This week’s Parashah of Ekev contains some of the Torah’s most beautiful descriptions of the Land of Israel and its produce:
For the Lord is bringing you into a good land, a land
of streams and springs and deep waters gushing out to the valleys and the
hills, a land of wheat and barley, vines, fig trees and pomegranates, a land of
olive oil and honey, a land where bread will not be scarce, where you will lack
nothing, a land where the rocks are iron and where you can hew bronze from her
hills. And when you are satisfied, you
shall bless the Lord, your G-d for the good land that He has given you. (Devarim 8.7-11)
When I recall my many visits to Israel, my memories
are flooded by wondrous sights which include the Banias waterfall in the Golan,
the lush vegetation of Ein Gedi in the Judean Desert, the drive through the multicoloured
patchwork of land that encompasses the Jezreel Valley and the blossoming almond trees that line the Ayalon
highway in the Shefelah (the flat region which follows the Mediterranean shore).
If you’ve travelled around Israel, I’m sure that you
can think of many more beautiful vistas.
And then there’s the produce. Think about the last time you bit into a
chunk of juicy, sunbaked watermelon from a giant organism that could be used as
a wrecking ball in house demolitions - the one you picked up at the Carmel
Market. You don’t forget that flavour!
Every fruit that I eat in Israel tastes different to
its equivalent in Chutz La’aretz (outside the country) and don’t get me started
on the cheeses, yoghurts, laban (a unique Israeli type of sour buttermilk dish)
or chocomilk, the one sold in plastic pouches.
This is not coincidental either.
Chazal tell us that the grain grown in the land of
Israel has a spiritual dimension that is unique. The Torah instructs us to take
numerous tithes from produce grown in Eretz Yisrael such as Termuah, Maaser (a
tenth) and Challah. As a result, all who eat of these grains is granted a
higher level of intelligence than they would, if these identical foodstuffs
were eaten outside the land.
The same applies to the produce emanating from the
vines. Tehillim (104.15) tells us that ‘wine gladdens a man’s heart’, none more
so than that of Eretz Yisrael which contains a special spiritual aspect unique
to the land.
Finally, olive oil which was used for many purposes,
most famously as a fuel to light the Menorah in the Beit Hamikdash, acts as a
source of enlightening our minds in understanding the Torah.
All three of the above are examples of how food from
our precious land is incomparable with its equivalent in every other country.
As a proud Zionist, who has considered taking a
medical to find out if his blood is actually coloured blue and white, just the
thought of landing in Ben Gurion (which we will be doing, please G-d, soon) sends
me into a tizzy. I have to physically
hold myself back from singing the Hatikvah right now!
But seriously, my passion for Israel also means that
the highs I feel when I think about the country are countered by the anger and
distress that overcomes me when I consider those who wish to do us harm,
whether consciously or not.
And it is the metaphor of fruit that explains it
best.
For those of us who believe that G-d gave the land to the Jewish people in perpetuity, the establishment of the State of Israel is, without a doubt, nothing short of a miracle. Add to that, the prophecies of Kibbutz Galuyot, the ingathering of the exiles that are found in Yishayahu (Isaiah), Yirmiyahu and Yechezkel have been to a certain extent realised in the last 77 years. The miracle that is Israel, a tiny country which, by every logical argument should not exist, is still here, despite all our enemies’ attempts to, in their terminology, ‘boycott, divest from and sanction’ or in one word, delegitimise.
The metaphorical and physical seeds that were planted
by the Chalutzim/Pioneers in the latter decades of the 19th Century,
were watered, nourished and came to fruition with G-d’s (not so invisible) attention. We are the generation that is blessed to
benefit from the many ‘fruit’ both in an agricultural manner and through the
extraordinary role that Israel plays in science, medicine and technology, to
name but a few.
However, we need to take off our rose-coloured
spectacles (which probably contain technology emanating from Israel!) and
accept that some of the fruit have not been of the best quality. In every batch of apples, there are always some
that are rotten. The politicians who
should know better, use their positions in a manner that is unbecoming to their
station. The IDF doesn’t always get it
right and makes mistakes that result in the loss of lives on both sides of the
Gaza border. Even some of the most sophisticated
technology in the world wasn’t able to prevent the disaster that was October 7th. It failed and led to the current nightmare
that we are living through.
But memories are extremely short and those whom we considered
to be our friends and supporters, have conveniently forgotten the pioneering
achievements that made Israel a world-class beacon in the battle to fight Covid. These ‘fruits’ were shared with the rest of
the world, less than half-a-decade ago. This
Israeli ‘orchard’ saved millions of lives.
And then the catastrophe happened and the country
that had led the planet was reminded of its place and thrown onto the world’s
garbage heap where it is being trampled upon by people we thought were allies.
The ‘orchard’ of world leaders who trumpeted (no pun
intended) their admiration of Israel throughout the Covid years allowed
themselves to be swamped by tree after tree bearing rotten fruit. Instead of trying to protect their
reputations and by extension that of the populations they represent, they
kowtowed to those amongst them who were affected by the virus of antisemitism. In other words, the diseased trees which
produced only rotten fruit, took over the orchard.
Shortly after the leaders of France, the UK and
Canada declared their intention to (possibly in the case of the UK) recognize a
‘Palestinian State’, Ghazi Hamad (yimach shemo – may his name be blotted out) a
member of Hamas’ political bureau said the following in an interview on Al
Jazeera:
“The initiative by several countries to recognize a
Palestinian state is one of the fruits of October 7. We proved that victory over Israel is not
impossible, and our weapons are a symbol of Palestinian dignity."
The key term here is ‘one of the fruits of October 7’. How can anyone compare the barbarity and
savagery of what happened as a ‘fruit’?
Whilst victory over Israel, a State which has given
of its fruit to the rest of the world (just ask any Kenyan how drip-irrigation
technology has impacted the countries’ ability to save itself from drought), would
G-d forbid bring about a repressive Islamic state which would threaten the
entire world. Just look at how well that
worked out in Iran.
Is this the ‘dignity’ that Palestinians desire?
And just as importantly, how can a so-called
progressive West be demanding this?
Before the Jews returned to Israel, the area was a
wasteland.
The blessings that G-d enumerates in this week’s
Parasha remind us of what can be and indeed, what has transpired.
It is therefore incumbent on anyone who values the
finest produce, in metaphorical and physical terms to ensure that it is given
the opportunity to develop and grow.
Right now, there is a storm raging through the
orchards, vineyards and fields that constitute the State of Israel. To protect their produce, we must stand firm
and do everything in our power to shield them from the rotten trees and fruit
that threaten to swamp them. It is not
too late to plant new shoots and then remove the diseased fruit. Every tree benefits from being pruned once it
becomes overgrown.
Let
us recall what we will see when order is restored:
For the Lord is bringing you into a good land, a land of streams and springs and deep waters gushing out to the valleys and the hills, a land of wheat and barley, vines, fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey, a land where bread will not be scarce, where you will lack nothing, a land where the rocks are iron and where you can hew bronze from her hills. And when you are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord, your G-d for the good land that he has given you.
May
He continue to protect our people and precious country and may we see the establishment
of real internal and external peace, a return of all the Hostages and the
permanent destruction of Hamas, its rotten bedfellows and everything they stand
for.
And
finally, the existence of a fully revitalised orchard replete with the very
finest apples.
Shavuah Tov.
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