Download the free “Haggadah of the Inner Seder” (18 pp.). PDF, RTF, and DOC versions, along with a brief guide to the haggadah’s features, can be found at: http://neohasid.org/zman/pesach/InnerSeder/.
You can also go to neohasid.org for Omer Counter apps, and for information about David Seidenberg’s new book, Kabbalah and Ecology: God’s Image in the More-Than-Human World, published by Cambridge University Press.

With the Counting of the Omer count seven weeks of seven days – 49 days – from crossing into freedom to receiving the Torah, from redemption to revelation, from Passover to Shavuot, from the Sea of Reeds to the Mountain of Sinai, from the depths of despair to the heights of joy, from physical enslavement to spiritual freedom, from the barley harvest offering to the wheat harvest offering, from the food of animals offering to the food of humans offering. We count 49 days.

In Jewish mystical tradition, each of these seven weeks is equated to one of seven Divine Attributes. During each week, we also travel through these seven attributes day by day. In this way, each day represents a combination of two attributes, and throughout the 49 days we experience every possible combination of the attributes, 49 different combinations, so very many ways of considering the sacred, and our connection to it.

This year, seven of the writers of Ma'yan Tikvah's Earth Etudes for Elul have each agreed to write seven Omer reflections for Ma'yan Tikvah. We are grateful for the immense thought and effort that each of these writers has put into their work. As always, they have woven some aspect of the natural world into their writings. And also, as always, you will see great variety from week to week – we begin with hard-hitting science, and then the week after switch to poetry. You will read political views, thoughts on personal growth, ideas on how to get closer to the Earth and closer to G!d, as each of the writers expresses her or his innermost feelings and pulls you into her or his personal world. I invite you to journey with us, and to see where our writers' reflections will lead us.

The first week of Omer reflections begin on Tuesday evening, April 15. They have been written by Rabbi Judy Weiss, and in addition to the Divine Attribute of Chesed, which is the focus of the week, she also focuses on the oceans and climate change. Rabbi Judy Weiss lives in Brookline, MA, with her husband Alan. She teaches Tanakh, and volunteers with Citizens’ Climate Lobby.

Passover is almost here. We are counting the days.

I wish you a joyous sense of leaving behind all that binds you and an entrance into an expansive sense of freedom.

Chag Sameach!

Rabbi Katy Z. Allen, Ma'yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope

www.mayantikvah.org

]]> https://beta.jewcology.com/2014/04/preparing-to-count-the-omer/feed/ 0 https://beta.jewcology.com/2014/01/uplifting-people-and-planet/ https://beta.jewcology.com/2014/01/uplifting-people-and-planet/#comments Tue, 14 Jan 2014 14:06:43 +0000 http://jewcology.org/2014/01/uplifting-people-and-planet/ Exciting news! Just in time for Tu b’Shevat, Canfei Nesharim and Jewcology are proud to announce the launch of a new ebook exploring traditional Jewish teachings on the environment, Uplifting People and Planet: Eighteen Essential Jewish Lessons on the Environment, edited by Rabbi Yonatan Neril and Evonne Marzouk.

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.

Daniel Brook & Richard H. Schwartz

Lag B’Omer, which begins after sundown on Saturday, April 27 in 2013, is considered a minor Jewish holiday, but even a minor holiday provides valuable lessons and is worth celebrating. A great way to celebrate Lag B’Omer is through vegetarianism, as Lag B’Omer has many vegetarian connections.

Lag B’Omer represents the 33rd day of the counting of the omer, the 49 days from the second day of Passover and Shavuot, reminding us of the link between these two holidays. While Passover celebrates our freedom from slavery, Shavuot celebrates our receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. During Passover, Jews brought barley to the Temple in Jerusalem; on Shavuot, Jews brought their first fruits. The Hebrew letters forming lag represent 33 and an omer is a sheaf or measurement. The goal should be not only to count the omer, but also to make the counting meaningful.

