MARCH 2017 ADAR/NISAN 5777
PHOTOS: DESIGN BY LOVEYOURROOM
By Shoshana Gosselin Principal Interior Designer of Love Your Room Are you ready to take on a home renovation project, or just looking to make minor cosmetic changes through paint color or furnishings? If so, keep in mind the home design and décor trends that are dominating this year’s home interiors. One top trend interior designers and homeowners are gushing over is an unexpected, less trendy, more cultured look of an eclectic style. No more matching furniture, or sticking to a particular theme in a room. The most recent industrial chic and mid century modernism “themey” trends have given way to this eclectic movement; mixing treasured older possessions with newly acquired accessories and statement pieces that don’t belong in the same time period or design style. Designers are curating these unique spaces by adding layers of different aesthetics, materials and metal finishes. For example, modern and sleek paired with old-world style statement pieces in a living room, and stately satin brass finishes side by side with nickel and raw wood in a kitchen. Rooms are interesting and feel worldly with diverse elements. And because there are multiple styles involved, its more reflective of the homeowners’ loves and
lives they lead. With this eclectic style, designers are incorporating shades of green, the “it” color of 2017. Pantone, the authority on color, named “Greenery” the color of the year. It was chosen because we associate this color with a desire to revitalize and reconnect. This is exciting to designers because green comes in so many hues and deep colors like emerald layered in with soft shades of celadon can renew the look of heavy antiques mixed with more modern pieces. And green works so well in most spaces, and with other colors. A complimentary color combination to try is green and blue. So how can you get the eclectic style in your own home? Although this style is open to interpretation, it can be tricky to achieve. Here are some tips: Start with furniture placement. Figure out how to get the seating and function of the room before implementing any decor. Remember to find the focal points that need to be addressed so the space does not lack eye-catching areas. Then look to your mix of décor to see what fits best. Fire out ways to layer different aesthetics. Mix a tufted sofa with a contemporary armless settee. Decorate with rich and patterned pillows. Install natural materials like linen and cotton for window treatments, and mix unfinished
wood accents (candle sticks, lamp bases and wall décor) with antique gold-framed art. For kitchen renovations, use crisp white cabinetry, a contrasting island in a warm finish, and add some raw wood wall shelves. When working with furniture and décor of different periods and style, it is much easier and comes together effortlessly if you have a soft paint color as the backdrop. If you are looking to add a vibrant green, or other rich color to your room through furnishings, the soft wall color does not let the bold hue overtake the space, but instead it pleasantly adds to it.
Designers point out that eclectic does not mean “anything goes.” You want your room to look layered and collected over time, not cluttered and uninviting. They recommend to “edit as you go!” Most importantly, when using an eclectic style, add pieces that you enjoy, old and new together, to create a fresh and luring feel. These pieces, placed together, are unexpected, whimsical and make you happy to see. For more home design trends and inspiration from Shoshana Gosselin, visit www.loveyourroom.com.
