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.
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