According to a midrash, there were fifty days between the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and the receiving of the Torah — between liberation and law — because the Jewish people were not yet spiritually pure. On our modern journeys, in our efforts toward liberation, we can increase our spiritual purity by eating vegetarian foods. We can purify our health and purify our planet, while purifying our spirit. Many people who switch to a vegetarian diet report feeling physically, emotionally, and spiritually better. Lag B’Omer presents a special opportunity to reflect back upon where we’ve come from as well as to look forward to where we might, and should, be going, as it is a time for self-awareness, self-growth, and community development.

We hope that Jews will enhance their celebrations of this ancient and beautiful holiday of Lag B’Omer by making it a time to strive even harder to live up to Judaism’s highest moral values and teachings. We certainly don’t need more “things” in our homes and we don’t necessarily need to make an agricultural pilgrimage; instead, we do need more meaning, purpose, and spirit in our lives. To be grateful for life is to appreciate it, to sustain and protect it, for yourself and others, for humans and animals. There are a variety of ways to accomplish this. One significant way is by moving towards vegetarianism.

By sharing grain with others, Lag B’Omer demonstrates the power of cooperation and community. In contrast, meat-eating demonstrates the opposite. Raising animals for consumption, besides being cruel to animals (and therefore violating tsa’ar ba’alei chayim, causing unnecessary harm to animals), uses and wastes a tremendous amount of grain as well as water, land, soil, and fossil fuels (transgressing bal tashchit, the injunction not to waste anything of value), while destroying communities (the opposite of tikkun olam, healing the world), degrading the environment (not the way to be shomrei adamah, partners in re-creating our world), and damaging human health (violating pekuach nefesh, the need to protect our health and lives).

Judaism also stresses the importance of tzedakah, that we be kind, assist the poor and weak, and share our food with the hungry; yet approximately 3/4 of major U.S. grain – e.g., corn, wheat, soybeans, oats – is fed to the billions of animals destined for slaughter. Further, Judaism repeatedly suggests that we pursue peace and justice, and vegetarianism is one key step on that path.

Traditionally, many Jews refrain from joyous celebration during the counting of the omer. However, Lag B’Omer is a day during this season upon which marriages, haircuts, and other celebrations are allowed to begin again because miracles have occurred on Lag B’Omer. It was on Lag B’Omer, for example, that a plague that had killed 24,000 of Rabbi Akiva’s students finally ended. Choosing vegetarianism champions life by saving lives everyday. Shortly after the plague, Rabbi Akiva chose five students to carry on his work, one of whom was the great sage Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.

The Omer period is sometimes referred to as the Sefirah, The Counting. Sefirah also means illuminating. Literally for some and figuratively for all, it is important to count each day and to make each day count. Eating vegetarian may allow us to live longer and healthier lives, as many scientific studies have shown, while saving the lives of countless animals. Doing so illuminates our lives as well as theirs, allowing each of us to continue the blessing of counting the omer for more years.

In addition to resource conservation and economic efficiency, a switch toward vegetarianism would greatly benefit the health of individuals, the condition of our environment, and would sharply reduce the suffering and death of billions of animals. Further, the social, psychological, and spiritual benefits should not be underestimated.

This season, while we count the omer, we should educate ourselves about the hazards of meat production and consumption and the benefits of vegetarianism, as well as bring offerings to our inner temples. We can do this by practicing the powerful teachings and highest values of Judaism. One way to achieve the wonderful aspirations of Judaism is by switching to a vegetarian diet. A shift toward vegetarianism can be a major factor in the renewal of Judaism, as it would further demonstrate that Jewish values are not only relevant but also essential to everyday personal life and global survival.

For more information, please visit Aish at aish.com/omer, the Jewish Vegetarians of North America at www.JewishVeg.com and The Vegetarian Mitzvah at www.brook.com/jveg. View a free documentary called A Sacred Duty at ASacredDuty.org.

Daniel Brook, Ph.D. is an author, speaker, poet, instructor of sociology and political science, and is a member of the Advisory Committee of Jewish Vegetarians of North America. He is the author of An Alef-Bet Kabalah [http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1653], the editor of Justice in the Kitchen: An Or Shalom Community Cookbook [https://justicecookbook.wordpress.com], is a long-time member of Or Shalom Jewish Community [http://orshalom.org].

Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D., is the author of Judaism and Vegetarianism, Judaism and Global Survival, and over 150 articles and interviews located at JewishVeg.com/schwartz. He is President of Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) at www.JewishVeg.com and of the Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians (SERV) (www.serv-online.org).

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During the month of Iyyar (April 10-May 9, 2013), we traditionally engage in S’firat Ha’omer (“The Counting of the Omer”), which begins on the second day of Pesach (the 16th of Nissan) and ends on the festival of Shavu’ot (the 6th of Sivan). This intervening period comprises 49 days—seven weeks of seven days—with Shavu’ot falling on Day 50. The 18th of Iyyar (April 27-28, 2013) is Lag Ba’Omer: the 33rd day of Counting the Omer. (In Hebrew, numbers are typically represented by letters. “Lag” is just a quick and easy way of pronouncing the Hebrew letters that add up to 33.) This holiday, which honors a number of historical, religious and legendary events in ancient Israel, is typically observed with hikes, games, bonfires and other festive, outdoor activities.

During Pesach, we retell our liberation from Egyptian slavery. According to the Mishnah, it is insufficient to recount the exodus as an abstract myth or historical event. Rather, “In every generation, a person must see oneself as though one personally went out from Egypt” (Pesachim 10:5). In other words, each person should strive to regard the exodus from Egypt as a personal memory, a lived experience.

Fifty days later, on Shavuot, we celebrate the giving of the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai. And again, our tradition encourages us to commemorate this not merely as a historical event or thrilling legend, but as a personal experience of enduring significance. The early rabbis were vexed by Moses’s puzzling speech in Deuteronomy 29:13-14: “I make this covenant… not with you alone, but both with those who are standing here with us this day before the Lord our G-d [at Sinai] and with those who are not with us here this day.”

According to the Babylonian Talmud, “those who are not with us here this day” means that all future generations of Jews—including converts to Judaism—must understand ourselves as having been present to receive the Torah at Sinai (Shevu’ot 39a).

Retelling our beloved stories and reliving important episodes in our history has served to keep our precious traditions alive. The practice of ancient rituals has fulfilled a similar purpose. Consider the Counting of the Omer: Each night between the second day of Pesach and Shavu’ot, one recites a Hebrew blessing (“Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d, ruler of the universe, who has made us holy with your commandments and commanded us regarding the Counting of the Omer”) and then declares in Hebrew, “Today is Day __ of the Omer.”

But what is the significance of Counting the Omer? In his classic book, Seasons of Our Joy, Rabbi Arthur Waskow explains that in ancient Israel, the grain harvest occurred in the Springtime. (Indeed, many scholars argue that Pesach and Shavu’ot began as agricultural festivals, before being effectively “rebranded” to commemorate the exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Torah, respectively.) The barley crop would ripen and be harvested first, early in the Spring—about the middle of Nissan. The wheat crop would ripen and be harvested in the late Spring—approximately 50 days later, in the month of Sivan.

To mark this 50-day period between the barley and wheat harvests, the Israelites performed the following ritual:

And from the day on which you bring the sheaf [omer] of elevation offering—the day after the sabbath—you shall count off seven weeks. They must be complete: you must count until the day after the seventh week—fifty days; then you shall bring an offering of new grain to the Lord. (Leviticus 23:15-16)

While the dates originally varied according to the weather and the status of the crop, the rabbis of the Mishnah eventually fixed the dates for Counting the Omer and for Shavuot, so that they fell on the same days every year. Even after the Second Temple was destroyed in 70 CE and it became impossible for priests to provide a grain offering, the tradition was kept alive through the symbolic practice of Counting the Omer.

Through the ritual of S’firat Ha’omer, Jews have maintained a connection—however abstract and tenuous—with our agricultural past. However, in my experience, few Jews who observe the Counting of the Omer understand and appreciate its agricultural origins. Even for those who do, the Counting of the Omer symbolizes something our ancestors did in ages past, something that has little bearing on our modern lives.

