Yaron’s Blog – The Beauty of Livnot U’Lehibanot
The Beauty of Livnot U’Lehibanot
Yaron Butterfield
yaron.butterfield@gmail.com
In the spring of 1997, I was 22, needed a break from university, and was informed through SFU Hillel of a 3-month program in Israel called Livnot U’lehibanot (http://www.livnot.org/), Hebrew for “To Build and Be Built”. I jumped at the chance. I hadn’t been to Israel in 12 years and had never even traveled on my own. I signed up and after a drive across Canada in August with a friend and then to New York, I met some people that I would spend the next 12 weeks with in some town I hadn’t heard of called Tsfat. Little did I know the impact the program would have on my life ever since. After a week visiting family in Rehovot and Jerusalem, my loving Uncle Yorum drove me up from Jerusalem, along Lake Kinneret and to Tsfat, listening to a tape of Eyal Golan the whole time. He dropped me off with my backpack at the campus and I gave him a Canucks shirt as a thanks.
Mystical stone buildings everywhere. Religious people. Beautiful art. Where was I!? What have I gotten myself into? I met two people, Ryan and Forrest. We learned we loved running and within minutes we were in our sneakers and shorts and running through the twisting ancient streets which were bursting with energy. Though I had many very close friends, the only Jewish person I knew growing up was my twin brother Noam. So I had an instant connection with these two guys through our Jewishness – I felt like I had known them for years. And in the program with 10 or so other people, we were to live together on campus in Tsfat immersed in Jewish learning and hiking the land. This was in the fall and so I experienced the beauty of Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot as part of the program. On one day, we studied Judaism, on the next we worked in the community; helping the elderly, painting and cleaning up spaces, excavating in the ancient town. One day a week we went on an amazing hike, mostly in Northern Israel and the Golan. We had great spiritual teachers. When Friday came, we got ready for the beauty of Shabbat. The memory of singing Lecha Dodi and Hineh Ma Tov on the balcony in Tsfat facing north, with my arms around fellow chevre, and seeing the sun dip down behind the mountains rests forever in my soul. I have lifelong friends from this experience.
In the summer of 2014, I was blessed to find myself part of a 1 week version of the program. I happened to be in Tsfat right when a program started and the great teachers invited me to be part of it. Much has changed over the years. I didn’t expect much in a one week program compared to the 3 month program I experienced years before. Boy was I pleasantly surprised! It was an incredible week of learning, contributing to the town of Tsfat again, meeting other Jews from North America and living together on campus, hikes in the Golan such as the Bar Kokhba caves and a beautiful Shabbat.
Much has changed. Since I first did the program discoveries underneath of the campus has lead to much excavating. There are now Kabbalah classes and 1, 2 and 6 weeks programs. However, what hasn’t changed is the perfect combination of Jewish learning, great teachers, connecting with other Jews and hiking the land in places you might not go to as a tourist. The program unleashes the beauty and wisdom of Judaism without forcing any particular view. Livnot changed my life and I *highly* recommend it to any Jewish person in Vancouver. I can answer any questions about the program you might have and/or tell you more about my wonderful experiences.
