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| Yurts at Shaar LaAdam provide accommodation for volunteers |
Parashat Trumah instructs B’nei Yisrael to make God a holy sanctuary in the wilderness; to create a space that invites in God’s presence. What does it mean to create sacred space? At Sha’ar laAdam, you don’t need a building for there to be a central gathering space inviting in the divine spirit. The trees themselves, and the rocks arranged in inviting circles, have served for seven years as a sacred haven for groups of local Arab and Jewish adults and youth meeting to experience their common humanity. The branches overhead have provided a protective canopy, the earth beneath providing a grounding presence and the breeze a gentle reminder of God’s simultaneous immanence and transcendence.
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| Sustainable building in the forest |
However, after seven years of creative coexistence activities in nature, Sha’ar LaAdam, in partnership with the Jewish Agency’s Project TEN and Israel Pathways are building a physical center, in the midst of the forest, a certain kind of sanctuary to enable the expansion of their programming and especially to be able to host full time volunteers and students.
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| building the bedrooms from local rock and wood |
The question is not really why to build - clearly our new building will enable us to broaden and deepen our work and reach more participants. Instead, the pertinent question is how - how to build a structure that can harness the already present sanctity of the forest? How can you add to nature in a way that is in tune with nature and not harmful to its essence?
Firstly, as with the mishkan - it is essential to plan every detail, carefully and exquisitely. Secondly, as with the mishkan, use only natural materials, preferably local ones found on site.
Faiz Swa’ed, co-director of Sha’ar LaAdam says that for him, sustainable building at Sha’ar laAdam is about being in tune with nature. “What is important,” he says “is to build from within nature itself - without disturbing the natural environment. Listen to the earth, to the rocks, and build accordingly. Preserve the act of creation, bereishit, what is in nature from the start and be nature’s partner”.
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| Sustainable Bathrooms under construction in the trees |
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| Faiz Swa'ed - Co-director Sha'ar LaAdam |
One of Sha’ar LaAdam’s volunteers, Gadi, immediately made the connection between the new building and the mishkan. “Our work here is just like the work of Bezalel and Oholiab who were selected by God to lead the building of the mishkan because they had wise hearts (Exodus 35:35)- building at Sha’ar laAdam is exactly that - building with the heart”.
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| chiseling local rock for building |
In fact, as Parashat Trumah tells us, the creation of the holy sanctuary was exactly that - bringing together the heart-wisdom (hochmat halev) of Bezalel and Oholiab, as well as the heart-generosity (nedivat halev) of all of B’nei Yisrael. Indeed, this spirit of generosity of the heart, of giving, of volunteering, is the principle upon which the center at Sha’ar LaAdam is built. The builders of the center are volunteering their time, and the center is a place to bring together volunteers from all over the world to volunteer to work for Arab Jewish coexistence and the environment.
Come join us at Israel Corps Project TEN at Sha’ar LaAdam at Harduf and be part of this sacred building project. Help spread the word to enable more volunteers to come and share their hearts!
For more information:
http://tenprogram.org/locations/kibbutz-harduf-israel
email: debbie@tenprogram.org
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| Kitchen and dining room in the forest - almost complete! |
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Volunteers working on sustainable building - creating an outdoor dining plaza with locally founnd rocks
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