By Rabbi David Wilfond, Director of Education
You cannot imagine the feeling of having hundreds of NFTY in Israel participants in the country altogether at once. Tonight, we are celebrating Shabbat with NFTY in Israel from the hills of Judea to the Sea of Galilee. As Shabbat descends, we light Candles, say Kiddush over wine and we say the Motzi Lechem prayer over the Challah. For many of us, we do this without really looking into what’s behind this tradition. However, this evening our young people will have a chance to unpack this beautiful ritual and learn about how much of our Jewish practice has a deep connection and a profound foundation in the Land of Israel.
Tonight, our children will begin Shabbat by lighting candles. However, what they will learn this evening is that candles are actually a very new addition to the Jewish tradition and we were only introduced to lighting actual candles in northern Europe. Once upon a time, when we lit the lights for Shabbat, we used olive oil lamps. Olives, of course, are one of the staple crops of the Land of Israel, making it a fuel readily available for our rituals. Our teens will also learn that when we make a blessing over the wine, it is because vineyards are also a staple crop throughout the land of Israel. And finally, when they say a prayer over the Challah, it’s because wheat is yet another major crop of the Land of Israel.
Thus, olives, vineyards and wheat were symbols that represented the Land of Israel to our foremothers and forefathers. When we Jews were exiled two thousand years ago from our home in Judea (hence the reason we are called Jews, because our ancestors came from Judea, the region around Jerusalem) and were scattered around the world from Poland to Kurdistan to Yemen to Spain, we waited for Shabbat to come, a time where we could actually rest. When our weary ancestors thought of resting and being at peace, they were remembering their homeland. These three symbols of olives, wine and wheat represented that home – the Jewish homeland –the land of Israel.
So tonight, this Shabbat is a homecoming for hundreds of our young people on NFTY in Israel. It never ceases to amaze me that when these young people visit here for the first time they are closing a circle of thousands of years because our ancestors were simply too stubborn to let this connection go. Every Shabbat as our ancestors sat around the table, they used these symbols to make them feel as though they were actually in the land of Israel. As the great Jewish thinker Ahad Ha’Am said, “More than the Jewish People have kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jewish people.” Tonight, the new Jewish generation really is here.
Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom from the Land of Israel.
