ESRA members during their visit to the Khan Museum

Photo: Evelynne Cherny

Twenty-five eager ESRA members from Modiin, Rishon and Arad enjoyed another adventurous outing on Thursday June 13.  Travelling north is always scenic as we leave the city and enjoy fields and mountains from our bus windows.

Our first stop was Kibbutz Magal which is situated just kilometers from the green line of the Jordanian border and sandwiched between two Arab villages.  The kibbutz was established in 1953 and today boasts many hectares of olive trees, an olive oil factory and visitors' center, the famous factory of Netafim, which manufactures irrigation equipment and drip systems shipped all over the world.  Kibbutz Magal also designs the computer systems to determine the quantity of water, regularity of watering and the entire system to irrigate small to large growing concerns worldwide. The ESRA project which is run on the kibbutz is a wonderful animal therapy program for children aged 8 to 20 years old with cognitive impairment, physical disabilities or children at risk (see page ….). 

After a quick lunch we were off to Hadera to see the Khan Museum.  The original building from the late 1800's is the actual museum, which made the tour so much more authentic than seeing a new building.  The land on which the museum sits was bought by four Hovevei Zion settler associations from East Europe, immigrants who fled the pogroms in 1891.  The land was originally owned by a Christian/Arab gentleman from Lebanon, who housed his workers and animals in the building.  The immigrants desperately wanted to be farmers and viewed the sea and what they thought were lakes, as the perfect opportunity to set up home.  Unfortunately, the lakes weren't lakes but swamps full of mosquitoes and hence over 214 people out of 500 died of malaria during the period of set up. However, with belief and passion the community grew and hence Hadera developed.

It was a wonderful informative day out and enjoyed by all.  We look forward to many more interesting trips with ESRA after the summer break.