HOMES & GARDENS | HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY | MARCH 2017 3
WHAT MAKES A HOUSE A (JEWISH) HOME? By Alachua Nazarenko My Jewish Learning.com What makes a house a home? Transforming what was once just brick and wood into a place for families to gather, friends to laugh and lives to unfold takes a lot of work. For me, the idea of turning a house into a home is no longer just a cliché, but a reality. My fiancé Erik and I just purchased our first home. We are putting down roots in our adopted home state of Mississippi. We have spent the last month painting, cleaning and organizing. “Doing house stuff” took up every hour that we weren’t working or sleeping. I thought a lot about how I wanted it to look: bright colors, inviting layout, and lots of natural light. I thought about how I wanted it to feel: comfortable, warm and happy. I have been pleased with the progress we’ve made working toward those goals. Last night we finally finished the last item on our current to-do list. Our home is everything I could have hoped for and more. Our blood, sweat, and
tears paid off. The last thing on that to-do list was to hang up our mezuzah. As Erik nailed it in and I said the blessing, I began to think: maybe we weren’t quite as finished as I thought we were. Sure, the furniture is in place and the art is hung up, but I realized that there is still a lot of work ahead of us to make sure our house is a Jewish home. We realized the mezuzah isn’t a finishing touch, but a starting point. Ever since hanging the mezuzah, I have been thinking about what this means: What makes a house a Jewish home? The mezuzah was a great start, and I know that many Shabbat candles will be lit within, but there’s more. What Jewish values are important to me? How do I want them to be expressed through our physical home? One of the aspects I love most about Judaism is the encouragement to question and discuss,
and I want our home to host lively conversations. Hospitality is a Jewish (and Southern!) value, and I want anyone and everyone who enters to feel comfortable and welcomed. I hope that our home is a place where learning is constantly happening and that my curiosity and Erik’s curiosity about the world only grows deeper throughout our time there. I hope that in the house we explore causes that are important to us, and focus on ways to better the world and participate actively in tikkun olam. I hope that, for each other and for anyone who enters, we model engaged Jewish life and reflection, constantly bettering ourselves and learning from our experiences to become better people. There are so many things that make a house a home, but I am looking forward to continuing to discover what makes a house a Jewish home. I’ve realized that, while the decorating is done, my home will never really be done – we will always be working to make it Jewish. I can’t wait to begin that journey! (Although I hope most of this home-building-work is less messy than painting.)
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ALLENTOWN'S ALLIANCE HALL HAS JEWISH ROOTS By Frank Whelan Reprinted with permission from WFMZ A lot of traffic passes the corner of 6th and Chew Streets in Allentown. Still it is impossible to miss the large building with the majestic columns topped with Corinthian capitals located there. Today known as Alliance Hall as a part of the Lehigh County Conference of Churches, it serves the needy of the community in a number of ways. And although its founders built it as a Jewish Community Center, they would undoubtedly be pleased that it still is being used to aid those who need help. The saga of Alliance Hall began in 1919. At that time the property was dominated by a large threestory Victorian town home, an orchard and a greenhouse. It was the home of the late Peter Seibert who had made a small fortune selling rugs, coverlets and yarn by shipping them around Cape Horn to California during the 1848 Gold Rush. He carefully invested his earnings in Allentown real estate. A devout Lutheran until his death around 1914, Siebert had been very active in the city's St. John's Lutheran Church. Siebert's only child, his daughter Sabina and her husband, Rev. John Amos Scheffer, were Lutheran missionaries who, due to ill health, had been forced to return to Allentown. They wanted to sell the prop-
erty, which they felt was too big for them. But they also wanted also to make a contribution to the community. On an unknown date in 1919 two visitors interested in buying the Siebert property came to the Scheffer's door. Both men were prominent members of Allentown's Jewish community. One was Samuel Perkin, a jeweler and watchmaker. An immigrant from Russia he had escaped the land of pogroms as a teenager. The other was Dr. David Parmet, a doctor who was part of the first staff of Sacred Heart Hospital. They were not acting on their own but as representatives of the leading Jewish businessmen in the city, led by Max Hess Sr., whose flourishing store at 9th and Hamilton had made him a wealthy man. Parmet and Perkin explained to the Scheffers that there was a great deal of concern in the Jewish community of Allentown about the younger generation. Not all of them were lucky enough to have well-to-do parents. They were immigrants and the children of immigrants. If they were going to be able to take advantage of the opportunities America offered them, and still be true to their faith, they would need help. Perkin's and Parmet's words fell on fertile soil. Here was just the sort of project the Scheffers had been hoping for. After a brief talk with his wife, Rev. Scheffer announced they would sell the property and take $6,000 off of the original price they had
