Kesher Talk

Jews and the GOP: The Los Angeles Times gages the prevailing winds for President Bush among Jewish voters at the AIPAC conference this week.

posted by William @ 5/19/2004 01:48:22 PM 0 comments links to this post  

Jews in odd places: India: The city of Imphal, capital of the northeastern Indian state of Manipur, is now home to a new Jewish educational center geared to the needs of the local community of Bnei Menashe, a group claiming descent from a lost tribe of Israel.

posted by William @ 5/18/2004 04:26:40 PM 0 comments links to this post  

A new brand of entrepreneurial Zionism:

If Jake Leibowitz's dream comes true, hundreds of rich American Jewish families will pick up their money and start moving to Israel in the next two years.

Leibowitz, once a building contractor in the United States, has dedicated himself over the past few years to convincing American families to leave their homes and invest in a new and revolutionary planned community to be built in the Ha'ela Valley called "Harei Eden." A plan for the new community will soon be submitted to a regional committee for consideration.

The new community, to be built near Moshav Roglit just meters from the Green Line, will be characterized by a number of services heretofore unknown in Israel. The town's drinking water will be recycled and reused for irrigation, Harei Eden's garbage will be collected by a special underground system and vehicles will be forbidden from driving within the residential areas of the community.

"I am convinced that most of the Jews' problems both in Israel and out can be solved if we just unite our forces," Leibowitz said enthusiastically. "Israel has many talented people, but we are lacking just a few pennies. American Jews will happily come here, because we will give them better living conditions, spirituality and history. They will bring their money with them."

Leibowitz's original idea was to establish an ecological community that would not harm the land and would blend in with the natural landscape.

Itai Linenberg, a project architect from the Plesner Architects firm, began working with Leibowitz to turn his dream into reality.

"One of Jake's first requests was that there should not be cars in the community. He wanted the cars to park outside the community and for automatic shuttles to carry residents directly to their homes. His first thought was that vehicles wanting to enter the community would do so via a network of underground tunnels."

In the end, another creative solution was reached: One side of all the town's homes would face the vehicle-accessible road and the other side would face a series of streets along which vehicles would not be permitted to travel.

So as not to burden the pampered American population too much, all the town's homes would be built within walking distance of each other.

"The main road would only be 600 meters long," Linenberg said. "The residents would thus need to walk just 10 minutes to get from one side of the town to the other. The town will have an absolute separation between vehicles and pedestrians, so a mother will be able to send her children to play outside without any fear."

Harei Eden's main street will look like the main street of a town from the Middle Ages: a long, thin route lined with shops and backed by cultural institutions that would serve as the community's life center.

Artificial lakes and fountains will be part of the town's water recycling system.

The initial stages of planning will examine the option of providing every resident with a computerized scooter. At the moment permits for the plan have still not been granted by the Transportation Ministry and those who don't want to walk will be forced to ride bicycles.

Leibowitz returned this week from a trip during which he attempted to recruit potential residents to Harei Eden. The price of homes in the planned town will start at $200,000 for a small apartment. One of the clients has already said he plans to build a villa at the cost of more than $3 million.

Hundreds of American families, most of them under the age of 40, have already paid advances on homes in the planned town, Leibowitz said.

Some 500 housing units are planned for Harei Eden according to the tender, but Leibowitz is convinced he can expand the project by another 1,000 units.

Leibowitz came up with the idea for the community some 15 years ago.

"A combination of capitalism and Zionism," he explained. "Every time someone has an idea like this for the construction of a new community, they immediately ask the state for resources. This project propels itself."

Leibowitz brushed off the objections to Harei Eden raised by environmental organizations.

"It's not so smart to oppose things all the time. I am greener and more ecologically oriented than they are. We are even planning on building two passages for wildlife at the entrance to the community."

He is convinced the rich Americans who will come to Harei Eden will also invest in the adjacent industrial park he plans to build and in other financial initiatives in Israel.

"Maybe you'll laugh, but I believe the American Jews who come to the community will bring billions of dollars to Israel via the projects and businesses they establish here," Leibowitz said. ("An ecological paradise to lure American Jews ", Jonathan Lis, Ha'Aretz, Mar. 15)

posted by William @ 5/17/2004 11:39:01 AM 0 comments links to this post