About Eden Village Camp: Eden Village Camp aims to be a living model of a thriving, sustainable Jewish community, grounded in social responsibility and inspired Jewish spiritual life. By bringing the wisdom of our tradition to the environmental, social, and personal issues important to today’s young people, we practice a Judaism that is substantive and relevant. Through our Jewish environmental and service-learning curricula, joyful Shabbat observance, pluralistic Jewish expression, and inspiring, diverse staff role models, we foster our campers’ positive Jewish identity and genuine commitment to tikkun olam (healing the world). Our 3 acre educational farm and orchard are based on principles of permaculture, sustainable and organic farming. We produce annual vegetables, perennials, and tend educational gardens as well as animals.

About the Farm Educator Apprenticeship: This is a paid six-month apprenticeship for young adults seeking hands-on experience. In the Spring build your knowledge based on agriculture, farm-based education and Jewish community. In the Summer, work at our 8-week intensive summer camp as Jewish Farm Educators. In the fall, take ownership and integrate your new skills by diving deeper into independent projects.  Live on-site at our beautiful camp, one hour north of New York City. By joining the farm staff at Eden Village, apprentices will hold two main responsibilities – tending our growing spaces and educating in our all of our programming through the spring, summer and fall. Apprentices will also have an opportunity to dive deeper into one of four focus areas: perennials, annuals, animals, and educational gardens. In these specialties apprentices will gain a deeper understanding of certain aspects of farming and will take on leadership and special projects to booster their learning and the learning of campers and program participants.

Details: April 14th, 2015 – October 22nd 2015, Apprentices receive full room and board at Eden Village, as well as a modest stipend. Extensive experience is not necessary but experiential curiosity is required. We recommend you explore our website thoroughly to get more information about our apprenticeship, farm, camp, and more at Eden Village Camp.

More questions? Explore the FAQ page. For all other questions, contact farm@edenvillagecamp.org

This ia a free opportunity for young adults 19-29 to come together in an interfaith setting for Jews, Christians and Muslims to live, farm and study together from June 1st – July 23rd 2015 at the Stony Point Conference Center in Stony Point, NY, with time for mentoring and vocational discernment. It is a Multifaith, Peace, Justice and Earthcare program. We seek students who are grounded in their religious tradition, serious about spriiuality and the state of the planet, and open to learnig and living in an intentional community setting. This is our 6th annual program run by the Community of Living Traditions on the Stony Point Center 32 acre campus.

For more details and to apply go to: www.stonypointcenter.org/SummerInstitute Deadline is March15, 2015

17 Cricketown Rd, Stony Point, NY 10980 845-786-5674

 
Eternal God, You created earth and heavens with mercy, and blew the breath of life into animals and humans. We were created amidst a world of wholeness, a world called “very good,” pure and beautiful, but now your many works are being erased by us from the book of life.

Not by our righteousness do we plead our prayers before You, Holy One of All, for we have sinned, we have despoiled, we have destroyed.

And so we confess together our collective sins, and ask for forgiveness:

For the sin which we have committed before You intentionally or unintentionally;

And for the sin which we have committed before You inadvertently;

For the sin which we have committed before You openly or secretly,

And for the sin which we have committed before You knowingly or unknowingly;

For the sin which we have committed before You, and before our children and grandchildren, by desecrating the sacred Earth,

And for the sin which we have committed before You of going beyond being fruitful and multiplying to overfilling the planet;

For the sin which we have committed before You by putting comfort above conscience,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by putting convenience above compassion;

For the sin we have committed against You by believing we are doing enough,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by reaping the dividends of unsustainability;

For the sin which we have committed before You through fear of speaking out,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by eating and drinking without concern for Earth and its hungry and thirsty;

For the sin which we have committed before You by saying we don’t have time,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by staying alive beyond the boundaries of our allotted life span:

For all of these, God of pardon, pardon us, forgive us, atone for us.

For the sin which we have committed before You by not pressuring our elected officials,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by gaining wealth through fossil fuels;

For the sin which we have committed before You by denying the impact of our white privilege,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by closing our hearts and eyes to injustice;

For the sin which we have committed before You by filling land and ocean with filth, toxins and garbage,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by extinguishing forever species which You saved from the waters of the flood;

For the sin which we have committed before You by razing forests and trees, rivers and mountains,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by turning the atmosphere into a chastening rod;

For the sin which we have committed before You by making desolate habitats that give life to every living soul,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by a confused heart;

For all of these, God of pardon, pardon us, forgive us, atone for us.

For the sin which we have committed before You by thinking separately of US and THEM,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by using more than our share of Earth’s resources;

For the sin which we have committed before You by considering human life more important than other forms of life,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by being deceived by those with power;

For the sin which we have committed before You by not finding the courage to overcome the reality of the lobbies,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by wanting to act only in ways that will serve us economically;

For the sin which we have committed before You by failing to create sufficient local, green jobs,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by trying to convince people rather than drawing them in;

For the sin which we have committed before You by not thinking into the future when we act,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by living in relative safety and not being caring of others;

For all of these, God of pardon, pardon us, forgive us, atone for us.

And yet, we know that we can only achieve forgiveness from You, O G!d of All That Is after we have sought forgiveness from our fellow living beings, and so, in order to achieve atonement, forgiveness, and pardon,

Help us, Holy One, to enter into loving respectful conversation,

Help us to create deep conversations,

And help us to listen to people.

Help us, Merciful One, to become empowered to talk and to connect,

Help us to be creative in how we start the conversation,

And help us to use our sacred texts as a foundation for our conversations.

Help us, Compassionate One, to start where people are and transition to climate change,

Help us to use humor as a vehicle of engaging people,

Help us to start with experience of nature and end with responsibility of saving world.

In order to achieve atonement, forgiveness, and pardon,

Help us, Holy One, to acknowledge that we are all in this together,

Help us to celebrate the positives happening in the world.

Help us, Source of All, to build coalitions,

Help us to create partnerships where we see other people’s needs.

Help us, Eternal One, to organize local solutions,

And help us to recognize that ownership and collective action are important.

Open our eyes to see the majesty of Your creation! Then we will praise you as it is written: “How manifold are Your works, Holy One! You made them all with wisdom; the earth is filled with what you hold.”

Please, Source of All, protect all living beings, in the shade of your wings give us refuge. Renew the face of the earth, save the weave and fullness of life. Please, Mysterious One, remove the heart of stone from our flesh, and set within us a heart of flesh, that we may behold the Godly therein. Grant us wisdom and courage to heal and to watch over this garden of life, to make it thrive under the heavens.

Help us to realize that we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

Help us to realize that we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

Adapted from the traditional Jewish High Holiday liturgy and works by Rabbi Lawrence Troster, Rabbi Daniel Nevins (which I found at neohasid.org), and, at the suggestion of Rabbi Judy Weiss, material from the Jewish Climate Action Network of Boston created with the help of Gary Rucinski.

Note: Hyperlinks above are to organizations that work to help the environment in ways that bear some relationship to the selected text. This is a work in progress, and I hope to add more links. If you have suggestions, please email them to rabbikza@verizon.net.

Rabbi Katy Z. Allen is the founder and leader of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope in Wayland, MA, and a staff chaplain at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She is the co-convener of the Jewish Climate Action Network, a member of the Jewcology.org editorial board, a board member of Shomrei Bereishit: Rabbis and Cantors for the Earth, and the co-creator of Gathering in Grief: The Israel / Gaza Conflict.

I started with Jewcology while working with an organization called Faiths United for Sustainable Energy, which unfortunately had to close its doors a few years back.  Though that organization I was able to meet a wide range of people affiliated with various religious organizations who cared deeply for the environment.  Through FUSE, individuals from different religious backgrounds were able to come together and collaborate in an effort to be good stewards of the planet.  I think the same applies to Judaism as, which is a very large tent containing a wide range of viewpoints.  If we as Jews can come together in order to share and exchange ideas, thoughts, and experiences in connection with  environmental  advocacy, activities, events, and Jewish teaching, we can create an even stronger Jewish environmental movement, in hopes of passing down a more sustainable world to the next generation, like my new son.

Please feel free to comment on this post or send me emails directly and I am always happy to discuss.  After all, that is the entire purpose of Jewcology.

I wish everyone a happy and sweet New Year.

by Rabbi Howard Cohen

The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilisation. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

With the approach of the season of Teshuvah it is once again time to reflect on our relationship with the earth.  In the past I would have asked myself questions such as ‘did I waste natural resources’; or ‘did I pour unreasonable amounts of carbon into the atmospher’; or ‘did I speak out against corporate environmental abuse’.  These questions are important but I believe that there is another set of questions equally or more important that we should start asking ourselves.  This year I am asking ‘how prepared am I to live in an ecologically changed/damaged world’ and ‘how am I helping others cope with the environmental changes we fear that are now a part of our reality’.

Humans have already irreversibly and negatively impacted the ecology and environment of the earth.  Perhaps we can mitigate to some degree future damage, but we cannot undo what has been done.  Thus, the most important existential challenge today is how to live in our environmentally affected world.

Sadly, the environmental movement has failed.  This is not because Truth and science are not on its side, nor because it lacked resources or organization.  It failed because it was essentially a messianic movement. Like all messianic movements it focused on final outcomes: If we don’t change our ways terrible things await us (think Jonah and his commission from God to the Ninevites).  But if we change (teshuvah) our ways we can avoid this horrible fate and enjoy heaven on earth.  Alternatively it was messianic because it was built upon the belief that in the end if we do right we can return (teshuvah) the earth and all therein to a time when it was much more like the days of the Garden of Eden.  (Think Shabbat as a taste of the Olam HaBa, that is, in the Garden of Eden). The environmental movement failed because messianic movements always fail.

This is a dark message if we are afraid of the unknown.  This is a depressing message if we do not prepare for the changes scientist are quite confident will almost certainly come.  That is why this year when I reflect on my earth/nature relationship instead of asking what can I do better next year to stop the inevitable changes from happening, I am going to ask how can I live with and help others live with the changes already under way.  Learning to live within a changed environment can be empowering, inspire hope and stimulate creativity.  It is not, nor does it need to be depressing.

Rabbi Howard Cohen runs Judaism Outdoors: Burning Bush Adventures, through which he takes people into the wilderness for an unforgettable experience of God, Judaism, and wilderness,

This time of year always seems a hurricane of activity: coming back from vacation to reams of email, or starting school, or dealing with all the pent-up housework that went blissfully ignored during the easy summer months.

Traditionally, Jews see this time of year very differently. Like typical Americans, this period is for them both an ending and a beginning: a recognition of the waning of life and an invigorating harbinger of new possibilities. But in place of the chaotic hurricane that starts for us after Labor Day, many Jews launch a period of quiet, internal reconstruction four days earlier on the first day of Elul.

Leaving mental space and physical time for self-reflection—and doing it now, precisely because this is such a busy time of year—represents an excellent discipline that can preserve mental and physical health throughout the year.

