Dr. Racheli Einav

Dr. Rachel Einav was born in Moshav Be’er Tuvia, the granddaughter of a pioneering family. From there, she moved with her family to Ramat HaSharon, where she grew up. She spent her army service at a field school, then continued to study at the Department for Botanical Studies at Tel Aviv University. Her master’s thesis, under the guidance of Prod. Yoav Wiesel, was dedicated to beach plants, “Distribution of the spices of Limonium on the Mediterranean Coast of Israel”

The period between her MA studies and her doctorate were spent raising two wonderful daughters, Yeara and Jasmine, teaching, learning to dive, trips to the Sinai Peninsula and writing a children’s book – “Adventures with Plants.” Ever since, she has enjoyed watching her children grow, the eldest – Yeara – who recently finished studying chemical engineering at the Technion , and the youngest – Jasmine Wiler – who recently published her literary debut, “Together and Alone.” The book published by Teva Hadvarim

In preparation for her doctorate, Rachel added yet another fold to her trousers, took snorkel and mask in hand and dove into the shallows of the Mediterranean’s intertidal region. The research paper was dedicated to the Ecophysiology of seaweed in the intertidal zone – part of it field work but mostly in the laboratory. The research was done under the guidance of Prof. Siegmar Breckle of Bielfeld University in Germany, and Prof. Sven Beer, from Tel Aviv University. Her results showed that all the types examined were well adapted to their natural habitat, which enabled her to receive her degree with distinction (Magna cum laude) and to add several essays to her list of publications.

After an intermediate stop at the ecological R & D firm of “Mayim VeYam” (water and sea), a joint venture of the Israel Society for Protection of Nature and Tel Aviv University, she continued with her post-doctorate at Bar Ilan University, in its life sciences department. Prof. Zvi Dubinsky and the laboratory team there were greatly supportive. When the sea was calm, she went on underwater excursions to photograph seaweed, and when the sea was too rough, she sat by the computer, behind a large pile of books and wrote words.

The post-doctoral crop was the publication of a photographed book called “Israel’s Coastal Seaweed”, which was published in 2004 by the Bar Ilan University Press and edited by Teva HaDvarim (The Nature of Things). The guide includes an introduction on the sea and algae, and a description of about one hundred species, accompanied by underwater pictures of her own doing. The English version, "Seaweeds of the Eastern Mediterranean Coast”, is about to be published by Koeltz Scientific Books.

The company Rachel established, Blue Ecosystems, deals with a wide variety of topics, including advice to planners and entrepreneurs to prevent and minimize damage by development plans and marine installations, institutional representation, preparation of environment feasibility studies, sensitivity mapping and master-plans for dealing with agricultural waste. The company has extensive experience also in Nature conservation,  environmental aspects of water-desalination, natural gas projects and aqua culture (fish ponds and algae ponds).

Concurrent with her professional work, Einav continues researching the marine environment alongside Ran Gil and Avi Zehavi (Blue Ecosystems Research Team) Sometimes with the help of Dr. Israel Alvaro. The team has recently completed a study of the Neveh Yam and Atlit coasts, now continuing along the Dor Coast’s northern island.

In recent years, Einav has also begun dealing with practical uses of algae, and one fruit of this interest has been a joint cookery book with Chef Yitzhak Nathan Levi (Icho), dealing with Mediterranean flavored recipes using seaweed, “Seaweed in Olive Oil”. The book is being published by Teva HaDvarim, graphically designed by Sheer Ran, and preceded with a cooking series on the Teva HaDvarim television channel.

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