I would argue that the agricultural origin of S’firat Ha’omer is no less deserving of a personal connection than the liberation from Egypt or the encounter at Sinai. Obviously, it is hard to literally count sheaves of barley if we live in a place where barley does not ripen until Summertime. However, we are not required to make a pilgrimage from Egypt to Israel in order to relive the exodus, nor are we required to stand at the base of Mount Sinai in order to relive the giving of the Torah. Rather, it is through the performance of ritual and the cultivation of spiritual investment—equal parts memory and imagination—that we form meaningful connections to Pesach and Shavu’ot.

Therefore, I would like to propose the following kavanah (intention) for those Counting the Omer: “In every generation, a person must Count the Omer as though one personally harvested the barley.” Likewise, for Shavu’ot: “In every generation, a person must observe Shavu’ot as though one personally harvested wheat and brought it to the Temple as an offering.” For those of us who struggle to find a way of connecting Jewish texts and traditions with the hands-on work of farming and gardening, perhaps this blending of ritual, memory and imagination can provide a valuable link between our agrarian past and a sustainable future.

On this last day of counting the Omer, this seventh day of the sixth week, which gives us seven full weeks, we consider Malchut in Malchut - Leadership in Leadership, the ultimate in leadership.

Tonight, or some clear night soon, I invite you to step outside, lie down on the ground on your back, and look up at the stars. When you do, you will see celestial bodies that have been where they are for billions of years. You will gaze at a night sky that people have been gazing at since the beginning of human kind. Perhaps you will see constellations. Perhaps you have learned names that we humans have given to these pictures made of stars. Perhaps you are familiar with the Big Dipper, or the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters, or Pegasus, the Winged Horse. If you identify Ursa Major, the Great Bear, you are seeing a constellation thought to have been named 5,000 years ago. We are looking back into human history as well as the history of the Universe when we gaze at the night sky. Feel your smallness. Then feel your connection. Know that you are a part of something so much larger than yourself that its size is beyond our comprehension. Know that mystery remains in the Universe. And know that you are important. And when you have gazed long enough, I invite you to get up and go inside and begin a new beginning, be ready to receive the gifts that came from the mountaintop and from the sky, the gifts that remain in the trees and the rocks and the birds and the moon and the flowers and the water and the stars, after all these many, many millenia.

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 forty-nine days, which is seven weeks of the Omer.

And so we reach the end of our counting together. I thank you for walking this journey with me. I couldn't have done it without you. May your Shabbat be restful, your Shavuot meaningful, you Memorial Day healing, and your long weekend joyous. May you find the strength and the peace and the insight you need. May you be blessed on your journey through life.

Todah rabbah – thank you,

Katy

On this penultimate day of counting the Omer, we consider the attributes of Y'sod in Malchut, Bonding in Leadership.

When we look up at the sky on a clear night, we see a milky section of the expanse of stars, what we have dubbed the Milky Way, which we all know contains no milk and is not a candy bar! It is, rather, our view of the galaxy in which we live – a rotating group of gases and dust and hundreds of billions of stars bound together by the force of gravity. When we stand outside and look skyward, the Milky Way looks like it is far away, but actually we are about 2/3 of the way outward from the center of the galaxy. Amazing is our galaxy, and every other galaxy in the Universe. Amazing in its size, in its many, many member parts, in its diversity, in its contained energy, its age, its future, its past, its mystery.

To look at the families and communities of which we are a part, bound together by forces stronger even than gravity, to see them as we see the Milky Way, as if from the outside, can give us a glimpse of what is amazing about them, and such a glimpse can give us hope and strength and a sense of security and understanding and vision, and can help us move ever forward, with spirit, with joy, and with hope.

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 forty-eight days, which is six weeks and six days of the Omer.

Today we reach the fifth day of the seventh week, and we focus on Hod in Malchut, Humility in Leadership.

In gazing at the stars, we often see "stars" that are not really stars. At times, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn shine in the evening, night, or early morning sky near the horizon, and to the naked eye they look exactly like bright stars. In fact, these "stars" are planets, and the light they seem to give off is actually the result of their illumination by the Sun. Unlike the Moon, they appear as dots or "stars" because of their greater distance from the Earth.

