Director's Report March 27th to April 8th, 2011

Student Culture Night
     On Monday, March 28th, the students gathered for their first culture night of the semester. It was a nice community event as many staff, kibbutz members and their families also attended. The evening started off with an American presentation of how to make a proper peanut butter and jelly sandwich. There were then a few presentations about Jordanian and American culture through pictures. The Israelis presented an extremely funny skit about an Israeli Passover seder and after that there was a beautiful Arab wedding ceremony. There were a few music pieces preformed and a few poems read as well. To finish the night the Arab students led us in a dabke (Arabic dance) and from there we danced the night away.It was another very successful evening and it was very nice to see the community come together and celebrate everyone's culture. Report provided by Josh Neirman

Food Sustainability Workshop
     Tali Adini, Director of EcoPaths and I attended a Food Sustainability Workshop held on March 28th and 29th at the Nes Ziona guest house in the Carmel Mountains.  The guest house is located on a mountain top that overlooks areas  that were part of the carmel forest fire disaster in the fall of last year.  The fire did not reach the guest house but came very close.
     Two years ago, the Arava Institue, together with the Heschel Center held Israel's first ever sustainable food confenrece, "Food for Thought".  Ever since then, the Heschel Center and the institute have been deliberating on how to bring in additional partners and create a real coaltion of individuals and organizations who are working together to promote a more sustainable food system in Israel.  Heschel used the funding for its annual think tank workshop MAOF to fund a 2 day coalition building workshop.  About 20 people attended including  representatives from the Ministry of Health, the Local Governments Council, a variety of non-governmental organizations working on food security, nutrition, vegeterianism, sustainable food supply as well as organic farmers and interested individuals.  The program included round-table discussions, "coffee house" discussions, "speed dating" and other creative ways to put on the table issues such as the food supply chain, the role of the major supermarket chains, government impediments to small local food supply industries, food security, nutrion, processed food, organic farming, farmers markets etc.
     The two day workshop produced an agend and a variety of projects that will be followed up through ad-hoc committees and continued coalition building. One of the important results of the workshop is the development of a Sustainable Food Covenant which will help the newly formed coalition to create a common agenda and action plan. Tali and I agreed that the conference was very helpful and that the Arava Institue must find a way to continue our involvement in the initiative.


Student Water Trip
     On Monday April 4th the students departed on a three-day field trip for the Water Management course. On the first morning the group visited the sinkholes in the Dead Sea area and learned about the Dead Sea Works company that extracts minerals and resources from the increasingly destabilized Dead Sea. Dr. Clive Lipchin, an expert in water management in the Middle East, acted as tour guide and teacher, gave information about many sites along the way and provoked discussion on issues the students are learning about in class. As they drove along the Israeli side of the Dead Sea, the students also learned about what is happening to the Dead Sea and about water resources on the Jordanian side.

