On the Land
   It is great to know that people out there are getting reawakened to the yearning for the Torah of the Land.
I just read the following from Aish Ha Torah's Website about Purim: "Jewish spirituality comes through grappling with the mundane world in a way that uplifts and elevates. That's why yeshivas are always located in the center of town, amidst the bustle of commercial activity. We don't retreat from life, we elevate it."
The above prompted me to respond as follows: Not all yeshivot are located in the center of town, neither is the bustle of commercial activity the only way of life. Living in the country side is far from retreating from life. On the contrary, what can be more life than living in close connection with Nature, in the Holy Land, learning Torah and cultivating the earth according to the laws which are dependant on the Land of Israel?
Why do you think that most of our biblical heroes were sheepherders? Could it be that perhaps living in close proximity with the land is the kind of lifestyle which is most conducive to getting in touch with G-d and emulating His ways? Our holidays are synced with the seasons of the year. In the Torah each of the pilgrim festivals are called in the name of the agricultural season on which it falls. This is because every season in nature is physical reflection of the spiritual transformation Israel undergoes throughout our various holidays.
For example, we are commanded to ensure that Pessach always falls at the spring season. The reason is that we must celebrate the holiday of our redemption when there is freedom in the air. We must celebrate the birth of Israel at the time when the chickens begin to lay eggs and tender lambs are being born. When Nature awakens from its hibernation and sprout forth the beginning of its abundance, when the leafs break through from underneath the constraining ground, it reflects Israel's being freed of its oppressing bondage. Unfortunately, one of the manifestations of our last and current galut (exile) is that the Jewish people as such has become estranged and out of touch with the true Jewish lifestyle in which one lives in close relationship with Nature and experience our dependence on G-d through His lifegiving rain.(geshem- material.)
Jews in medieval Europe were forbidden to own field and this forced many of them to become money lenders. Now that Jews are coming back to the land of Israel, it is time to evolve from this exile mentality.
This is one of the objectives of B'erot Bat Ayin a new Torah Learning Center for Women. As one of our students affirms: "For most of the time I learned at B'erot Bat Ayin, our garden produced vegetables and herbs, food for our kitchen and spices for Havdalah. We learned how to take Trumah and Maaser, the portions reserved for Kohanin, Leviim and the poor, from the vegetables and we picked our own besamim, (spices,) for Havdalah." The hustling and bustling of electric appliances, the static of the radio, the humming of the computer, the blaring of the car engine deafens our sensitivity to the quiet voice of the plants singing G-d's praise. When we step into our garden we get enthralled with the magic of its silent beauty. While we bend down to touch the tender leaves we are overcome with the recognition of G-d's grandeur. Our souls become turned on by the song of Nature and we join the plants in their heavenly hymn.
It is not a "coincident" that G-d originally placed the first human beings in a garden. "Hashiveinu Hashem V'nashuva, Chadesh Yamainu Kekedem."