In the dark stillness of a peaceful night atop the Mount of Blessing in Israel, an alarm will disturb your slumber, indicating that a new day of the grape harvest in Israel has begun. As you make your way to the morning worship session, you will be able to indulge in the cool dew that coats every surface of this beautiful mountaintop. Despite the early hour, breakfast will be a lighthearted and joyous time of fellowship, followed with a short word of encouragement.
After breakfast, you will descend the mountain just as the sun begins to peek over the hilltops that grace the land, resulting in a breathtaking sunrise. Depending on the location of the workday, the travel time may vary between 30 minutes to a little over an hour. This time is spent in countless ways: getting a few extra minutes of sleep, talking with your neighbor on the bus, taking in the sights, or taking time to journal about your experiences on the trip. Many times, your team leader for the day will tell stories, point out the locations where biblical events took place, or answer questions you may have. Topics can range between the political and social climate of Judea and Samaria to your bus driver’s favorite ice cream (spoiler: Yossi’s favorite is date-flavored ice cream from Golda’s).
Fulfilling Prophecy Firsthand
Once you’ve finished your journey through the region where so much of your Bible took place, the real fun begins! Your team leader will give you a pair of clippers and provide guidance on what needs to be done.
Depending on the field in which you’re volunteering, you may be doing a full harvest, a partial harvest, thinning the grapes for a rosé harvest, or something entirely new! At this point, we’ll send you to join a vineyard row with a few other volunteers to begin picking grapes. Harvesting time generates a buzz of excitement, often filled with conversation and singing. However, you will always be fulfilling biblical prophecies spoken thousands of years ago! As you’re harvesting grapes, you may wonder if the prophet Isaiah envisioned you working in the vineyards when he spoke of foreigners in Isaiah 61.
Mornings During the Grape Harvest in Israel
As you work, you will get to experience first-hand the sun and heat of the Middle East. The team leaders however, will make sure you don’t work too hard. By midmorning, we’ll start handing out fruit. We like to call this “fika,” a term we learned from our Swedish volunteers that means “snack time”! Fika gives you the refreshing boost you need to work until lunchtime. Then, we’ll enjoy a lunch that our outstanding kitchen crew lovingly packed that morning. Generally this will include some of the region’s staples, like some of the best pitas you have ever tasted.
Several factors—such as how much work remains, how hot the weather is, and how long the drive back to base camp will be—affect the time spent after lunch. Some days we may work in the field a little bit longer after lunch. On other days, we may begin our drive back home.
Afternoons During the Grape Harvest in Israel
Afternoons are many times spent doing laundry, taking naps, reading, or any other activity of your choice (unless it’s a tour day or an extra long work day). Once you’ve had your fill (or maybe not) of free time, we regather as a group to have dinner early in the evening. Once you get here and begin working early in the day, you’ll be looking forward to an early dinner. Throughout the week, we’ll have guest speakers come out to share with the group. These speakers may be the pioneers of Judea and Samaria, knowledgeable about the complexities of the region that most people are unaware of, people who fought in Israel’s wars, and much more.
We generally have an early bedtime on base. This helps to ensure that everyone is getting plenty of sleep so that they are able to be fully present and enjoy the following work day. Most however, don’t need a curfew to fall fast asleep by 9:00 (or even earlier).
That’s what our schedule looks like about five days out of every week. What do the other two days look like?
The Days Spent Not in the Field
As you’ll soon see, Saturdays are one of the most restful and peaceful days in all of Israel. Because of this, it makes it a bit difficult for farmers to harvest on Friday. We generally take Fridays as a day to show you places you wouldn’t see on a typical trip to Israel. Some of these places include:
- Ancient Shiloh, where the tabernacle stood for 369 years
- Hebron, where the Cave of Machpelah is located. This is also where David reigned for seven years.
- Elon Moreh, where God made the covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12. We like to do our sunrise cinnamon roll breakfast here.
- And countless other places!
Celebrating the Sabbath
The excitement of Friday doesn’t end after the tour is over; Friday nights are the pinnacle of the week. You’ll gather with some of the staff families on base for a Shabbat dinner. If you’ve never participated in a Shabbat dinner before, you’re in for quite the treat. Typically people will wear nicer clothes and everyone will eat a meal that our kitchen team has spent the entire day preparing. Celebrating the Sabbath in Israel is a special experience and many of our volunteers consider it one of the highlights of their trip! Bedtime on Friday night is later than usual, giving you extra time to chat and laugh with your fellow volunteers and staff families.
Since Saturdays are a day of rest for the Jewish people, we also have a day of rest on base. There will be a self-serve breakfast, followed by worship, prayer, and a teaching that begins mid-morning. After this, all of the families on base will join the volunteers for a group lunch. The time after lunch is free until late afternoon when a resident of the local community usually comes and shares a teaching on the Torah portion of the week. After that, everyone will gather for a group walk out to a nearby lookout point. You might be able to see the Mediterranean Sea from the lookout! Dinner will follow, followed by an early bedtime. After such a restful day, you’ll feel re-energized and ready to begin the week anew the next morning!
What Else to Expect During the Grape Harvest in Israel
You can prepare yourself for the grape harvest in Israel, but what many people are unprepared for is the life changing experience of personally participating in fulfilling millennia-old prophecies. As you stand and work in the vineyards, the prophecies spoken by Jeremiah, Isaiah, Joel, Amos, and others become alive in your own life as you touch the holiest soil on the face of the earth. As you work in the vineyards, you’ll be able to see the mountains dripping with sweet wine (Joel 3:18, Amos 9:13), the vineyards coming to life on the hills of Samaria (Jeremiah 31:5), and the blessing you receive by blessing the Jewish people (Genesis 12:3).
One thing that we can guarantee is that once you come to the land of Israel, the heartland of Israel, to serve and bless the people, you will walk away changed and zealous for the fulfillment of more prophecies and the soon coming redemption of the land of Israel.
Now that you have a better idea of what to expect on a trip with HaYovel and what it is like to be part of the grape harvest in Israel, click here to check out the dates and prices for our upcoming trips!