     After viewing several areas near the Dead Sea, the students arrived at a swimming beach for lunch, just in time for the first rainfall of the trip. The students witnessed the rare sight of large waterfalls cascading from the cliffs of Ein Gedi and as the journey continued north many more waterfalls could be seen from the road. Very fitting for a trip designed to learn about the water systems and resources in the region, the students stopped at a large waterfall next to the road and watched the roaring water fall from the towering cliffs above, flood the road and flow into the Dead Sea. Successfully bypassing the area through the rain and floods, the bus continued and made several more stops in the Dead Sea region for more lectures from Clive. The group then stopped at the Lido Junction, which sits at the northern tip of the Dead Sea. There the group discussed issues related to the history of the Dead Sea Region, in relation to transboundary ownership and management. They  discussed the ways in which the area has changed as the waters have receded and ownership has changed hands over time. They arrived at EcoME, an alumni project in the West Bank that is easily accessed by Israelis and Palestinians, learning about a successful alumni venture and were hosted overnight by Arava Institute alumni Yair Wahle, Rina Kedem, Ilana Meallem, Jennifer Golding and the rest of the EcoME team.
     Flexibility was required of both students and staff when the planned hike had to be cancelled due to flooding in the desert, and the group set off through the lightly falling rain to a natural spring north of Jericho to hear about the spring that provides water for the settlements and villages in the area. The visit included a lecture from Clive and an improptu trash cleanup at the spring. From there the students continued to Uja village for lunch and then a visit to a family home to learn about the sewage treatment systems that individual households maintain without relying on waste water infrastructure. In the afternoon the group visited a village in East Jerusalem to understand the problems of wastewater systems related to the political situation and the interests of Palestinians and Israelis working together on wastewater management. There the group also visited a current student's home and heard from a community member about the efforts to manage water in the village.
     The group had dinner in East Jerusalem at a restaurant owned by the family of alumnus Ihab Baraket and spent the night in Nes Harim in the Jerusalem mountains. They woke up early to arrive at the Palmachim Desalination plant south of Tel Aviv and were given an in-depth educational tour of the facility to learn about alternative water resources in a region that has very few (and those are rapidly depleting). After several hours at the plant the group visited the Palmachim beach, which was recently saved from development by an environmental campaign.  One of the campaign activists came to speak with the students at Ketura earlier in the semester to teach them about activism in the Environmental Leadership course. After lunch, sand-castle building, volleyball, and swimming, the students left the beach and arrived at the last stop on the field trip: the biggest waste water treatment facility in the world, the Shafdan waster water treatement plant. After an hour of education, discussion and questions the students were able to tour the entire facility by bus and see the treatment of sewage firsthand!

     Despite a rain cloud following the bus around the country, the trip was successful in educating the students on the many issues of water in the region. The discussions had during the trip are relevant to Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians and students from around the world because it's clear that no water source or treatment system can be considered without thinking of the other people who rely on the same bodies of water to provide fresh water. The trip was also an opportunity for the AIES community to travel together, visit alumni, visit  student's homes, and recognize the borders that are sometimes overlooked while learning in a classroom on campus. Report provided by Lindsey Zemler

Director's Report January 16th - 28th, 2010

• On Tuesday, January 18th, the Heschel Center and the Arava Institute held a workshop in Tel Aviv on "Food Sustainablility in Israel".  Over 80 people attended the workshop which was an extension of the "Food for Thought Conference" held in the fall  2009.  Since the conference, the Heschel Center and the Arava Institute have been working to create a coalition of non-governmental organizations to promote a more sustainable food system in Israel. The coalition includes environmental organizations, organizations that work on food security and organizations concerned with food and health issues.  The workshp held on Tuesday was the first in a series of meetings, workshops and conference planned for the coming year.  The speakers at the workshop included, Dr. Jeremy Benstein, from the Heschel Center, PhD candidate, Ami Ettinger, one of Israel's experts on food sustainability and an Arava Institute alum, Miki Lipshitz, Director of the "My Love of the Land" Organization of the Center for Regional Councils and Dr. Uri Gordon, a faculty member at the Arava Institute who presented the report on the current status of sustainability in the Israeli food chain. Food Sustainability in Israel Report
• The JNF Parsons Water Fund -Arava Institute tour was a great success. The group appreciated a range of site visits to the, King Abdallah Canal, Shamir Drill, Al Oja village, Jerusalem and Beer Sheva River. The packed schedule also included official meetings with: Red Sea-Dead Sea consultants, Mekorort water representatives, researchers from  the National Energy Research Centre of Jordan and a dinner at the Israeli Ambassador's house in Jordan, which was attended by the American Ambassador and former Jordanian ministers. A particular highlight was the final dinner with Uri Shani, Israel's current Water Commissioner, whose wealth of knowledge of the regional water situation and candid approach was very well received. The group was dynamic-- interested and committed to finding partnerships, spurred by impressive generosity,  and keen to find viable ways to work throughout the region.



