Shavuot in the fields

Shavuot is the agricultural festival in Israel, the rainy season is over, the produce of the seven biblical species with which Israel is blessed is ripening in the field, first the barley and the wheat being harvested now all over Israel between Pesah and Shavuot. Shavuot is above all the festival of the wheat harvest. But the vines are lush and heavy with their thick leaves and rapidly developing bunches of grapes. The pomegranate orchards are dotted with the vibrant scarlet of late season blossoms and the first little fruits. The olives are already beautifully formed, just requiring a few more months to become richer with oil until they are shiny and black. The figs are maturing nicely and there are already young yellow clusters of dates on the palms. The bible unfolding before our eyes, the land a living commentary on the Torah who's giving at Mount Sinai we also celebrate on this holiday.

Since the war my routine has been more closely tied than ever before with the agriculture and seasons of the Land of Israel. Since October 2023 I'm trying to do Whatever I can to help farms around the country struggling to keep agriculture going through these difficult times. I'm just one middle aged person without much prior experience of working on farms, my ability to make a difference is limited but hopefully it's something, hopefully the thousands of ordinary people doing the same can together do enough to help Israelis agriculture pull through and preserve our country's food security.

Spending so much time in fields, orchards and greenhouses I feel the agricultural aspect of Shavuot more than ever this year, whether it's seeing the revival and rebuilding of the Otef and the north from the terrible damage suffered during the war, meeting so many modest, quiet heroes, farmers who continue to work the land even under fire or just a kilometre or two from active warzones, people who made the decision that because of the situation now is the time to go back to the land, to support their elderly parents' farms or renew family orchards, people who are choosing life by planting new vineyards and orchards and tomato greenhouses, a visceral response to the horrors our people experienced, people who are planting and building so that when their hostage neighbours are God Willing set free from Gaza they will have homes to come back to.