MOSHEVET ARTZEINU Menachem Av 22, 5781 - July 31, 2021 Ekev Parshat Ekev with Camp Rav Eliyahu Gateno In this week’s parasha, Moshe Rabbeinu speaks the land of Israel’s praises and mentions its special fruits – the famous shivat haminim through which Israel is lauded. “For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams and springs and fountains issuing from plain and hill; a land Candle lighting of wheat and barley, of vines, gs, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey; When you have 8:22PM (Camp Time 7:22PM) eaten your ll, give thanks to the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.” The sages of the gemara argued about what beracha acharona is recited following the consumption Shabbos ends of one of the aforementioned seven species (Berachot 44a). In practice, we recite a beracha called 9:29PM (Camp Time 8:29PM) “me’ein shalosh”, a three-faceted blessing, in which we thank God specically for the shivat haminim. If we take a look at the dierent versions of this blessing, we notice that some versions lack the words “and we shall eat from its fruit, and be satiated from its goodness”, while others include them. The reason for this discrepancy is that there is an argument amongst the Rishonim as to whether these words need to be mentioned or not. The Ba’al Halachot Gedolot (a Rishon) holds that we shouldn’t say these words since it is not proper to love the Holy Land solely for the sake of its fruits, but rather for the fulllment of the mitzvot that are connected to it. However, the Bach (an Acharon), explains that we should say these words because the holiness of the Land comes from the heavenly holiness above which spreads onto its fruit also. And when we eat these fruits, we are being sustained by the holiness and purity of God’s presence and we are thus satiated from its goodness. This week, in one of our shiur activities in camp, we dealt with the concept of aliyah and the ingathering of exiles, even stopping shacharit to explain the beracha of “Teka beshofar gadol” in the amida, which speaks of the ingathering of exiles. In the gemara (Sanhedrin 98a), Chazal link the return of the jewish people to their homeland to the renewal of the land which will bring back its fruit. This is emphasized as a special sign for the beginning of the nal redemption. As Rabbi Abba said, “There is no beer sign for the end of days than ‘And you, moun- tains of Israel, you will give your branches and yield your fruit to My people, Israel.’” In yet another place (Megillah 17b), Chazal explain why we say the blessing of the ingathering of exiles right after the blessing that the land should yield good produce. The gemara quotes the same passuk about the mountains of Israel yielding their branches and fruits. There is a clear connection between the fruits and the redemption. The words of chazal take on a whole new meaning when we read Mark Twain’s account of what the Holy Land looked like in 1869: "Of all the lands there are for dismal scenery, I think Palestine must be the prince. The hills are barren, they are dull of color, they are unpic- turesque in shape. It is a hopeless, dreary, heartbroken land… Nowhere in all the waste around was there a foot of shade. It is a blistering naked, treeless land…” Of the Galilee, which boasts beautiful, forested areas today, he said: “It is seven in the morning, and as we are in the country, the grass ought to be sparkling with dew, the owers enriching the air with their fragrance, and the birds singing in the trees. But, alas, there is not dew here, nor owers, nor birds, nor trees. There is a plain and an unshaded lake, and beyond that some barren moun- tains”. This was wrien after hundreds of years of Jewish exile, and all kinds of people living in the land of Israel and trying to work the land. Less than 100 years later, as Kibbutz Galuyot began and as the Jewish people began living in Israel, the Land of Israel started to ourish in an unbelievable way. We nd ourselves in a generation that merited to see the ingathering of exiles and the clear sign of the beginning of the redemption – the thriving and ourishing land. May it be Hashem’s will that we all merit to go up to Israel and bask in its holiness and we shall eat from its fruit, and be satiated from its goodness! THANK HASHEM FOR THE FOOD By Adina Azerad (Mach Hach) In this week's parsha, Moshe recounts everything that happened after Yetziat Mitzrayim. One of the pesu- kim states the importance