Student Leadership Encounter – Maarag – Kol Israel Haverim program
Amichai TZur
"Nothing is harder than losing control and finding strength in the void and in letting go" (Aviv Bechar, pop musician).
The traditional student leadership meeting of the Maarag – Kol Israel Haverim program took place immediately following the Purim holiday, on the 17th of Adar (March 8) in Neot Kedumim. This year we chose to provide our students with the opportunity to experience and study the subject of Shmittah [the fallow year – literally: letting go] and to join us in adding a new level to its integration in our schools. Some 70 pupils from 20 different schools that participate in the Maarag – Kol Israel Haverim program attended. We separated into four groups: two groups of elementary school pupils, one group of middle school and high school students, and a group that united all the accompanying teachers. Activities were run by the Neot Kedumim guides and the Maarag facilitators.
"The gate is the Divinity that reveals itself in the world, in the world with all its beauty and glory, in each spirit and soul, in every living thing, in each plant and flower, in every nation and kingdom, in the sea and its waves, in the canopies of skies and in astral splendor..." (HaRav Kook, from the article "Seeds").
The notion of Shmittah (which literally means 'letting go') raises issues that touch on many personal and social values, but the biblical imperative, first and foremost, relates to the land. It outlines a dimension of meaning in defining Man's relationship with nature. For this reason, we decided to leave the familiarity of our urban surroundings and take to the intoxicating sights and smells of the blossoming land in the Neot Kedumim nature reserve.
The encounter's first part involved amplifying our connection to nature through an imagined voyage to the past, back to a time when nature filled a central role in every workday; we tried to grasp the meaning of the Shmittah year for a farmer living in the far past. We asked: What personal strengths did a farmer require in order to observe Shmittah? What were the social, economic and personal implications generated by the Shmittah year? We learned about working the land and tried our hand at preparing foods using methods from ancient times.
"The mitzvoth [commandments] are traditionally divided into mitzvoth between Man and G-d and between mitzvoth Man and his fellow man. The greatness of the commandment of Shmittah is that it involves and combines the content of both; as a meta-structure rising above these two aspects it is a commandment between Man and himself, intended to open new horizons of perfection and completion before Man." (Rabbi Shaul Israeli)
During the second part of the day, we discussed the values relating to Shmittah in the individual, social and environmental spheres on the basis of Jewish, Zionist and civic texts. We asked: How can we express Shmittah values in our contemporary lives? Together, we thought of ways we could develop the discourse and conceive of activities relating to the Shmittah year.
