Special Donor Opportunities To

Support Neot Kedumim

In the Talmud (Sanhedrin 8a), we read of two ships, sailing in opposite directions, approaching a narrow passage with room for only one ship to pass. If the ships try to enter the passage simultaneously, both will sink. Since only one ship can go first, which one should it be? The Talmud answers: If one ship is carrying a heavier load, that ship should go first. Or if one ship is closer to the passageway, that ship should go first. But if all the circumstances are identical, the ships should arrive at a compromise and divide any costs involved.
For nearly half a decade, Neot Kedumim has had to decide which ship could go through the narrow passage first. At every turn, difficult decisions were made and, with God's help, many of the ships have (barely) made it through. The costs entailed casting out vital parts of the load. Fifty percent of the staff has been let go. Salaries have been cut. Development of new areas has stopped, and upkeep of the grounds has been cut to the bare essentials.

Now a new light [àåø çãù ohr hadash, in Hebrew] has begun to shine on Neot Kedumim. Tourism is slowly coming back. Visitors are returning. We will be able to sustain this revival––if we repair the damages as soon as possible.
But how can we properly receive these visitors with virtually no funding from the Education and Tourism Ministries (whose own budgets are subject to severe cuts again and again)?

The answer lies with you, our friends. Please review the five special donor opportunities listed below (paying special attention to opportunity number five, which is explained in detail), and look deeply into your hearts. It is you who will ensure Neot Kedumim's survival for us and for future generations.

Donor Opportunities:
1. Adopt a Trail Program............................$118.00 per section.
   A donor may adopt one or more sections or an entire trail, and will be appropriately recognized by Neot Kedumim.
2. Bring a class from a disadvantaged neighborhood to
   Neot Kedumim..........................................$600.00 per class
   (includes bus transportation, mandatory armed guards, guided tour and activities at Neot Kedumim)
3. Plaque on Neot Kedumim's beautiful
   Friendship Overlook.................................................$ 5,000.00
4. Restore one of Neot Kedumim's
   60 cisterns................................................................$10,000.00
5. Rehabilitate one of Neot Kedumim's
   6 pools*....................................................................$40,000.00

To underwrite the cost of any of these programs, please contact the AFNK office in New York at (518) 296-8673(phone or fax), or by email at tikvah4afnk@yahoo.com.

The Pools At Neot Kedumim
"I made pools of water, to irrigate a forest of growing trees" (Ecclesiastes 2:6).
When Neot Kedumim's six pools were constructed in the early 1970s, they were guaranteed for 25 years. Well-built, they lasted longer. But now, deterioration has made the rehabilitation of each pool an urgent necessity.

Each pool is a vital component of the Neot Kedumim ecosystem, as detailed in "Tilling and Tending": Water Management at Neot Kedumim, in this newsletter. Without the pools, we cannot practice and teach the biblically ordained water and soil stewardship that is a cornerstone of our ecological and educational work. Without the pools, we won't be able propogate the "willows of the brook" in the Four Species area. Without the pools, we will not hear the the frogs who compared their voices to those of the Psalmist, and, without the pools, we won't be able to show the "many waters that cannot quench love" (Song of Songs 8:7) along the wedding trail.

The Pool of the Shepherds

"Return our exiles, O Lord, like watercourses in the Negev. Those who sow in tears shall reap with songs of joy. He who goes along weeping, carrying the seedbag, shall come back with songs of joy, carrying his sheaves" (Psalm 126:4-6).

In this beautiful and beloved psalm, the return of the exiles to Israel is compared to the "watercourses in the Negev."Why the Negev and not simply "the desert"? The Negev streams come from collecting basins incomparably larger than those of the Judean Desert. When rain falls on the Negev mountains, water begins to flow into hundreds of tiny rivulets that drain into dozens of larger watercourses. These carry the water, in ever-growing strength, to larger streams that can reach several hundred meters in width.

This picture––myriad tiny rivulets coming together from distant areas to form powerful streams--is surely what inspired the psalmist to pray for the ingathering of the exiles from the four corners of the earth "like watercourses in the Negev." (See Nogah Hareuveni, Desert and Shepherd in Our Biblical Heritage, p.89-90.)

The Pool of the Shepherds	The Pool of the Willows

Those who "sow in tears and reap with songs of joy" is a parallel image. The sowers put each tiny, precious seed into the ground, not knowing whether or not there would be a harvest. And if the blessing of the harvest does come, each seed will have multiplied itself many dozens of times-like the tiny rivulets in the Negev that, together, form rushing streams.

You, our friends, are like the rivulets in the Negev. Every drop, no matter how modest, can join together with all the others from around the world to produce a sustaining stream. Each small "seed" can help us to generate a "harvest" of programs and visitors.

With our warmest thanks,
Paula Tobenfeld