Special Tu Bishvat Talk by Leah Elbaum

Happy Tu Bishvat!

Here is a summary by Michal Orbach about Leah Elbaum’s wonderful talk in honor of Tu Bishvat:

On Shabbat morning, after the synagogue’s communal kiddush, Leah Elbaum—who posts in a WhatsApp group about volunteering in agriculture and volunteers herself all over the country, a longtime immigrant from England—spoke movingly about the Jewish people’s connection to their land through study and prayer, which always continued to engage with the Land of Israel: which winds and soils are suitable for vines, olives, wheat, and pomegranates. 

Leah spoke about Agnon’s story of a Jew in Europe who waited so long to receive a pillow of earth from the Land of Israel so he could be buried with it after 120 years, and she said that one day she understood that the dust in summer and the mud in winter that she shakes from her clothes after farm work are her privilege—to cling to the soil of the land.

Leah also told of a farmer who said about himself that he’s a “Shomutznik.” Someone told him that surely the religious people bother him about tithes and all that. He replied that the commandments dependent on the land matter to him—orlah, tithes—to connect to all the generations of Jews who were here and held fast to the land, and that he isn’t the only one with this spirit.

Blessed are you, Leah, for the work, for the insights, and for the connection to the Land of Israel 🌱🌿🌴