I open the handsome rusty gate to the vineyard here on Itamar, still cold to my touch. The grapevines are returning to life after a chilled sleep. Spring is here and with it the month of Nissan and Pesach. Soon the bleak feeling will give way to softer days, bluer skies and balmy nights. The wheat fields billow in the April wind that sweeps through the winding pass through the mountains here. Now their color is a bright Kelly green that says “Israel is alive”.
This is the way Israel perceived the Land as they entered Eretz Yisrael at the very same time of the year we left Egypt. The cyclical cycle of it has it the time of departure yet the time of arrival forty years later. Walking through the mountain pass, the Exodus has me understanding Pesach a whole new way.
It was the night of matzoh- the night the manna stopped falling from the sky, ” This night is matzoh”. This historic event happened right here, a walk through the ravine from the Jordan River to the two mountains of the Blessing and Curse- it all happened here, pinch me.
The Exodus was a national event that echoes till today. We are taught through the generations to keep the embers of the story alive in order to reach THIS DAY! Never before has the history of our people been so privileged to live restoration as we strive to now, as we build up the heart of Israel, in the very place our Patriarchs and Matriarchs walked and lived and loved. That happened even before we were slaves in Egypt! Israel has always been our home and we long for it.
Here the birth pangs of redemption rave, we struggle with the tests put before us as Abraham was tested and many of our prophets. ” This night we eat bitter herbs”. There is a struggle going on now. We seek liberty to do the word of Hashem, involving also tremendous needs for resources to literally pave the way here.
The concerted efforts of foreign governments to block restoration here in our ancestral land has put up many challenges for us that truthfully we would not have been able to overcome if it weren’t for you and your care and generosity towards us. Thank you! “This night we dip in salt water”. I am literally crying.
The time between Purim and Pesach is always rigorous. The demands put on us are intense for everyone. This is a time of great DOING. We have been blessed to help Alan Hirsh for many years now with his Matzo fund – Bnei Israel. We continue from this very house to assist in Pesach food package distribution for 24 yishuvim in the Shomron, Binyamin and Jordan valley area.
Suppliers had to cope with getting through the chokepoint of Huwara, the nightmare that has also sprung to life alongside our lives here. Truck drivers and volunteers drove to and from Itamar with tons of chickens, grape juice, wine, olive oil, Matzohs, potatoes, eggs, and other provisions.
It is our opportunity to thank all of those who donated to this project – You are not only feeding families but you are encouraging them in your acts of kindness- May Hashem bless you for giving to this incredible endeavor.
This Pesach project could not have been accomplished without the complete self -sacrifice of dear Alan- TODA RABA RABA from all of us here on Itamar and the hilltops and surrounding farms as well as all the yishuvim that received these relief packages! HALLELUYAH!
Now that our service in this has been completed, I will now attempt to tackle the curtains, windowpanes sinks, drawers, bed linens, boil down the kitchen (Moshe is a Pesach freak!) and all the “regular” chores that need to get done.
My desire is really to go out to the fields and pick prime temp flowers but that will have to wait till later -when we are all free!
CHAG SAMEYACH- SHABBAT SHALOM! – Leah
And let’s not forget, WELCOME HOME DAVID
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