JNF Parsons Water Tour at Israeli Amabassador's house

• Member of the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) Dov Hanin, invited Vered Balan, the Heschel Center Project Coordinator for the joint Arava Institute Heschel Center Sustainable Food Initiative andy myself to appear before the Environment Committee of the Knesset to participate in a discussion about food sustainability in Israel. The first item of business on the agenda was a presentation of a report on trace levels of insecticide and pesticides found in fruits and vegetables that reach the Israeli marketplace and therefore Israeli homes.  The impressive report was presented by Shiri Bass Spector, who works for the Research and Information Center of the Knesset.  After Shiri spoke, Vered gave a ten minute presentation on the issue of food sustainability in Israel and the vision statement of the Arava Institute Heschel Center initiative.  Shiri was seated on my left and Vered on my right and when it was my turn to speak, I simply said that I am the Executive Director of the Arava Institute and if anyone wants to know what the Arava Institute does, I will point out that Shiri Spector Bass and Vered Balan are both graduates of the institute and say no more.  This brought out a number of smiles and a laugh or two from the audience but mostly a great sense of pride from me.

• The fall semester 2010 came to a sad but sweet end last week.  Their final weeks were spent studying hard for exams.  In between exams the campus life team organized numerous surprise parties for students who had to leave early.  The Campus Life Team also provided a midnight breakfast in order to allow a break from studying.  The students paid one last visit to the Sudanese children in Eilat where the students played football and made pompoms and had one last amazing potluck dinner on campus.  A final Peace Building and Environmental Leadership Seminar session was held which brought closure to the multi-cultural experiences of the semester.  Students offered blessings to one another and talked about how they had personally changed during the semester.  A very successful final party was held two days before the students left.  The theme was "Under the Sea" and the students received certificates of completion, funny awards, and year books to start things off.  Then there were multiple skits by students and staff including a wonderfully choreographed staff dance to the song "Under The Sea."  The students and staff danced the night away.  On the final day as students were about to leave they organized themselves into an AIES sign on the grass out of their bodies.  This was an amazing group of students and we wish them luck in the future!  

