Parshat Behar: Blessings

Ok, so this one is a bit of a stretch but bear with me.

This we

ek's parsha begins with the commandment of "Shmitta," the sabbatical year. Every seven years, agricultural activity - such as planting, pruning, harvesting, and plowing - is forbidden. Just as the Torah calls us to work six days and rest on the seventh, it calls us to work the land six days and let it rest in the seventh.

Shmitta got me thinking about the school's community garden. I am always "pinning" garden art projects like windchimes, mosaic stepping stones, and plant markers. I know NOTHING about planting or gardening, but I love the idea of beautifying a garden with artistic accessories. Unfortunately, there is never enough time and it has been years since I worked with the kids on making this collaborative (now deteriorating) sign for the school garden:

So, I thought that "Shmitta" is the perfect time to plant something in the garden other than actual plants, trees, or flowers. For months, I have been eye-ing a pile of discarded wooden slabs on the side of the schoolyard - this was the perfect time to put them to use.

We are told that the consequece of observing shmitta is blessing - satiety and security:

"And the land will then yield its fruit and you will eat to satiety, and live upon it securely."

I decided that we would plant "blessings" in the garden. Israelis (especaially Moroccan Israelis in Beer Sheva :)) are VERY into blessings. Even preschoolers give each other "blessings" on each others birthdays - "may you live until 120," "may you climb the ladder of mitzvot," "may you know much joy," "only good health," etc etc.

So, when I asked the kids to come up with a list of words, they came rolling off their tongues...

Each kid got a wooden slab to paint and decorate with their choosen word. I did this project in very small groups and it literally took me ALL DAY. This is definitely a project that should be done over the course of WEEKS but I am impatient and wanted to complete it quickly and move on.

I was inspired by this colorful "art pole" installation:

Probably the most fun for the kids was actually digging in the earth and "planting" our blessings. But, because it was a whopping 100 degrees here today, this was a somewhat painful part of the process for me. If the heatwave every breaks, I hope to have the energy to make more posts - we still haven't done kavod, shefa, havana...SHABBAT SHALOM!