of food. One of the commentators, Seforno, says that since everything comes from Hashem, all of our eorts to get parnasa come from Him. This connects to the Passuk about food in the sense that Birkat Hamazon is said after eating to remind us that the food we just ate came from Hashem. Shabbat Shalom! A MESSAGE ON MH LEADERSHIP By Raphaella Krief (Mach Hach) I come from a long bloodline of leaders… I am the direct tenth generation granddaughter of Rabbi Dov Ber the Maggid of Mezeritch. My grandfather, Rabbi Feuerwerker, was the chief rabbi of Paris. His wife, the Rebbetzin, was the leader of a partisan group and helped many Jews escape the Nazis. My grandfather fought for the Israeli army in the six day war, while my other grand- father escaped the Haitian dictatorship, and devoted the rest of his life to writing against the cruelty and horrors that took place in in Haiti. By coming from ancestors who successfully made a dierence in their societies, it is with no doubt that the same is expected from me. This Shabbat is Shabbat Mach Hach. For my nal shabbat as a camper, I am now choosing to recognize my eidah: the small things that make us so special. What denes our age group, and the “great things” that we are accomplishing right now, all while coming out to be the next generation of leaders. I am grateful to say that I have spent the past four weeks being surrounded by such inspirational gures, who have dedicated their summers, helping me nd meaning in torah and tellah. Over the course summer, my counselor Marlee told me the following: “There are so many dierent ways of connecting to Hashem. Looking at the sky itself is having emunah because you are witnessing Hashem's creation! Connecting with hashem is when my bunk and I spend our short span of 30 minutes on shab- bat morning geing ready together. Trying on and borrowing clothes. Picking our outts 3 days in advance to look special for Shabbat. My Mach Hach eidah connects to Hashem during our weekly tischs. Proof of that statement are the tzevet who skip the sta tischs to witness rst hand what real Mach hach ruach looks like. (And let me tell you… it’s intense!) In Mach Hach eld, we are told that the goal of Mach Hach is to teach us how to be the camp’s leaders. We are told that all the younger kids think we are cool, that Isaac Safran and the other Rosh Eidot are jealous of our late wake ups. We get the privilege of running colour war, leading slow shira, serving Shabbat meals, all for a specic reason: To give you all (the younger eidot), individuals to look up to. I thank the camp for teaching me the real meaning of leadership: Spreading happiness everywhere you go, something that I think MH 2021 has accomplished. It is with gratitude that I now get to express my appreciation for each and every person who has empowered me, spread happiness in my bunk and has paved the way for Mach Hach to be Camp Moshava 5781’s leaders. Family heritage is not what makes you a leader. Leadership is the impact you have on others while spreading positive energy through your own values. While I thank my eidah with such pride for the legacy we have left, I sincerely hope that we have made our marks, a dierence in your summer. But most importantly, I hope that we (my eidah), have passed on to you all the core values in being initiators, given you a source of inspiration and have succeeded in paving the way for you all to be the next leaders of Moshava, HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK! Yom Musika – We jammed with our silent head phones Gimmel canoe trip Count down for Aliyah for the Katz family – With great excitement that we began to watch the plain get closer and closer to Israel. We wish Tzetchem L’shalom to Perry and Cyma Katz and Family on their ocial Aliyah Tzitzit making - Some of our boys participated in an amazing Tzitit making workshop. They learned the halachot of wearing tzitzit and the dierent types of tying of tzitzit Kite making I love Mosh – Rosh Nagarut – Eli and his team of helpers , Re’em , Hadar , Vince and Raphael worked for over two weeks to create this amazing woodworking project. TODAH RABAH Mazal Tov to Joker the mommy rabbit on the birth of her 5 new bunnies. Mother and babies are doing well. COLOUR WAR 5781 Colour War – Yam Hamelach (blue) , Kotel (red), Har Charmon (Green) – Jerusalem Marthon, Shelet, Campers and Sta enjoyed two days of intense yet cordial competitions in choir, Stomp, chadar ash mob, chidon, sports and more.