An area family encounters an
Israeli forest fire en route to
an arc 4 1. el:. I

RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER

Mrs. Podolsky grew nervous. She felt the bus heating up.
"I went from thinking this was something interesting to watch, to
hoping we'd get out of there," she says.
Their typically calm Israeli tour guide raised his voice. "Za! Za!"
he ordered the bus driver. "Go! Go!" echoed Mrs. Podolsky's broth-
er-in-law.
At what seemed like the very last minute, the bus rushed forward,
passing soldiers who were flagging traffic away from the flames. Two
minutes later, the highway closed. Vehicles that hadn't moved for-
ward had to turn around and backtrack to Jerusalem.
The metro Detroit crew made it to their archeological dig that day,
albeit late. One family member unearthed an ancient saucer-like
dish.
In retrospect, however, they consider something else the prime
highlight of their trip. The day after riding through flames, Mrs.
Podolsky and her relatives planted and watered seedlings in
Jerusalem's Hadassah Forest.
"It had a lot of meaning for us," Mrs. Podolsky says. "In light of
the fire, planting trees wasn't just another thing to do." ❑

To help restore the forest, call the Jewish National Fund's metro
Detroit office at (810) 557-6644.

Top:
Trees, ablaze, toppled over.

Above:
A gust of wind blew the
inferno toward the bus.

Right:
Lynn Podolsky planted trees
the next day with her family.

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