Chag HaKatzir – The Harvest Holiday

We are preparing ourselves for Chag Shavuot, for the day when we received (and actually every year receive again) our precious Torah. One of the names of this holyday is Chag Hakatzir, the Harvest Holiday. Thus, I want to share with you a harvest experience that I lived last year. With my seminar, I don't remember where exactly in the Negev(south of Israel), meaning, in the midst of the desert, we went on a trip to a farming area, implemented by the evacuated from Gush Katif. While stil in Gush Katif, its habitants developed innovative farming techniques, and there, far away from their hometown, we had the opportunity to witness one of them. More than that, we witnessed a miracle: in the middle of the sand, we harvested carrots and potatoes!!! Could you believe it? Imagine you go to the beach, play with your kids, start digging the sand, and suddenly you find a crop of carrots! It does not make any sense, unless we recall one of the prophecies regarding the landof Israel, which says that the land will give its fruits when the children of Israelreturn from their exile, being sterile for our enemies while we are on galus (exile). This is one of the prophecies related to the final Geula (redemption), it is one of the signs for knowing that we are getting closer to coming of the Mashiach. We could spot this explicitly if we pay attention to Gush Katif facts. The landof Gush Katif, before the evacuation, became one of the most fruitful soils in Israel, being indispensable for its agricultural economy. After being forced to leave their homes (by the Israeli government, in an attempt to gain peace through land concession, which clearly did not succeed) when the Arabs took their lands and greenhouses, the soil became dry and infertile, having them to say: “this land is cursed”. Since then that soil has been useless, could it be just coincidence? And then consider the experience that I just told you, the Jews farming the desert! I had never before experience the coming of the Geula in such a pyhisical way, meaning, being able to touch it with my fingers.

Let’s pay it back, let’s take care of this precious land that Hashem gave to us with such love and kindness, otherwise we would be ungrateful, we would be wasting the bracha (blessing) and the power of the nevuah’s (prophecy) fulfillment. Take a step. Be part of this global change.

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