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J^THE NEWS-October,1986 Jews Aid Others In U. S. and Philippines An Israeli Helps Green The Barren Painted Desert By Marlene Goldman Two years ago, American Navajo Indians doubted the promise of David Msizigh, an Israeli agronomist, who said he could transform £ireas of the barren Painted Desert in Arizona into fertile stretches of farmland. But Mazigh allayed the Navajos’ disbelief by produc ing fields of corn, potatoes, melons and other fruits and vegetables on experimental farms across Navajo reserva tions in Arizona. He earned their respect so much so that they nsuned him Nihikaoojeeh, a Navajo word meaning “one who comes to help us, ” and in sisted on honoring him at a farewell party on a Navajo farm he founded 60 miles nor theast of Flagstaff. Between 75 and 100 Nava jos and dignitaries joined the celebration, including Peter son Zah, chairman of the Navajo Tribal Council, and Wilma Mankiller, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. The feast featured samples of Mazigh’s hard labor: onions, tomatoes, melons, squash, potatoes and corn; the Navajos also presented him with gifts. While Mazigh returns to his position in Israel as director of the Avdat Experimental Farm on the Sde Boker campus of Ben Gurion University of the Negev, his replacement, Ron Scherzer, a 36-year-old expert in field crops and fish pond culture, will move his family from Kibbutz Sde Boker to the Navajo Nation for two years. “Mazigh was very special and was not afraid to dig into the earth with his hands,” said Lois Roisman, executive direc tor of the Washington-based Jewish Fund for Justice, a na tional Jewish foundation which funds efforts that pro mise social and economic justice in the United States. “He worked from dawn till dusk, side by side with the Navajos, and they treated him like a brother,” she added. When Mazigh first arrived in early 1985, he said that the Navajos didn’t even know what Israel is. They could not understand why the Jewish people wanted to help them. “I told them Jews believe you love other people as you love yourself. This is my religion,” he explained. “I think they understood.” The Navajos, whose 170,000 members comprise the largest of the 424 Native American tribes, are among the poorest people in the world. They were totally ignorant about the basics of farming technique, according to Mazigh. “They didn’t know to give the crops water every day,” he said. “We needed to teach them slowly.” Mazigh tested some 120 dif ferent varieties of fruits, vegetables and grains, in cluding 14 varieties of watermelon, pineapple, papaya, avocado, pepper, cab bage, almond and his personal favorite, pistachios. He is known as the “pistachio king” in Israel for his success with the crop. Impressed By Israeli Methods The idea of looking to Israel to aid the Navajos was the brainchild of Jacques Seronde, program director of the Seventh Generation Fund. “I was inspired by the book ‘The Negev: Challenge of the Desert,' by Michael Avenari,” Seronde told the JTA. Seronde was im pressed with how the Israelis conquered the Negev by using runoff water and envisioned success using similar methods in the arid region inhabited by the Navajos. Seronde, who is married to an Indian woman and whose grandfather was the late Christian Herter, a former Secretary of State in the Eisenhower Administration, has lived and worked with the Navajos since 1970. He travel ed to the Negev in 1981 to study drip irrigation at Ben Gurion University’s Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, where he met Mazigh. When Seronde returned to Flagstaff, he convinced tribal and com munity officials to create the “Navajo Experimental Farm Program.” Grants were obtained from the Jewish Fund for Justice and the Ford Foundation, and Mazigh, who was on sab batical leave, was recruited. “What he brought was a big heart, a willingness to work hard and a great deal of technical and social knowledge,” Seronde said. The farms started by Mazigh are comparable to the Israeli moshav, according to Seronde. “It’s a cooperative village where families live in dependently and each works a plot of ground, but they cooperate for purchasing fer tilizer, and tractors and in marketing produce,” he added. The success of the Israeli- modeled family agriculture has attracted the interest of Pueblo, Lakota, Shoshone, Hopi and other Native Americans. The Seventh Generation Fund, Jewish Fund for Justice and Ben Gurion University intend to expemd the program further in 1986-87. Will Try To Send Indians To Israel During the winter, Seronde hopes to be able to send Native Americans to Israel because he believes it is “im portant for people here to see what has been done in Israel.” He also plans to introduce Israeli expertise to fisheries in the north and livestock in the High Plains. “The social and economic conditions £U*e disastrous on reservations and I feel there is a good chance we can adapt the Israeli model to meet Native American needs,” Seronde said. He believes the Navajos and other American Indians are now willing to accept help from Jews and Israelis because they have presented a visible solution. So far, Seronde has met his initial goals with the project. “The Israelis have added green to the palate of the Painted Desert,” he said. AJWS To Aid Filipinos The American Jewish World Service (AJWS), the interna tional relief and development organization, announced its “Plant An Acre” campaign in response to conditions of ex treme hunger and poverty on the Phillipine island of Negros, affecting many thousands of See JEWS AID page 12 Pi Go Krogering for a Wide Variety of Kosfier Foods Manischewitz Brand Matzos Soup Mixes Borscht Soups Mdtzo Ball Mix Bakit Matzo Ball Soup Matzo Ball Broth Cefilte Fish Whitefish & Pike Potato Kugel Mix Matzo Meal Empire Frozen Kosher Food Pie Crust Potato Latkes Natural Cut Potatoes Challah Dough Chall-ettes Rye Bread Chopped Liver spread Chicken Breaded Mushrooms Pot Pies Pizza Bagels English Muffin Mix Frozen Blintzes Bagel Pizza Garlic Bread ManisiM Kineret Kosher Frozen Food onion Rings Puff Pastry Dough Ready To Bake Challah Blintzes Potato Latkes others • Noodles by Goodman, Greenfield and Mrs. Weiss • soups by Carmel, Croyden House, Goodman and lelma • Mother s schav • Mother’s All Whitefish • Rokeach Old Vienna Fish • Rokeach Tomato & Mushroom Sauce • wolff Croats/Kasha • joyva Halvah Candy • Kedem Grape Juice • Rokeach Pareve Coffee creamer • swee-Touch-Nee Tea Bags • Panni Shredded Potato Pancake Mix Panni Bavarian Potato Pancake Mix Mrs. rs Pierogles Athens Fillo %'S*! '■on OPEN 24 HOURS % 7/ Selection may vary at stores. V
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Oct. 1, 1986, edition 1
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