Tree for You

Wow, we have actively avoided writing on this blog for one month! I, for one, have been overcome with a sense of paralyse when I think about how to communicate all that I have experienced in the last month. Now to take it one step at a time.

Here is a poem that I wrote a month and a half ago after learning more about the history of tree planting in the state of Israel, sponsored by the JNF (Jewish New Fund, governs a large portion of all land in Israel). Many Jews around the world have childhood memories of putting quarters into charity boxes at synagogue to support planting trees in Israel. Supporting the ecological environment of the holy land seems like a simple, non-political, of course situation. But I have learned that many of the forests that have been planted by the JNF in Israel were strategically placed to cover up destroyed Palestinian villages when they were pushed off their land in 1948 and the state of Israel was formed. There were 531 Palestinian villages destroyed during this war. This history is rarely told.

Many visitors to Israel have planted a tree in the Holy Land as a commemoration to loved ones, or a way to connect with the land. My sister was one of these people several years ago and she planted a tree for our grandfather, the most gentle and loving man in the world, who was dying with cancer. This was a huge gesture of love, amidst untold tragedy. I think the poem can take it from here:

Tree for you

Here is a tree for you, Grandpa

a strong Jerusalem Pine in the holy land

planted as a seedling with hope

and memory of your strength and love

a gift from your granddaughter

a way to connect to what is sacred

and spiritual

and alive

A tree for you, Grandpa

covering the ashes of a fallen village

a cemetery of lives lost

with no tombstone

a forest planted to make israel beautiful

and to hide the blood spilled

the voices distant and muffled

by a cement wall

A tree for you

when millions of people live without a safe home

without the means to protect their land against rape, theft, and destruction

without hope

There is a tree planted for you, Grandpa,

where homes used to keep families warm

while today young children grow up in cages

There is a tree just for you,

my dearest Grandfather,

a token of my sorrow

a dream that some day fear will not allow us to turn our backs

and pretend we do not see.