Tiyul Shnati
I just came back from a 3-day tiyul with my school. A few initial observations (there's a lot to talk about and I'll try to do that in future posts):
As I mentioned before (here and here), it is simply wondrous to go on a tiyul where, on the list of items to bring, along with water, a hat, warm clothes for the evening, etc. is.... a Tanach. Our tiyul was to the Negev and, to talk about Avraham planting the "Eshel" (tamarisk) tree (Bereishit 21:33) while standing in front of one near there... simply amazing.
We also saw the Rotem tree (either juniper or the white broom) mentioned in Tehillim 120 and elsewhere. The Gemara (Erchin 15b) says that the passuk refers to speakers of Lashon Hara and the punishment they receive. (The Gemara in Chagiga 12b has other sins related to the rotem as well.) The beginning of the passuk, talking about the far-reaching damage caused by arrows is like lashon hara in that one can harm someone even from a distance. The effects of lashona hara, the passuk continues, are like rotem coals in that their deleterious effects are long-lasting, simmering like the coals themselves.
(Our tour guide said that many Bedouins make fires out of Rotem leaves then, after spreading them out and covering them with sand, they sleep on their long-lasting warmth all night.)
We heard all this, sitting in front of a rotem in the Negev Desert. Just one example of the richness of a tiyul..... in Israel.
As I mentioned before (here and here), it is simply wondrous to go on a tiyul where, on the list of items to bring, along with water, a hat, warm clothes for the evening, etc. is.... a Tanach. Our tiyul was to the Negev and, to talk about Avraham planting the "Eshel" (tamarisk) tree (Bereishit 21:33) while standing in front of one near there... simply amazing.
We also saw the Rotem tree (either juniper or the white broom) mentioned in Tehillim 120 and elsewhere. The Gemara (Erchin 15b) says that the passuk refers to speakers of Lashon Hara and the punishment they receive. (The Gemara in Chagiga 12b has other sins related to the rotem as well.) The beginning of the passuk, talking about the far-reaching damage caused by arrows is like lashon hara in that one can harm someone even from a distance. The effects of lashona hara, the passuk continues, are like rotem coals in that their deleterious effects are long-lasting, simmering like the coals themselves.
(Our tour guide said that many Bedouins make fires out of Rotem leaves then, after spreading them out and covering them with sand, they sleep on their long-lasting warmth all night.)
We heard all this, sitting in front of a rotem in the Negev Desert. Just one example of the richness of a tiyul..... in Israel.
posted by T.Y.I.I. at
Friday, March 10, 2006
2 Comments:
How amazing to gain an understanding in that way, of the long-lasting effects of the rotem coals; and how blessed to have the opportunity to have that impact, in a long-lasting way, on a person's care in how they speak.
It sounds like it was an awesome tiyul. Did you get to actually camp out with your students, and if so what was the evening like?
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