The change of seasons also teaches about of the amazing balance in the Earth that gives us food, clean air, and all good things. We don’t need to lament the end of warm weather and the reminder that in a few months we will be buried in snow. Snow is one of the great blessings of God–not just because we enjoy winter sports, but because it forms the perfect storage medium that, when the climate works right, preserves the water coming from Heaven that is needed months later for the plants that sprang up on the third day of Creation.

We don’t have to approach Elul through the traditional obsession with the S-word (sin). We can look back at what we wanted to accomplish during the year, and measure how far we have come. We can recall what unanticipated challenges and woes came up, congratulate ourselves for making it through them, and give a thumb’s up to the greater force that might have helped. We can ask why it is (if so) we do more Jewish stuff during High Holidays than the rest of year, and consider incrementing our Jewish practice and thinking year-round. And most of all, we should take a vow to devote part of the year to the preservation of the Earth, so that our descendants can enjoy High Holidays three thousand years from now.

Andrew Oram is an editor and writer at the technology company O’Reilly Media, a member of Temple Shir Tikvah of Winchester, Massachusetts, and an activist in the Jewish Climate Action Network and other local
(This is adapted from an article originally published in the newsletter of Temple Shir Tivkvah, Winchester, Mass.)

Now he’s 65 and
working on what he calls a very Jewish project, Jewish because it
comes out of ideas and values about having a vision and being a
dreamer that he picked up on his way to becoming a bald, goateed
senior citizen.

Bloom lives in Asia now working as a public relations writer and doing
his best as a climate activist to push a new literary genre to the
fore. He calls it “cli fi,” from the earlier sci fi term, and it
stands for climate fiction novels and movies.
It’s more than just a daydream or an idle thought. Cli fi is actually
catching on with the likes Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood backing
the idea and a host of newspapers and websites agreeing that its time
has come.

Wired magazine discusses it on page 33 of its December 2013 issue in the Jargon Watch corner edited by Jonathon Keats.

Post-Sandy and post-Haiyan, cli fi literature resonates as a literary
term, Bloom says, adding that promoting the genre is ”now my life’s
work, come what may.”

Earlier this year, two major news outlets in the U.S. and
Britain, NPR (National Public Radio) and the Guardian, ran stories
about the term. While some
commentators have said it is a new genre, others have said it is just
a subgenre of science fiction.

NPR put it this way: “Over the past decade, more and more writers have
begun to set their novels and short stories in worlds, not unlike our
own, where the Earth’s systems are noticeably off-kilter. The genre
has come to be called climate fiction — cli fi, for short.”

British writer Rodge Glass noted in his piece in the Guardian that the
literary world is now witnessing the rise of cli fi worldwide.

After the NPR and Guardian news stories went through the usual social
media stages of tweets and retweets, a literature professor at the
University of Oregon, Stephanie LeMenager, announced that she had
created a seminar that she will teach early next year titled “The
Cultures of Climate Change” using the cli fi theme as a main theme of
the class.

Bloom says that cli fi is a broad category, and it can apply to
climate-themed novels
and movies that take place in the present or the future, or even in
the past. And cli fi novels can be dystopian in nature, or utopian, or
just plain ordinary potboiler thrillers.

With carbon dioxide emissions in terms of parts per million (ppm) now
hovering at around 400ppm, cli fi writers have their work cut out for
them, Bloom says.

Post-Sandy and now post-Haiyan, there has never been a more opportune
time than now to
pay attention to the emergence of this newly-minted literary genre dubbed
“cli fi.” Not sci fi, but cli fi – for ”climate fiction” novels.

From Barbara Kingsolver’s “Flight Behavior” to Nathaniel Rich’s “Odds
Against Tomorrow,” and with over 300 novels already on a growing list,
including some that take a contrarian view of global warming,
cli fi novels are increasingly becoming a part of the literary
landscape. Short stories, novels, movies: cli fi is an apt term for
what’s coming down the road year by year as the 21st Century heads
towards the 22nd Century — in terms of coming to grips with climate
change and global warming issues, and from various points of view as
well.

In “State of Fear,” Michael Crichton’s 1994 cli fi novel, the author
used his story to criticize climate activists and dissed global
warming as a non-issue. Bloom says all points of view are welcome in
the cli fi stable, even though he himself does not agree with
Crichton’s thesis.

”Just as sci fi has had a variety of themes and practicitioners, cli fi
novels cannot be bundled into one convenient bookstore shelf. In fact,
like Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” cli fi novels will
also rest on authors’ individual perspectives, and not every author will toe the
line. That’s to be expected. Literature should be open to all.” he says.

But post-Sandy, and post-Haiyan, cli fi arrived in its own quiet way.
And the next
100 years, we will see more and more of this kind of
literature, Bloom says, adding that Hollywood movies will follow the
trend as well.

Expect cli fi movies like Jewish director Darren Aronofsky’s “Noah,” set in the
distant past of the Hebrew Bible story and scheduled for a March 2014 release
and
expect literary critics and academics to turn cli fi into a
much-talked-about genre.

Does cli fi have a
future?

“Yes,” says the travelling PR man. “Yes.

http://pcillu101.blogspot.com

danbloom@gmail.com

bubbie.zadie@gmail.com


LOS ANGELES — With films like “Noah” and “Into the Storm” and “Snowpiercer” — and
“Interstellar” coming in the late fall — Hollywood has seen the
handwriting on the wall and embraced climate themes in full
technicolor. Call the movies ”cli fi” or disaster thrillers,
whatever. There’s more to come in the film world.

But while Hollywood and studio marketing people (and online social
media reporters covering new film releases) have welcomed ”cli fi” into
the fold, the entrenched powers in the literary world controlled by
book editors in New York and London seem to be aloof to all this and
show little interest in the rise of the cli fi genre term.

I am not sure why, but maybe it has to do with literary critics and
book section editors feeling that literature is a ”sacred calling”
and only the all-powerful editors — as ”gatekeepers” — can decide
what’s real and what’s not in the literary world. So be it.

The more I thought about the disconnect between the literary world of
the book industry compared with the open arms in Hollywood, the more I
began to realize that the print novel is basically dead — in the
rising waters of global warming — and has little power anymore to
influence people or impact society.

The New York and London book review section editors are for the most
part just a bunch of gatekeepers
and the gatekeepers don’t seem to care about climate change. They have
their own agendas. Like
being cool and trendy and avantgarde and the like. Climate change is
apparently not on the menu at the hip restaurants where they dine in
Manhattan and London.

So I now feel that the real power of cli fi to change the world, to wake
people up lies in Hollywood and world cinema, indie cinema as well.
Print book are basically dead in the water, dinosaurs. And Hollywood
and the media covering Hollywood, much more than the
literary gatekeepers in New York and London and Washington and Los
Angeles, are getting the cli fi message much better and much more
directly than the print media gatekeepers.

A sea change is happening: Hollywood and the media covering Hollywood
have really embraced cli fi and that is where the real wake-up call
power of public awareness now lies.


Novels about climate change still will have a place in our culture but
a very limited one, and one getting smaller day by day in this digital
world of 500 channels and multiple YouTube distractions. Speculative
fiction and eco-fiction novels still find readers. Look at Margaret
Atwood; look at Barbara Kingsolver; look at Kim Stanley Robinson; look
at James Vandermeer; look at David Brin.

I’ve noticed this sea change as Hollywood directors and PR mavens have
recently become much more with it, in terms of “getting” the cli fi
message. When Time magazine did a three-page cli fi spread on summer
cli fi movies in its May 19, 2014 issue what went worldwide, I began
to notice the way the print and online media were handling the new,
mushrooming cli fi genre.

After the Time article by Lily Rothman came out, the New York Times
”Room for Debate” forum picked up the Hollywood angle for cli fi
movies, assigning academics and experts to talk about films such as
“Snowpiercer” and “Into the Storm” and the upcoming “Interstellar.”

So I came to realize that Hollywood is where cli fi can have its
biggest impact, since print novels are dead in the water (see above)
and the few that do get published by the major publishers are reviewed
only by the gatekeepers at the New York Times and the Guardian in
London.

I see a big future of cli fi movies in Hollywood. Big.


Look around in the social media world: From Time to the New York
Times, from Mashable’s Andrew Freedman to the New York Post’s Page Six
gossip column, there has been more ink about Hollywood and cli fi than
anywhere else.


The Big Six book industry is blind to cli fi. Books are dying. Few
people read anymore, on a large scale. Novels have little impact
anymore. Movies reign supreme, and this is where I see cli fi blooming
now: in Hollywood. Hollywood players get it, the Hollywood media gets
it, and books are dead and movies rule the day now. Publishers Row is
dithering. London, too.

So I am following my gut instinct and my media radar and hoping to see
cli fi genre turn into a real bonanza in the realm of Hollywood film
directors and producers and writers. There is a big future for cli fi in
Hollywood.

Movie directors get it and they want to wake up the world. And make a
little spare change along the way, sure. It’s a business. So cli fi
has found its true home not on Publishers Row in Manhattan but in
Hollywood, and just in time. And this is a good
development.

Cinema has the power to impact the world over important issues of
climate change and global warming. Novels have no such power anymore.
Print is dying, cinema is alive!

Of course, speculative fiction novels and eco-fiction novels still
have a place in our culture, and many of these novels will be adapted
as screenplays and see the light of day as popular movies, so writers
still have a role to play in all this.

As a climate activist and PR guy, I take the cli fi genre very
seriously, and I now see that Hollywood is where cli fi belongs, front
and center.

Do the math: movies reach millions. Most midlist novels reach 3,000
people, if that many.

This ebook is the most comprehensive study in English of how Jewish traditional sources teach us to protect our natural resources and preserve the environment. From food to trees, energy to water, wealth to biodiversity, the book studies eighteen topics where Jewish tradition has a relevant lesson for today's environmental challenges. All materials were comprehensively studied and reviewed by scientists and rabbis before printing.

These materials were originally created for the Canfei Nesharim/Jewcology Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment in 2012, and were released between Tu b'Shevat 5772 and Tu b'Shevat 5773. The materials were shared widely throughout the Jewish community, reaching more than 50,000 people. Source sheets, podcasts and videos are also available separately for each topic.

The ebook can now be ordered for your Kindle or Ebook device.

Podcasts now available: Another exciting release from the Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment: all podcasts from our series are now available on iTunes! To see the full series, simply search “Canfei Nesharim” in the itunes store, or go to https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/canfei-nesharim/id646475293?mt=2. You can listen to the podcasts right there, or click "view in iTunes " and then click subscribe to have them appear in your iTunes podcast library.

Don’t have itunes? All items are also available for listening or downloading at http://canfeinesharim.podbean.com/.

Check out all the materials, including source sheets and videos, at www.canfeinesharim.org/learning or www.jewcology.com/learning.

And the religious and spiritual communities of our planet have the wisdoms and the tools to do the healing.

