Skip to main content

A different kind of tree

image The wise and wonderful Batya Medad has once again reminded us of our true responsibilities in looking back on the Carmel fire and taking a lesson from Israel’s water shortages. 

But, although I usually agree with her 100%, she refers to some of the people’s mourning for the trees as “trivial.”

Trivial or not, my perspective on the fire had a lot to do with the trees. 

It’s not that we shouldn’t daven, of COURSE, and certainly focus on Hashem’s purpose for the country, and the direction its leadership should take.  Those are all important things – far more important than the trees.

imageBut then there’s the fact that every Tu b'Shvat, when it's too cold to think about planting anything, we're over here, paying JNF and visualizing fields full of Israeli s choolchildren planting for us.  Every bar or bat mitzvah, every secular milestone... you plant a tree.  It’s the rectangular blue “pushke” in every Bubby’s home.

To think of those or any other trees burning, well, the trees mean a LOT.

The trees are synecdochal - they are a small and superficial part of Israel, it's true, but for many of us, they represent the whole, the tikvah, the aspirations of every Jew, להיות עם חופשי בארצנו, “lihyot am chofshi b'artzeinu” – to be a free people in our own land.

The trees are irrevocably intertwined with the freedom of Jewish people everywhere.  Trivial?  Never.

Labels:

Comments

  1. BatyaDecember 27, 2010 12:24 AM

    Darling, a healthy tree is a sign of a healthy land and a drought suffering land isn't healthy. I grieve for our Land suffering the punishment for foolish acts, policies, leadership and citizens.

    Once we treat our HolyLand with the right respect and build and settle it as G-d commands us, G-d will bless us with rain and once again we will enjoy the trees.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love your comments!

Popular posts from this blog

לימודי קודש/Limudei Kodesh Copywork & Activity Printables

Welcome to my Limudei Kodesh / Jewish Studies copywork and activity printables page.  As of June 2013, I am slowly but surely moving all my printables over to 4shared because Google Docs / Drive is just too flaky for me. What you’ll find here: Weekly Parsha Copywork More Parsha Activities More Chumash / Tanach Activities Yom Tov Copywork & Activities Tefillah Copywork Pirkei Avos / Pirkei Avot Jewish Preschool Resources Other printables! For General Studies printables and activities, including Hebrew-English science resources and more, click here . For Miscellaneous homeschool helps and printables, click here . If you use any of my worksheets, activities or printables, please leave a comment or email me at Jay3fer “at” gmail “dot” com, to link to your blog, to tell me what you’re doing with it, or just to say hi!  If you want to use them in a school, camp or co-op setting, please email me (remove the X’s) for rates. If you just want to say Thank You,...
27 comments
Read more

Hebrew/ עברית & English General Studies Printables

For Jewish Studies, including weekly parsha resources and copywork, click here . If you use any of my worksheets, activities or printables, please leave a comment or email me at Jay3fer “at” gmail “dot” com, to link to your blog, to tell me what you’re doing with it, or just to say hi!  If you want to use them in a school, camp or co-op setting, please email me (remove the X’s) for rates. If you enjoy these resources, please consider buying my weekly parsha book, The Family Torah :  the story of the Torah, written to be read aloud – or any of my other wonderful Jewish books for kids and families . English Worksheets & Printables: (For Hebrew, click here ) Science :  Plants, Animals, Human Body Math   Ambleside :  Composers, Artists History Geography Language & Literature     Science General Poems for Elemental Science .  Original Poems written by ME, because the ones that came with Elemental Science were so awful....
10 comments
Read more

What do we tell our kids about Chabad and “Yechi”?

If I start by saying I really like Chabad, and adore the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, z"l, well... maybe you already know where I'm headed. Naomi Rivka has been asking lately what I think about Chabad.  She asks, in part, because she already knows how I feel.  She already knows I’m bothered, though to her, it’s mostly about “liking” and “not liking.”  I wish things were that simple. Our little neighbourhood in Israel has a significant Chabad presence, and Chabad conducts fairly significant outreach within the community.  Which sounds nice until you realize that this is a religious neighbourhood, closed on Shabbos, where some huge percentage of people are shomer mitzvos.  Sure, it’s mostly religious Zionist, and there are a range of observances, for sure, but we’re pretty much all religious here in some way or another. So at that point, this isn’t outreach but inreach .  Convincing people who are religious to be… what? A lot of Chabad’s efforts here are focused o...
Post a Comment
Read more