Of Planting, Blossoming and Growing (not necessarily in that order)

In the midst of the pre-Rosh Hashanah frenzy, I'm treating myself to these few minutes of quiet time. I hope you've got a few minutes to join me.

Whereas my last post was all about concrete and steel, we're back to nature here as I reminisce about my delightful visit to the Gan Habotani, the Botanical Gardens of Jerusalem, this past June.

My dear friend, Shoshana (who took full advantage of her summer membership subscription and allotted guest passes) showed me around this oasis of color and natural wonder BLOSSOMING in a corner of a busy, bustling city.

Put it on your to-do list for your next trip to Israel. Maybe Shoshana will still have some guest passes for you. ;-) But you might want to wait until after Shemittah...

This Rosh Hashanah will mark the beginning of a Sabbatical year, when the Land of Israel rests from all agricultural work. For "everything you need to know about Shemittah", click here. 

Thanks to the amazing work of Keren Hashviis, Bill and I have become proud partners in this once-in-seven-years mitzvah.We are supporting a farmer in Israel whose land will lie fallow. With no PLANTING permitted, he will not have the usual means to feed his family. He will spend his Sabbatical year studying Torah and observing this mitzvah with joy. And Bill and I will be co-owners of a small plot of his field, thus enabling us to fulfill the mitzvah of shemittah as well.

With Bill's signing of our contract and a halachic "kinyan" (acquisition), one thousand square feet of holy soil is partly ours. This is very exciting for me as it is the closest we have come to owning land in Israel! May it be the first step toward owning a larger parcel that we may eventually call Home. Please say "amen"! Keren Hashviis sent us the precise location of our piece of land and I hope we will merit to visit it in the year ahead. If you go to https://www.kerenhashviis.org/ you, too, will able to "partner with a farmer and share the reward". And I highly recommend that every woman click here to watch an absolutely beautiful video about the wives of Israel's shemittah farmers. Truly inspiring.

When I Remember Jerusalem, I recall the one shemittah year during the time we lived there. May we all be back Home for the next one. 

Rosh Hashanah is upon us. Many folks send out family photos at this time of year, wishing a Shana Tova to relatives and friends. Though our family seems to be a bit "challenged" when it comes to group photos, for our anniversary last January, the kids came through with this: 

Thank G-d, the grandchildren are GROWING (as is our #1-son's beard) and I'd like to think that us "grown-ups" have been doing some growing of our own. On behalf of the whole gang, I wish you and yours a blessed new year. May you BLOSSOM and GROW in the soil where you are PLANTed until, to paraphrase King David, we are all "planted in the house of Hashem, blossoming in G-d's courtyard..." (Psalms 92:14) Please say "amen"!

P.S. If you'd like to re-read my Rosh Hashanah poem, you'll have to go back to September 2019 (see blog archive on the right). Only the date has changed...