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Rehovot's Last Tree

Tu B'Shevat's beauty in Israel is giving way to
high-rises and shopping centers.

NECHEMIA MEYERS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

A

. is usual on Tu B'Shevat,
Rehovot schoolchildren
went out to plant trees.
But nearby, while they
were planting them, thousands
of others were being uprooted.
For in Rehovot — as in other
cities up and down Israel's
Mediterranean coast — bulldoz-
ers are ripping out citrus groves
to make room for new housing
and commercial centers.

coops, sit apartment houses and
shopping centers.
For example, on the land of
Kibbutz Shefayim — between Tel
Aviv and Netanya — are a half-
dozen large franchised shops sell-
ing everything from computers
and cosmetics to towels and ta-
bles. Needless to say, various va-
rieties of junk food are also
available on the premises.
The coast has a dozen more

,

F URNITURE

Woodward Ave. @ Square Lk. Rd. (810) 334-4745 • Mon. & Thurs., 10-8:30 'Tues., Wed., Fri., Sat. 10-5:30 • Sun., Noon-5

*Minimum purchase of 5499. Some restrictions apply. Details in store.

An almond tree in bloom at Tu B'Shevat.

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THE JEWISH NEWS

When we first came to Rehovot
34-years ago, citrus groves sur-
rounded us. When the spring
came, the smell of orange blos-
soms was everywhere. Now the
only smell is fumes from the ex-
haust pipes of automobiles.
Indeed, the sole orange tree in
evidence is the one on the city em-
blem. It shares pride of place with
a microscope. When the emblem
was designed, Rehovot boasted
about being both a center of the
citrus industry and the home of
the renowned Weizmann Insti-
tute.
This year, the Nature Protec-
tion Association took the occasion
of 'IV B'Shevat to protest against
the gradual disappearance of
every last green spot along the
coastal plain. Life would become
unbearable if Israel developed
into another Hong Kong, it
warned. Israelis would leave the
country, the association added,
were it transformed into a con-
crete jungle.
Contributing to the eradication
of nature from large sections of
the country is the government's
decision to allow moshavim and
kibbutzim to sell land to devel-
opers. Now, where there were
once wheat fields and chicken

Nechemia Meyers writes from

Rehovot, Israel.

such enclaves. And since these
places, unlike urban shops, are
open on the Shabbat, many Is-
raeli families spend their Satur-
days travelling from one
shopping center to another.
This ensures that traffic jams,
now very much part of Israeli life,
will be almost as common on the
Shabbat as on weekdays. And,
ostensibly to ease the congestion,
a new cross-Israel superhighway
is presently under construction.
Even though millions of dol-
lars have already been invested
in the project, some opponents
are still trying to kill it. Among
the most vocal are two people
who don't agree on almost any-
thing else, left-wing former En-
vironment Minister Yossi Sarid
and the current holder of the
post, the right-wing Rafael Eitan.
Both declare that another high-
way won't solve anything because
here, as elsewhere, more high-
ways bring more cars and the
traffic jams remain.
The money for highways,
Messrs. Sarid and Eitan declare,
should go to improving public
transport, the only real answer
to traffic jams.
And, of course, more highways
eat up whatever unspoiled coun-
tryside remains in this tiny and
increasingly crowded land. ❑