Not BUILDING, but building

It's summer. That means new families. New immigrants. New sunny beginnings. It should also mean lots of building for a new tomorrow. But alas, Efrat hasn't gotten government permits for construction of any new neighborhoods or building on our hilltops. The real building freeze is on here no matter what the temperatures.

Still, summer means tractors and clanging and the roar of the drill. While we sadly won't see a bunch of new homes added to our landscape in the near future, I did hear the banging of tools this morning.

Workmen are digging and hammering around a new youth building of the Ezra youth group. For more than a year, the shell of the building stood abandoned, but now there's plenty of action around its perimeter. I'm excited that the kids of the neighborhood will be able to call a beautiful new building home base, instead of a bunch of old

caravans.

Then I noticed the sign. Perhaps it's been there for ages, or perhaps it just popped up. It reads something like "The Efrat Municipality together with the Ministry of Building and various donations are building a Youth Clubhouse here on the Dekel Hill. The work will be completed on December 1, 2011, IY"H. Another 250,000 NIS is needed to complete the building. All contributions are welcome: 993-9310."

You are invited to contribute.

As I drove around during the day, I suddenly noticed more of those green and blue work signs.

The Efrat Local Council in cooperation with the Ministry of Transportation is widening our main street - Sderot David Hamelech Boulevard - in order to separate the traffic that passes between the junction of David Hamelech, Rachel Emeinu and the junction of Zerubavel.

There are two simultaneous projects going on at the Orot Etzion Boys' School. Efrat in cooperation with the Ministry of Transportation is working on a project to better organize the transportation
for the school's students. In addition, Efrat and the Ministry of Education and Culture are doing massive renovations inside the school.

Suddenly everywhere I looked, there was a sign. On the Zayit, I noticed that Efrat just began work on July 1 on a basketball court that's supposed to be ready in October. That's great news for all our young (and old) Zayit athletes. A sports area is good for every neighborhood. It brings a positive excitement and life to the neighborhood nightlife.

Passing the Efrat Community Center, I found yet another sign. On this location will be built the offices of the Psychological Services and the Center for Empowerment. (I'm for empowerment. Actually, everyone seems to be for empowerment lately, and if you say so, it's very PC of you - empowerment of children, or women, of the needy.) Work will start Nov. 2011 and hopefully will end June 2012.
The project is under the management of the Efrat Dept. of Engineering. Now, there's already a building on that space, so I can only imagine that there's going to enlarge and renovate it inside out.

Right down the block from there, another sign stood outside the Aseh Chayil School. It said that renovation is underway on the bathrooms in the Aseh Chayil School. I'm sure the kids will appreciate that come September.

Not all the jobs are months long. Efrat will be using this month of July to renew and pave Hamelech
David Boulevard between Smadar Street and Hashayarot Street. The project is under the management of the Efrat Engineering Dept.

There are probably many more signs around town that I have yet to discover. The work being done in the different neighborhoods isn't massive. It's not BUILDING, but it is building, renovating and contributing to our quality of life in Efrat.

And it feels really good to hear the banging and see those great signs that tell us, we're thriving and working to make life in Efrat better every day.

May our little building projects lead IY"H very soon to BIG BUILDING projects. That's what we really need!

My thanks to my friend, Rochelle, for help translating the signs.