Page 26 - Issue 23
P. 26
In Bereishit it says:
"הּ ָֽר ְמ ָשׁ ְלוּ הּ ָ֖ד ְבָﬠ ְל ן ֶד ֵ֔ﬠ־ןַג ְב וּה ֵ֣חִנַּיַּו ם ָ֑ד ָא ָֽה־ת ֶא םי ִ֖ה�ֱא הָ֥והְי ח ַ֛קִּיַּו"
“‘God took the human and placed them in the garden of
Eden to serve it and tend it.”
Doing this labor here, in Eretz Yisrael, connects me to the
land that forms the basis for so much of Judaism. There’s a
reason Sukkot, Tu B’Shevat, Passover happen when they do--
they’re agricultural holidays, tied to the fields. It also
connects me to the process of building a Jewish people that
does our own labor for our society on the land we steward.
Don’t get me
wrong, this is
not without
tension. The
work on the
mata’im is
physically
challenging,
and it
doesn’t
always make
me feel
Jewish, The sunrise over the baby trees
sometimes
it’s just hard (Perhaps there’s something to say about Jewish
suffering here though?). And it could be argued that today’s
standard agricultural practices don’t exactly serve or tend to
land in the way we best could. But ultimately the experience
of being outside, with the tzevet, the trees, grass, birds, and
turtles has given me a new connection with Judaism that is
mine to shape and grow.