been asking. With that, a deal was struck. At first the Scheffer's home fulfilled the needs of the founders of the Jewish Community Center. But as early as 1922 it was clear that a Victorian mansion was not always a suitable place for young men who wanted a place to play basketball. The sudden death of Max Hess Sr. that year at age 58 caused the idea of a new center to be put on the shelf. But by 1926, with the nation's economy booming after the post-World War I recession, a fundraising program for a new building on the same site was planned. Merchant Charles Kline, supporter of many local Jewish causes, took over its leadership. On Oct. 31, 1926, a special ceremony was held at the Lyric Theater, now Symphony Hall, to dedicate the cornerstone. The ceremony was moved inside due to the weather, but rain could not dampen the spirits of those who gathered there. David Levy, Allentown's first Jewish architect, announced that he was donating his services to design the building. Items placed into the corner stone included an American flag a, prayer shawl and a copy of the Jewish Daily Bulletin. The building went up rapidly. On May 28, 1928, the dedication ceremony was held. On hand to give the featured address of the day was Rabbi William H. Fineshriber of Philadelphia, one of the best-known Jewish clergymen of the time. "It was planned and built in the
spirit of the house of God," he said of the center, "so that when our boys and girls come here, they can breathe an atmosphere of Americanism, Judaism and good citizenship." From 1928 until 1954 the Jewish Community Center was a real focal point. Allentown businessman Sam Grossman, who was a regular member of the center in his youth, recalled it as wonderful place. He particularly remembers George Feldman, the executive director of the JCC, as being a firm but fair person with the young people of the time. By 1954 the Jewish Community Center's leadership decided it was time to make a change. A plan to move further out to the west end of Allentown was decided on. The JCC moved to its current location at 702 N. 22nd St. In April 11, 1954, the build-
ing at 6th and Tilghman streets was sold to the Catholic Church for use as classroom space for Central Catholic High School. Now known as the Carroll Annex, after the Roman Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence Charles Carroll of Carrollton, it was much needed with the arrival of the baby boom. A record freshman class of 757 entered the school in 1958. And for the next nine years the building continued serving as a school. But in 1969 the building was again up for sale. The African American community of the region used the building as a community center from the 1970s to the 1980s. Since 1990 it has been Alliance Hall, a place where many of the needs of the community's less fortunate are met. Dr. Parmet, Rev. Scheffer and his wife and Sam Perkin would undoubtedly be pleased.
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HOW TO GROW THE By Jeff Rembrandt JCC of the Lehigh Valley Yes, I know that pickles can’t be grown, they are made, but they are made the best when you plant and grow your own pickle parts. Growing pickles is pretty easy, you just need to know when to plant what and follow the three important Ws of gardening: watering, weeding and waiting. Now is the time of the year to begin planning for those delicious, crunchy, spicy kosher dills that you will be able to eat at the end of summer. Let’s look at growing the main ingredients for these dill pickles one at a time. First, the cucumber. I like to plant the “picklebush” style of cucumber for pickles. These fruits grow to about four or five inches in length and are pretty uniform in size and shape, they tend to have compact vines that get only around two feet long, and they can be trained to grow up on a trellis very easily. These white-spined fruits have a classic pickle look, deep green with pale green stripes. They grow great in full sun (six hours a day) and in the heat of the summer they grow fast as well, you may need to harvest every day. You want to pick your pickling cucumber early in their maturity – I like to pick them a day before I think they look perfect – so that you get a nice crisp pickle with fewer seeds in the fruit. It is also best to pick cucumbers in the morning when they are still cool from the night for the freshest taste. Garlic: A kosher dill is just a plain boring pickle without zesty garlic in the brine. Since there are so many different types, I recommend that you choose whichever type of garlic that you buy at the grocery store, or produce market. Here, organic garlic is a better choice, since it has not been treated with a growth inhibitor for the retail market. You can plant straight from the store; you don’t need to buy anything from the garden center here. Just buy a head of whatever you like, take it home, break up the cloves and plant the best looking cloves directly in the garden. Plant your garlic clove flat end down and pointy end up, a couple of inches deep in well-turned soil. Garlic is a hearty plant; you can plant it either in the fall or the spring. If you are planting in the spring, you need to follow the three Ws of gardening and in around 90 days you will have harvestable garlic. When the plant starts to brown, you know that it is harvesting time. If you plant in the fall, generally right after the first frost, you should mulch the cloves
This is a variation of a number of pickle recipes that I have found and I think it is the best yet. 1. Grow a whole bunch of pickling cucumbers in your garden. 2. Boil about 18 cups water with 1 cup of kosher salt (I like the diamond crystal brand for pickles best) until the salt dissolves; let cool. 3. In a quart mason jar, jam as many cucumbers in as you can. (If your fruit is too big to fit in this jar, alternatively you can cut them into spears or slices first, they just pickle a little faster this way.) 4. In each jar you now need to add 4-6 cloves of fresh garlic that have been slightly crushed, 1 or 2 sprigs of fresh dill (depending on the size), 2 bay leaves, 2 small hot peppers and 1 table spoon of pickling spice mix. 5. Pour your cooled brine in the jar until full, covering all of the fruit. 6. Seal the jar, shake it up good and put it in a cool dark place like a kitchen cabinet for a few days. 7. Check daily to see that no scum is forming on the top of the brine. If so open the jar give it a little skim and seal it back up and shake and put away again. 8. After about four days you will have the best half sours you have ever tasted. A week or so will get you to perfect full sour kosher dill. 9. The refrigeration will stop the curing process, so when they get to your preferred doneness put them in the fridge (if there are any left).
