Kinneret water authority officials on Monday issued grave warnings, stating the level of the nation’s main potable water source is at an all time low, -213 centimeters. Officials are indicating that at the present level, the ‘black line’ will be reached by October, – 215.5 centimeters, a point at which all pumping most come to a total halt.
Despite ‘emergency action’ by the national government, experts predict it will be yet another case of too little too late. They explain dire warnings were issued five years ago, but lawmakers ignored them.
Funds were allocated for desalination plants but they were never constructed. Now they explain, we will be facing dry harsh realities and raising the price of water for farmers, and launching a national water awareness campaign will help, but it appears to be too late to prevent a critical water shortage this coming winter.
In Kibbutz Tzova for example, the apple and other crops have been abandoned, with the fruit rotting. Farmers explain the water is just too expensive to justify the crop. The community has cut down their cherry trees and is deciding what to do since it appears the once lucrative business of farming is coming to an abrupt end.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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4 Responses
A lot of water would have been saved this year, if the halachos of shmitta would have been fully adhered to in all of Eretz Yisroel.
By cutting back on rain this winter, Hashem was sending us a message, not to squander precious water, and reminding us to keep His Torah,
In general, rain in Eretz Yisroel is not to be taken for granted, rather it being conditional on keeping the Torah, as we are reminded twice daily in the the reading of the Shema (second paragraph).
Cutting down cherry trees is prohibited by Torah law, though, by judging from their website, I’m not sure they are overly concerned about that in Kibbutz Tzova.
i dont know what persuation kibbutz tzova is. frum,not frum, litvish, chasidish or plain israelis. all i know is that they are jewish and in trouble with water. it seems that water is a very expensive commodity in eretz yisroel. the situation with the kinnereth will effect the frum jews in the whole of eretz yisroe. i suspect that the gov’t of israel will have to import water, and i wonder at what prices from turkey or others in the region.
tefilah,tzedaka is really the only answer.we also need to show empathy with our brethern in israel with regard to this problem.
ras18:
Your post definitely expresses the Jewish attribute of “rachmanus”, however you seem to have missed my point.
As an “IsraeliReader”, I am acutely aware of the ramifications of a dwindling water supply, which will affect all of us living in Eretz Hakodesh.
I surely empathize with our brethren in this plight, as I personally am in the “same boat”. But precisely because I’m in this boat, and there are others who through their actions are endangering the boat by “drilling under their own seat”, do I feel compelled to belabor the point.
You write, “tefilah,tzedaka is really the only answer”. You are partly correct, as tefilah and tzedaka are only the final 2 items in the list of those things which ward off evil decrees. You seem to have neglected the primary thing on the list, which is TESHUVA.
Hashem gave us a mitzva of shmitta, which we are expected to keep. We can not expect from Him to send us a blessed abundance of rain, so that we can then turn around and use this very water to flaunt his Torah by planting on shmitta.
Boruch Hashem there are a great number of farmers who chose to properly keep shmitta. There also are the generous people who are helping and subsidizing the farmers by contributing to the Keren hashmitta. There are those who buy produce from “Otzar Beis Din”, which also benefits the religious farmers. In their merit, we were blessed with the meager rainfall that we had this year.
However beyond that there is a great segment of Jewish society that “doesn’t get it”. We absolutely can not take rainfall in Eretz Yisroel for granted. Hashem has told this to us explicitly in the second paragraph of shema. Yet these people deny this reality, and are bringing danger to the entire Yishuv!
They have they squandered OUR water on THEIR aveiros. This being through transgressing the laws of shmitta, and also by having mixed swimming pools (ala Kibbutz Tzova – see their web site). In addition, by not keeping the Torah, they are in effect non-contributers to the collective rainfall needed for Eretz Yisroel!
With all due respect, it’s nice to empathize, it’s more important to “solutionize”. Hashem has promised that will give us all the water we need, IF we keep His Torah. This is THE solution, and this is the message we need to get out to the entire Klal Yisroel.
By the way, sitting in the comfort of Chutz La’aretz is no guarantee that your going to have water either. Just look at what’s been happening in Australia the past few years, and read a little bit what climate changes are in store due to global warming. Hashem has decided to turn the screws up a bit, nudging and prodding the entire mankind to prepare for accepting His reign. Are we getting the message, or are we just making alternate plans, like “well, if there’s no water in Israel, well just import it from Turkey!”