Ashley Hefner, Photographer and Staff Writer
When people think about the spirituality of Israel, some of the first things that come to mind are often the Kotel, the cave of Machpelah and other burial sites of prominent Torah figures. Although these sites help many people feel a strong connection to Hashem and bring powerful spirituality into people’s experiences in Israel, I do not feel any connection when simply staring at these monuments.
During winter break, I had the opportunity to go on a volunteer trip to Israel with Birthright. The bulk of the trip involved helping farmers who work on the land many of us call home. While on this trip, I felt more divine power than I ever had visiting the Kotel or other spiritual sites in Israel.
Although I ruined multiple pairs of Aritza leggings and Urban Outfitters T-shirts, seeing the dirt of the holy land all over myself allowed me to internalize the feeling of helping a country near and dear in its time of suffering.
This experience was incomparable to anything in my closet.
While planting lettuce in the city of Lod, one of the farmers explained how it has been challenging to keep up with work as many of his past employees were from Thailand or were Palestinians. Once the war started, workers from Thailand were sent back to their country, and Palestinians were no longer allowed to enter Israel. This is a common occurrence for agricultural sites in Israel, and the farming industry has suffered greatly.
Before entering the country and hearing about the worries of the people who live and work there, I was not able to truly internalize the adverse outcomes caused by the war, including a struggling economy and the failing of many industries that Israel depends on for prosperity.
The volunteer trip included a tour of the Salad Trail, located in the south of Israel, in the Negev. Seeing Israel’s innovative technology in real life showed me the spirituality of not only the land itself, but also of the people who live there.
As the Negev is a dry space, I assumed that only a small number of crops would be able to grow there, yet the salad trail grows around 80 types of crops due to the innovation in farming technology created by Israelis. Touring this beautiful, organic farm also helped me understand the unfathomable amount of resilience Israelis possess.
During my time at the salad trail, I was also able to help trim tomato shrubs. Although I was pricked by thorns multiple times, I did not feel pain. The only thoughts racing through my mind were the beauty of the salad trail and how grateful I was to be helping. Here I saw G-d in the land and the people who live there.
It was only at this moment that I could accept that there’s more than one way to connect to Israel and, even more so, Hashem. This lesson has stayed with me even while back in New York.
Although saying Tehillim and learning Torah are extremely important and beautiful, they are just one way to do our part as Jewish people. There are also many other ways for us to connect to Hashem and the Holy Land. More importantly, it taught me that for those of us who have false expectations of having some sort of spiritual awakening at religiously significant sites, it is okay not to feel divine energy from those places.
Anytime I have visited the Kotel or grave sites of rabbis, I always felt disappointed when I looked at them with a blank stare. Now I know that it is okay, because there are so many other ways to feel this divine power, especially through planting lettuce, cutting weeds or even understanding the innovation of the people who live in Israel.
Photo Caption: A farm in Lod visited by the Birthright trip
Photo Credit: Ashley Hefner