Judaism is especially relevant because, unlike most world religions, we preserve the teachings of an indigenous people in the biblical tradition –- the spiritual wisdom of shepherds and farmers. And yet as a world people, we can now apply the earthiness of our origins to the Whole Earth.

That does not mean simply repeating the ancient practices. For instance, the ancient code of kosher food does not take into account that we now “eat” coal and oil and crucial minerals like lithium. Is there an “eco-kosher” way of eating them, as well as caring for vegetables and fruit and kosher animals in ways traditional kashrut did not? Can we shape our ceremonial ways of celebrating Sukkot and Pesach and Tu B’Shvat and life-cycle ceremonies so that they embody social action to heal our wounded Earth as an aspect of spiritual deepening?

For The Shalom Center (see https://www.theshalomcenter.org ), this transformation in our reality calls for action in four aspects of reality:

1. Spiritually, the creation of new forms of prayer, meditation, and celebration that draw us into fuller awareness of the interweaving of all life: for instance, “pronouncing” and understanding the Sacred God-Name “YHWH” as YyyyHhhhWwwwHhhh, the Interbreathing of all life – Ruach Ha'Olam — rather than Lord or King, Melech Ha'Olam.

2. Intellectually, the absorption of ecological science into what we teach and learn as sacred Torah, just as Maimonides absorbed the best science and philosophy of his day into Torah. Ecology takes seriously both each distinctive niche of each life form and the flow that connects them into an ecosystem. It does what Kabbalah yearns toward: reintegrating what seem to be the two Trees of Eden — the Tree of Flowing Life and the Tree of Distinction-making — into One.

3. Relationally, our recognition of the varied ethical, religious, and spiritual life-paths as necessary and valuable unfoldings of the varied “organs” of human civilization and planetary life – as different from each other and as equally necessary to each other as the brain, liver, heart, and lungs in a single body. Just as the bodily organs not only “dialogue” with each other but actually work together, we need to move beyond interfaith dialogue into the pursuit of interrelational work among the different communities.

4. Vigorous action to confront the modern Carbon Pharaohs that are bringing plagues of drought, flood, war, and famine on the Earth and all Humanity – action that might include lobbying, voting, rallies, vigils, nonviolent civil disobedience, organizing counter-institutions like coops, organic farms, etc., and economic action to Move Our Money/Protect Our Planet (MOM/POP) – moving our money from corporate investments and banks that endanger Mother Earth to companies, banks, coops, etc. that protect and heal her.

As we move forward in all these aspects of the world, we create a Judaism that heals and transforms itself in order to heal and transform the world. We learn anew what ancient Torah teaches: – “Sh’sh’sh’shma! Hush’sh’sh’sh and Hear, all you who wrestle with the Ultimate — Hear the still small voice of almost-silent breathing: the Breath of Life is ONE!

For most of history in many cultures and tradition including Judaism humans did see themselves as qualitatively different and “above” other forms of life. This was the “Great Chain of Being” which had non-life at the bottom, followed by plants, then animals, then humans, then angels and finally God at the top. With Darwin’s theory of evolution, this concept had to be abandoned. Since the decent of species showed that all living organisms came from a single ancient ancestor, humans could no longer claim that there was a qualitative difference between themselves and other forms of life; the difference could only be quantitative. The toppling of the sacred hierarchy was completed by the discovery of DNA. The DNA of every living thing (including plants and microbes) has a large share of commonality and humans, in particular share a large percentage of their DNA with other primates—in the case of chimpanzees around 96%.

In the face of this new science which our ancestors could not have conceived of, what can we do with our Jewish classic sources?

In the Hebrew Bible as usual has more than one voice coming from a variety of different authors from different time periods and ideologies. (It must be noted that the Hebrew words nefesh [life], neshamah [breath] and ruah [wind] which are often translated as “soul” which in later Jewish sources connotes a spiritual entity or self within the body do not have that meaning in the Hebrew Bible.) Here are a few examples:

In Genesis 1 all animals are created through the medium of the sea (fish and birds) or the earth (domesticated animals, “creeping things” and wild animals) and only humans are created directly by God and in the image of God. Humans therefore are given control over all the other animals as agents of God’s power over the earth (see also Psalm 8). This source is probably the basis for later beliefs about the ontological gap between humans and animals. The concept of the “image of God” was interpreted in various ways in later Jewish sources but it eventually was understood that humans had a qualitatively different “soul” than animals.

In Genesis 2 the animals created are separately from humans as aids or companions to the human (adam) but both come from the common source: adamah (earth) and both have a nefesh hayyah: an animating life-force or breath of life that comes from God. The human, while made of the same earthy material as animals and infused with the same animating force are nonetheless created first. The animals are created as adjuncts to the human. All life that moves and breathes have the nefesh hayyah which like the wind allows them to move but trees and plants do not since they do not breath or move.

In Ecclesiastes 3:18-21 the author believes that humans no different than beasts: they both have the ruah, the animating spirit. After death, they go the same place, the earth.. The author of Ecclesiastes which was probably written in the 3^rd century BCE when Greek ideas began to influence Jewish society, was aware of the idea that claimed that humans had a “soul” which survived after death and rises to the heavens to be with God. (The rejection of this idea is also probably found in Job 14:12-14)

In Psalm 148 all life is depicted as a community of worshippers and humans do not have pride of place. In Psalm 104 God seems to be equally concerned with both human and animal life. And in Job 38-41, the author describes a world without people and thereby claims that humans are not the center of God’s concern—God cares for all life of which humanity is only one part.

These biblical texts show a wide variety of ideas about the status of humans and animals in relation to each other and in relation to God. Only in Genesis 1 is there a significant gap between them.

In the second Temple period (500 BCE to 70 CE) many (but not all) Jews accepted the dualistic Greek idea of the body and soul, and the ontological space which separates humans from animals. This was also true in the Rabbinic period (post 70 CE) but the rabbis did not see this gap as a “hard dualism.” They also understood that human beings have both animal/ bodily characteristics and divine/spiritual characteristics (See for example: Midrash Genesis Rabbah 7:11 to Genesis 1:27). They reinterpreted Ecclesiastes 3:18-21to refer to the wicked who will have no place in heaven unlike the righteous (Midrash Ecclesiastes Rabbah 3:18 §1).

In Medieval Jewish philosophy, the concept of the soul became influenced by Platonism and Aristotelianism and while there are a variety of views about the nature of soul in all life, the human soul was seen as qualitatively different. Human souls had a rational expression which connected humans to the ultimate rational soul of the universe—God. This rational expression was what would survive after death in communion with the divine. And although Saadiah Gaon (882-942) believed in the possibility of animal resurrection within limited circumstances (Book of Beliefs and Opinions 3:10), most Jewish thinkers like Moses Maimonides (1135-1204) rejected any idea that animals survive death (Guide for the Perplexed 3:17). For Maimonides animals existed under the general providence of God which meant that they were subject to natural law and its contingencies.

For many of us today, we are not believers in the Jewish ideas of the afterlife that become almost a dogma by the Middle Ages. And there is an environmental critique of the dualism of spirit/soul and matter/body which denigrates matter and can lead to a lack of concern for the natural world and its non-human life. Modern evolutionary science and genetics has also shown us how closely we are connected to all life and while there are individual species, the lines dividing them are not rigid and in many cases one species “blends” into another.

And many so-called unique “human” traits have been found to originate in animal behavior like tool making, language, altruism, cultural transmission, and social grouping. Recently there was a story in the New York Times of how it is possible that chimpanzees exhibit a kind of mourning and death ritual which throws an interesting light on the origin of human ritual behavior.

As an eco-theologian, I believe that we must return a more biblically based unified vision of life. All life (and now we can include plants) have the same basic characteristics: it seeks to survive individually and as a species. The differences between humans and animals is one of degree and is in degree not kind—human differences can be seen within context of each species being unique in its own way.

For us the question is one of value and responsibility: how much do we value non-human life? Are other creatures only valuable to us as resources to be exploited or do we see them as fellow members of the Creation choir of Psalm 148? I believe that the Jewish tradition asks us to exercise responsibility not arrogance. We are all part of the universe, formed out of the dust of stars and all part of that special expression of Creation which is life.

We live in an amazingly diverse world, with approximately 8.3 million unique species described by scientists, and likely twice that number that have not yet been discovered. Jewish sources teach that G-d has joy in the diversity and continuity of creation, and that G-d sees a purpose in each of these species. This biodiversity is an expression of G-d’s glory, a testament to the extraordinary creativity of our Creator.

Our tradition has a tremendous sense of appreciation for the diverse and numerous species on this earth. In addition, we benefit from and can learn a great deal from other species. As human beings, masters and stewards of the world, it is our responsibility to support the continuity of this diverse and extraordinary creation. Recognizing this should impel us to utilize the natural world with great care and responsibility.

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We live in an amazingly diverse world, with approximately 8.3 million unique species described by scientists, and likely twice that number that have not yet been discovered. Jewish sources teach that G-d has joy in the diversity and continuity of creation, and that G-d sees a purpose in each of these species. This biodiversity is an expression of G-d’s glory, a testament to the extraordinary creativity of our Creator.

Our tradition has a tremendous sense of appreciation for the diverse and numerous species on this earth. In addition, we benefit from and can learn a great deal from other species. As human beings, masters and stewards of the world, it is our responsibility to support the continuity of this diverse and extraordinary creation. Recognizing this should impel us to utilize the natural world with great care and responsibility.

The Glory in Creation: Valuing Biodiversity

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These materials are posted as part of Jewcology’s Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, in partnership with Canfei Nesharim. Jewcology thanks the Shedlin Outreach Foundation and the ROI community for their generous support, which made the Jewcology project possible.

Learn more about the Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment!

We live in an amazingly diverse world, with approximately 8.3 million unique species described by scientists, and likely twice that number that have not yet been discovered. Jewish sources teach that G-d has joy in the diversity and continuity of creation, and that G-d sees a purpose in each of these species. This biodiversity is an expression of G-d’s glory, a testament to the extraordinary creativity of our Creator.

Our tradition has a tremendous sense of appreciation for the diverse and numerous species on this earth. In addition, we benefit from and can learn a great deal from other species. As human beings, masters and stewards of the world, it is our responsibility to support the continuity of this diverse and extraordinary creation. Recognizing this should impel us to utilize the natural world with great care and responsibility.

These materials are posted as part of Jewcology’s Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, in partnership with Canfei Nesharim. Jewcology thanks the Shedlin Outreach Foundation and the ROI community for their generous support, which made the Jewcology project possible.

See all Core Teaching #18: Guard Yourselves Very Well materials!

Learn more about the Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment!

Click here to listen to Jewcology's podcast on Biodiversity.

These materials are posted as part of Jewcology’s Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, in partnership with Canfei Nesharim. Jewcology thanks the Shedlin Outreach Foundation and the ROI community for their generous support, which made the Jewcology project possible.

See all Core Teaching #18: Valuing Biodeversity materials!

