City Notes: Children’s ‘Book Parade’ takes place in Haifa

A roundup of local affairs.

By COMPILEDTAMARA ZIEVE
A work from ‘Colors of Rifle Barrels,’ an exhibition at Beit Hahayal Center in Tel Aviv (photo credit: Courtesy)
A work from ‘Colors of Rifle Barrels,’ an exhibition at Beit Hahayal Center in Tel Aviv
(photo credit: Courtesy)
NORTH
All of Haifa’s municipal kindergartens held a “Book Parade” event for children last week, as part of a joint initiative of the Education Ministry and the municipality. The project encourages children and their parents to participate in experiential encounters with books, stories and related activities. Kindergarten teachers incorporate reading time in their daily program to allow the children to enrich and nurture their personal tastes and preferences in books.
The program also encourages parents to read to their children from an array of children’s literature in order to make reading an integral part of their lifestyle. This year, which marks 40 years since the publication of A Tale of Five Balloons by Miriam Roth, the book was mandatory reading in all kindergartens.
On May 11, there will be a national election for kindergarten children to choose their favorite book, the results of which will be relayed to the Education Ministry’s preschool department.
Galilee medical center on energy-saving kick
The management of the Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya has recently undertaken deliberate efforts to save energy in running the hospital.
According to the Local website, the medical center’s management has installed a control system that includes control of the building’s lighting, making it possible to time the lights according to optimal energy- saving calculations.
Programmable controls were installed for regulating the outside lighting system, and in the visitors’ parking lot, sensors enable lights to come on when visitors are present and to go off when nobody is around.
The management aims to gradually replace all light bulbs with energy- saving lights, in accordance with a budget that has been allocated for this issue.
CENTER
TA exhibition displays art therapy work by Protective Edge soldiers
Six months after the end of the IDF’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, the Beit Hahayal Center in Tel Aviv is hosting an art exhibition featuring works by soldiers who suffered physical and mental injury as a result of the conflict.
The exhibition is an initiative of the Association for the Wellbeing of Israel’s Soldiers (AWIS), in cooperation with the Israel Police and the Border Police. Titled “Colors of Rifle Barrels,” it showcases more than 80 paintings, sketches, photographs and sculptures by 47 soldiers.
The show is the culmination of a competition in which a panel of judges – consisting of art specialists from the Avni Institute of Arts and Design and representatives from the army, the police, the Border Police, AWIS and the IDF magazine Bamahane – reviewed over 200 submissions and selected a few dozen. The top five will receive a one-year scholarship to the Avni Institute.
In addition, a separate poetry competition took place. AWIS chairman Avigdor Kahalani and Avni Institute director Shimon Zameret were members of the judges’ panel in this category. The winning artist will participate in a professional writing workshop at the Gibor Tarbut School of Writing.
Nature society runs urban-nature appreciation week
The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) has begun conducting dozens of free, public trips all over the country this week with an emphasis on urban nature.
Urban nature, a relatively new concept in local planning, relates to the natural infrastructure that remains inside built-up cities, says the SPNI, adding that it allows the public to familiarize itself with the environment “and to see under our homes the carpet of special flowers, birds, or small animals, which have become quite a rare commodity in the city.”
The organization aims to raise awareness among the public and decision- makers about the importance of preserving the values of urban nature, in a country where more than 90 percent of the population lives in cities.
The “nature week” began last Friday with an event in Ashkelon winter pools, which the SPNI described as a “relic” that is disappearing from the country’s landscape and that is a habitat for a rich tapestry of plants and animals.
Throughout the ensuing week, events were scheduled across the country, including in Beersheba, Kfar Saba, Tel Aviv, Eilat and Kiryat Shmona.
Bat Yam gears up for Good Deeds Day
Thousands of students, soldiers and Bat Yam residents are set to volunteer for 200 different projects around the city to mark Good Deeds Day next Tuesday.
Good Deeds Day is taking place nationwide as part of a global initiative to help others. Among the planned projects are scanning old photos of elderly residents and saving them on discs; painting apartments belonging to single-parent and disadvantaged families; cleaning and painting shelters; working with Holocaust survivors; distributing sweets at the children’s ward in Holon’s Wolfson Medical Center; distributing 500 Passover food packages to families and making door signs for their homes; and assisting the elderly in carrying bags.
SOUTH
Store owner stabbed in Ashkelon for refusing to sell youths alcohol
Two youths reportedly stabbed a 45-year-old shop owner outside an Ashkelon shopping center after he refused to sell them alcohol last weekend.
The man was in serious condition and was taken to Barzilai Medical Center for treatment.
Police searched the area and launched an investigation into the incident.
MDA seeks to make volunteers of youth program participants
Children involved in Kiryat Gat’s “First Among Equals” program took part in a celebratory event earlier this month with Magen David Adom youth volunteers.
The volunteers taught the participants the principles of first aid, using a variety of costumes and accessories. Members of the public also participated in the event.
“First Among Equals” aims to assist weaker sectors of the population, with support from local schools and funding from MDA. The local authority chose Iris Ivgi to lead the project alongside MDA paramedic Efraim Yenko. The project seeks to give children and youth general knowledge about first aid: They meet with Yenko, who runs a medical program for them, with the hope that they will become regular MDA volunteers.
“The importance of this project for me is that it is a first step – it gives children and volunteers the opportunity to mobilize for community activities,” he said.
Shomer Israel organization visits Moshav Lachish
The Shomer Israel group was set to head down south from Tel Aviv on Thursday night to spend a night around bonfires eating poike – a meat stew – in Moshav Lachish.
Shomer Israel events cater to professional olim in their 20s and 30s and aim to show solidarity with residents all over the country.
The project organizers say they want to encourage proactive Zionism through education and volunteering, “building up both the state and society of Israel to become the nation that we hope for.”
They add that they seek to create a non-political movement and to connect young Jews to their identity, the land and the people, while strengthening mutual civic responsibility.
Airline to operate Eilat-Germany flights for first time in 2 decades
For the first time in 20 years, there will be direct flights between German cities and Eilat, the latter’s municipality announced last week. German airline Germania began operating regular flights to Israel from Hamburg and the Black Forest last week, and in the winter, it will begin direct flights from Düsseldorf to Eilat. Initially there will be one flight a week between the two cities, starting from €99 one-way.
The official announcement came out earlier this month at an ITB tourism fair in Berlin, which Eilat’s acting deputy mayor, Eli Lankri, attended alongside tourism officials from his city. Eilat was chosen out of eight destinations around the world and joins 140 other destinations to which the airline travels, including Cyprus, the Canary Islands and London. Düsseldorf was chosen because of its proximity to Holland and Belgium, which allows for connecting flights and will provide tourists from other European countries with an easy way to visit Eilat.
At first, the flights will land at Ovda Airport, but in the future, they will move to Timna Airport, which is under construction.
Eilat Mayor Meir Yitzhak Halevi said the move was important news for tourism in his city.
“I have no doubt that this new line will act as a leader for the opening of additional lines from Germany,” he said. “We are prepared here in Eilat for receiving tourists from Germany, and we aim to provide them with a pleasant stay.”


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