Hands-On, Unexpected Satisfaction!

by Tsipi Inberg Ben-Haim

“Ladies, fear not!” called Farmer Golan Tal from Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, reassuring us.”You get gloves, a bag, and a big smile, and you’ll conquer the fruits enthusiastically!”

“Are you sure you can pick fruit with these nails?” he asked as I approached the trees. At the end of the day, he was pleasantly surprised with the outcome of our production.

From the beginning, the farmers in Israel made the desert bloom. The foundation for a strong, prosperous Israel started with working the land in the kibbutzim, the moshavim, and later on, the modern farmers who used and continue using the new technology to bear fruit from Mother Earth.

Today, as Israel and Israelis are going through the most challenging times of fighting for our survival, it’s back to the roots. It is a call for all people, young and young at heart, to come volunteer in the orchards of Israel and save the hanging ripe fruit while feeling the satisfaction of doing something significant, rewarding, and fulfilling.

 

Many organizations are on the ground in Israel to open this volunteering channel for all. However, a dear friend, Dr. Miriam Adelson, who introduced me years ago to HaShomer HaChadash was given the opportunity by the cofounder of the organization Yoel Zilberman whose fascinating story started years ago when he and his friend On Rifman, founded this organization to help farmers like Yoel’s father to stop the stealing and abuse of their farms. Yoel serves in the reserve in Gaza.

Since the creation of the HaShomer the crimes in the farmlands have been reduced significantly with the help of volunteers, citizens who felt the pain of someone working the land, investing their livelihood into his farm, only to be stolen away from him when he’s ready to pick the fruit of his harvest and hard work. 

 HaShomer HaChadash became a volunteer recruitment organization dedicated to safeguarding the land and farms in the Negev and Galilee and upholding Zionist ideals on which Israel was founded. 

Volunteers watch 47 Farmland posts that help protect over 145,000 acres of farmland from illegal seizures, thefts, arson, and vandalism, all while teaching the love of the land to over 11,000 youth annually. They recently founded the school Adam & Adama: Man and Earth in the Negev. I learned about much-forgotten first-needed love for a new country: the love of Mother Earth. 

Today, since the beginning of the war in Gaza, right after October 7th, Hamas’s disastrous massacre of 1400 citizens, while hundreds of people were kidnapped and are still holding in captive, HaShomer jumped into action. 

The organization realized that Israeli farmers were facing one of the greatest crises the agricultural industry has ever known. Indeed, from the first day of the war until today, many farmers throughout the country have been left with a shortage of working hands. 

Many of them were foreign workers who fled immediately back to their countries, and the people who lived on the kibbutz were evacuated from the Negev to a safer place or drafted as reservists to join the fight.

Some farmers now fighting in Gaza were replaced by older friends who left their convenient lives and volunteered to keep their friend’s farms functioning as much as possible. One of the farmers, I was told, was killed in the war, and his friends gathered to save his farm as a tribute to him.

During the arson in the Gaza envelope, the massive fire in Carmel, and the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization led emergency aid operations and brought in thousands of volunteers.

This organization is a tribute to the first Hashomer, established about a hundred years ago by pioneers who came to help restart agriculture in the Jewish land to get the economic wave started. They had similar problems of survival.

Since the Gaza war started, it brought the need to help the farmers significantly to the surface. The organization brought over 130,000 volunteers so far. Among them were students, business companies, foreigners from abroad, female seminary and yeshiva students, and pensioners; they all came to help the farmers through the organization’s situation room.

Yoel Zilberman: “In recent months, the State of Israel has gone through one of the biggest crises in its history. The circles of the disaster are enormous. The farming population in Israel has been facing huge difficulties for many years, and the war has only made the situation worse. Our goal is to improve the farmers’ lives, support them, and give them an envelope for their needs.”

The State of Israel is a small country, relatively isolated. Israel needs to succeed in providing itself with food and not be dependent on other countries. For this purpose, the story of aid to farmers is critical.”

Cofounder On Rifman adds: “Israeli agriculture has always been a bridge and a key between the past and the future, between the revival of Zionism and innovation, technology and high-tech.

“Nowadays, we see fewer people showing interest in becoming farmers. We want to encourage the younger generation to be involved in cultivating the land to strengthen their connection to the land.

The young people working with us, keeping watering us and smiling while picking the fruit, couldn’t stop praising the HaShomer for the opportunity they’re giving them to work the land, feeling the satisfaction while helping others and learning a new profession.”

Back to the roots, feeling the ripe fruit in your hands is an experience I’ll treasure forever, and you can, too. Don’t delay. You and your friends are needed now, and you’ll thank yourself for volunteering. 

To read more about HaShomer HaChadash

You all are URGENTLY needed!

To join the volunteers, write or call Maya Arfi, Director of Resource Development: Mayaa@hashomer.org.il; (972) -54-7233391