6 MARCH 2017 | HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY | HOMES & GARDENS
well with a couple of inches of any natural mulching product – straw, hay, peat, your choice – and you will have an early crop of garlic that can be harvested in the beginning of summer. Dill: The dill plant is an easy growing herb. It is a leafy plant with a yellow flower. Most people use the leaves as fresh dill; you can also capture the seeds to use. Let’s review both procedures. The planting is the same, you can start dill indoors if you want or you can plant the seeds directly in the garden after any danger of frost has passed. The dill seed needs light to germinate so you can’t plant them too deep, they should be covered with just about ¼ inch of soil. The seedlings will emerge in 10 to 20 days, when you should thin them out to about 12 inches apart when they are around 2 inches tall. After the flower appears, you can make your harvesting choice. If you want a healthier, fuller leaf, you cut off the flower and the leaves will grow bolder. You can pick the leaves after around 60 days and use them fresh from the garden, leaving the rest of the plant to continue growing until the plant browns out. If you want to harvest the dill seeds, then you need to let the plant flower and when it is full bloom, but before it starts to brown out, you need to cut the entire stalk, tie them together with a string and hang them upside down in a warm, dry place out of direct sunlight to dry. When they appear dry, just rub the flowers between your hands over a tray and capture the seeds as they fall out. They can be stored in a clean and dry bottle with a tight lid in a kitchen cabinet for quite a while. The fernleaf variety grows a nice crop of larger leaves with smaller flowers. Since I like to put the leafy plant in my brine, this is my favorite choice of dill, but they will all grow fine. Dill needs full sun to grow healthy. I like to plant dill in two-week intervals so that I have fresh dill harvests for a while. The leaves can be dried out and saved, like a dried spice in an airtight container, but the fresh dill is much more flavorful. The final home-grown ingredients in my pickles are the hot peppers. I like to use cayenne peppers in my brine. I have even been known to throw in half of a ghost pepper to make them really bite you back, but the cayenne is a good pepper for just the right amount of spice. (If you don’t like spicy you can skip this step of course, and don’t grow these.) If you choose to grow the cayenne peppers, then just know you will have a lot of them. Each plant is a usually a prolific pepper grower so you can spice many things besides your pickles with these. Peppers in the northern growing areas should be started from plants outside. You can start them from seeds yourself inside or buy the seedling to transplant from your favorite garden center. There is one thing to keep in mind when planting peppers: these are a rotation plant, meaning they should not be grown in the same area that you grew peppers or tomatoes the year before. This can lead to a diseased pepper plant. Peppers should be planted 12 to 18 inches apart in rows. The cayenne pepper will start green and ripen to a bright red. When ripe, you can pick them to use fresh, or to dry and use another day; they maintain most of their heat when dried. Just pick them with a nice stem on each fruit and using a needle and thread, run the needle through the stem. Hang in a warm dry space out of the sun to dry. They will stay like this for a long time so you can just cut them off the thread when you are ready to use a dry one in anything from pickles to pasta. Once you have grown all of your plants, harvested them and cleaned them, then you are ready to make your pickles. You will need to go to the grocery store to buy a couple of ingredients that don’t make sense to grow locally and some good jars. Remember, like in every canning and pickling project, clean and sterilize your jars and lids before you begin. If you don’t have a large pot or a bottle sterilizer, you can run them through the dishwasher on a sterilize setting. The recipe on this page is like a good NY kosher dill pickle. You will never want to go back to jarred pickles again; I hope you enjoy your pickle garden project.
