Where Is My Tree?

Everyone knew it was a crap present. Barmitzvah boys all over the country probably silently groaned when they opened the envelope and saw the certificate. Oh no! Not another tree in Israel! (Sometimes if the donor was flush, it was six trees in Israel!) But you couldn't say anything negative. How could we not be delighted and honored to help the Halutziot (the Pioneers) who were taming the land and making the desert bloom? The taboo against saying how you felt about this non-present was as heavy as speaking ill of the dead.

A parent's voice would change - become almost reverential - "How thoughtful!" You had been honored in some mysterious way. Thus generations of South African Jewish children were cajoled and persuaded into writing 'Thank You' letters to the people who gave us, as presents, trees in our name in Israel. These were usually older relatives or our parents' friends - people with - dare I say it - no imagination. If the aim was to make of us Zionists or at least supporters of Israel, it eventually did weave a kind of mysterious magic.

How could a tree be in my name? Did someone carve my name in the bark or were there plaques attached to each tree like in the botanical gardens? If I had been given a lot of trees, did they plant them in the shape of my name so that if I flew over in a helicopter I could see my name written in trees? If I went to Israel could I find my tree?

I was not alone in these youthful fantasies. The whole situation was beautifully satirized in a 1964 film written by Ephraim Kishon - "Sallah Shabati" - in which the main character has the job of rotating the numerous name signs of the forest at which he works, depending on which Jewish donors happen to be visiting and wish to see "their forest"!

Now, with the West Bank occupied and Gaza besieged, Jews who are speaking out about Israeli aggression, are also wondering about these trees "in our names". One person who decided to investigate a few years ago was Heidi Grunebaum who together with the well-known documentary filmmaker, Mark Kaplan, made a film called "The Village Under the Forest." It appears that a forest donated by South African Jews (our trees!) was planted to hide the ruins of an Arab village: Lubya, which was vacated and destroyed in 1948 during the War which resulted in so many Palestinians becoming refugees (the Nakba).

So much for youthful fantasies! What was yours?