Adina Bar El in Phoenix

The day after arriving in Phoenix,  Adina and Moshe participated in the Lymphoma 5K Walkathon at the Phoenix Zoowith their host family, Daphna and Yoram Gold, Carol and Chaim Talmon, and other Phoenix Israelis supporting Yoram as a lymphoma survivor. 

After that they were off to to the Fountain Hills Art Festival and Sunday they Talmons drove them to Sedona and the Grand Canyon, beautifully powdered in snow.
 
Monday morning the Bar-els went to  the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix before Adina began her speaking engagements. 
.

Philip Haas had a "fruit of the seasons" exhibit which was amazing

Chihully always keeps a few of his pieces at the Gardens.

They also  had a special behind-the-scenes tour from a friend of Adina's, including seeing the Seed Vault, the library, and baby desert tortoises saved from being eaten by the coyotes and birds. They also saw a Brazilian Capoeira demonstration, which is a form of dance and self defense, gaining popularity all over the world,  including Israel.

Tuesday evening at the JCC book fair, Adina spoke to about 35 people about the Yiddish children's periodicals in Poland between the two world wars.

What a fascinating topic! It produced a lot of discussion and questions by the very interested crowd. 

Carol and Haim Talmon took the Bar-el's on a quick, one-day journey to beautiful Sedona

 and then the spectacular Grand Canyon on Sunday, the 11th.

On Nov. 14th, Phoenix held a TIPS committee "meet n' greet" with Adina and Moshe and 7 members of the local TIPS committee at a wonderful kosher, Vietnamese, vegan restaurant called Fresh Mint, in Scottsdale. It gave everyone the opportunity tofind out about our visitors, the Bar-els.

Ethan, Cindy, Tamar, Adina, Moshe

  Adina's next event that day was at Har Zion Synagogue,  talking to children about her moshav and what is going on there right now with the rockets,
and being worried about her children who live there.
She also talked about one of her books,  showing what the writer and the
illustrator's parts are in the making of a book. She talked to another group about her mother and how it was to be in the ghetto and getting food for the
children.  She used one of the stories that her mother told her to illustrate how her mother got money for food.

On Friday, November 16th, Adina spoke to seniors at Beth Emeth Congregation in Sun City.  Over 40 people attended and who absolutely loved her, loved hearing her stories, and LOVED telling her THEIR stories.
She read Yiddish stories. She also talked about what is going on in Israel with Operation Pillar of Defense right now with her children and grandchildren being
in the bomb shelters, etc.

That same day, Chaim took Moshe and Adina to the MIM, Musical Instrument Museum. They were so fascinated that they stayed for five hours!

On another day, because of the Bar-els have a 700 tree olive orchard, they also visited the Queen Creek Olive Mill.

On Sunday, November 18th, Carol drove Adina  to Tempe to the Temple Emanuel Teacher's workshop, where she lectured about "Bibliotherapy" to Hebrew school teachers.
 
It was a small, but very attentive group, who had students they felt could be helped with this teaching tool. The audience was given stories and activities they could use in their classrooms.  The teachers gave her A VERY positive response!

Using one of her stories, translated

Using a well-known US board book

 
Then they were  off to the Health Fair at the Orthodox shul Bet Yosef where we met a few key people from the Phoenix Jewish News who set up an interview with Adina for Monday morning at their office. Adina is looking forward to talking about her feelings regarding what is happening in Israel and what it is like to be here, while her children and grandchildren are there.
 
Adina proceeded to do a storytelling for a small group of  children for about 20 minutes ), which they really enjoyed.  They  had a great time going around to the vendors, and tasting delicious kosher samples). That was their lunch. 

The following was printed in the latest issue of the Jewish News.  Adina was interviewed by a writer from there just before she left for home.
˜"What will be, will be"

MARILYN HAWKES
Staff WriterAdina Bar El, an author and researcher who lives in Hof Ashkelon, Israel, was recently in the Valley speaking at four community events through the TIPS (Tucson, Israel, Phoenix, Seattle) partnership between the Jewish Agency and the Jewish Community Association of Greater Phoenix. She stopped by the Jewish News office to discuss the events in Israel.

Adina Bar El has three grown children, one in the Galilee and two in the Hof Ashkelon area. While Bar El was in Arizona, some of her children and grandchildren moved into her house because she has a safe room (a room completely reinforced by concrete, from the floor to the ceiling and around the perimeter). They moved because "after a few days (of the warning alarms), they couldn't bear it anymore," she said. "The children were very frightened."

Their safe room was built, Bar El said, after an attack in 2008, when she had to protect two of her grandchildren, who were babies at that time. "Suddenly, there was an alarm and I laid down on them to cover them and said to myself, "˜What will be, will be. I have to protect them."

"The whole country is a battlefront," she said. "But, we have a (normal) life. We have parties and we go to work and to learn and so on. We are keeping on with our regular life, but we have to defend ourselves. We have to live our lives."


http://www.jewishaz.com/issues/story.mv?121123+rockets#.ULoU8dcNdwg.email

Four Israeli Artists in Tucson

MessengerVodpodYahoo BookmarksBeboMister-WongWordPressGoogle ReaderOrkutXINGEvernoteNetvibes ShareStrandsPosterousBusiness ExchangeArtoTipdSmakNewsPlurkAIMYahoo MessengerIdenti.caMozillacaBlogger PostTypePad PostBox.netPinterestNetlogTechnorati FavoritesCiteULikeJumptagsHemidemiFunPInstapaperPhoneFavsXerpiNetvouzWinkDiigoBibSonomyBlogMarksTailrankStartAidKledyKhabbrMeneameYoolinkBookmarks.frTechnotizieNewsVineMultiplyFriendFeedPlaxo PulsePingSquidooProtopage BookmarksBlinklistFavesYiGGWebnewsSegnaloPushaYouMobSlashdotFarkAllvoicesJamespotImera BrazilTwiddlaLinkaGoGounalogHuggDiglogNowPublicTumblrLiveJournalCurrentHelloTxtSpurlYampleOneviewLinkatopiaSimpyLinkedInBuddyMarksAsk.com MyStuffViadeoMapleWistsConnoteaBackflipMyLinkVaultSiteJotSphinnDZoneCare2 NewsHyvesSphereBitty BrowserGabbrSymbaloo FeedsTagzaFolkdNewsTrustAmazon Wish ListPrintFriendlyRead It LaterTuentiEmailRediff MyPage