Learn more about the Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment!

Enjoy this Hebrew/English source sheet and study guide on the topic of Biodiversity. Discussion questions provided!

These materials are posted as part of Jewcology’s Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, in partnership with Canfei Nesharim. Jewcology thanks the Shedlin Outreach Foundation and the ROI community for their generous support, which made the Jewcology project possible.

See all Core Teaching #18: Valuing Biodiversity materials!

Learn more about the Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment!

The Glory in Creation: Valuing Biodiversity

By Rabbi Shaul David Judelman

We live in an amazingly diverse world, with approximately 8.3 million unique species described by scientists, and likely twice that number that have not yet been discovered.[1] Jewish sources teach that G-d has joy in the diversity and continuity of creation, and that G-d sees a purpose in each of these species. This biodiversity is an expression of G-d’s glory, a testament to the extraordinary creativity of our Creator. As Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks[2] teaches, “the unity of God is to be found in the diversity of creation.”[3]

One of Judaism’s greatest beliefs is in the intention invested by the Creator in His Creation. Our tradition has a tremendous sense of appreciation for the diverse and numerous species on this earth. In addition, we benefit from and can learn a great deal from other species. As human beings, masters and stewards of the world, it is our responsibility to support the continuity of this diverse and extraordinary creation. Recognizing this should impel us to utilize the natural world with great care and responsibility.

Intentions of the Creator

At the beginning of Genesis, the Torah describes human dominion over all things. These verses have shown themselves to be deeply prescient. Today’s modern human technological development has demonstrated this dominion to the greatest extent. The metals in our computers, the organic compounds in our medicines and even the paper in our hands are all examples of our mastery over the world.

But in addition to being used by human beings, each species also has a Divine-given purpose. According to the Talmudic sage Rav, “Of all the things that the Holy One, Blessed be He created in this world, He created nothing without a purpose.”[4] For example, the Midrash (Oral tradition) teaches, “Even things which appear to you to be superfluous in this world, like flies, fleas and mosquitoes, they are a part of the creation, and they carry forth the will of the Holy One, even the snake, the mosquito and even the frogs!”[5] All creatures from humans to mice to rivers to sand are seen as a manifestation of G-d’s wisdom and glory. This incredible diversity is one of the wonders of our world.

This biodiversity can be a source of wisdom and inspiration for human beings. Scattered across the Oral Tradition are recordings of our Torah sages with appreciation of the great intricacies in the natural world. For example, Psalm 104 teaches us about the habitats of many animals and the perfection with which they fit into the natural order: “As for the stork, the cypress trees are her house. The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; the rocks for the badgers.”[6] Ethics of the Fathers further teaches us what we can learn from other species: “Yehudah Ben Teima says, be bold like a leopard, with ease like an eagle, run like a deer and be valiant like a lion to do the Will of your Father in Heaven.”[7]

Often, to understand what our texts intend we are referred back to the plants and geographies of the land of Israel. Psalms 128:3 states, "Your children are like olive shoots around your table." Without knowing how olive trees grow shoots around the base of the trunk, and that the olive is unique in its refusal to accept grafts from other trees, the blessing of the psalm is rather empty and lost. These and countless other references across the Oral tradition demonstrate that our Sages had an intimate awareness of their natural world.

Maimonides teaches that contemplating creation helps us fulfill the commandment of loving the Creator. He writes:

“And what is the way to love G-d and fear G-d? When a person will contemplate in the incredible creation and the great creatures and see in them G-d’s inestimable and limitless wisdom- [that person] will love and praise and desire a great urge to know the Great Name. As King David said, ‘My soul thirsts for G-d, the Source of Life.’…As the sages said regarding love, that through love of G-d, we come to know [the One who]spoke and the world came to be”[8]

Continuity of Creation

The Jewish tradition is rich with sources indicating the importance that G-d places on the continuity of species, from the prohibition against mixing species (kilayim)[9] to the requirement to send away the mother bird before taking eggs (shiluach haken).[10] The Ramban understands the “permanent existence” of creation to be the key reason for why G-d considered it “very good” on the sixth day,[11] and understands G-d’s instruction 'Let the earth sprout forth sprouts' to represent the intentional incorporation of the capability of renewal and regeneration into the scheme of creation.[12]

In the following excerpt from the Talmud, Rabbi Hanina bar Papa explores the source of G-d’s great joy in the Creation: from the fact that a certain species reproduces “according to its kind.”

Rabbi Hanina bar Papa explained the verse (from Psalms 104:31) “Let G-d’s Glory (Kavod) be forever, as G-d rejoiced with His creation.” [What was G-d’s great joy in Creation? What is the connection between the joy and the Glory?] The ministering angel of the world exclaimed this verse at the moment when the Holy One, blessed be He, told the trees to bring forth seed specific to each species, [for] the grasses, on their own accord, made a Talmudic deduction. [They reasoned:] “If the Creator desires for all the species to be mixed together, then why would He command ‘seed for each species’ to the trees?! [Apparently, therefore, He wants them to preserve their integrity and not be interbred.] And further- the trees stand each one distinctly yet they were commanded to bring forth their own seed- [therefore] we, the grasses must even more so need [to bring forth] our own seeds.” Immediately each grass brought forth seed for its own species and the Minister Angel of the world proclaimed, “Let His Glory be Forever, as G-d rejoiced about His creation.”[13] ”

In this teaching, G-d’s glory is expressed by the Sages through the multitude of species, and their ability to procreate – to last “l’olam”- forever. The Sages saw G-d being joyous that the creations (in this case, the grasses) were seeking to continue their existence. It seems that the grasses recognized the effort invested in creating them and sought to preserve the unique character of their species. G-d rejoices when an element of creation understands and implements His will, in the same way as a parent rejoices upon seeing its child continue a path of goodness.

Jewish tradition teaches us that G-d considers the continuity of creation to be of importance. While of course species come and go, if by our actions we are directly causing the extinction of species, and certainly if human actions are as a group causing a mass extinction event at this time in history, we must pause to wonder if we are disrespecting the value of those creations in G-d’s plan – and perhaps destroying aspects of creation imbued with Divine wisdom and intention.

Today, our actions have started to threaten the well-being of many eco-systems and the species therein. We are surely having dominion; but are we fulfilling our job as stewards? In our actions, how well are we applying the Creator’s intention toward His Creation?

Biodiversity in Our Time

Ecologists have discovered the extent of interdependence within all the disparate elements of creation. Without the sun, water and microbes in our topsoil we would have nothing to eat. Without the vast acreage of rain forests converting carbon dioxide to oxygen we would have trouble breathing. Even the most minute of species sometimes plays a critical role in the concert of life. [14]

Our sources allude to this incredible phenomenon every time we partake of this world – even after a simple drink of water. The after-blessing proclaims: “Blessed are You, Creator of many living beings and their lackings, for all you have created to sustain them – Blessed is the Life-Giver of all!” This blessing highlights the interdependence of all things.

Scientists define biodiversity as “all species of plants, animals and micro-organisms existing and interacting within an ecosystem.”[15] Species diversity in an ecosystem enhances its ability to adapt to change. Just as the success of a sport team depends on a variety of skills in each player to adapt and address various challenges, a diverse spectrum of plant and animal life in each bio-sphere is needed to flourish amidst natural changes.

Maintaining species biodiversity is a global challenge which requires a global partnership for meaningful results. To address this challenge, in 2002, the 193 nations signing onto the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity[16] adopted a 2010 target to achieve “a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level, as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth.” Later in 2002, this target was endorsed by world leaders at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa.[17]

The second Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-2) in 2005 urged the importance of meeting this target, stating that “we are currently responsible for the sixth major extinction event in the history of the Earth, and the greatest since the dinosaurs disappeared, 65 million years ago.”[18] The GBO reports track approximately 3,000 wild populations of species.

The third Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3), produced in 2012, acknowledged the failure of governments to meet their 2010 target. The report warned that “there is a high risk of dramatic biodiversity loss and accompanying degradation of a broad range of ecosystem services if ecosystems are pushed beyond certain thresholds or tipping points.”[19]

According to the GBO-3, amphibians are “deteriorating” in status, and nearly 25% of all plant species are estimated to be threatened with extinction. The report shows that between 1970 and 2006, the wild vertebrate species fell by an average of 31% globally, with the decline “especially severe in the tropics (59%) and in freshwater ecosystems (41%).” Findings indicate that species in all groups with known trends are, on average, being driven closer to extinction.[20]

Human welfare depends on the services provided by healthy, biodiverse ecosystems. However, as the GBO-3 reported, tropical forests, inland water and wetlands throughout the world continue to be lost at a rapid rate. [21]

According to the UN Environment Program, “Biodiversity loss makes ecosystems more vulnerable to shocks and disturbances, less resilient, and less able to supply humans with needed services.”[22] The GBO-3 report forecasts that effects of biodiversity loss and ecosystem disruption will be disproportionately felt by the rural poor, as they depend directly on biodiversity for a particularly high proportion of their basic needs.[23] One driver of biodiversity loss is habitat destruction, and this too affects human beings. For example, the damage to coastal communities from floods and storms can be dramatically increased when wetland habitats have been destroyed or weakened.

The effects of lost biodiversity will also be felt by humans in other ways, since we rely on plants and animals for food and medicine. This poses a threat to the health and well-being of millions of people directly dependent on the availability of wild species. Globally, about 80% of people in developing countries rely on traditional medicines, most of which are derived from plants.[24]

With respect to these losses, the Rambam taught,

“in every generation new benefits from herbs and types of fruits are discovered that were not known earlier, and many benefits are derived from them, and [while] it is not in man's capability [presently] to derive the benefits from everything that grows … it will be revealed through experimentation as the generations pass."[25]

In our times the prescient words of Maimonides have transpired.[26] Of 520 new drugs approved in the United States between 1983 and 1994, 39% were natural products or derived from them. In addition, nine of the twenty best- selling non-protein drugs in 1999, were derived, directly or indirectly, from natural products. These had combined annual sales of over $16 billion.[27] On average, species of birds and mammals used for food and medicines face a greater extinction risk than species that are not so used. They are moving more quickly into higher risk categories, partly due to over-exploitation and habitat loss.

The five principal pressures directly driving biodiversity loss are habitat change, overexploitation, pollution, invasive alien species and climate change.[28] To address this threat, we need to improve our efficiency in the use of land, energy, fresh water, and materials, and support efforts to minimize wasteful consumption. [29]

Habitat loss is a key contributor to biodiversity decline. For example, in the United States, more than 85 percent of forest habitats have been permanently destroyed or logged in the United States and 99% of the eastern United States’ forests have been cut. [30] We exacerbate this problem by buying unsustainable wood products. One of the main causes of forest destruction is illegal logging, fed by the high demand for timber and timber products in our stores and homes. The international trade of illegally logged products has been estimated at $5 billion per year.

