Shuvoo Newsletter
Issue 18 – June 15th,
2006
Thoughts on Ancient Times & Current Events by
Ashirah Yosefah
ABUNDANCE …
In a Land of Contrasts
… Bringing a Good Report
Grape clusters hanging on the vine
in a Jerusalem
neighborhood.
(© Ashirah Yosefah Photo)
“The land that we traversed is an
exceedingly good land. If Hashem
is pleased with us, He will bring us
into that land,
a land that flows with milk and
honey…”
(Parasha Shelach-L’cha 14,8)
Over the
past month, I have been impressed time and again by the bounty and providence
that Hashem pours out upon this Land.
Nothing here simply grows … it GROWS!
The residential streets in Jerusalem
are lined with cascading bowers of blooming plants, fragrant fruit trees,
majestic palms, beautiful pomegranate trees and abundant grape arbors. A simple walk around the block becomes an
opportunity for sensory overload. Every
color of the spectrum is displayed with endless shapes of foliage and the
aromas are heavenly: Spicy wisteria,
sweet honeysuckle, night-blooming jasmine.
From morning until twilight the changing shadows and the play of
sunbeams peaking through the canopy of flora and fauna offer perpetually
changing vistas for the eyes.
This
evening, walking home, I discovered a new wonder in my neighbor’s garden. How I ever missed it, I don’t know. Soaring skyward was a 30 foot high Bird of
Paradise plant! It’s upper leaves
stretch at least 5 feet above the roof of our apartment building. Halfway up its massive stalk perch too huge
flowers easily over a foot long and high.
Gazing at this botanical wonder, I could not help but think of the
massive grape cluster brought back by the spies in Shelach L’cha, this week’s
Parasha. Personally, my vote’s in with
Calev and Yehoshua: This Land flows with
milk and honey and all else that is good and abundant – even in the throes of
the constant threat of terror and a government that is less than
inspiring. Now back to the good report.
Thirty feet and climbing – a
gigantic Bird of Paradise plant.
(© Ashirah Yosefah Photo)
Barely
thirty minutes south of Jerusalem
you will find the barren tells and canyon-like wadis of the Judean desert. Covered with a lacy carpet of tiny flowers in
the spring of the year, the desert green is now waning, fading into its stark
summer splendor of glowing sands dotted with stones, caves, ancient wells and
an endless variety of thorns and thistles that are piercingly sharp, but
incredibly beautiful in design.
Thorns by any other name would just
be thorns, but in
Israel, G-d makes them works of art.
(© Ashirah Yosefah Photo)
The Judean
desert boasts the most spectacular sunrises in the world. Tehillim tell us that the glory of Hashem
fills the heavens. To my mind, there is
no place on earth that proclaims it more loudly than the skies over Tekoa, Kfar
Eldad and Noqedim. It is mind-numbing to
recall that these settlements on the list of those to be evacuated and
demolished. Looking out from these
thriving little communities on a clear day, you can see the Dead Sea glistening
in the sun with the hills of Moab
(Jordan)
on the horizon. I wonder if the spies
stood on those desert tells and gazed at Moab? I wonder if the sparkle of the Dead Sea
caught their eye and brought back memories of Avraham, Lot and G-d’s judgment
of Sodom and Gomorrah?
Fiery clouds herald a sunrise over
the Judean desert.
(© Ashirah Yosefah Photo)
Heading
north of Jerusalem, one makes their way through the lands of the Shomron: Round and rocky hills terraced with spiraling
bands of olive trees, looking for all the world as if Hashem kept filling bowls
with wet beach sand and inverting them, side by side, to create not a castle,
but a landscape of breathtaking beauty.
Further
north still, the terrain changes again and verdant green plains roll out, with
gardens and plantations, vegetables and fruit.
Then comes the Galil with the Kinneret
Sea anchoring its
landscape while the many boats that ply its waters toss their anchors into its
depths and cast their fishing nets overboard to gather its bounty. Not so far away, the horizon gives way to Mt. Meron
and the mountains of Tsfat. Here hill
and valley, cobblestone street and narrow path, are all cloaked in an aura of
mysticism and Chassidut, whispering the tales and the Torahs of the Kabbalistic
masters who once lived there and now lie buried there. Standing at the Tomb of the Amouka, deep in a
forested valley north of Tsaft, the snow-capped peak of Mt.
Hermon can easily be seen.
Of course,
there’s the Golan at Israel’s
uppermost reaches, and the Mediterranean Sea and sandy beaches that run from Haifa to Tel Aviv on the
west. Mind you, the sandy dunes of Gush
Katif are the true southwest corner of our Land, so tragic has been their loss
to us. On the east run the fertile Jordan valley, the barren plains and buoyant
waters of the Dead Sea (the lowest place on
earth), and the hot and sandy beaches of Eilat.
What a land
of contrasts, and we’ve only touched on the topography and fauna. What a land of bounty and abundance where the
Providence of Hashem is so unmistakeable.
How the desert has bloomed and the land has given forth her fruit to
welcome the return of its appointed caretakers and rightful inhabitants. Mark Twain, who once wrote such an appalling
report of Israel’s
barrenness, would not believe his eyes were he to visit Israel now.
Yes, Israel has its
problems, with enemies within and without, but the Land has veritably shouted
its “Welcome Home” to those who have returned to her borders… as narrow and
narrowing as those borders seem to be.
Imagine, the Israel
once traversed by that early contingent of ten raconteurs was ever so much
larger. Surely the words of their bad
report must have burned bitter on their tongues for the rest of their lives
spent wandering in the wilderness, a year for a day for having brought a bad
report. This Shabbat, as we read the story
of the spies so carefully preserved in Parasha Shelach L’cha, may we consider
the miraculous and prophetic blooming of the Land that was once so desperately
barren, and may we not repeat their mistake.
Shabbat
Shalom.
