Tu B’ShvatPlantings on the Eitam
Friday, 17thof Shvat, February 10, 2012
With:
Oded Revivi, Efrat Local Council Head
Rav Baruch Efrati, Rosh Yeshiva, Shvut Yisrael
Lecture by Rav David Marcus, Executive Director Efrat EmergencyMedical Center “TuB’Shvat and the Land of Israel”
Music by Eli Gilboa, Songs ofthe Land of Israel
We’ll setout from the gate of the Eitam at 8:45 a.m.;
the programwill end at approx. 10:45 a.m.
Transportationby private car or, upon prior registration, as follows:
From KiryatArba – Hebron at 8:15 a.m.
From GushEtzion Junction at 8:30 a.m.
From thesouth entrance of Efrat at 8:30 a.m.
From Jerusalem:Ramot 7:50 .a.m., the InbalHotel 8:10 a.m., and the Gilojunction 8:20 a.m.
For detailsand registration:
050-5500834or 050-7161818
TheCommittee for the Development of Eitam and Women in Green
RabbiBaruch Efrati- Ruth Golan, Dovi Sheffler-Judy Auerbach-Sharon Katz-
Josh andMarilyn Adler- Zahava Englard-Ori and Gila Plasse-Yehudit Katsover-Nadia Matar
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The Green Mountain
by Rabbi Baruch Efrati
YehoramTohar-Lev wrote the beautiful and well-known Hebrew song, “The EvergreenMountain,” as a paean to Mount Carmel, in whoseshadow he passed his childhood on Kibbutz Yagur.
I also grewup in the shadow of a mountain. My childhood was spent in the small village of Givat Shmuel, a colony ofreligious and non-religious Jews, surrounded by citrus groves and caressed bygentle breezes. Today, the attractive local council building dominates themountain, and the citrus groves have been replaced by apartment buildings borderedby parks and a profusion of trees, which serve as a reminder that nature oncereigned here.
When Ivisit my parents, the green mountain still whispers its secrets from behind therobe of concrete that now surrounds it. The green mountain is glad that Jewslive upon it now as before – for thousands of years it awaited their return.
From whereI live today, another green mountain is visible: the Judean Hills and the ridgeof the Biblical Eitam, south of Jerusalem. When I walk it with my children, the Eitam whispers to us similar secrets tothose of its brother in Givat Shmuel: “I waited for you after you leftwhen Judea was destroyed, and now you’re returning toadorn me again in garments of royalty!”
Alas, thefate of the green mountain of Gush Etzion hasn’t been as happy as that of GivatShmuel. Many are ascending the Eitam to silence its voice. They come fromamong the nations of the world and from the faint-hearted among the Jews andseek to deliver it to a foreign people that were unknown in the days of theJudean commonwealth.
As the moonof Shvat reaches its fullness, we will ask ourselves: Can we hear thewhispering of the green mountain of the Eitam? Can we remove the orlah of ourears and hearts and open ourselves to the love of our ancient and eternal land?
Whoeverwants to listen to the whisperings of the green mountain and to see its views,whoever still dreams of inhaling its breezes, is invited to Efrat to walk thepaths of the Eitam and to keep faith with it until we can settle it as of old.