To help protect species diversity, ask questions about where your wood products (like garden furniture, tools or wood flooring) come from. Look for the Forest Stewardship Council label. If you don’t see it, ask![31] You can also buy used furniture and other products. And when disposing of furniture, give it to others, instead of throwing it out.

If you eat fish, another way to reduce species decline is to buy fish with robust populations. The Monterrey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch provides helpful information to make more informed decisions.[32] Finally, do not buy products made from the skin, fur, bone, shell, beak or hooves of endangered species.[33]

In this article we have learned about G-d’s intentionality behind the diversity of species in creation, the unfolding mystery of how each species is doing its part for the sustaining of the whole, and the potential medicines, insights and wonder we have yet to uncover in these species. Imitating the attributes of G-d is a central Jewish value,[34]and we must emulate G-d's concern for the diversity of His Creation. We can start by better preserving, observing and appreciating the incredible creatures living alongside us. Let us emulate the Creator with our appreciation of all of the creation, and take actions now to protect biodiversity for ourselves and our fellow creatures on the planet.

Raised in Seattle, Washington, Shaul Judelman came to Israel after completing a BA at Pitzer College and received rabbinic ordination at the Bat Ayin Yeshiva. He founded and directed the Eco-Activist Beit Midrash from 2005-2011 and participated in Halichot Olam, a halachic think-tank on environmental issues. Today, he is the director of JiVE! – Jerusalem Volunteers for the Environment, an initiative of Teva Ivri and lives with his family in Gush Etzion.

[1]This figure does not count the potential millions of bacterial species See “Number of species on Earth tagged at 8.7 million,” by Lee Sweetlove, 8.23.11, Nature News, based on a study published in PLoS Biology, online at http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110823/full/news.2011.498.html

[2] Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks is Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, selected by the United Synagogue in Britain.

[3] The Dignity of Difference, Continuum: New York, 2003, p..53

[4] Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat 77b

[5] Bereishit Raba 10:7

[6] Psalm 104:17-18. This lesson is elucidated in “L’ovda Uleshomra: Judaism and the Environmental Ethic,” by Ilana Stein, Compendium of Sources in Halacha and the Environment, 2005, published by Canfei Nesharim.

[7] Pirke Avot 5:23

[8] Hilchot Yesodei Hatorah, 2:2

[9] Leviticus 19:19

[10] See commentaries of Ramban and Abarbanel to Deuteronomy 22:6.

[11] Ramban to Genesis 1:11

[12] Ramban to Genesis 1:31. The Ramban makes a similar point in his commentary to Genesis 1:4.

[13] Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Chullin, p 60a, translation by R Shaul Judelman.

[14] There are many Jewish sources that also teach this understanding. For example, see Midrash Rabbah – Leviticus 22:1, (Vilna edition), translation adapted from Soncino translation “And the superiority (yitron) of earth is in everything…” (Ecclesiastes 5:8)… Rabbi Judah said: Even things that seem to you superfluities in the world are also included among the things that are a benefit to the world; bast is for making ropes, twigs are for hedging gardens.” Additional examples have been provided in the source sheet accompanying this article.

[15]Vandermeer and Perfecto, Breakfast of Biodiversity: the Truth about Rainforest Destruction, 1995, Food First Books: Oakland, p. 185 as cited in Dr. Miguel A. Altieri,“The Ecological Role of Biodiversity in Agroecosystems,” Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment74 (1999) p. 19–31,online at http://www.geography.siu.edu/courses/429/AgroEco/AgroEcoC.pdf

[16] The United States is not a party to this convention. Israel is. See the full list of parties at http://www.cbd.int/convention/parties/list/.

[17] Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (2006) Global Biodiversity Outlook 2. Montreal, 81 + vii pages, online at http://www.cbd.int/doc/gbo/gbo2/cbd-gbo2-en.pdf

[18] Ibid.

[19] Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (2012) Global Biodiversity Outlook 3. Montreal, 95 + vii pages, online at

http://www.cbd.int/gbo3/?pub=6667&section=6729

[20] Ibid. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 19% of marine fish stocks are overexploited, 8% are depleted or recovering from depletion, while more than half are fully exploited.

[21] Ibid. Between 56% and 65% of inland water systems suitable for use in intensive agriculture in Europe and North America had been drained by 1985. The respective figures for Asia and South America were 27% and 6%. The report notes that “the overall projected degradation of inland waters threatens the prospects for food production from freshwater ecosystems. Coastal habitats continue to decline, which threatens highly valuable ecosystem services including the removal of “significant quantities” of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.”

[22] “Biodiversity,” by Neville Ash and Asghar Fazel , UN Environment Program, online at http://www.unep.org/geo/geo4/report/05_Biodiversity.pdf

[23] Ibid.

[24] GBO-3, “Species populations and extinction risks”: http://www.cbd.int/gbo3/?pub=6667&section=6691

[25]Rambam, Introduction to the Mishna

[26] As of 1993, 121 prescription drugs sold worldwide came from plant-derived sources, and 25% of Western pharmaceuticals were derived from rainforest ingredients. Yet less than 1% of these tropical trees and plants had been tested by scientists. Over 100 pharmaceutical companies and several branches of the US government, including giants like Merck and The National Cancer Institute, engage in plant research projects for possible drugs and cures for viruses, infections, cancer and even AIDS. From James A. Duke. “Medicinal plants and the pharmaceutical industry,” p. 664-669. In: J. Janick and J.E. Simon (eds.), New Crops. Wiley, New York, 1993, online at http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1993/v2-664.html

[27] Harvey, A., “Strategies for discovering drugs from previously unexplored natural products,” Drug Discovery Today #5, 2000, p. 294 –300, online at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359644600015117. Drug Discovery Today is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal. As cited in Gaston, Kevin J., and John I. Spicer. Biodiversity: An Introduction. Wiley-Blackwell, 2003.. An earlier study noted that 47 pharmaceuticals have been developed from rainforest plant extracts, and estimated that an additional 328 remain to be discovered. See Mendelsohn, R. & Balick, M.J.(1995) The value of undiscovered pharmaceuticals in tropical forests. Economic Botany, 49,223–228.

[28] Global Biodiversity Outlook 3, Executive Summary, available at http://www.cbd.int/gbo3/?pub=6667&section=6673. According to the GBO-3, as of 2010, these drivers are all either constant or increasing in intensity.

[29] Ibid.

[30] The US Department of Fish and Wildlife, “Important Facts about Habitat Loss and Birds,” May, 1999, online at http://digitalmedia.fws.gov/cdm/ref/collection/document/id/272

[31] See : http://us.fsc.org/

[32] The Seafood Watch is available at http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.aspx.

[33] This applies especially when buying souvenirs when travelling. See http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/biodiversity/what_you_can_do/ for information on this and other ways to protect species.

[34] Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sota 14a. There is a famous Midrash dealing with a conundrum presented in the verse "You, who cleaved to the Lord your G-d, are all alive today." (Deut. 4:4)) After all, G-d is incorporeal- how could we be described as "cleaving" to a non-physical G-d? The Talmud answers that the intention is really that we will emulate G-d: "Rather, this means you should cleave to God's attributes. Just as God clothed the naked [Adam and Eve], so too you should cloth the naked. Just as God visited the sick [Abraham after his circumcision], so too you should visit the sick. Just as God consoled the mourners [Isaac after Abraham's death], so too you should console the mourners. Just as God buried the dead [Moses], so too you should bury the dead.”

The Glory in Creation: Valuing Biodiversity

By Rabbi Shaul David Judelman

According to the Talmudic sage Rav, “Of all the things that the Holy One, Blessed be He created in this world, nothing was created without a purpose.”[1] All creatures from humans to mice to rivers to sand are seen as a manifestation of G-d’s wisdom and glory.[2] As Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks teaches, “the unity of God is to be found in the diversity of creation.”[3]

We live in an amazingly diverse world, with approximately 8.3 million unique species described by scientists, and likely twice that number yet to be discovered.[4] This biodiversity is an expression of G-d’s glory, a testament to the extraordinary creativity of our Creator.

At the beginning of Genesis, the Torah describes human dominion over all things. These verses have shown themselves to be deeply prescient. Today’s modern human technological development has demonstrated this dominion to the greatest extent. The metals in our computers, the organic compounds in our medicines and even the paper in our hands are all examples of our mastery over the world.

But in addition to being used by human beings, each species also has a Divine-given purpose. For example, the Midrash (Oral tradition) teaches, “Even things which appear to you to be superfluous in this world, like flies, fleas and mosquitoes carry forth the will of the Holy One! Even the snake, the mosquito and the frogs!”[5]

The Jewish tradition is rich with sources indicating the importance that G-d places on the continuity of species, from the prohibition against mixing species (kilayim)[6] to the requirement to send away the mother bird before taking eggs (shiluach haken).[7] The Ramban understands the “continued existence” of creation to be a key reason for why G-d considered it “very good” on the sixth day.[8] In the Talmud, Rabbi Hanina bar Papa explains a verse about G-d’s great joy with the creation as stemming from the fact that even simple species seek to ensure their genetic survival (Tractate Chullin 60a).

In our times, human actions are driving a tremendous decline in biodiversity. According to the second Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-2) of the United Nations Environment Programme, “we are currently responsible for the sixth major extinction event in the history of the Earth, and the greatest since the dinosaurs disappeared, 65 million years ago.”[9] The third Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3, which tracks 3,000 species), reported that amphibians are “deteriorating” in status, and nearly 25% of all plant species are estimated to be threatened with extinction. The report shows that between 1970 and 2006, the wild vertebrate species fell by an average of 31% globally, with the decline “especially severe in the tropics (59%) and in freshwater ecosystems (41%).” [10]

The third Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3), produced in 2012, acknowledged the failure of governments to meet their 2010 target to protect biodiversity. The report warned that “there is a high risk of dramatic biodiversity loss and accompanying degradation of a broad range of ecosystem services if ecosystems are pushed beyond certain thresholds or tipping points.”[11]

Human welfare depends on the services provided by healthy, bio-diverse ecosystems. The effects of biodiversity loss and ecosystem disruption disproportionately impact the rural poor, who depend directly on biodiversity for a particularly high proportion of their basic needs.[12] But the effects of lost biodiversity will also be felt by humans in other ways, since we rely on plants and animals for food and medicine.

Over 100 pharmaceutical companies and several branches of the US government, including giants like Merck and The National Cancer Institute, engage in plant research projects for possible drugs and cures for disease. As of 1993, 25% of Western pharmaceuticals were derived from rainforest ingredients. Yet less than 1% of these tropical trees and plants had been tested by scientists.[13] As these species disappear, the opportunity for them to cure diseases disappears with them.