In exhibiting leadership in our personal and professional lives, we can't always be the source of the light, we can't always stand out. Sometimes we must allow the light of others to illuminate us and give us wisdom and strength. Sometimes we must reflect what comes from others. Sometimes we must hold our uniqueness in our hearts and blend in. Always, we must understand that our ability to lead is a reflection of the Divine.

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 forty-seven days, which is six weeks and five days of the Omer.

On this fourth day of the seventh week of counting the Omer, we turn our thoughts to Netzach in Malchut, Endurance in Leadership.

Our Sun is a star, and by star standards it is no big deal. There are many other stars that are similar to it. But for those of us here on Earth, it is the Sun that counts, it is the Sun that makes life possible.

One could say that the Sun is middle-aged. It is about 4.5 billion years old, and it will continue to burn hydrogen for another 5 billion years or so. In terms of a human life, or even all human life, this is a fantabulous amount of time. In terms of the evolution of all life on Earth, it is somewhat less so. But it is only because of this long existance of our star that life had time to evolve. Evolution took time, and the Sun gave it time.

It takes endurance and longevity to be a leader. It takes patience. Becoming a leader doesn't happen overnight, and remaining a leader requires maintaining ourselves through all the tough things that happen in a day or a week or a month or a year. We have to stay at it to see the fruits of our efforts, to let our "babies" evolve and change and grow. We have to hang in there and burn brightly for what might sometimes seem like a fantabulous amount of time.

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 forty-six days, which is six weeks and four days of the Omer.

Today we consider the Divine Attributes of Tiferet in Malchut – Harmony in Leadership, as we reach the third day of the seventh week of the Omer.

The stars are in the sky all the time, during the day and at night, we just can't see them during the day because the light of our star, the Sun, is so bright, not because it is so big, but because it is so close to us, a mere 93 million miles, or 8.2 light-minutes, away. Only at night can we see the stars, and the darker the night, the more we see. If the full moon is shining, it diminishes our ability to see the stars. If there is light pollution from a city, it diminishes our ability to see the stars. And of course, a cloud cover gets in the way of our seeing the stars. Everything must be in the right balance for us to see a star-studded night sky.

We need to keep ourselves in balance, too, in order to maintain our ability to lead – ourselves, our families, our communities. Being in balance through getting enough sleep, keeping night and day separate in terms of how we use them; being in balance through eating what keeps our bodies healthy, in the right amounts, no more no less; drinking enough to keep ourselves hydrated but not so much that we float away – all of these are physical ways of keeping ourselves in balance and harmony, but they impact our spiritual and emotional well being as well. Letting ourselves take care of ourselves, in body and in spirit, helps us stay in balance, so that we can see the stars, so that we can dream and have the physical and emotional and spiritual wherewithal to carry out our dreams.

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 forty-five days, which is six weeks and three days of the Omer.

On this second day of the last week of counting the Omer, we focus on Gevuarh in Malchut - Restraint in Leadership.

The amount of energy involved in the Big Bang was so unbelievably huge as to be beyond our comprehension. Today, the brightest events in the sky – those releasing the most energy – are supernovae, or exploding stars, which also involve an unfathomable (though significantly smaller) amount of energy, so much energy, in fact, that they may outshine all the stars in their galaxy. Even if we can't see a galaxy from Earth, we might be able to see a supernova in that galaxy. When a star explodes, either a black hole or a neutron star forms.

Both the Big Bang and supernovae bring about the creation of something new.

What are the sources of our creative power and energy? How do we utilize this energy? Creativity requires restraint on our part, keeping our processes focused and directed. And when we are focused and directed, something new can come forth, and then our power and our energy give us a positive and inspiring kind of leadership.

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 forty-four days, which is six weeks and two days of the Omer.

Today we begin the last week of counting the Omer, and all during this week, as we count the last seven days until Revelation, we focus on Malchut – Leadership, beginning with Chesed in Malchut, Lovingkindness in Leadership. And this week we focus on the stars.

