Some 20 percent of Israel’s Mount Carmel forest — about 9,900 acres —was destroyed in the fire that took place Dec. 2-4. The fire also killed 44 people and destroyed some four million trees.
It caused great psychological and spiritual damage, as well, according to Paz Goldschmidt, emissary from Israel to Milwaukee and director of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation’s Israel Center.
Goldschmidt spoke on Jan. 5 at Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun to about 35 people gathered to hear presentations about and to discuss “After the Fire: Creating a Green Israel.”
She said that the area “symbolizes richness and beauty” and is one of the few places in Israel that is “green all year round.” Its destruction caused a great “sense of sadness… People couldn’t understand how it happened.”
But it also taught Israelis that they often “take nature for granted,” and “we shouldn’t do that,” she said.
Goldschmidt was one of four panelists discussing the topic. Second to speak was Rena Safer, a Milwaukee activist for the Jewish National Fund. She was in Israel at the time of the fire.
“People in Israel came together” in response to the event, Safer said. Many opened their homes to people whose homes had been destroyed, and collected clothing for people who had lost everything they owned in the fire.
Safer said that JNF, which is Israel’s “official forestry administration,” will have to proceed carefully to restore the forest.
For example, Safer said Israel can’t just cut down that charred remains of the trees right away because their roots still function to hold the topsoil down; so the forestry people have to wait until after the next flowering season, she said.
To read the rest of the article, see the February edition.
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