The patch of wheat in Congregation Chaverim's garden was small, only a few square feet. So Jennifer Ahearn was surprised that harvesting the grain on the morning of erev Shavuot turned out to be such a great experience for her, her husband Marc Goodman, and their twin 2-year-olds, Desmond and Simon.

Linda Braun, education director, had the idea to plant the wheat in the children's plot in the community garden at Chaverim. The children planted seeds provided by congregant Gerard White and watched them grow.

On the morning of Sunday, June 12, nine adults (including myself), five small boys, and a dog gathered at the garden. Rabbi Stephanie Aaron lead the group in blessings and read from the Mishnah regarding the laws of peah, holding a corner of the field so that its produce is left for the poor. She appointed the sons of the Lyons family, Aodhan, Ezra, and Orson, to be shomrim, guardians, to hold clumps of wheat aside at the corners of our field in order to fulfill this mitzvah. Then we each took a turn cutting wheat and handed the stalks to Braun, who gathered them in a basket.

Garden coordinator Julie Linde cut cattails that had grown in the garden, and their leaves were used to tie three small sheaves of wheat. We left one sheaf in the garden as the rabbi instructed, to fulfill the mitzvah of shichah, forgotten produce, which in ancient Israel became the property of the poor. We then made a procession into the synagogue, carrying the wheat, cattails, and flowers from the garden.

Rabbi Aaron asked us to see ourselves as if we were taking the offerings of our harvest to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Afterward she commented: "I truly felt like I was an ancient pilgrim, bringing my bikkurim, my first fruits to the Beit HaMikdash!"

In the days when the Temple stood, a sheaf, or  omer, of barley was waived when it ripened around the time of Passover. Then the people anxiously counted the seven weeks until the wheat crop was ready. I first experienced Shavuot on a kibbutz, where the celebration of the abundant spring harvest reminded me of Thanksgiving.

Here in Arizona, I learned a different way of counting the omer, based not on the grain harvest, but on developing spiritual qualities. In this practice, as we count each day between Passover and Shavuot, we focus on cultivating lovingkindness and other virtues. This year was the first time that the harvest of the land and the harvest of spiritual

qualities had come together for me. Chaverim congregant Dina Afek, who had also experienced a kibbutz Shavuot - with a contest for the best float made on a tractor - felt the same, commenting after Chaverim's event that it was "wonderful to experience and acknowledge the connection between the agricultural and the religious aspects" of the holiday.

Since the harvest was so small, Linde suggested that the grain be kept for planting next year. The harvesting and prayers were followed by a dairy oneg. Comparing the bagels with the small grains of newly harvested wheat, Ahearn said she had a new appreciation for "how much really goes into the food we eat."