Human nature

January 2, 2009 - 2:29 PM by David

An SPNI hike - great even if you're not a VIP

An SPNI hike - great even if you're not a VIP

Here’s a fun story, a testament to something Israeli, not that I know exactly what.

Our American friend, let’s call her Lauren, was planning her son’s bar mitzvah celebration in Israel. In addition to the bar mitzvah itself, she was also organizing other activities that her family as well as parents, cousins, etc would enjoy during the week.

She emailed the Society for Protection of Nature in Israel and inquired as to whether there were any organized trips/hikes during the 10 days they were going to be here at the end of December. She was told no, but if you hire a van, we’ll provide you with a guide to take you around.

“I wrote back, thanks, but we’re trying to keep our budget down and we can’t really afford to hire a van,” said Lauren. Next thing she knew, the SPNI contact had written back and said, the van is on us, and one of our director will be taking you around.

Flabbergasted, Lauren didn’t quite know how to respond. “We’re not even members of SPNI,” she responded. “But we certainly wouldn’t mind joining.”

On the predetermined day, her family gathered at the agreed upon spot, and sure enough, a van showed up wth one of SPNI’s head honchos, and they spent 10 hours hiking in the Judean hills, through Sataf, and having a splendid time. The SPNI suit was atttentive, informative and treated the family like VIPs.

At the end of the day, he said to Lauren, “You have to meet Naomi Tsur. I’ll make an appointment for you.”

Uh, ok, who is Naomi Tsur, Lauren responded, and she was told that Tsur was one of Jerusalem’s new deputy mayors on Nir Barkat’s list, and as a former head of SPNI, was going to spearhead efforts to ‘greenify’ Jerusalem.

The next day, Lauren, her husband, and three of their four kids were escorted into Tsur’s office in Safra Square.

“So, tell me, why exactly are you here?” Tsur asked the family of American tourists.

“We have no idea, we thought you wanted to see us.” answered Lauren.

“Right then, we could have admitted that this must be a big mistake and we were obviously thought to be somebody that we weren’t. Or we could have carried on this charade and continued this painfully awkward dialogue,” chimed in Mr. Lauren. “We chose the latter.”

45 minutes later, they were ushered out of Tsur’s office, still having no idea why they had been singled out for special treatment by the SPNI.

“It was as if the United States took each family of tourists that entered the country, and gave them a van for the day, a guide, and a personal meeting with President Obama,” said Mr. Lauren.

Somewhere, I’m sure, there’s a big SPNI benefactor who’s wondering why the van and VIP day has been cancelled.

Tags: , , , , • Category: Environment, Israeliness, Travel 

Comments

2 Comments on Human nature

  1. lynne on Mon, Jan 5th 2009 4:17 AM

    2. GREAT STORY. HERE’S MY UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIAL. IN MY EXPERIENCE EVERYONE GOT VIP TREATMENT. GO TO ASPNI.ORG AND FIND OUT ABOUT ALL THEIR WONDERFUL PROGRAMS. SPECIFICALLY CHECK OUT THE CREATIVE YAROK ACTIVITIES. WHEN I WAS A STUDENT AT HEBREW UNIVERSITY, IT WAS THE FABULOUS (AND AFFORDABLE) SPNI TOURS THAT INTRODUCED ME TO THE BEAUTY OF THE LAND. LATER I WENT BACK AND TOOK A SPNI HIKING TRIP IN THE NORTH THAT WAS TRULY UNFORGETTABLE. IF YOU CAN’T MAKE THE TRIP RIGHT NOW, SEND A DONATION. THEY REALLY MAKE EVERY PENNY (SHEKEL) COUNT!!

  2. Michelle Levine on Thu, Jan 29th 2009 2:21 PM

    3. As the contact for SPNI’s website (for the last 5 years), I do not recall any story like this. Certainly, we do take prospective donors on free tours, as SPNI is a non-profit organization. However, unless someone has explicitly mentioned their family foundation’s interest in a given project, we certainly do not the resources to take them on a free trip. Go visit our website and email me – indeed the best way to explore our hidden wonders is with Israel’s nature professionals!

    I do (fondly) remember a family who came not too long ago, for their son Matthew’s Bar Mitzvah. What a great kid – he wanted to volunteer for his Bar Mitzvah in the Holy Land! So I arranged a volunteer day for him at the Jerusalem Bird Observatory. *IF* you haven’t been there, you’re really missing out on one of Jerusalem’s best secrets!

    http://www.jbo.org.il/Eng%20index.htm

    He got to observe bird banding and research and his whole family toured the bird observatory. His family trekked a bit of the Israel Trail with SPNI guides, and they told me that had a wonderful experience, but they indeed paid for the guides themselves, and to boot, Matthew donated the money he received to the Jerusalem Bird Observatory. Now this, in my mind, is an impressive way to transition from childhood to manhood – by recognizing one’s obligations to give back to society. Both SPNI and this particular family came away from the experience impressed and with renewed hope.

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