Four Israeli artists from our partnership region of Hof Ashkelon spent almost two weeks in Tucson this month, giving workshops and talking about their experiences as artists living in Israel.

“This amazing ‘Partnership 2gether’ project, sponsored by the Jewish Agency for Israel, Jewish Federations of North America and our local TIPS (Tucson, Israel, Phoenix, Seattle) committee, helps bring people from Israel and Tucson together,” says Guy Gelbart, director of the Weintraub Israel Center. “It fosters our sense of peoplehood and mutual responsibility by creating real friendships and deeper cultural connections.  

During their visit to Tucson, these 4 Israeli artists brought a fresh perspective of Jewish culture with an Israeli flavor to the local community through various events.  At each one, they shared with the participants stories of their lives, their art, and Israel.

The concept of this program was a vision of Diane Weintraub, who wished very much to have a program with real personal connections between Tucson and our partnership communities in Israel.

The artists worked with groups from various organizations, including Tucson Hebrew Academy, Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging, and Howenstine Magnet High School. They also were the special guests at the Israel Center’s “Tu B’Shevat Arty Party” on Thursday, Feb. 9,  at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, where they taught crafts to children.

Here are some photos that Ken Brandis took of the artists at Hanmaker Retirement Home in Tucson. The residents loved the activity and the turnout was one of the best ever for a daytime activity. Some had not painted or participated in such a creative venture for many years. The Handmaker staff loved the activity and the enthusiasm of the residents.  Some of the residents' children also participated. 
Here is more information on the place:  http://www.handmaker.org/

Rabbi Safran meets Vered at Handmaker:

Two pieces of paper mache art made by Vered and held by Gail.

Here are some photos of Saraleh and Vered at Temple Emanuel's Tu BShvat Seder Feb. 3, 2012

·       

The Artists spent a week in the Tucson Hebrew Academy (THA), doing a variety of projects in the different grade levels and also had a school-wide Tu B'Shevat celebration.  They worked in collaboration with Mr. Learner, the school's art teacher.   Many of the students at the Tucson Hebrew Academy  colored pots and planted parsley seeds during the Tu B'Shvat event at the school.

Children made items of clay and then painted them

With the second graders, the artists brought tree forms and had them decorate them.  Some even colored the "frames" of the original forms.  The artists also told the children about Darom Adom, the "happening" in the south central of Israel in the month of February when the red kalaniot (anemones) are in bloom.  Hof Ashkelon too participated in the festivities this year and had lots of visitors to the region to participate in the various projects, many of which had an art theme. Thanks to Ada for many of the photos that follow.

=

The 3rd graders decorated Hamsot.  The forms too were brought from Israel.

Some of the lower classes also made picture frames and decorated them with colors, glitter, buttons, stones, and shells that Ada brought from the beach near her home in Israel, etc. and put Israeli postcards in the center of the frames.

The 4th and 5th grades made mosaics.

The 6th graders learned about and made mandalas.

The 7th and 8th graders worked with Vered to do paper mache forms for a float that they were making for a Tu B'Shvat parade.  The theme of their float was "Israel, the Land of Milk and Honey."  They had a honey bear from "Bee" honey ads, the state of Israel, and T. Herzl as parts of the float.

The artists also did a program with k and 1^st graders.

All together each grade at THA from k to 8 had 6 full hours of art activities with the Israeli artists.

At Hebrew high, the teens made paintings based on the idea of the Star of David.  A similar program was held at the local Hillel at the University of Arizona.  Below artists and teachers at Hebrew High:

 

                                         Vered demonstrating

                                Intricate drawing based on a Magen David

                                        

 At the JCC, a great Arty Party was held on Tu B'Shvat. Some of the highlights with the women included a table top to decorate in a mosaic and a group mandala.

  Eating on the Go

Yehudit lead a program with “young Jewish Tucson,” a group of Jewish young adults in which they prepared Shabbat candle holders  from mosaics.

 

The artists were also hosted to Super bowl parties.

·       

         The four artists had a private tour of the San Xavier Mission with a member of the restoration team who newly discovered she is Jewish- Edna (Feldman) San Miguel and our local TIPS committee members.

 tThe artists also:

·         Discussed Israeli arts at Medabrim Sifrut (Hebrew book club) with Hebrew speaking local members of our community.

·         Conducted an open dialogue with students from Hebrew high about the history of and their relationship with the Magen David/ Star of David

·         Presented the Lion of Judah Women's Philanthropy the intricacies of their crafts.  The two pictures below were taken at the Lion of Judah event.

·         Met Local Jewish artist Michael Schwartz from the Tucson Arts Brigade who invited the artists to work with kids at Howenstine High Magnet School and the Boys and Girls Club

·         Were treated to a visit to local Jewish Ceramic artist Andy Iventosch’s studio for a get-together with other Tucson Jewish artists.  Below Judith and Andy Iventosch and then gathering at Andy's.

·         Were hosted by Metal sculptor Lynn Rae Lowe who held a beautiful going-away party for the 4.