“A dream come true.” That was how Isaac de Picciotto, vice president of the Alexandria Jewish community, described his experience Sunday morning planting a sapling in the Jewish National Fund’s Peace Forest over looking the Old City of Jerusalem.
With mud on their shoes and ecstasy on their faces, de Picciotto and the other members of the Alexandria group visiting Israel toiled with shovels and hoes to sink their roots into the soil of the Holy City. JNF chairman Moshe Rivlin presented each of them with a certificate bearing his or her name, testifying to their participation in the event.
Particularly moving was the recitation of the “Planter’s Prayer” by former Alexandrian Mordechai Ruah, who left Egypt in 1949 and is now director of afforestation at the JNF. Rivlin explained in English that the Peace Forest had been planted since 1967 on what was formerly no-man’s land between Israel and Jordan.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
