In the wake of Operation Protective Edge, a new project has been launched to “turn death into life,” by planting 100,000 new fruit trees in the exact areas where over 1,000 Hamas terror missiles fell.
Many of the new fruit trees will be planted in the actual holes left by the impact of the rockets, notes Zo Artzeinu, the organizers of the new initiative.
“This is a positive response to hate and destruction! Fruit trees mean new life, sustenance, food, drink and blessings,” added the organization in a statement.
Zo Artzeinu is working with various farms, nurseries and farmers to plant all the trees before Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year that falls on September 24 this year. The reason for the rush is that next year is a Shemittah year, the final year of a seven-year cycle during which the Torah mandates that agricultural fields be left fallow.
Zo Artzeinu, which is spearheading the project, is “asking for help from people all over the world in purchasing the actual trees and sophisticated drip irrigation system. This system is fully computerized and uses minimal water in irrigating the fields.”
Until Rosh Hashanah, all those interested can partner with an Israeli farmer and purchase a fruit tree. All the necessary information can be found on Zo Artzeinu’s website.
The organization notes that the project not only is a response to Hamas, but “ensures peace,” quoting the Torah (Leviticus 25:20): “keep My decrees and safeguard My laws. If you keep them, you will live in the land securely. The land will produce its fruit, and you will eat your fill, thus living securely in the land.”