Posted on Facebook on May 18, 2026
This is how it happened:
In 2014, I was invited to participate in a series of training seminars by KKL, including a southern campus that covered the Negev, the Arava, and the Eilat region. One morning, we set out for an introductory tour of the The Eilat Bird Sanctuary.
We were welcomed by Yael Lenard, then the park’s chief ringer, a young woman with a serious background in birding, marked by gentleness, wisdom, experience, and above all, a deep love for birds and nature. Her guidance and explanations were so pleasant and contagious. As she spoke, she gently took birds out of special cloth bags, birds that had undergone biometric measurements (wing, tail, weight, etc.) and banding, and then released them back into their migration. Later, she brought out a hawk, a magnificent bird of prey. Wow, that entire morning was simply wonderful.
I love the Land of Israel. I’ve always been someone who hikes on foot, goes out into nature, curious about what and whom I encounter along my journeys across the country. At the same time, over the years- a degree in history and religions, a tour guide course, and work in educational/identity-based tourism, mainly with Diaspora Jewry, had placed me more in a historical/cultural/identity mindset.
And that encounter changed my life. In truth, it changed the life of my entire family!!
It began with buying our first pair of binoculars and heading out into the field for birding. It continued with regular visits with the kids to the Jerusalem Bird Observatory named after Nili and David, including celebrating Noam’s birthday there. The kids joined in; we went on night tours, reptile and wildflower tours, bought binoculars for everyone, chased “lifers” (a birding term for the first time you see a particular species), and did “twitches” (dropping everything to run and see a reported sighting). Amit and I took a assistant bird ringer course; the kids submitted photos to competitions and participated in KKL’s “Birdathon” and in the “Champions of Flyaway” celebration of the Israel birding center. Our bookshelf filled up with field guides.
There is hardly a conversation at home that doesn’t circle back to birding: “I saw a Eurasian wryneck in the yard,” “This week, look up, there’ll be a migration of Levant sparrowhawks,” “Did you see what someone posted in the group…?”
Of course, it only began there: birding, botany, insects and reptiles, and a deep commitment to nature conservation. Amit, my eldest, even did a service year at the Golan Heights Field School of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, and today, during his army training, between field exercises, he continues to identify and teach soldiers and commanders about wildflowers, passing on his love of nature.
Wow – what a journey we’ve taken from a single encounter with a bird and a remarkable nature lover somewhere in Eilat more than a decade ago.
Two things (among many) we gained from that encounter:
How wonderful it is to be a family that loves nature.
A person should be good to nature, and nature is always good to a person (well… let’s not talk about tsunamis right now). All it takes is to go out into nature as a family, and suddenly every moment becomes something new. A new season, a landscape that is always changing, birds that surprise (and sometimes disappoint when you don’t find them). Family time in nature is among the highest-quality time there is, even just an hour of walking in the nature around us. I am grateful for that moment that caught me and gave us this gift as a family!!!
The beauty in the small details
Nature invites us to slow down, not just to stop, but truly to listen. To set aside the loud noise and tune ourselves to the quiet whispers of the world. There, precisely there, in the small details, its true beauty is revealed.
With every changing season, something subtle shifts. Not always dramatic, not always loud, but those who observe can see it: a shade of green deepening or softening, a path taking on a new scent after the first rain, skies opening into new colors. And the birds, they tell a story to those willing to listen: one quick chirp, another long and winding- the language of courtship, of territory, of life. Resident species alongside passing visitors bring movement, color, and a different rhythm of breath.
Even the beak of a bird, small and delicate as it may be, is a key to an entire story- about food, adaptation, and a whole ecological system that exists in a remarkable balance. And every flower is a world unto itself: some bloom early, some late; some seek sandy soil, others cling to hard rock. Colors, shapes, and scents, each one an answer to a question nature has been asking for thousands of years.
And once you begin to see, truly see, you cannot stop.
Suddenly, every step outside is a discovery. Every step is an invitation. Every moment is a small story waiting to be heard.
What a wondrous world we have, when we choose to pay attention!
A person is like nature. The beauty of each of us lies in the small details that make us unique.
In the Mishnah, Tractate Sanhedrin (4:5), it is taught:
“To proclaim the greatness of the Holy One, blessed be He: for a human being stamps many coins with one seal, and they are all alike; but the King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, stamped every person with the seal of Adam the first, and not one of them is like another. Therefore, each and every person must say: For my sake was the world created.”
What a great wonder it is, that each of us shares something in common, a divine spark from above; and what an equally great wonder, that each of us also has something uniquely our own. If we would only take the time to look deeply at one another, we would see remarkable things.
We live in such an intense world, full of distractions. If we borrow a term from nature, we might call it “pollution”, something that prevents us from focusing on the beauty of the other. But that is where the true wonder lies: in one’s unique character, abilities, talents, actions, tone of voice, kind eye, way of walking, smile and many more.
What a great gift it is, to slow down and appreciate the small things.
What a wondrous world we have, when we choose to pay attention.
It isn’t always easy. It’s a bit like searching for a migrating bird you deeply want to seebut the main thing is to step out into the open, and keep looking.
