Last week, our dedicated and hard-working staff received a morale booster.

Bracha Runes, the Home’s Programs Director, made arrangements to take the Home’s devoted employ to Caesaria, on Israel’s coastal plain, for an exhalirating boat ride outing.

The counselors, department directors, house mother, cook, and Bracha herself, a total of 15 ladies, piled into tenders and headed north for the day. They purchased take-away lunch at a local Caesaria restaurant and then set off for a scenic boat ride on the Mediterranean.

Caesaria is a town built by Herod the Great about 25-13 BCE as the port city Caesaria Maritima. It served as an administrative center of Judaea Province of the Roman Empire, and later the capital of the Byzantine Palaestina Prima province during the classic period. Following the Arab conquest in the 7th century, the city fell into obscurity until Crusader renovation, but was again abandoned after the Mamluk conquest.

It was populated in 1884 by Muslim Bosnyak immigrants, making it a small fishing village. In 1940, kibbutz Sdot Yam was established on Jewish lands next to the Bosnyak village. During the Civil War in Mandatory Palestine, the town was abandoned by the Bosnyak residents, and in 1952 a Jewish town of Caesaria established near the ruins of the old city, which were made into the national park of Caesaria Maritima.

The respite of a few hours really relaxed the ladies as they enjoyed their delicious lunch on a glass bottom boat, watching interesting tropical fish swim by.

Bracha remarked, “There’s nothing like a day out in nature to renew and refresh one’s spirit.”

Lev LaLev is proud to be part of this wonderful morale booster for our most dedicated and devoted staff members.