David Lehrer

Weekly Report July 4th- July 16th, 2010

• On Monday, July 5th, I spent the day in Jerusalem meeting with various people regarding a multitude of issues concerning the Institute.  In the morning I met with Yaakov Mimron and Yossi Vertzberger from the Ministry of Infrastrucure.  Yaakov is head of mining resources in Israel and Yossi, who works under him oversees sand mining. I met with them to discuss an alternative to sand mining of the Samar Sand Dunes, an important ecological resource in the Arava and one which is being threatened by a potential sand mining for building operation.  An agreement was achieved to pursue testing an alternative to destroying the dunes. Sababa, the Center for Sustainable Development in the Arava is very involved in this campaign.
• In addition to this meeting, I also met with Avner Fuchs, past president of Rotary Israel about how the institute could partner with Rotary Israel and Rotary International on Fundraising.  I also met with Avner Simon, the institute's architect to discuss the design of the new dorms.  Finally, no trip to Jerusalem would be complete without a quick shopping spree in Machaneh Yehuda.
• On Tuesday, thanks to our Arava Institute board member, Phillip Mendlinker, the Institute hosted directors from the Israeli Electric Company (IEC).  The institue arranged a tour of the region which included a visit to the proposed renewable energy industrial area, the Aora Solar Tower at Kibbutz Samar and a visit to the Arava Institute. Directors of the IEC who visited were, Moshe Bachar, David Almachias, Assad Joubran and Asher Dahan.  The visit was coordinated with the Eilat Eilot Renenwable Energy Initiative and the Arava Power Company.  Much of the discussion with the IEC was how the electricity that will be generated in the Arava will be sent back up north.
• On Sunday, July 11th, the staff reviewed the price proposals submitted by contractors for building the Research and Visitors Park.  The lowest bid came from Kibbutz Neot Smadar, one of Ketura's neighbors in the mountains behind Ketura.  The building should start by the last week in July.
• That same afternoon, the institute held the annual summer ice cream party for staff and staff families.  Judy Bar Lev and Ronit Friedman organized the event with ice cream from Kibbutz Yotvata. A very sweet afternoon!
• For some reason, everyone decided to come visit the institute on July 13th!  In the morning the Arava Institue and the Dead Sea Arava Science Center hosted ICA (Jewish Colonization Association) which is the Baron de Hirsch family foundation that has funded agriculture and development in Israel for over 100 years.  ICA has funded purchasing lab equipment for the renewable energy lab and we have a request for more equipment next year.
• Next, we hosted Richard Summers, Toronto Federation represenative,  who brought with him consultants who work with the Toronto Jewish Federation in resource development.
• Finally, Yael Shatiel, Executive Director of JNF Israel (KKL) along with 15 other KKL managers visited the insititute in order here about developments at the institute and updates on the new dorms.
• In the evening I attended the presenation of the regional master plan 2030, which lays out how the Arava Region (Hevel Eilot) will grow and develop in the next 20 years. As a local environmetnal organization, the Arava Institute and its public involvement arm, Sababa have been very involved in issues around regional planing.  In addtion to myself, Taal Goldman, Sababa Coordinator and 4 other members of the Sababa steering committee attended the meeting and were active in the discussion.  Sababa has established itself as an important environmental voice in the region.
• On Wednesday, July 14th, Shlomit Yardeni and Neal Levy, two partners at Ben Or Consulting spent the day at the institute initiating the in depth analysis of the institute as preparation for an Israeli resources development work plan that they have been contracted to provide the institute. Shlomit and Neal spent the day meeting staff and talking with each department to get a better understanding of the institute's strengths and weaknesses.  In addition to Neal and Shlomit, Shir Harel, the institute's webmaster also came down to participate in the meetings because we assume the website and new media will be an important part of our resource development strategy.
• On Thursday, Miriam Sharton and Tamar Norkin arranged a short seminar on renewable energy in the Hevel Eilot region for 15 MBA students from Maryland University.   The tour was led by Asher Epstein, Managing Director, Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship,Robert H. Smith School of Business.  The students were intrigued by the amount of entrepreneurship in the field of renewable energy in the region.  The visit also helps strengthen the relationship between Maryland University and the Arava Institute which has had a student exchange program for many years.
• The same day I was in Tel Aviv, meeting with our colleagues from the Heschel Center and representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture regarding the joint Sustainable Food Initiative of Heschel and the Arava Institue.  The ministry is very interested in joining the initiative and we discussed other parters from the agricultural, business and civil society sectors who we would like to invite to be part of a wider coalition that supports a social and economic shift towards a more sustainable food system in Israel.

