Page 36 - HaMizrachi Pesach 5782 USA

becoming a priestly people and holy
(PHOTO: YAKOV AFLALO) me that there is something intuitively
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natural about a Jew, living in Judea,
nation – only then would we be truly paying with sheep.
redeemed.
As we built up our flock again, we began
Much like the redemption from Egypt, receiving calls from local Judean youth
the redemption I experienced here in who dreamed of becoming shepherds
Judea has been an unfolding journey and wanted to shepherd our flock. And
as well. It, too, came in moments. just like that, we had a team of young
barefoot shepherds and shepherdesses
One such moment struck me on to tend our flock, take them out to
a Shabbat afternoon as I davened pasture and milk them on schedule.
Mincha on a mountaintop surrounded
by our sheep. While smiling at the Soon afterwards, an expert cheese-
absurdity of having transformed maker came to teach our young
myself from a media guy into a shepherds the art of making halloumi,
shepherd, I found myself reflecting feta, and yogurts (to name just a few)
on the unexpected story of our sheep. and what was once an empty room
in our retreat center became a cheese
Though sheep provide us with meat factory.
and wool, we invested in our flock of
sheep primarily because of the critical Long before law, accounting and
role that sheep traditionally play in medicine became the Jewish
professions of choice, King David
securing property in Judea – a law shepherded his flock of sheep in
of the mountains respected by the these very mountains. And just as
Arabs and Bedouin in our area. While our forefathers, when asked about
we have very positive and productive their occupation by the mighty
relationships with all of our neighbors, Pharoah, responded, “Your servants
having a flock of sheep is a necessary are shepherds, both we and our
prerequisite to being a recognized forefathers”, the time has come
presence in our neck of the woods. when we, their children, are proudly
Early on, due to an unexpected series assuming that role as well.
of events, we ran out of funds as we Then there was the day that the
were building our retreat center. Germans arrived. They told us that
Having already signed a contract they were artisans and craftsmen,
with the builder, we told him that, for many of them children and
reasons out of our hands, we couldn’t grandchildren of Nazis. They had
pay him what we owed him. Needing come, in their own words, to do
the money, he suggested that we pay teshuvah. While their forebears had
him with our sheep, a reasonable brought curses and destruction upon
request which we agreed to honor. the Jewish people, their goal was to
While herding the vast majority of bring blessings and to build. When I
our sheep onto his wagons, it struck asked why they chose Arugot Farm
from all the other settlements and