JCC BEGINS GARDEN TO TEACH CHILDREN TIKKUN OLAM AND SUSTAINABILITY By Michelle Cohen HAKOL Editor The Early Childhood Education program at the JCC of the Lehigh Valley will be starting a community garden founded on the principles of “tikkun olam and sustainability,” said Coach Terrence Baker, recreation and fitness director at the JCC. “We’re going to show kids how to grow their own food, teach about the cycle of growing food, photosynthesis and how to eat healthy foods,” Baker said. The produce, which will include strawberries, cucumbers, peppers, green beans and tomatoes, were chosen because they can be picked and eaten right off the plant. Different vegetables were also chosen for their varying maturation times, so that the children can participate in harvests in different seasons. The children will plant their seedlings in early
March, after learning about the growing process from seeds to the final product. The seedlings will grow in JCC Executive Director Jeff Rembrandt’s sun-lit office until mid-to-late March, when they will be moved to a section in the back of the building that has been reserved for the project. The project has been partially funded by a PA Nutrition and Physical Activity grant from the Child Care Wellness Mini-grant Project that will finance “seeds, soil, plants, tools” and everything else the garden needs, Baker said. “We are enthused about having the kids plant and harvest their own food,” said Alexa Karakos, ECE director. She added that the curriculum behind this gardening project ties into the Discover: CATCH early childhood curriculum, which “provides a way for JCCs to promote a love of
physical activity and healthy nutritional habits through their health and wellness, early childhood education, family engagement and Jewish living and learning departments,” according to the JCC Association of North America. In addition to eating the food, they will learn about tikkun olam by donating
some of the produce to the food pantry at Jewish Family Service of the Lehigh Valley. This will “teach them that it’s a good deed to help others in need,” Baker said. The JFS Community Food Pantry relies on donations to provide emergency food assistance to individuals and families in the 18104 area, regardless of religion, as well as Jews
across the Lehigh Valley. “If you teach someone to grow their own food, it shows them about self-sustainability” and helps them understand “where food comes from and how it gets to their dinner plate,” Baker concluded. “They’ll be able to have a skill that hopefully will follow for the rest of their lives.”
MONOCACY FARM LOOKS BACK ON PAST SUCCESSES AND PREPARES FOR NEW SEASON By Michelle Cohen HAKOL Editor After a successful first season of partnership with community organizations including Jewish Family Service and Congregation Brith Sholom, Monocacy Farm is looking to expand its programs to give more people in the Lehigh Valley access to fresh vegetables during the spring and summer growing seasons. The farm was originally launched in 2013 by the Sisters of Saint Francis to provide low-income families and the homeless access to organic fruits and vegetables, as well as educational programs on healthy lifestyles and nutrition. The goals of the Monocacy Farm project include “providing area residents and low-income families access to affordable organic produce and supplying local shelters, food pantries and soup kitchens with donor-sponsored organic produce during the spring and summer growing seasons,” according to a statement released by the Sisters of St. Francis. Half of the farm is allocated to each of the two major goals, with opportunities for community members to have their own growing beds in addition to the produce that gets donated. This past summer, Monocacy Farm began a new community service production farm that provided weekly supplies of organic vegetables to low-income families, area shelters, food pantries and soup kitchens. Collectively, these organizations assist thousands of economically challenged individu-
