Paul Calvert interviews Zac Waller, the executive director of HaYovel Now, about uniting Jews and Christians through volunteering on Israeli farms, and fulfilling scripture.

Paul: Are you from a farming background yourself?

Zac: Yes we were organic farmers in Tennessee for about six years. It's a whole other story, but to put it in a nutshell my dad got his business degree in college and was climbing the ladder of success in the United States. He was doing very well. He worked for Federal Express and became a manager, but realised that all of his time was being devoted to work, but he had this growing family.

My older brother was born, I was born and he realised that he hadn't been able to spend any time with his wife and children and that really bothered him. So he made the decision to quit his job after 13 years to get his priorities straight. We ended up moving to an Amish community in Tennessee and lived off the land for six years.

Paul: What is the vision and mission of the organisation?

Zac: I would say that the mission is to come and bless and serve the farmers here.

One thing that we weren't really connected to before we came, before 2004, is the wound that the Jewish people carry from Christianity. That was something that I think, as Christians, we say, "Oh the people that did that weren't real Christians" and we throw it off like that.

After getting to know the Jewish people a little bit better, we realised there is still a deep wound from very recent history, of people saying that they believed in Jesus but had done horrific things. So we realised there needed to be a restoration, a reparation in that relationship. We wanted to bring Christians and allow them to get to know the Jewish people a bit better and for them to get to know us better; to figure out how we can bring reparation to the relationship.

The second thing is, we read in the Bible about this restoration of the land of Israel, and to come here and to see it literally taking place right here is very exciting and proves that God is real and that the Bible is real. For us as Christians to come and experience that is a very confirming thing to our faith.

Paul: Is farming in Israel different than farming in America?

Zac: It's definitely different in that the climate is a little different, and the soil is a little bit different.

There are differences, but in Tennessee we didn't grow vineyards, we grew tomatoes, peppers, corn and strawberries and just about everything else. We didn't get into vines and trees so much on our farm, so the vineyards are a little bit different for us, but I would say in general farming is farming so it wasn't hard to adapt to the needs here or be able to help the farmers.

Paul: Do you have your own farm here or are you helping other farmers with their work?

Zac: We don't actually own a farm, we are just here to help the Jewish farmers that have planted their vineyards and olive groves.

Paul: Is farming big business in Israel?