Because That’s What Friends Do

Thousands of trees are to be planted in Israel to memorialize Newtown victims.

Courtesy: JNF
Courtesy: JNF

More than 2,000 people have donated funds to plant a grove of more than 3,000 trees in Israel in memory of the victims of the Newtown shooting.

Hadassah has raised more than $61,000 toward the planting of trees honoring the 26 victims of the Dec. 14 massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. The trees will be part of the Beersheva River Park, a 1,700-acre water, environmental and commercial area being constructed by the Jewish National Fund in Israel’s desert city.

The idea for the Newtown grove grew from a request made by Veronique Pozner, whose son, Noah, was the only Jewish victim of the shooting at the Connecticut school. Pozner said memorial contributions could be directed toward the planting of trees in Israel.

The president of Hadassah, Marcie Natan, said her organization decided quickly that it wanted to honor all the victims of the massacre, not just Noah.

“Everybody was so affected by the massacre and wanted to do something to express their solidarity with the families,” Natan told JTA. “Each of us have had the experience of non-Jews who have found it very meaningful when a tree is planted in the Holy Land. We felt no one would be offended by this and we thought it would be a very appropriate way to honor the memory of the victims.”

Of course, the nutters will claim it is just a ploy to deflect attention from the “real culprits.”

6 thoughts on “Because That’s What Friends Do”

  1. Polish Dan from the USA

    I am really touched by this action coming from a country so far away. In a location of the world with so much turmoil, to make an effort to honor little children and teachers from the USA is indeed quite remarkable. Thank you.

  2. Yes Israel made the desert bloom and reason there is even water in parts see for yourself visit Israel and give yourself another opportunity to visit Beer Sheva and support Southern Israel.

    1. You can make the desert bloom and build up a wonderful modern, pluralistic democratic state but you can’t seem to convince your neighbors to act in a rational and reasonable way towards you. Maybe if you gave them seed money to build their own casinos, relations would improve. It worked for us.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top