You can make a difference to protect species diversity. First, ask questions about where your wood products come from. In America, look for the Forest Stewardship Council label. If you don’t see it, ask![14] If you eat fish, use the Monterrey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch to make more informed decisions.[15] Finally, do not buy products made from the skin, fur, bone, shell, beak or hooves of endangered species.[16]

In this article we have learned about G-d’s intentionality behind the diversity of species in creation, and the potential medicines, insights and wonder we have yet to uncover in these species. Imitating the attributes of G-d is a central Jewish value, and we must emulate G-d's concern for the diversity of His Creation.[17]

We can start by better preserving, observing and appreciating the incredible creatures living alongside us. Let us emulate the Creator with our appreciation of all of the creation, and take actions now to protect biodiversity for ourselves and our fellow creatures on the planet.

Raised in Seattle, Washington, Shaul Judelman came to Israel after completing a BA at Pitzer College and received rabbinic ordination at the Bat Ayin Yeshiva. He founded and directed the Eco-Activist Beit Midrash from 2005-2011 and participated in Halichot Olam, a halachic think-tank on environmental issues. Today, he is the director of JiVE! – Jerusalem Volunteers for the Environment, an initiative of Teva Ivri and lives with his family in Gush Etzion.

This material was produced as part of the Jewcology project. Jewcology.comis a new web portal for the global Jewish environmental community. Thanks to the ROI communityfor their generous support, which made the Jewcology project possible.

[1]Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat 77b

[2]See Bereishit Raba 10:7

[3]The Dignity of Difference, Continuum: New York, 2003, p..53. Rabbi Sacks is Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, selected by the United Synagogue in Britain.

[4]This figure does not count the potential millions of bacterial species See “Number of species on Earth tagged at 8.7 million,” by Lee Sweetlove, 8.23.11, Nature News, based on a study published in PLoS Biology, online at http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110823/full/news.2011.498.html

[5]Bereishit Raba 10:7

[6]Leviticus 19:19

[7]See commentaries of Ramban and Abarbanel to Deuteronomy 22:6.

[8]Ramban to Genesis 1:11 The Ramban makes a similar point in his commentary to Genesis 1:4 and 1:31.

[9]Ibid.

[10]Ibid. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 19% of marine fish stocks are overexploited, 8% are depleted or recovering from depletion, while more than half are fully exploited.

[11]Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (2012) Global Biodiversity Outlook 3. Montreal, 95 + vii pages, online at

http://www.cbd.int/gbo3/?pub=6667&section=6729

[12]Ibid.

[13]From James A. Duke. “Medicinal plants and the pharmaceutical industry,” p. 664-669. In: J. Janick and J.E. Simon (eds.), New Crops. Wiley, New York, 1993, online at http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1993/v2-664.html

[14]See: http://us.fsc.org/

[15]The Seafood Watch is available at http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.aspx.

[16]This applies especially when buying souvenirs when travelling. See http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/biodiversity/what_you_can_do/ for information on this and other ways to protect species.

[17] Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sota 14a. There is a famous Midrash dealing with a conundrum presented in the verse "You, who cleaved to the Lord your G-d, are all alive today." (Deut. 4:4)) After all, G-d is incorporeal- how could we be described as "cleaving" to a non-physical G-d? The Talmud answers that the intention is really that we will emulate G-d: "Rather, this means you should cleave to God's attributes. Just as God clothed the naked [Adam and Eve], so too you should cloth the naked. Just as God visited the sick [Abraham after his circumcision], so too you should visit the sick. Just as God consoled the mourners [Isaac after Abraham's death], so too you should console the mourners. Just as God buried the dead [Moses], so too you should bury the dead.”

In celebration of Parshat Noach this coming Shabbat, Jewcology is proud to share a wealth of resources on the topic of Noach.

Please enjoy and share these resources from many of our partners and participants so we can all benefit from the lessons of Parshat Noach.

Explore all of our Parshat Noach resources

Here’s a sampling:

Countering Destruction – Lessons from Noah

Although the flood and the life of Noah occurred thousands of years ago, the story of Noah offers important lessons about how our actions affect the world. The Torah teaches that ten generations after Creation, all life on the planet had “corrupted its way on the earth”(Genesis 6:12). G-d gave humans 120 years to improve their ways, using Noah and his ark as messengers. Yet the people ignored the message and missed the boat. Noah built the ark, brought the animals into it, and lived on it with his family for the duration of the flood. After Noah left the ark, G-d made a covenant with Noah, designating the rainbow as the sign of the Creator’s commitment not to destroy the world.

Rainbow Day!

You can find Torah, prayers and liturgies, midrashim about rainbows, lesson plans about seed-saving, learning from Hoshea and Ezekiel, Kabbalah and midrash, and project ideas-39 in all-that you can use to celebrate the Rainbow covenant on Rainbow Day (May 7-8 in 2013), Shabbat Noach (Oct 19-20 in 2012), Shabbat Behar (May 3-4 in 2013) and every week. The Rainbow covenant with all life is the first covenant of the Torah. In 2013, Rainbow Day, when the covenant was made, comes the week after Shabbat Behar-Behukotai.

Environmental Responsibility at School

Noah lived in a period in which he was required to assume responsibility, listen to the voice of God and save the various species. Each of us should assume Noah’s role. Each of us is responsible for the environment in which he lives. In this lesson, we will learn about man’s responsibility for the world’s existence and how each of us can reduce our negative impact on the environment at school.

Have a green week!

The Jewcology Team

I usually use this monthly blog as an outlet to voice my opinions about policies related to environmental issues. However, this week I read a really cool article that I wanted to share. The short article (produced below along with a link) illustrates how amazing nature can be and the importance of protecting and preserving as many species of living organisms as possible. Although I have never viewed a Gouldian finch, and it is quite likely I never will, there is no question that the world would be worse off if these birds were somehow wiped out. Now, there is nothing to suggest that these finches are endangered, but I am using this species to exemplify the importance and true magnificence of every living species. Can you imagine if we as humans advertised our personality by the color of our heads? I think an argument can be made that we often forecast our daily moods through facial expressions or posture (although a few people I know gets upset because I read too much into their facial expressions and often get it wrong), but the idea that this species has developed a color scheme to match their personality is simply remarkable. There are so many amazing species out there and it is worth learning more about them, not only because they are super fun to look at and learn about, but also to remind ourselves of the pure quantity of “awesomeness” (I think this is the word that really captures how I feel) out there in the world among the over 1.7 million species of living things on our planet. Check out the following links for 25 cool and obscure animals: http://www.succeedsocially.com/coolanimals

Full Story: http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/44494

Bird's head colour determines its personality

UK researchers have shown that highly sociable Australian birds, called Gouldian finches, have different personalities according to the colour of their heads.

The team, led by Leah Williams and Dr Claudia Mettke-Hofmann from Liverpool John Moores University, found that red-headed birds have aggressive tendencies, while those with black heads are bold and take more risks than their peers.

This is only the second time researchers have demonstrated such a strong link between personality and colour. The only other study showed that dark, male Hermann's tortoises are both more aggressive and bolder than paler males.

'We think that head colour is used as a signal of personality to other birds in the flock, so they know who to associate with,' says Williams, who studied the birds as part of her PhD project.

Scientists first noticed a link between animals' different colours and various aspects of their behaviour such as aggression, sexual behaviour and predator-avoidance tactics in the early 90s. Red, for example, has long been associated with aggression in cichlids, other birds, reptiles, primates and even us.

But individual behaviours like aggression can only be called personality if repeatable over long periods of time.

Biomes are large geographical areas of the world, each with distinctive plants and animals that are adapted to the particular climate and geography of the area. Forest biomes include tropical forests, temperate forests, and boreal forests, also known as the taiga.

I love these words: boreal, taiga. Boreal – of or pertaining to the north. Taiga, from the Russian. Both words carry a sense of mystery as I think of those vast cold wildernesses that stretch across the north – Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia, and Siberia; forests of pine, fir, and spruce, and accompanying moose, bear, wolves, deer, hawks, and other animals.

The northeastern United States where I live now was once temperate forest. The forest returns where farmland is left fallow. Much of the Midwest where I grew up was once prairie. And so it is from place to place – a certain type of ecosystem is, or was, predominant, before the land was tilled and subdivided and cross-sectioned by highways.

Harmony in Bonding. Every biome contains the plants and animals and other organisms that are suited to the conditions of the area, and as long as it is undisturbed, a balance and a harmony is maintained over time among all those living things.

In our lives, we, too, work to maintain harmony and balance between ourselves and those around us. Sometimes we find ourselves swinging too far in one direction, and circumstances may soon force us to swing back toward a middle ground that keeps us more in balance. We find at times that we cannot do everything. We are finite. Just as any one spot on Earth is home to only one biome, so we, too, can be home only to a limited number of relationships, in order to maintain ourselves in balance.

Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha'olam, asher kid-shanu b'mitzvotav, vitzivanu, al sefirat ha'omer.

Blessed are you Adonai our G!d, ruler of the universe, who sanctifies us with mitzvot and commands us regarding the counting of the Omer.

Today is thirty-eight days which is five weeks and three days of the Omer.

Last year so many people jammed into the country’s de-facto national-park system, run by KKL-JNF, that parks were closed because they reached capacity. So, how many people was that, you ask? About one in every five Israelis — more than 1.5 million people — which is also about the same number of trees that have been planted in Israel since 2007 because of the work of the Green Zionist Alliance. That’s right, we’ve gotten a million-plus trees planted in the last five years.

Of course, as those who remember the recent Carmel fire know, it’s not just planting trees that matters, but the type and diversity of trees. That’s why one of the first things that we did after we first participated in our first World Zionist Congress was adding more trees to the planting mix. Thanks to our work, more varieties of trees are being planted today than the classic pine — and that includes trees suitable for semi-arid climates.

But when Israelis head outdoors today, it won’t just be the trees that they’ll be enjoying — many will be biking on some of the hundreds of miles of bike trails that have been built across the country because of the Green Zionist Alliance. That includes the Kinneret Circumference Trail, the Trans-Israel Bike Trail and many others — the list gets longer every year as our work gets more and more bike trails built and expanded.

Today Israelis also are enjoying both the nature reserve in Nes Tsiona, an open space in between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and the Samar sand dunes, near Eilat — both of which have been preserved because of the work of the Green Zionist Alliance.

This Yom Ha’atzmaut, give Israel an environmentally friendly birthday gift: Join the Green Zionist Alliance and help green Israel. Then go outside.

