Carrying Their Sheaves
May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
carrying their sheaves.
—Psalm 126:5-6 (NRSV)
I saw this photo in the newspaper today and it gave me such a good feeling I just had to post it. It is taken by Gil Cohen Magen for Reuters near Modiin, Israel, and depicts the ritual harvest of wheat that will be used to make the unleavened bread for Passover. I love the look of relaxed happiness on the face of the man on the left. Considering the constant threats and attacks suffered by Israel it's nice to see an image of joy from there. I also love how this religious ritual connects their bodies with the earth in a way that could not be more direct. These men actually go in the field and cut the wheat by hand and carry it out on their backs. Shortly before Passover they will bake the wheat into matzo bread, and the fruits of the earth, hallowed by God, will become a part of them.
That is a great photo.
I wonder if those are their actual harvesting clothes. Seems kinda dressy/stuffy...
Posted by:wil | 2007.05.31 at 17:17
I believe these are their do-anything clothes! The other pictures in the series do show a couple of fellows without coat and hat, but the others are fully decked out. Being very traditional, I wouldn't be surprised if their clothes were very comfortable and durable.
Posted by:Sylvia | 2007.05.31 at 17:26
Isn't Israel one of safest countries in the world? I mean, there are terrorists that blow up bombs every once in a while but out in the country and away from all that their crime rates are among the lowest in the world. They feel safe...I met with some Israeli's who were visiting this past spring and we talked, and they all said that they felt safe. Going on a bus it's something that crosses their mind that they could get blown up but it's just like us getting on a bus and thinking about how we could be in a terrible crash and die. Not to deny terrorism though! It's there.
Posted by:Wendy | 2007.06.17 at 12:03
Certainly they are safer in the big cities which are out of range of the Qassam rockets from Gaza and the West Bank (not to mention Lebanon). But they are also surrounded by hundreds of millions of Muslims who would very much like to see the Jews vanish off the face of the earth. I heard one commentator say that Israelis don't think long term, they only think ahead to the next war, because they know that if they lose one war they are finished. I can't imagine what it's like to live with the constant threat of total annihilation.
Posted by:Sylvia | 2007.06.17 at 12:22
P.S. And just now I read that two rockets were fired on northern Israel from Lebanon today. It never ends.
Posted by:Sylvia | 2007.06.17 at 12:28