als and families in the Lehigh Valley and provide more than a half-million meals each year to those who otherwise would not eat. “It went well, particularly for our initial year,” said Bob Drake, project manager of the community service portion of the farm, but “we wish to expand the program. I would like to double the number of beds that we plant, and expand both the number of organizations serviced and supported and increase the volume of produce that we can offer to each.” Last year, each organization received two-to-three bins of vegetables each time volunteers collected, with some organizations like JFS receiving fresh vegetables every week. And, since the beds are tended by volunteers, Drake is always looking for new people to help. Congregation Brith Sholom was “very consistent” in its involvement, he said, adding that he hopes to see more involvement from the Jewish community overall. Once more produce is available, Drake wants to reach out about options for food preparation. “We discovered that some chefs or cooks at soup kitchens and homeless shelters didn’t know what to do with certain of the vegetables, kale, for example,” he explained. Drake is now in discussions with Sodexo to arrange cooking demonstrations for the chefs at soup kitchens and shelters as well as staff at pantries “so that they will know how to do some options for preparing good-tasting meals using some of the vegetables that individuals aren’t necessarily familiar with,”
he said. For the food pantries, this would include short cooking demonstrations that would show “three or four different ways to use each vegetable to encourage them to familiarize themselves with menu options with these vegetables.” Monocacy Farm will also be offering new kinds of vegetables in the upcoming year, such as tomatoes, in addition to vegetables they have offered in the past, such as kale, okra, cabbage and shallots. This year, volunteers will have the opportunity to “adopt a bed,” something Brith Sholom is pursuing, “that would entail them being involved in the preparation of the bed, putting compost in, planting the seeds or transplants at the beginning of the season, and then tending to it, helping with the watering and weeding of the bed as the season goes on and then harvesting each week,” Drake said. “The more volunteers I have to adopt a bed, the more beds I
WANT TO GET INVOLVED? Congregation Brith Sholom is seeking volunteers to help tend beds and sponsors to help families in need. Call 610-866-8009 or visit www. brithsholom.net to learn more. Jewish Family Service is looking for volunteers to help pick up produce from the farm this summer. Call 610820-8722 or visit www.jfslv. org to learn more.
can plant, and maintain,” which ultimately leads to more people getting the help they need. To learn more about volunteering or donation opportunities, contact Bob Drake at 610-867-8494 or bdrake@schoolsistersosf.org.
HOMES & GARDENS | HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY | MARCH 2017 7
FINDING YOUR SPIRITUAL RENEWABLE ENERGY By Ari Huberman Special to HAKOL These days when we hear the words “renewable energy,” we tend to think of solar panels and wind turbines. Of course, in addition to solar and wind, there are other so-called “renewable” energy sources such as hydro, bio-
mass, geothermal, wave, tidal and some would say nuclear. These are often contrasted with “non-renewable” energy sources such as coal, oil and natural gas. In either case, these sources can be used to generate heat and electricity. But they are all forms of physical energy. And in that sense, like all things physical, they are inevita-
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bly non-renewable. Let us consider lunar energy for a moment. The Hebrew word for renewable is mitchadesh from the root chadash meaning new. A month is a chodesh. The moon is an integral component of the Jewish calendar – a new moon marking the start to a new month. And as it waxes and wanes, the moon serves as a constant reminder of hitchadshut, renewal. Jews are tasked to be holy, responsible for spreading the light of Torah to all nations of the world. It is the Torah which is the ultimate form of energy – pure, holy, clean and 100 percent renewable spiritual energy. The Torah begins by informing us that God created the world. Rashi, in his famous commentary on the first verse of the Torah, explains that this teaches us that the entire universe belongs to God and he has the right to do with it as he sees fit. Otherwise the Torah could have begun with the all-important sanctification of the new moon (Exodus 12:2) which was, in fact, the first commandment addressed to the children of Israel as a nation. God, with infinite wisdom and kindness, saw it fit to give us the Torah. But how are we to utilize this sublime spiritual renewable energy? We acknowledge twice each day that we must love Hashem our God with all our heart, and all our soul, and all our resources. “And let these matters that I command you today be upon