Cross-posted from GreenZionism.org

From an Environmentalist perspective, I am concerned about the fate of the Canaan dog, as I am for many native and indigenous species around the globe. Without continued introduction of genetic diversity into the breeding stock from wild sources, the future of the Canaan dog is imperiled. The choices we make as to which species we cultivate and which we attempt to eliminate have profound implications on the health of the ecosystem. Judaism teaches us that all species are to be preserved on the Earth. Nachmanides, in discussing Biblical prohibitions against mixing species ("Kilayim"), slaughtering an animal and its offspring on the same day, taking the mother bird when taking the eggs or young offspring, and castration, suggests that these laws emerge from a concern that all species be preserved and not disappear from this world. (commentary to Leviticus 19:19 and Deut. 22:6) This concern is given pragmatic rationale in the Talmud (Shabbat 77b): "Of all that the Holy One, Blessed be He, created in His world, He did not create a single thing without purpose…" There then follows a list of medicinal uses for even the lowliest of creatures such as snails, flies and mosquitoes. If all species are to be preserved, how much more so those native to the Holy Land and specifically named in Scripture, like the Canaan dog. Our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were sheepherders, and likely used the Canaan dog's ancestors to help manage the flocks. Canaan dogs are no less useful to us today, where they are used by the Israeli military as guard dogs and to detect bombs. One organization of note that fights on behalf of endangered and threatened species worldwide is the Center For Biological Diversity, who put out a great weekly listserve email, (and who also sell beautiful organic cotton t-shirts for only $12, which make great gifts). Another worthy project is the Israel Longhorn Project, which promotes the breeding of the more robust Texas Longhorn cattle with the more passive European breeds currently in production in Israel in order to create a breed better suited to Israel's desert climate.

From a Zionist perspective, I find it abhorant that the Israeli government should attempt to take the land from its current occupants over what is essentially a lack of a clear Land Title. Land titling is an extremely critical issue globally, as native peoples often passed land to their descendants without any legal documents. In Israel, the history of fluctuating governments in the area have made land titling an especially thorny issue. But in the case of the Shaar Hagai Kennels, is not 42 years of continuous occupancy ownership enough? Squatters have legal rights, often based on the improvements to the land that they have made over time. Adding insult to injury, the only plan that the Israeli government has for the kennel is to demolish it, and the government has been unwilling to enter into mediation to resolve the issue peacefully. Thus it appears that this eviction is a blatant land grab by the government, in total disregard for the rights of the people that have been living there, as well as the needs of the Canaan dog to survive. The actions of the Israeli government seem here to directly oppose our biblical enjoinder to settle the Land of Israel, as commanded in Numbers 33:53 "Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess" and Deut 12:10 "you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around so that you dwell in safety". The Israeli government is not living up to the religious and Zionist ideals of Settling the Land. Instead, they are doing the exact opposite — evicting and threatening to demolish Jewish homes, as was the case in Gush Katif, Gaza in 2005, as well as the eviction notice facing the settlement of Migron today. This is very sad indeed, and our voices need to be heard. THE LAND OF ISRAEL BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL, NOT TO THE GOVERNMENT.

Clearly, there are many causes in the world, both environmental and political, worthy of our efforts and attention. There is much work that remains to be done in order to protect native species and the habitats that preserve them. There are also many people fighting against the injustices of wrongful evictions, whether in Israel, in America, or in the world at large. As a Zionist and as a Jewish Environmentalist, I feel it is my duty to share my concerns about the pending eviction at the Shaar Hagai Kennels with others in this community, so that we can collectively raise our voices in support of the kennel and the Canaan dogs. In this way, we can demonstrate our desire for an Israel and world more in line with our Jewish, environmentalist, and Zionist ideals. Together, we can create a better world in which people and animals have the right to dwell in the Land in peace, safety, and security.

By Hanna Szekeres

The Botanical Gardens in Jerusalem, Israel is a 30-acre oasis where you can see, smell and even taste over 10,000 species of flowers from around the world. But the educational department of the gardens also focuses on another type of seed: “the seeds of peace.”

Five years ago the department started a project called “Coexistence” that brings together nine- to 11-year-olds from the city’s Jewish and Muslim schools and teaches them about the production of spices, olive oil and herbal remedies in the gardens.

The project consists of 10 sessions throughout the school year and ends with the children visiting at each other’s schools and planting trees, symbolizing the fruits of their cooperation and mutual learning.

“Nature is everybody’s and nobody’s,” says the project director, Leah Gerson. “The Garden serves as a neutral ground, as a charming atmosphere with wonderful tasks that allows room for openness and listening.”

Due to the language barrier, the teachers act as translators for the children and bridge the gaps between the sides. “My initial fear was for nothing,” says Gerson, “because the children found their own ways to communicate, as children do.”

In the past year alone the project has brought together 160 Jewish and Arab children for combined studies. “We have the largest collection in the country and are a living showcase for biodiversity,” says Sue Surkes, director of development. “We translate the plant biodiversity into trying to encourage human diversity as well.”

Coexistence is just one of several programs blossoming at Israel’s largest botanical garden, adds Surkes.

To reach broader audiences, including Christians and Muslims, the JBG is also opening a newly upgraded Bible Path, complete with new plantings, outdoor classrooms, interpretational aids and innovative programming.

This article appeared on www.nocamels.com

SAMAR SAND DUNES, Israel — A barbed-wire fence runs along the edge of the dunes here, but it's not to protect them — it's to keep people from accidentally walking across the country's border with Jordan. Not that Samar hasn't needed the protection — the government was poised to raze the dunes and turn them into concrete for hotels and sidewalks. But barbed wire would not have been strong enough to hold back bulldozers. No, the bulldozers were stopped by something far more powerful: You.

Thanks to the efforts of the Green Zionist Alliance, our partners in Israel and all of our supporters — you and all of the people who enable us as organizations to exist, everyone who made phone calls, wrote letters, made donations, protested at the dunes — everyone who both figuratively and literally stood in front of bulldozers' shovels — the Samar sand dunes have been saved from destruction. They will be preserved as a nature and recreational reserve.

You may know about Samar's endangered species and its rare ecosystem, but what, viscerally, makes the dunes so special? On a recent day here, I walked across the dunes photographing them so you too could see how extraordinary they are.

Check out the full slide show at GreenZionism.org: http://www.greenzionism.org/greenisrael/samar/235

Thank you again for helping to save Samar!

The purpose of our trip was to give us, rabbis, educators and activists, a unique opportunity to delve further into the spiritual basis of our environmentalism. We went to Alaska because the wilderness experience would allow us to recharge our spiritual senses without the usual interruptions and distractions of modern technological civilization. While we were “out on the paddle,” we had no contact at all with anyone else and aside from an emergency radio, no means of communication with the rest of the world. We also spent a great deal of the trip in silence. We did not speak while we ate. We were silent much of the time while we were in the kayaks and sometimes we stopped paddling and just drifted with the currents listening to the wind, the water and the eagles. Every morning we prayed together, studied and meditated using a technique called “mindfulness training” adapted from Zen Buddhism which allowed us to live in the moment and to focus on where we were in the world at that moment.

Our guides taught us about the history and the ecology of Tebenkof Bay and the Tongas National forest that it is part of. While Tebenkof is a wilderness area with very strict rules as to its use, logging was still allowed in the Tongas National Forest and we could see large clear cuts as we flew in a sea plane from Petersburg to our first campsite. The trees in this old growth rain-forest are mostly Sitka spruce. They are hundreds of years old and yet they were mostly cut for pulp to be used in newsprint. We learned that the trees, the eagles, the bears and salmon are all linked in an incredibly complex ecological system. The trees drop needles into the waters providing nutrients for the insects which the salmon eat. The salmon are eaten by bears and eagles which then defecate the nutrients back into the soil and onto the tops of the trees. Scientists have found salmon isotopes in the needles of the Sitka spruce.

We also learned that the natives who used to inhabit Tebenkof Bay, the Tlingit (pronounced “Klingit”), lived there for 5,000 years and the only disturbances they left were an old totem pole in an overgrown burial site and a few indented areas in the middle of an island that had been a village for 800 years. The salmon was central to their diet and their culture and salmon fishing is still one the major activities of the whole region. The salmon were running while we were there and 24 hours a day they were jumping out of the water for reasons of their own. Tebenkof Bay was filled with sea otters, sea lions, mink, Sitka deer, black bears, bald eagles, hundreds of kinds of birds and whales. For several mornings a whale came by our campsite feeding on the small fish amongst the kelp and the sound of its breathing was a counterpoint to our morning prayers.

We learned in a way that we could not have understood before the tapestry of creation that interconnects us with every part of the world. This is a lesson that we may know intellectually but because of the barriers we erect, both physical and psychological, we live as if we are not part of creation but somehow separate and immune from the effects of our over consumption of its gifts.

This problem has been called by some environmentalists “biophobia” the fear of the natural world. Environmental educators see this fear in children at summer camps who are afraid to be outdoors; by teachers who find children coming to kindergartens who do not know how to use their bodies. Many children have spent so much time in front of the computer or the television set and so little playing outside that they cannot walk with any agility and don’t know how to cut paper. Biophobia is not confined to children. Many adults express their fear of the real world by retreating into the “virtual world” of the Internet. Biophobia is also is the disconnection from the real world of other human beings. It is an alienation from life with all its physicality and contingency.

Environmental spirituality tries to the awareness of our interconnection with each other and the rest of creation. When we achieve this awareness, we are more likely to look outside ourselves and truly understand how our actions affect the entire world. We will then know why we cannot continue to consume the world without consideration or restraint.

In order to begin this sense of awareness we must stop, listen and look and thereby be mindful of the world. We can then see and feel what Abraham Joshua Heschel called the sense of the ineffable, that awareness that creation is a mystery calling out to us in a soundless voice now blocked by the noise and business of our lives. We can sense the ineffable, in Alaska, in New Jersey or anywhere if we open up our spiritual eyes. Then we can respond with love, awe, humility, gratitude and blessing to each moment in our lives. We will then can find meaning in our actions, in the food we eat, the clothes we wear and the work that we do. We will understand that every action in life is in some ways an ethical choice that is not without consequence.

We will soon celebrate Tu B’Shevat, the New Year of the Trees. Every year on Tu B’Shevat, I try to remember the centers of the living web of creation that the great Sitka spruce in Tebenkof Bay. I will try to think about how a tree can tell us a lot about the history of its place and how humans have acted upon it. I will try to think about how much I really know about the place where I live and the kind of effect my life has upon it. I will try to see how a tree can show me my place in the Order of Creation. With the trees, the salmon, the deer, the whales, the bears and the eagles, we are voices in that great choir of life that with its every breath praises the Creator of the Universe.

The acute deterioration in Israel's environmental condition is only part of the social agenda that brought one million Israelis to demonstrations this past summer. Are we seeing a change in the Israeli political map and the public's ecological awareness? What policies are needed to address the steady damage to Israel's open spaces, biodiversity loss and the disappearing Dead Sea?

Green Zionist Alliance Co-Founder and Green Movement Co-Chair Dr. Alon Tal, recognized by Haaretz as Israel's leading environmentalist, will present a new green agenda for Zionism and consider scenarios for progress in Israel.

Click here for more information about hearing Alon speak in Rochester on Jan. 9, 2012.

Click here to register for the free event in New York City on Jan. 10, 2012.

Click here for more information about hearing Alon speak in San Francisco on Jan. 19, 2012.

1) Learn and teach the rainbow blessing: "Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha`olam ZOKHER ET HABRIT — Blessed be You, Hashem…who remembers the covenant!" And — you can remember that the first covenant in the Torah wasn't just for humanity. It was a convenant with all animals and with the land itself.

