Crafty Israelis

May 29, 2011 - 11:37 AM by David

There are things that go on in ‘settlements’ outside of the headlines.

The town of Ma’aleh Adumim might be in the headlines these days for whether it will be part of the 1967 plus land swaps plan outlined last week by President Barack Obama (many people think places like Ma’aleh Adumim is exactly what he’s talking about when the ‘realities’ of the last 44 years need to be taken into account).

But it’s easily forgotten that it’s a vibrant, bustling community of 37,000 people, some of them immigrants from other countries. On Friday, the second, annual city-wide Olim Arts and Crafts Fair took place in the plaza outside the city’s local mall. And a good time was had by all – in addition to a plethora of crafts and jewelry on display for sale, some of the immigrants’ talents included grinding fresh Colombian and Honduran coffee and selling delicious chocolate liqueurs in various flavors like chocolate-peanut butter and chocolate-mint.

Veteran native Israelis coming out of the Aroma café in the mall, might have been puzzled as to what was going on, but a quick walk around the circle would have convinced them that the immigrants are adding a much-needed spice to the city. Here’s a slew of photos of a fair, courtesy of Jacob Richman.

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