your heart. You shall teach them thoroughly to your children…” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). It is clear that God desires our hearts. And we can infer, just as solar panels must face the sun and wind turbines must face the wind in order to harness those energy sources and operate efficiently, so too our hearts must be directed toward God and His Torah for the same effect. To internalize this awesome spiritual renewable power, we must cause Torah principles to permeate our daily habits and lives as it is written, “You shall know this day and take to your heart that Hashem, He is the God – in Heaven above and on the earth below – there is none other” (Deuteronomy 4:39). The more we emulate Hashem, the more we can be assured that Torah-principles like faith, kindness, compassion, peace, humility, patience and fear of Heaven will become a part of who we are. Because while it is true that we were all created in the image of God, we must earn that status by sanctifying God’s name through our actions and free will. If we can invest in solar and wind, we can invest in Torah. If we perform energy audits on our
homes and businesses, we can do the same for our spiritual lives. We need to align our interests with those of the Torah. For now, God will continue to provide us with solar power just as He has provided us with a planet loaded with fuel. But he does desire our hearts. And to quote the prelude to Psalm 19 from Artscroll’s Tehillim, “God has revealed Himself to mankind both in nature and at Sinai. But though a scientific and thoughtful contemplation of nature will lead man to recognize his Creator, it is only the revelation of Torah that can teach man how to relate to the Creator and achieve perfection and fulfillment in life.” As it says in Psalm 19, “The Torah of Hashem is perfect, it restores the soul; the testimony of Hashem is trustworthy, making the simple one wise” (Psalms 19:8). The time is always now lichadesh, to renew, our spiritual energies. Ari Huberman is an accredited Renewable Energies Technician currently working with SolarCity in the Lehigh Valley. Ari lives with his wife Yasminah and daughter Hadar in Harrisburg.
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8 MARCH 2017 | HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY | HOMES & GARDENS
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In 1923, Albert Einstein and his wife, Elsa, visited the Technion, which was still a work in progress at that time. In honor of the visit, they were invited to plant two palm trees, which still flank the original building. In 2007, Lokey Park was on the new Technion campus on Haifa’s outskirts, and the tree-planting tradition was renewed: visiting Nobel laureates like the late Elie Wiesel have been invited to plant a tree in the park, as was the late Israeli President Shimon Peres. A visit to Einstein’s palm helps unveil the story of this institution and the important part it played in the development of the country. METHUSALEH TREE
A palm planted by Albert Einstein and the trees in the Baha’i Gardens are among the most spectacular to see in Israel. By Michael Brown Jewish Telegraphic Agency Trees have stories, and Israel’s trees have lots of stories. Scattered throughout the country, scores of ancient and historic trees help shed light on fascinating aspects of Israeli history, from the biblical to the modern, that are often overlooked by the average tourist. The five trees below, all easily accessible, are worth seeking out on your next tour of the Jewish state. They’re a mixed lot — some are associated with famous figures, others are impressive in size, some are just plain old — but all are worth checking out. BAHA’U’LLAH’S GROVE
original clump of cypress trees can still be plainly seen today, little changed as they appeared over 100 years ago. They are a reminder of the place where the founder of the Baha’i religion stood and first designated the location of this magnificent site. EINSTEIN’S PALM The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology is an internationally recognized institute of
higher education located on a sprawling campus at the edge of Haifa. Few realize that the original institution began in the Hadar neighborhood, in midtown Haifa, at the beginning of the 20th century. Its aim was to foster scientific and technical education in the region. The impressive original building in which the Technion began now houses the Israel National Museum of Science, Technology and Space.
