The Girls of the Ariel youth movement Continue in the Way of the Patriarchs
translation of Arutz 7 Hebrew article by Avi Yogev
More than a thousand girls from the Ariel movement from throughout Israel came to the lands of Netzer in Gush Etzion, to identify in action with the renewed pioneering enterprise in Eretz Israel
On Monday, September 16, a veritable flood of youthfulness swept over the paths of Netzer and Derekh ha-Avot (Path of the Patriarchs) in Gush Etzion.
About 1200 members of the Ariel youth movement came to Gush Etzion from throughout Israel, to learn and to identify with the renewed pioneering enterprise in the expanses of Eretz Israel.
The heads of the Women in Green movement, Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar, who greeted the girls who came to the lands of Netzer, tell of the event: "Many hundreds of girls, from dozens of branches and with spirits in the heavens, filled the agricultural plots at Netzer, those agricultural lands that were saved from Arab takeover by the Women in Green movement and the activists of the Netzer Group."
"The girls turned over the soil of the plots with their hands and with hoes, and watered the trees with water that they brought there in buckets," explaining that "the tree is like the soldier in the field who guards the lands of Eretz Israel." The main message that Katsover and Matar wanted to transmit is the awareness and inner feeling that "every place on which the girls tread belongs to us, to the Jewish people."
"The girls felt how, by their activity and their presence at the site, they continue in the steps of the Patriarchs when they establish facts on the ground for future generations." The trip was organized in exemplary fashion by the Ariel movement, and inculcated in the girls educational messages and values of love of Eretz Israel.
The trip ended for the girls and the organizers with a sense of raised spirits, that was expressed in the promise to return and volunteer in the Women in Green agricultural camp for youth that will be held at Netzer during the year.
Yossi Vardi, the Director-General of the Ariel movement, tells how the connection between the movement and Women in Green began. "When we were on the road, preparing the Sukkot trip in the Gush Etzion region, we passed through Netzer and we discovered the tremendous activity that is being done by Women in Green for the redemption of lands, and we decided to bring the girls there, as one of the stops on the trip."
In the stops on their trip, the members of the Ariel youth movement go to different sites where emphasis is placed on a central value from the life of the Jewish people. Among the other stops, they learned of the values of the sanctity of the Jewish people at a site with a mikveh (ritual bath) from the Second Temple period, the value of aliyah le-regel (Jews walked along this very route on their way to Jerusalem), and additional values. "The messag
e that we transmitted to the girls is that, just as the Ushpizin are the emissaries of G-d, to the Jewish people, so too, they have to aspire to be the emissaries of G-d in our generation," Vardi says.
On the meeting itself between the movement's girls, youth leaders, and branch leaders with Women in Green, he relates: "After we discovered the place, we contacted Women in Green and asked how we can help. The girls worked at removing stones, hoeing, clearing the area, and watering and caring for the trees. We intend to continue this connection with Women in Green. We will sit together and see how we are continuing together, and strengthen the connection of the members of the Ariel movement to the Land of Israel, to the Torah of Israel, and to the redemption of the land."
"We are happy for having merited seeing this wonderful and pure youth that grows naturally in its land, Eretz Israel," Katsover and Matar sum up the entire event and invite the public to come to Netzer on Hol ha-Moed of Sukkot. A kosher sukkah set up by Women in Green will be waiting there for visitors and hikers.
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Link to pictures of the event: www.womeningreen.org/ariel
The water tank you will see on the pictures is a water tank we luckily managed to borrow for the day, but as we told you in a previous mail, because of the many Arab attacks on our water pipe system, we really need our own water tank on wheels to use on a daily base in the fields. Such a 750 liter water tank costs $4500.
If each and one ofus on this email list participates, we can purchase it, and thus continue to water our many hundred of trees.
A few months ago you all helped us purchase a plow, now we know you can help us purchase a water tank.
For safe online US tax deductible donations: http://www.razoo.com/story/Women-In-Green
For check donations: http://www.womeningreen.org/help
Thank you and chag sameach!
Yehudit Katsover - 050-7161818, Nadia Matar - 050-5500834
www.womeningreen.org