David Lehrer

Weekly Report March 14th to 18th, 2010

• Tal Goldman began work this week as the new Coordinator of the Center for a Healthy Environment in the Arava (Sababa). Tal is a member of Kibbutz Yotvata and is a professional landscape architect.
• Rodney Vargas from the UNC Chapel Hill Study Abroad Department came to the institute for a site visit. This is the final step in the long awaited agreement between UNC Chapel Hill and the Arava Institute which will allow students attending UNC to come to the institute for a semester or a year without petitioning for special permission.
• Many of you may have read Yonatan Chessler's beautiful letter describing the reception of the Palestinian students back on the campus after four days of closure on the West Bank. The background to the story is that after the closure was lifted, the Palestinian students went to Jerusalem to catch the bus to Ketura. Only one of the students got on the 10:00 am bus from Jerusalem for the 4 hour ride, via the Dead Sea to the institute. The other two students missed the bus and waited in the Jerusalem bus station for the next bus at 2:00 pm. The Egged 10:00 bus reached the IDF checkpoint on the Dead Sea at the border between the West Bank and Israel around 11:00 am. An Israeli soldier stopped and borded the bus to check passengers' papers. Though our Palestinian student had the permit which allows her to come into Israel, the soldier decided to remove her from the bus and she was told to go back to Jerusalem. The bus then left, leaving our student sitting on the side of the road in the in the Dead Sea with the next bus for Jerusalem, many hours away. The institute organized a taxi to come from Jerusalem to the checkpoint and pick her up (this took about an hour) and then take her back to Jerusalem. She met the other two students at the bus station. The three of them then took a bus to Ber Sheva and were picked up in Ber Sheva by the Program Director Moishe Siel. Moishe had decided not to take any chances so he made the two hour drive to Ber Sheva specially to pick them up and bring them back to the institute. This is what lies behind Yonatan's comment on the 12 hour trip from Jerusalem to Ketura which normally takes 4 hours. The institute is lodging a complaint with the Israeli Army regarding the actions of the soldiers at the check point. Matan Vilnai, Deputy Minister of Defense intervened on our behalf but it was too late to resovle the issue. We are deeply disturbed by these events and we appreciate the willingness of our Palestinian students to come back to the institute even under these trying circumstances. I also want to express my gratitude to Moishe Siel and to Judy Bar Lev for their efforts in getting our students back to the institute.
• On Tuesday, I went to Tel Aviv for a series of meetings that included a meeting of the Arava Institute/Heschel Center Food Initiative Team. We had a good meeting and we were able to come up with a plan for the next steps in the Food Initiative this year. After that meeting, I participated in the Arava Environmental Consulting & Technology Board meeting. Elad Topel, CEO of Arava EC&T presented the business plan for 2010 which look very optimistic with projection of almost a million NIS of revenue by the end of the year. Finally, the Arava Institute's Board of Directors met for its first Board meeting of 2010. The Board heard from Elad about Arava EC&T plans, recieved an overall report from me about events at the Arava Institute and discussed the structure of the audited financial reports.
• On Wednesday, Sarit Maagen-Rosenfeld, the new Chair of the Research and Visitors Park Steering Committee convened the first meeting of the commitee. The committee is made up of representatives of the different departments as well as representatives of the kibbutz guest house Keren Kolot. Sarit presented the architect's design for the park and committee members made comments and suggests.
• That same day, the Sababa Subcommittee for the inscription of Timna Valley as a UNESCO World Heritage Site also convened for the first time and discussed strategy for cooperation with the regional authorities.
• Finally on Wednesday, the institue recieved a site visit from a representative of the MASA program, the Jewish Agency program that encourages students to come on long term programs in Israel. The program provides scholarships to Jewish students from around the world to spend time in Israel. The institute is a recognzied program of MASA and about 9 of our North American students are MASA scholarship recipients. The visit seemed to go very smoothly.
• On Thursday, Cynthia Hirsch, an environmental lawyer from Wisconson visited the institue, gave a guest lecture to our students and met with staff. Cynthia has hosted Arava Institue students at her home in Madison and is very interested in helping the institute in any way she can.

David Lehrer

Weekly Report Jan 21st - 28th

Week ly Report January 21st – 29th

• This was the final week of the fall semester. The students spent the week, taking final exams, finishing papers, preparing for the final party and cleaning the campus.
• The students had their final party Tuesday night. Cecil Rimer handed out funny awards to each student – these were special achievement awards, with each student receiving recognition for some personal stand-out characteristic that has earned them fame (or notoriety) at AIES. Students also received a copy of the Yalla yearbook, full of memories and also a bit of gossip. There was dancing, karaoke, live music provided by the students and a full barbecue dinner. A good time was had by all.
• The students are now off for a three week break. Spring semester starts on February 24th. We expect once again to have over 40 students.
  

In addition to the Academic Program, a number of important meetings took place in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Ber Sheva.

