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* Professional instructions
* Classes for all skill levels -
beginner to expert
* Special program for the younger
skiers (ages 6-10)
Small classes
Adult classes too!
Charter buses Saturday & Sunday

(248)

855-1075

Teaching Kids to Ski
is Our Business

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MOWN [AKE VIELAGE SHOPS • 248

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ENTERTAINMENT

2/2
2001

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(248) 356-6000

Children in a southern Israel development town enjoy.
tree-planting on Tu b'Shevat.

Beersheva. The tamarisk, also a
native tree of Israel, grows wild
throughout the country. Yet not all
Torah commentators agree that, in
this case of Avraham, eshel means
tamarisk. Interpretations range from
I "orchard" to "inn."
I King Saul rendered judgment
!under a tamarisk (I Samuel 22:6).
He and his sons also were buried
1 under a tamarisk (I Samuel 31:13),
I although I Chronicles 10:12 states
that the tree was a terebinth.
One of the most prominent trees in
the Tanach is the acacia, known in
I Hebrew as shittah. Formed of hard,
light wood th-at does not easily
absorb moisture, it was ideal for
I construction and shipbuilding. It is
not surprising that this is the wood
from which the mizbeach, or Taber-
facie, was made, as described in
the parsha Teruma (Exodus 25-27).
The acacia was so highly regard-
! ed that Isaiah prophesied that these
trees would line the path of the,
:returning Jewish exiles and make the
wastelands bloom. A number of

places in ancient Israel were identi-
fied with the acacia: Shittim, where
the Israelites committed immorality
i with Moabite women leading to the
violent act of Pinchas; the Valley of
Shittim mentioned by the prophet
Yoel; and Beit Ha-Shittah, where
Gideon rallied his men (today Beit
Ha-Shittah is a kibbutz). •
Parsha Eikev (Debteronomy 8:8)
1 lists the seven species by which the
Land of Israel is blessed, among
which are four trees: fig, pomegran-
ate, olive, and date.
Although in English we may not
"give a fig," in the Tanach, the fig is
I. mentioned 16 times, together with
the grape vine, as the most impor-
t tant fruit of Eretz Yisrael, the Land of
I Israel. The phrase, "every man
under his vine and under his fig
1 tree" is the Tanach's expression of
peace and security.
1 After Adam and Eve ate the fruit of
the Tree of Knowledge of Good and
1 Evil, they realized they were naked
I and covered themselves with aprons
I sewed from a fig leaf (Genesis 3:7).