Without notebooks and books: "Mekor Chaim" students started the year in the vineyard
While most students started the school year in the classroom, dozens of students from the "Mekor Chaim" yeshiva put on work clothes and began harvesting and weeding. The students participated in activities as part of the "Shorashim" program, which combines agricultural work with educational and values-based activities. Over the course of the year, more than a thousand students from dozens of institutions across the country are expected to participate in the program.
While most students started the school year in front of a blackboard and notebook, dozens of students from the "Mekor Chaim" yeshiva arrived yesterday, Tuesday, morning at a vineyard in the settlement of Pnei Kedem, put on work clothes, and began harvesting and weeding.
For them, the first day of school did not start in the classroom but with agricultural work. The students joined local farmers as part of the "Shorashim" program of the "Hiburim Ba-Haklaut" organization, which combines regular agricultural work throughout the year alongside educational and values-based activities.
The organization seeks to make field work an integral part of the educational process, while simultaneously providing auxiliary labor to farmers across the country. During the upcoming school year, more than a thousand students from dozens of educational institutions are expected to participate in the program, from Katzrin in the north to Mitzpe Ramon in the south.
The program operates throughout the year in a variety of farms and agricultural sectors, with students arriving regularly for practical work in the field. From the organization's perspective, the goal is not limited to specific assistance to farmers, but rather creating a connection between the youth and the land, agriculture, and responsibility for the space in which they live.
The "Hiburim Ba-Haklaut" organization, which has previously won awards for Zionist activity, operates the program in schools and high schools in dozens of settlements and cities across the country.
"Seeing dozens of students starting their school year with agricultural activity, with sweat in the vineyard and real assistance to farmers, is the most powerful education for Zionism and love of the land," said Berchia (Bri) Rosenberg, CEO of "Hiburim Ba-Haklaut." "They learn to take responsibility for the country, and build with their own hands a deep personal identity and mutual responsibility that cannot be taught within the walls of a classroom."