• On Monday morning, Miriam, Elad and I met with our PR Consultants, Ben Or to discuss plans for the coming year. The calendar of events for 2010 looks packed and filled with opportunities for engaging the media.
• The next day, Elad and I met with the staff from the Heschel Center to discuss the new Sustainable Food Initiative that the Institute and Heschel are planning on launching this year in light of the very successful Food Conference held last November. The initiative will try to raise awareness about the need for a more sustainable, healthy, equitable and carbon reduced food supply in Israel. The team spent a lot of time discussing other partners for the inititative.
• On Wednesday, the Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (CREEC) Steering Committee met at Hebrew University to review last year's achievements and the current research. The committee discussed some of the challenges facing the proposed Energy and the Environment Masters Degree program and went over the committee's job description. The CREEC Steering Committee is chaired by Professor Yaakov Karni from the Weizmann Institute. Many of Israelis leading experts in renewable energy are members of the committee.
• Following the CREEC Steering Committee meeting, the Academic Advisory Board met to review the work plans of the Academic Department and the Research Department. Dr. Elli Groner, the Academic Director, went over plans for developing new programs and Dr. Clive Lipchin presented current research programs at the institute.
• Finally on Thursday, Jonathan Schiff, the Institute's lawyer, and I met with, Professor Jimmy Weinblatt, the Rector of BGU, Professor Shaul Krakover, the Dean of the Eilat campus and the university's lawyer to finalize financial and legal issues in the new agreement. All outstanding issues have been resolved opening up the door for implementing the new agreement as of next semester.
• Finally, through a connection with Dr. Donny Ornstein, one of our faculty, the Arava Alumni Peace and Environmental Network has been given the opportunity to host Alan Weissman, the author of the best selling book, "The World Without Us" at the February Alumni Conference in Aqaba.

David Lehrer

Weekly Report November 15th-20th, 2009

This was a very busy week for the Arava Institute in and around the Middle East.

• Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed spent the week in Amman Jordan attending the 4th Bienniel meeting of Middle Eastern scientists aimed at promoting peace through collaboration. The Malta Conference (first convenied in Malta 8 years ago) is sponsored by Collumbia College Chicago, the American Chemical Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry in Great Britain and other agencies. Tareq has attended 2 other conferences and was once again invited to particpate in this year's conference held in Amman. It was Tareq's first trip to Amman. The other conference attendees were Nobel Chemistry Laureates and scientists from all over the Middle East including Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Iran, Syria and Lebanon.
• Sharon Benheim and Cecil Rimer spent two days in Amman this week recruiting students. They interviewed about 10 potential candidates for the spring semester. This was also an opportunity to touch base with a number of alumni including Osama Suleiman and Sawsan Essa who have recently begun working on their own NGO which will run cross border environmental projects.
• I also spent two days in Jordan this week. On Monday, Tareq and I went to Irbid in the north of Jordan. We met with the Vice-President of the Jordan University of Science and Technology, Professor Malkawi and the head of the university's new center for Renewable Energy. Tareq and I discussed with them the idea of cooperation on a joint Masters Program in Energy and the Environment. Professor Malkawis seemed very interested in developing a joint program. Tareq and I will follow up on this project in the next few months. We also toured the new green house built with funds from the MERC research grant that Dr. Elaine Solowey and Dr. Samer Talouzi are working on together. Dr. Talouzi said tha the project was producing excellent results and the university is very pleased with the cooperation with the Arava Institute.
• In the evening, Tareq and I headed back to Amman where we met with Dr. Hassan Dweik, Vice-President of Al Quds University in East Jerusalem. Dr. Dweik was also attending the conference. Hassan was very pleased to hear that the institute has been able to aquire permits for West Bank Palestinan's to study at the institute. While this should make things easier in the development of greater cooperation between Al Quds and the institute, the current university policy has placed a moratorium on further cooperation between Al Quds and Israeli institutions of higher learning. Hassan is working on a statement of common principles on which cooperation between Al Quds and Israeli Universities can be based and allow an end to the moratorium. He asked if Tareq and I would be willing to help develop this document with him. We of course readily agreed.
• The next day, I met with the new Israeli Consul, Danny Silvan and his staff at the Amman Embassy. We discussed the difficulties in receiving visas for Jordanian students and how together we can make things go smoother. Danny is extremely enthusiastic about our program admitting that we are able to do things that the Embassy cannot, in order to improve relations between Jordan and Israel. He told his staff that the Arava Institute requests are to receive top priority. We also discussed the technical difficulties that Jordanin students run into when they try to come to the embassy for their appointments. Danny promised to try to deal with those issues as well.
• On Thursday, the Arava Institute and the Heschel Center, sponsored the first annual Food and Sustainability Conference called "Food for Thought". The confernece was held in Tel Aviv. It was the Arava Institute's first attempt at this type of activity. We did not know how many people to expect though our partner's, the Heschel Center, had a goal of 300 participants. On Thursday morning, the crowds started pouring in to the NOVA events center at the Tel Aviv Port. By the time the conference was in full swing we had over 500 attendees and we had to shut down registration because there was no more room! The conference opened with a welcoming speech by the Israeli Minister of Agriculture, Shalom Simchon. After both Eilon Schwartz, Director of the Heschel Center and I made our remarks, we invited our keynote speaker, best-selling author, Ruth Ozeki ("My Year of Meats" and "All Over Creation") to address the packed auditorium. Ruth was eloquent and inspiring. In a 45 minute speech she managed to capture all of the major issues and controversies around the food industry from genetically modified foods, to the environmental impact of the monoculture corn industry in the US, to the inhuman treatment of animals and the denial of basic human rights of small farmers around the world. At the end of her her speach, Ruth talked about a number of people who are leading the way towards more sustainability in food. Ruth mentoined the ground breaking work of Dr. Elaine Solowey who she met while at Ketura. Ruth captivated the audience and for the rest of the day, could not move two feet without being surrounded by fans. The conference continued with a series of short "lightning panels" moderated by our own Dr. Alon Tal. The panels included journalists, academics, professionals and activists and dealt with three subjects - Food and the Environment, Food and Health and Food and Culture. One of my favorite speakers raised the intriguing question "What happened to the famous Israeli Breakfast, the cheeses, yogurts, vegitables, juices etc?" Today almost 80% of Israelis eat cornflakes for breakfast! The short panels were followed by mini seminars which included a wider variety of food subjects and panelists including members of the Knesset, other government officials, researchers and heads of non-profits in Israel. The seminars covered issues such as the political arena, hunger, the meat industry in Israel, activism and more. Dr. Elaine Solowey ran a seminar in Engish for a group of visiting American food activists. After a delicious organic lunch of humus and salads, the conference reconvened with round table discussions, including one held by Rabbi Michael Cohen on Judaism and food. A closing panel looked at positive developments in Israel's food culture, organic markets, community sponsored agriculture, community gardens etc. The conference closed with the showing of a short video produced for the conference, featuring four young Israeli chefs who tried to produce a meal with the lowest carbon footprint possible. This short film was followed by the screening of the movie "Fresh" an excellent documentary about food initiatives in the US. We finally had to kick the last participants out of the builidng by 7:00 pm so we could go home.
• The Arava Institute steering committee for the Food Conference was Elad Topel, Abby Lutman, Gail Osman, Miriam Sharton and Ayala Weiss. The committee along with staff from the Heschel Center was responsible for planning, organizing and running the conference. In addition to the committee members a number of insitute staff were recruited to help run the conference including, Rabbi Michael Cohen, Ilana Meallem, Yair Teller, Judy Bar Lev, Rutie Kaplan, Dane Cooper and Shira Kronich. In addition, over 30 Arava Institute alumni participated in the conference.

So another busy week for the Arava Institute. This coming week we are signing the agreement of affiliation with Ben-Gurion University.

David

Weekly Report November 1st - 13th

Another 2 intensive weeks have passed since my last Blog update. Here are the highlights of the last two weeks at the institute:

