Yours for the asking

There’s a wide array of attractive festivals, workshops and shows around the country that’s hard to ignore.

By BARRY DAVIS
The Holon Theater (photo credit: Courtesy)
The Holon Theater
(photo credit: Courtesy)
earnest seasonal endeavor by the Timna lakeside, including making Pharaoh masks, creating Moses in the basket clay models and filling bottles with multicolored sand. A wide range of scenic and educational tours, including by bicycle, will also be available around the park. For more information: (08) 631-5756 and www.timna-park.co.il.
If you’re looking to save on traveling time and outlay on gas, not to mention pollution, and you live in or near Tel Aviv, you and your kids could do worse than go to the Hachava compound in the Yehoshua Gardens in Hayarkon Park for the A Journey in Time to Ancient Egypt event. The organizers call the program “a unique project for Pessah by Hachava and the Israel Antiquities Authority.” It will run between April 20 and April 25, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The site will include the Geppetto’s Club carpentry workshop, where children and parents can build all sorts of Pessah-related and other models, and there will be some treasure hunting on the Hachava afikoman trail. But the focus of intent at Hachava is to entice kids into the fascinating world of archeology and to discover the past in as proactive a way as possible. The Antiquities Authority has established a special compound where budding Indiana Joneses can unearth all sorts of artifacts, such as pottery shards and coins, and some strategically placed candy in between.
The “finds” will help to convey the history of ancient Egypt, with symbols of the pharaonic monarchies, hieroglyphics and the world of art in those times.
Up north, the area in and around the blooming Jezreel Valley offers a host of trips, on foot, bicycle and 4x4, activities and entertainment formats throughout the holiday period. For starters, there’s the Afikodag Festival at the Dag Bakfar site in Yokneam from April 19 to April 26 (8 a.m. to 6 p.m.), with an Afikodag prize-winning fishing slot for kids, as well as inflatable playing facilities, a pets corner and Pessah-themed games.
For more information: (04) 989-4095 and 057-773-2681. For information on all the Activities in the Jezreel Valley, call (04) 652-0013/095 or check their site: www.emek-tour.org.il.
Over at Kfar Baruch, to the south of Migdal Ha’emek, there is a plethora of jeep trips and hikes on offer through the local flora, including Nahal Tzippori, Nahal Tabor, Ramat Sirin and Ramat Tzevaim to the Kinneret. Jeep trips last from two hours to all day, and hikes are three to five hours. Overnight trips can also be arranged. For more details: 054-769-1895 and (04) 654- 6917.
So get the kids – and yourself – away from your computer and/or TV screens and get out and about. There’s a whole wonderful world of Pessah-related fun to be had out there.