Out With the Old, in With the New

November 11, 2008 - 12:34 AM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General 

Israel is full of villages – “k’farim,” in Hebrew. There’s Kfar Tabor, Kfar Vitkin, Kfar Shemaryahu, Kfar Habad – and my personal favorite, Kfar Saba. Most of these villages were established decades ago, usually as agricultural settlements.

And some of Israel’s many k’farim may still be largely involved in agriculture – probably the ones way up north or down south. But as the Tel Aviv-centered megalopolis expands ever outwards, and better highways and rail links bring the periphery closer to the center, many of the k’farim in the center of the country have found a new way to grow profits – with real estate, as developers buy up the old free-standing houses, many with large lots, and magically turn them into luxury apartment buildings, offices, malls, and all the other features of Israel’s increasingly urban/suburban landscape.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, of course; people gotta live, and as crowded as Israel is, there is still plenty of open space in the Galilee, and especially the Negev. While many farms and fields in the Sharon region, for example, have been turned into homes and stores, effective Israeli methods of land reclamation has turned large parts of the Negev into flourishing farmland, with everything from vegetables to fruit to grain growing nicely.

In Israel, as in much of Europe, the city centers are the most expensive places to live, and the further out you move, the cheaper the home. But when enough people move far enough out, that location gets an “upgrade,” and turns into a city, in and of itself. And that’s what’s been happening to almost all of the small towns, the k’farim, that once surrounded Tel Aviv. The villages are still there, in name – but now many of them are big cities.
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Living as I do in a town not too far from Kfar Saba, I’ve seen the process unfold there over the past few years. First came the mall in the middle of town; then came the new luxury buildings and homes, with real estate shooting up in value by hundreds of percent within a couple of years. Then, they built the new park, a sure sign that Kfar Saba was no longer a “k’far,” which would have its own natural open spaces. Now, the developers have moved on to the edge of town; the funky industrial zone, which really was dedicated to industry (not shopping, like in a lot of other towns), is getting a huge sandlar111109.jpgcombination office/mall space, which will take up about five big city blocks!

Thus the photos accompanying this piece: I may have come across some of the last “authentic” original agricultural-era homes in Kfar Saba. Someone still lives in the house with the sign in the top photo (there’s a satellite dish on the roof), but apparently they got an offer they couldn’t refuse, because it appears that a “luxury building” is going up on the site.

At least we’ll still have the shoemaker, (“sandlar”), whose little shack is seen in the bottom photo. This structure must have been built decades ago, but whoever owns it still has some principles, it seems – no “for sale” signs are up on this one, yet. Maybe the municipality should buy it out in order to preserve it – and let the next generation get a sample of “the way it was.”

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Riding the Kinneret

October 30, 2008 - 3:25 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General, Holidays, Life, Sports 

For cyclists in Israel, it’s one of the biggest events of the year – every November thousands of them descend on the Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee), to take part in the round-the-Kinneret ride.

We were planning to do it last year, but my husband – a mountain bike fanatic who likes to leap off large boulders and throw himself down steep hillsides – fell off his bike on a sedate family biking trip in Hiyarkon park and injured his knee.

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This Saturday – barring any last minute falls – we’ll be setting off at 6.30am with the 10,000 or so cyclists expected to take part in this popular fall event.

I must admit, originally I was planning to take part in the 65 kilometer ride – right around the Kinneret, but I got cold feet when we drove there a week ago and I realized that the road, which always looked rather flat from the window of a car, was actually pretty hilly; and the other side of the Kinneret vanished threateningly into the haze, an alarmingly long distance away.

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Still, I can’t make too much fuss, my 10-year-old is planning to do the long route with three of his friends, and a couple of parents more used to cycling long distances than I am (my idea of cycling these days mostly involves sitting on a spinning bike in an air-conditioned room for an hour with loud dance music and a teacher shouting encouragement.)

He’s either a great deal fitter than me, or he just can’t envision how hard it will be. I suspect the latter. I’ve warned him it will be hard. I’ve warned him he’ll be cycling for at least four hours. I’ve warned him that his butt will ache for days afterwards, and that the last 20km will be the hardest thing he’s ever done – but he won’t be swayed. Two of his friends did it last year and they’ve been boasting about it ever since. He may be 10, but it’s his manhood at stake.

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We’re doing the 31 km ride, joined by my eight-year-old who is particularly interested in the medals they give out to all participants at the end (will it have a bicycle on mummy?), and my two and a half year old, who will travel in style in a pull-along buggy, milk, snacks and toys at an easily reachable distance.

It promises to be a beautiful day, and perhaps, after all the rain this week, the Kinneret will even be a little fuller. If any readers are taking part, do let me know – we can wave at one another as we go round.

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