• Of course most of the activity at the institute in the last two weeks was connected to the the 9th Israel Ride. This year the Ride started in Tsfat (for the first time) with 40 Riders. There were 17 ride alumni on the Ride including 5 members of the Board of Directors: Howie Rodenstein, Michael Marcus, Jack Platt, Nigel Savage and Bruce Stanger. Rabbi Michael Cohen also participated and rode with the "Chalutzim"!! The first day of the Ride was a magnificent ride through the mountains of Tsfat, down to the Hula Valley, through Rosh Pina and eventually down to the Sea of Galillee. The second day we rode from sea to sea - from the Sea of Galilee, through Emek Yizrael, past Meggido, through an Israeli Army base ending at Kibbutz Sdot Yam on the Mediterranean Sea. From there, the riders were bussed to Kibbutz Mashabei Sadeh. On Friday, the riders rode to Sde Boker, visited David and Paula Ben Gurion's graves and rode mountain bikes to a desert spring. The day ended at the Ramon Inn in Mitzpeh Ramon where the riders spent Shabbat. Shabbat was filled with food, massages, relaxation, services (for those who wanted) and of course the highlight of the Shabbat at Mitzpeh, the Arava Alumni student panel. Riders were very moved by the stories alumni (both crew and students from Sde Boker) told of their experiences at the Arava Institute and their dreams of a new Middle East. The Shabbat ended with beautiful Havdallah Service overlooking the Ramon Crater led by the Hazon Staff. Sunday morning, the riders were up bright and early in order to ride through the Ramon Crater and across the Faran River Bed across a beautiful dry 70 miles of hot desert. Encountering a strong head wind at the very end, the riders finally made it to Kibbutz Ketura, home of the Arava Institute. At Ketura, the riders were treated to beer, tours of the institute, wonderful rooms at the Keren Kolot guest house, the pool, a barbeque and a coffee house on the lawn of the student dorms were riders had the opportunity to informally meet with students. The last day of the Ride, was from Kibbutz Ketura to Eilat, once again transversing a challenging desert landscape including climbing the magnificent Red Mountains surrounding Eilat and finishing with an amazing descent from the top of Mount Yoash down through the Red Mountains to the Red Sea. The Ride concluded with a dip in the Red Sea, more beer and a Shehekaynu.
• On Wednesday and Thursday of this week, we were privileged to host Dr. Jürgen Kleinwächter, a physicist from Germany who has developed the Solar Village concept at Tamera - Solar Village. Jürgen spent two days at the institute learning about our work, meeting staff and students and lecturing on the Solar Village concept. The conclusion from the visit is that there are a lot of areas for cooperation and we will certainly be in touch with Jürgen about further cooperation.
• Shira Kronig from Arava EC&T and Dr. Clive Lipchin, head of the Research Department, spent two days in Aqaba meeting with French, English, Jordanian and Palestinian research partners on the Red Sea Dead Sea Conduit feasibility study funded by the World Bank.
• On Thursday, Kibbutz Ketura celebrated the 36 anniversary of the founding of the kibbutz. The celebrations started with a dedication of the Community Garden which is funded by the Merrin Family Foundation grant given to Dr. Elaine Solowey to further her work in sustainable agriculture. The Community Garden of the Kibbutz allows the children of Ketura, the opportunity to get their hands dirty and learn about organic farming first hand. In the evening, the students of the institute joined the members of the kibbutz for a festive dinner and then a program that included songs, skits and Israeli folk dancing. The folk dancing began with an Arab "Debka" dance led by our students. Then the songs switched to traditional Israel folk dancing. It was quite a site to see some of our female Arab students wearing the traditional "Hejab" dancing to the Hebrew tunes of "Hora Medura" and "Shavteh Mayim"!
• Though the institute is usually quite on Fridays, we are blessed with a number of visits that include, Martin Cohen, a friend of Mandy Patinkin, who is staying in Eilat and asked to see the institute. Martin is meeting with students, staff and will have a chance to meet Methuselah. The other visitor is Kenneth Ludwa a representative of USAID who is doing a site visit of the MERC project that Dr. Elaine Solowey is running jointly with the Jordan Unversity of Science and Technology. Kenneth was thrilled to hear about the diverse student body studying at the institute and said that it is now much clearer to him that the Arava Institute is a natural partner for USAID.
• The outlook for next week is not any quieter. A number of staff members including Tareq, Cecil, Sharon and myself will spend the first part of the week in Jordan. On Thursday, November 18th, the institute along with the Heschel Center are sponsoring the first annual Sustainable Food Conference - "Food for Thought" www.foodforthought.org.il. The conference will host best seller author, Ruth Ozeki. The week after, the institute will celebrate the signing of the Ben Gurion University - Arava Institute Agreement.

Shabbat Shalom and have a good week.

David