2) Say a prayer for the all living things. You can find a prayer based on the rainbow covenant and P'ri Eitz Hadar (the first Tu Bishvat seder) on jewcology.com/resource/Shabbat-Noach. (You'll also find other resources for Shabbat Noach.) The English text goes like this:

God full of compassion, remember Your covenant with all life, the
covenant of the waters of Noah. Spread a sukkah of compassion and
peace over all Life's species and over us. Surround all our relations
with Shekhinah's radiance; water them with Your river of delights in
all of their habitats. Then "the bow will appear in the cloud" joyful
and beautified with its colors, and the Tree of Life will return to
its original strength, so that we and our descendants may merit to
live many days on Earth, like the days of the Skies over the Land.
Blessed be the Life of the worlds!

3) Pick one other exercise or project from the Rainbow Day curriculum and do it /share it!

May we all be blessed to bring healing to the Earth and to all the species that share this planet with us.

Rabbi David Seidenberg
neohasid.org

Remember the Rainbow Covenant on Shabbat Noach, Shabbat Behar and Rainbow Day!

Celebrate Rainbow Day and the Rainbow Covenant with all life!

In the Rainbow Day curriculum, you’ll find Torah, prayers and liturgies, midrashim about rainbows, lesson plans about seed-saving, learning from Hoshea and Ezekiel, Kabbalah and midrash, and project ideas—40 in all—that you can use to celebrate the Rainbow covenant onShabbat Behar and on Rainbow Day (both fall on the same day this year outside of Israel, May 15-16, 2015), and on Shabbat Noach (Oct 16-17 in 2015), and every week. The Rainbow Covenant with all life is the first covenant of the Torah. (You can download in-depth study sheets on the connection between the Rainbow covenant and the Sinai/Shmitah covenant with the land that is found in that week’s parshah here. Go to the Shmita Project to learn more about Shmita.)

Download the Rainbow Day curriculum. It includes: Rainbow and Shmitah covenant Torah texts, poetry for kids, liturgy and midrash, frogs, mikveh, the dangers of triclosan (found in anti-bacterial soap), hydrofracking in Israel, and much more. A table of contents with a list of all 40 modules, along with the ages each is appropriate for, can be found below. Many individual modules have study sheets, articles, and lesson plans that you can download directly below. You can add your ideas to this curriculum too: write to R’ David Seidenberg of neohasid.org (rebduvid86 at gmail.com). Every year we add a link to one of the issues found in the curriculum here: Learn about fracking in Israel. New to this year’s download: all the url’s are live links that you can click. Lastly, don’t leave this page without listening to the Brit/Hoshea song — scroll to the very bottom and hit the play button!

What is Rainbow Day?

On the 27th day of the second month, Noah, his family, and all the animals that were with them left the ark (Genesis 8). Exactly one lunar year and ten days before—one complete solar year—the flood began on the 17th of the second month, the day before Lag B’Omer. When Noah, the animals and his family went out from the ark, God made a covenant, with all the animals and the people, that there would never be again be a flood of water to destroy life on Earth. Rainbow Day is always the 42nd day of the Omer, the day after Yom Yerushalayim. Other days connected the Rainbow Covenant include Shabbat Noach and Shabbat Behar.

Why is the Rainbow Covenant important?

The Rainbow Covenant is a time to celebrate the diversity of life on Earth, and to remember our role in God’s covenant with all Creation. It is a time to remember that the first covenant was not with human beings but with all living creatures. It is a chance to reflect on the deep spiritual and religious meaning of diversity, creation, and our role as part of creation and partners with God.

What is the message of the Rainbow Covenant?

The Torah teaches that God has promised never to flood the Earth again. But that doesn’t mean humanity can’t “flood the Earth” and harm life. We live in a time when many species have gone extinct or are threatened with extinction. Our civilization is using so much of the world’s land and resources that we don’t always leave room for the other creatures. And the climate is changing. As the African-American spiritual goes, “God gave Noah the Rainbow sign, no more water, the fire next time!” The story of Noah and the Flood teaches us that we have a responsibility to care for all creation and all creatures, and that caring for all species is a mark of righteousness.

What can you do to celebrate the Rainbow Covenant?

The resources here will include ideas for teachers and educators, for kids and adults, for rabbis and prayer leaders, gardeners and meditators, for Torah study, science study, and for action. Find a venue where you can make a difference and use one of these modules. We suggest that you leave a few moments after whatever activity you use for teaching the traditional blessing for seeing a rainbow:

Blessed be You YHVH, our God. . .who remembers the covenant.

Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha`olam zokher et habrit.

You can use also these materials on Shabbat Noach, Shabbat Beh!r, or other days!

Download the Rainbow Day curriculum!

You can also incorporate ideas you’ll find here into the observance of Yom Yerushalayim, or as part of Lag B’Omer or for anytime of the Omer, etc. Or use them in religious schools in the week following Shabbat Behar or anytime. Whether you do something in a group, a synagogue, with friends or on your own, make Rainbow Day special.

Here is a prayer that you can use for Rainbow Day (longer version with vowels is found below, and this version with vowels is found in the curriculum as well):

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אל מלא רחמים God full of compassion,

זכור בריתך עמ כל החיים remember Your covenant with all life,

ברית מי נח the covenant of the waters of Noah.

ופרוש סכת רחמיםושלום Spread a Sukkah of compassion & peace

עלינו ועל כל מיני החייםover us, over all Life’s species.

הקיף כלם יוחסינו Surround all our relations

בזיו השכינה with Shekhinah’s radiance,

בנחל עדניך תשקם Water them with Your river of delights

בכל מושבותהם in all of their habitats.

ואז ישוב עץ החיים Then the Tree of Life will be restored

לאיתנו הראשון to its original strength,

ונראתה הקשת בענן and ‘the bow will appear in the cloud’

שש ומתפאר בגוונין joyful and beautified with its colors,

ותזכנו אנחנו וצאצינו so that we and our descendants may merit

לישב ימים רבים על האדמה to live many days on Earth,

כימי שמים על הארץ like days of the Skies over the Land.

More thoughts on the Rainbow Covenant:

According to Kabbalah, Rainbow Day is also the day of Malkhut in Yesod, a unity of masculine and feminine that represents a milestone on the way to the revelation of Shavuot. For us, it can represent a chance to commit ourselves to the rainbow covenant, to turn from actions that destroy the earth, to turn our lives away from unraveling earth’s climate and the web of life, from diminishing earth’s abundance.

The rainbow signified a new covenant between God and the land. It’s time for us to imagine a new covenant between humanity and the Earth, including the land and the seas, one that we start to live by as we change our lifestyles and habits. We can use the covenantal vision of the Shmitah year in Leviticus 25 to help guide our steps. And maybe next year it will be time to celebrate that new covenant.

Rainbow Day is pregnant with ritual possibilities related to the elements, to the midpoint between equinox and solstice, to the time between the fire of Lag B’Omer and the fire of Sinai, to global warming, to healing the waters, to the growing wheat crop in the land of Israel, and to all the meanings related to the journey from freedom to revelation. And rainbows are a symbol of diversity: the diversity of colors, of people, and of all life.

♦ Here are some of the organizations that have contributed resources (starred organizations are members of the Green Hevra):

neohasid.org* The Shalom Center* The Teva Learning Alliance* Jewish Farm School* Kayam Farm* Religious Action Center*Green Zionist Alliance*

Thanks also to: Isabella Freedman Retreat Center* Jewish Reconstructionist Movement* Eden Village Camp* Organic Torah Tikkun Schechter Day School Network EcoJews of the Bay Green Zionist Alliance* Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life* Jewish Greening Fellowship* Hazon* Urban Adamah* Wilderness Torah* Adamah*

The beautiful illustration below is “Noah & Naamah” ©1998 by Ilene Winn-Lederer; Prints may be ordered at: http://www.winnlederer.com/finearts/prints2/noah.html or via email to: ilene@winnlederer.com

♦ Jewish Lights is offering a 20% discount on the two versions of Sandy Eisenberg Sasso’s book about Naamah. Naamah, Noah’s Wife, ages 0-4 and Noah’s Wife: The Story of Naamah, ages 4 and up.

Download the Rainbow Day Curriculum!

⇒ Curriculum Table of Contents:Contents (version 4.2):

The Rainbow Blessing

1. Teach the Rainbow blessing and blessing for the trees

Texts from Tanakh

2. The Rainbow covenant in Genesis
3. A Tale of Two Covenants: Rainbow and Shmita
4. Hoshea 2:20 and the Messianic covenant

Songs:

5. A song for Hoshea 2:20

More Texts from Tanakh
6. Ezekiel, and a Kabbalistic interpretation of the rainbow

Midrashim: interpretations of the rainbow sign

7. Noah and environmental responsibility
8. Flood, Ark and Rainbow, R. Arthur Waskow (also for Lag B’Omer)
9. Human responsibility, R. Shlomo Riskin
10. The diversity and unity of all life, R. Shimshon Rafael Hirsch
11. On human moral development, R. Avraham Yitzhak Kook (link)

Biodiversity

12. Learn about biodiversity (link)
13. Pick a rainbow!
14. Study endangered species (focus on frogs)

Science, Culture and Art

15. How many colors are in a rainbow?
16. Do other animals see colors the way we do?
17. Colors and dyes
18. The science of rainbows
19. Art projects
20. Poetry!

Liturgues and Prayers

21. Rainbow prayer for creation, R. David Seidenberg
22. Between the Fires, R. Arthur Waskow
23. Council of All Beings (link)
24. A mikveh meditation, Carol Rose

Current Issues

25. Climate change
26. Keystone XL Pipeline
27. Hydrofracking
28. Fracking in Israel
29. Get active on the Farm Bill!
30. Don’t use triclosan!
31. Tzedakah and justice

Seed Saving, Harvests and Gardens

32. Seed saving and Naamah
33. Read Naamah: Noah’s Wife by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso
34. For the Omer: plant a “grainbow”!
35. Eli Rogosa’s story about finding an ancient wheat
36. “L’Dor V’Dor” seed saving workshops (link)
37. Plant a rainbow garden (link)
38. Count the omer! (link)

The Seven Noachide Laws

39. The seven colors of the rainbow and the seven laws
40. More study — articles by Rabbi Everett Gendler and Calvin DeWitt

The words from the song video are from Hoshea 2:20 (refresh the page if you can’t see it). They are about the messianic rainbow covenant that is yet to come:

V’kharati lahem brit bayom hahu im chayat hasadeh v’im of hashamayim v’remes ha’adamah v’keshet v’cherev umilchamah eshbor min ha’aretz v’hishkavtim lavetach

On that day, I will make a covenant for them with the beasts and the birds, with all creatures that walk on the Earth, that bow and sword and battle will disappear from the land, so that all may safely rest.

You can also hear another exquisite version of this song by Amen (Gaby Meyer and Amir Paiss) here!