JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Jewish National Fund will distribute free Christmas trees to local churches, monasteries, convents, embassies and foreign journalists.
Private individuals can also buy trees for a token fee, the organization said this week. Distribution will occur in mid-December.
Some of the Arizona cypress trees are grown in a grove adjacent to the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund offices in Givat Yishayahu in central Israel. They grow to a height of about 6 1/2 feet in three years, when they are cut for use as Christmas trees, according to JNF.
In northern Israel, KKL-JNF foresters grow plots of Arizona cedar trees in several forests. As Christmas approaches, the foresters thin out the crowded woodlands and sell the trees to the public for a token sum. This also prevents illegal felling of the trees, according to the organization.