In southern Israel, on the grounds of Kibbutz Ketura, stands a palm tree surrounded by a small enclosure. It is not a particularly impressive tree in appearance, but the story behind it is remarkable. The tree — named Methuselah,
after the oldest person in the Bible — has been brought to life from a 2,000-year-old seed recovered from Masada during excavations in the 1960s. The seed, a remnant of the famous Judean date palm that went extinct around the time of the Crusades, was sprouted in 2005. The tree is a male. As it reaches maturity, its pollen will be used with other trees to help produce the same (or similar) variety of date eaten in ancient times. KING GEORGE SYCAMORES Tel Aviv has experienced explosive growth since it was established in 1909, obliterating most signs of the original landscape. Even so, in the heart of the bustling metropolis, near the expansive Meir Park, six ancient sycamores fill a narrow traffic island in the middle of Must-See Trees Continues on page 10
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The Baha’i Gardens complex is the most widely recognized landmark in the city of Haifa — it’s also a World Heritage Site. The extensive complex of buildings, terraces and gardens was developed in stages, beginning with a simple, onestory building in 1909 to the completion of the site in 2001. This monumental project began with a simple stroll. In 1891, the founder of Baha’i, the religious leader Baha’u’llah, and his son ascended a mountainside near Haifa and, as the story goes, the two men walked until they came to a clump of cypress trees. There, Baha’u’llah pointed out to his son the site that would serve as the permanent resting place of the Bab, the prophet who heralded the arrival of the Baha’i faith. He declared his mission in Persia in 1844, but because of his religious teachings he was executed there in 1850, at the age of 31. The Bab’s remains were brought to the Holy Land in the late 1890s and permanently laid to rest on Mount Carmel in 1909. This resting place — the Shrine of the Bab, at the center of meticulously maintained gardens — is a major pilgrimage site for Baha’i worldwide. Nine terraces have been landscaped above and nine terraces prepared below. The HOMES & GARDENS | HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY | MARCH 2017 9
FRUIT TASTING FOR TU B’SHEVAT It is customary on Tu B’Shevat to eat many different kinds of fruits and that’s just what the pre-K class at the Jewish Community Center did on Feb. 15. The students enjoyed a sampling of fresh fruit like apples, bananas and clementines, along with dried fruit like apricots and dates.
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Must-see trees Continues from page 9
busy King George Street, just north of Borochov Street. These impressive trees are vestiges of the native vegetation of Tel Aviv — in the 1920s, when the street was first being paved, the traffic island was created to preserve the trees. A photo that has been widely published in books and online shows a man leaning against the trees in 1921, when the area was still undeveloped. In the mid-1930s, the municipality of Tel Aviv presented a plan to uproot the trees in order to widen and straighten the road. Many local residents vigorously opposed the idea — therefore the trees remain for us to enjoy and help us visualize an earlier version of the land, before it was a city. NETTER’S BANYAN TREE Just north of Holon, the Mikveh Israel Agricultural School sits like a peaceful green oasis within the greater Tel Aviv metropolitan area. The school was established in 1870 and nurtured the first generations of Israeli agriculturalists. Perhaps not surpris10 MARCH 2017 | HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY | HOMES & GARDENS
ing, the school’s grounds and extensive botanical garden boast a plethora of impressive trees. But a visitor’s first stop should be the magnificent banyan tree located near the school’s synagogue. The tree was planted in 1888 by Charles Netter, the school’s founder and first headmaster. This fascinating tree is a forest all to itself — thick aerial roots have formed alternate trunks in an ever-widening circle that today encompasses approximately a quarter of an acre. Over the years, cuttings were taken from the tree — and so it is also the parent of many other beautiful banyan trees located throughout the country. So next time you visit Israel and pass by a gnarled, ancient tree, take a moment to reflect on the story behind it. Maybe the tree was planted by early Jewish colonists working for the Turkish authorities, or maybe it has outlived centuries-old towns or villages that once existed on the spot. Or perhaps it served as a landmark in an otherwise barren countryside — one that’s now crowded with buildings and automobiles. Every tree has a story. You just have to ask.
TU B’SHEVAT AT BETH EL The students at Temple Beth El learned about Tu B’Shevat in many different ways. Some classes enjoyed a seder and tasted the new fruits to celebrate the holiday. Others made fun creatures which will grow grass for hair on their heads! Some drew nature pictures with hidden Hebrew letters, and some planted parsley seeds so they will have fresh karpas for Passover. The youngest students used fruits and vegetables as paint prints which became beautiful artwork. On the evening of Tu B’Shevat, families came together for Shabbat services and then enjoyed a Shabbat meal and a "Fiddler On The Root" Tu B’Shevat sing-a-long led by Morah Spark.
HOMES & GARDENS | HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY | MARCH 2017 11
Happy Purim STOP BY A GIANT NEAR YOU AND LET THE CELEBRATION BEGIN!
Find Hamantaschen in the bakery department along with other favorites throughout the store.