“And when come into the land, and plant all kinds of trees…”
Leviticus, 19:23
Efforts to reclaim the Holy Land, which was a largely desolate landscape at the beginning of the 20th century were central to the lives of the early Zionists in the late 19th and early 20th century. Today, one of the most meaningful and simple things a visitor can do in Israel is to plant a tree. In fact 240,000,000 trees have been planted in the land since the Jewish National Fund began planting here in 1901. JNF still plants a million trees a year and one of the forests where visitors can plant is located close to the Golani Junction, just outside of Kibbutz Lavie about 15 minutes from Tiberias.