned. I hope to take a future Temple Israel trip on a similar tour of education and exploration.
All is not well, however, as we soon learned. Our excursion concluded with a visit to the industrial
city of Ashdod where local activists took us for a visit to the infamous Metaplex pipeline which continues to dump significant toxic waste into the Lachish river. This pollution not only threatens the country's limited water supplies, but has made a mess of local recreational areas. The people of Ashdod shared with us their efforts to replicate that which the people of Tel Aviv are now accomplishing.
After returning to Jerusalem, I had the pleasure of meeting Temple Shalom member Samara Schwartz for dinner. Samara is currently studying at Pardes, a liberal yeshiva, in their program to train Jewish educators for North America. Hearing about her experiences as a student in Israel brought back fond memories of my own student days and made for an enjoyable close to a fascinating day.
In the Middle East, and especially in Israel, water is among the most precious of commodities. Despite near universal recognition of this fact, the dumping of industrial and human waste into Israel's waterways is one of her most pressing environmental issues. A group of us traveled to Tel Aviv accompanied by representatives of Tzalool (clear waters) to learn first hand about this issue and their efforts to address it.
Our first stop was the Yarkon River. Until 1997, the Yarkon was primarily known for the beautiful Tel Aviv city park whose boundaries it defines. However, about 12 years ago it was the scene of a deadly tragedy that remains a black mark in Israel's collective memory. During the opening ceremony of the Maccabiah Games, the Australian Team was crossing a bridge leading to the stadium when it collapsed sending athletes into a Yarkon river choking with toxic pollutants. Ultimately, at least two of the four deaths among the Australian team were attributed to the waters of the Yarkon rather than the collapse itself.
Since that time
, a dedicated effort to clean up the Yarkon has ensued. Starting from the site of the '97 collapse, our group went for a guided bike tour (yes, even in Israel I found a way to go biking) along the Yarkon to see the results of those efforts and learn what Israel's environmental movement is doing to ensure clean water for future generations. Through a mix of legal controls on dumping and the use of natural methods for cleansing waterways, the Yarkon is slowly coming back to life. Water fowl and aquatic animals were visible throughout our ride and we saw rowers return to a stretch of the river from which they had been formerly banned. I hope to take a future Temple Israel trip on a similar tour of education and exploration.All is not well, however, as we soon learned. Our excursion concluded with a visit to the industrial
city of Ashdod where local activists took us for a visit to the infamous Metaplex pipeline which continues to dump significant toxic waste into the Lachish river. This pollution not only threatens the country's limited water supplies, but has made a mess of local recreational areas. The people of Ashdod shared with us their efforts to replicate that which the people of Tel Aviv are now accomplishing.After returning to Jerusalem, I had the pleasure of meeting Temple Shalom member Samara Schwartz for dinner. Samara is currently studying at Pardes, a liberal yeshiva, in their program to train Jewish educators for North America. Hearing about her experiences as a student in Israel brought back fond memories of my own student days and made for an enjoyable close to a fascinating day.
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