When a park combines Torah with the natural world, the result is a landscape that brings our past to life. “The idea of Neot Kedumim is taking the text and telling the text in the context. That’s how the small black letters become a real piece of life, a real experience.”
Such are the words of Dr. Sarah Oren, a senior guide at the park. Neot Kedumim, according to its website, is “the only Biblical landscape reserve in the world.” The 625-acre park offers tours with various activities, and they have a special exhibit for Chol Hamoed Sukkot. “The exhibition is based on Masechet Sukkah in the Mishna, where we have an argument between the rabbis: What is the kosher sukkah? For example, if you have a very tall sukkah, is it kosher? If you have a tiny sukkah, is it kosher? What can a sailor do if he has to sail during the holiday? Can he build a sukkah on a boat? The answer, I can add, is ‘yes,’ and we have a sukkah on a boat, a sukkah on a camel; we have something like 28 sorts of sukkahs, and they are all decorated with animals and plants and the seven species, and it is like real life in ancient times,” Oren explained.
“The exhibition is in real sizes, and there are signs next to each sukkah with the discussion between the rabbis about if it’s kosher, not kosher, if they agree, if they do not agree. So people are amazed by this exhibition.” The sukkah exhibit is open all year but is especially brushed up for Sukkot. Additionally, there will be sukkahs for visitors to eat in.
The action does not stop with the sukkahs, however. “Beside the exhibition, we have a short trail for families with young kids who can’t walk a lot, and another trail, which is longer, for people that are looking for something hard. And during the trail, we have stops. At each stop, we give an explanation, a story,” said Oren. “Along the trail, we have three very large exhibitions. For example, next to the vineyard, we have a threshing floor, so we have the installation and everything that reminds one of the work that people used to do. Next to the olive trees, we have the oil press, so it’s a kind of exhibition which is part of the trail, and next to the fields, we have the threshing floor. There is a plow to plow the soil, and people, children and parents, can use the plow, and sometimes they can wear the kind of robes worn in ancient times and feel like they are taking part in everyday life in ancient times.”
Oren added: “In the festival, we always have a musical part, like songs that are connected to farming life, or sometimes to the prayer for rain, so we have songs for rain, there’s music, and we have a short theater for about 20 minutes. So, if a family comes, the family can spend around four hours and visit the stops and enjoy all the facilities.” Although there is an option for a self-guided tour, Oren recommends a tour guide “because a guide makes the trail more alive, adds stories and legends and sometimes a short theater, and it makes it more fun and more understandable, a better experience.”
What is behind the park’s name?
“‘Neot’ reminds us of the word ‘na’eh,’” Oren explained. “‘Na’eh,’ in high-level Hebrew, means ‘good-looking,’ ‘very nice.’ It’s not enough that the landscape is nice-looking. We should look for things that will be nice inside, deep, valuable, important, something new. ‘Neot’ is also the plural of ‘Naveh.’ ‘Naveh,’ in high-level Hebrew, means ‘home’’ The Beit HaMikdash is also named ‘Naveh Hashem.’
“So since we are talking about the Jewish sources, we are inviting people to come back home and to see from where the Hebrew language, the Jewish holidays, the heritage come from. All is coming from the landscape and the character of this land,” noted Oren. “‘Kedumim’ comes from the word ‘kadum.’ ‘Kadum’ in Hebrew means ‘ancient,’ ‘the past.’ The three root letters are ‘kuf,’ ‘dalet’ and ‘mem.’ If we are planning something for the future, we are looking forward; we are looking ahead. ‘Forward,’ ‘ahead,’ in Hebrew, is ‘kadima.’ So if you are listening, ‘kadima’ and ‘kadum’ both have the same three root letters, which sounds very weird, because one word means ‘the past’ and the other one means ‘the future.’
“But this is the idea: Only a person who is taking the past within him, in his mind, in his heart, [knows] how to go forward.”
The landscape has a convenient location as well. “Neot Kedumim is in the middle of the way between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, next to the city of Modiin, which is the homeland of the Maccabees,” Oren said. “This means that it’s about 30 minutes from Jerusalem, 30 minutes from Tel Aviv; it’s not in the south, nor the north. It’s in the center.”
Oren pointed out that Neot Kedumim is not just for kids, and activities can be arranged for adults as well, where “we can go to deep subjects. We can take one of the prophets, like Yirmiyahu, Yeshayahu; we can talk about kings or the Shoftim. We can take a subject and make a trail which will be deeper and more serious talking and studying, and I like to get those communities which are amazed by taking the text and telling the text in the context.
“Why, for example, did the prophet [Jeremiah] get the duty to be a prophet with the almond branch? ‘Almond,’ in Hebrew, is ‘shaked,’ but ‘shaked,’ in Hebrew, means something;it’ means being diligent, working really hard to achieve the target, and we are going from the plant, we are getting to know the almond, the ‘shaked,’ why it got such a unique name, and then we connect the name with the duties of Jeremiah, which was not easy, to come to the people and try to make them have better behavior.”
Neot Kedumim is located on Route 443 in Israel; search “Neot Kedumim” in Google Maps or Waze. Call them at +972 (0)8-977-0777 or email them at
[email protected].
Daniel Brauner is a contributor and former summer intern for The Jewish Link. He attends Yeshiva University and lives in Teaneck. Contact him at [email protected].
