"When you enter the land and plant any tree for food, you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden for you, not to be eaten. In the fourth year all its fruit shall be set aside for jubilation before the Lord; and only in the fifth year may you use its fruit — that its yield to you may be increased: I the Lord am your God." (Leviticus 19:23-25). I chose this mitzvah because I really liked its message of respect towards the environment. I interpreted this mitzvah pretty literally: you cannot eat the fruit from the trees that you plant for the first three years after planting. In the fourth year you will use the fruit for joyous offerings to God and then finally in the fifth year, you will have the greatest yield yet and you can finally eat the fruit. I think this commandment teaches us to pay attention to the importance of the environment, and how much we depend on the environment to give us food. It forces us to make sure that trees are well cared for in the present so that they will have fruit for us in the future. The mitzvah also teaches us the value of patience, as we must wait to feed ourselves: we must first worship God in the fourth year and then eat in the fifth. I can still apply this mitzvah to my own life even though I don't have a farm. Before each meal I can say the blessing over the food to honor God before I feed myself. In addition I can be more conscientious of the environment by working to reduce the amount of trash I produce and learn how to best sustain the ecosystems around me.
This is a photo of Leah and me at the organic vegetable garden that we stopped at on the way to Eilat. We are observing the mitzvah in the traditional way in that the garden had been planted longer than five years before we ate from it. In the non-traditional sense, we were jubilantly appreciating the plants and learning how the environment of the Aravah can be a rich, sustainable source of plants.
No comments:
Post a Comment