When we look into the night sky, we see only a tiny fraction of the stars in our galaxy, and there are billions of other galaxies out there that we also can't see, each of which has billions of stars. All the matter in that distant space beyond what we can see and in those stars and galaxies that we can't see formed in a way that is hard for most of us to even begin to understand – what we call the Big Bang. And it has kept on cycling and cycling and cycling, stars being born and living and burning up, and elements cycling and cycling and cycling through the universe, through all that time, and eventually into us, you and I and the other person. We are basically made of stardust.

We can't say that stars have feelings. They don't show kindness and they aren't really leaders. But it is that difficult-to-understand event of the Big Bang that led, after about 14 billion years or so, to us. And so we are here. The Big Bang is the ultimate leadership moment. It provided the building blocks of life.

There was another, incredibly minuscule by comparison, big bang of sorts when each of us was born. It was big in terms of the impact on our parents' lives, and we have been moving outward from the moment ever since. We are each a mini expanding universe. We are leaders in our own way, and when we remember how tiny our big bang was by comparison to THE Big Bang, perhaps we will remember to be kind, to show lovingkindness, even as we continue to move outward. And we may stop to wonder, for what unique effort are we providing the building blocks?

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 forty-three days, which is six weeks and one day of the Omer.

As we reach the end of the fifth week of counting the Omer, we focus on the Divine Attributes of Malchut in Y'sod, Leadership in Bonding.

As I walk through the woods today, I am suddenly struck by the dead trees. They are dead, certainly, and yet they are home to so much life. Most readily visible are the bracket fungi I see on some, forming small shelves all the way up the still-standing tree trunk. In one place, I see the remains of a tree so thoroughly decayed and integrated into the forest floor that it is barely recognizable as a fallen tree. I'm on a brisk walk today, so I don't stop to look, but I know from past observations that these decaying trees are home to a variety of small six- and eight-legged creatures. And I can see the woodpecker holes where they went in search of their dinner, and I even hear one hammering in the distance.

The trees are a critical part of the ecosystem in which they are the dominant plants, but not only when they are alive. As the dead tree decays, everything that makes it up cycles through the ecosystem, giving needed nutrients and energy to other organisms.

What does it mean to be a leader? In many ways, it means to give to others what they need. As we allow our gifts, our words, our deeds, our resources to enrich others, to be the nutrients and the energy they need – whether in ways readily visible and apparent or not – we not only bond with those around us, but we model how to be a healthy part of our family and community ecosystems.

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 forty-two days, which is six weeks of the Omer.

On this sixth day of the fifth week of counting the Omer, we consider Y'sod in Y'sod – Bonding in Bonding.

Some trees are covered with large, bright, decorative blossoms in the spring – magnolias, flowering dogwoods, cherry trees, flowering crab apples. These and others we plant in our yards and parks so we can enjoy their showy blooms. We plant oaks and maples and beeches for shade and spruce and fir for their gracious shapes and evergreen needles. The pine trees we complain about their thick pollen and the needles we must rake in the fall. If we take time to notice, we can see the maples covered with tiny reddish flowers and the oaks covered with light green in the spring before the leaves open. The flower are there. All these trees, all trees have some kind of structure – either flower or cone – that produces seeds; we might not notice them if they are not the reason that we are interested in the tree. But they are there. And they are crucial for the ongoing existence of the trees.

We, too, have flowers. Some of our flowers are bright and big and showy, and everyone sees them and appreciates them. And some of our flowers are small and not so easy to see. They just come along with us, perhaps unnoticed by others, but still very much part of who we are, and crucial to our ongoing existence and well-being.

Bonding in bonding. Holding everything within ourselves, and honoring it all, for all of it together makes up who we are. Our obvious gifts, our less obvious gifts, our obvious short-comings, our less obvious short-comings – bound altogether, they make us who we are, part of the sacred creation.

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 forty-one days which is five weeks and six days of the Omer.

On this 40th day of the Omer, we focus on the Divine Attributes of Hod in Y'sod, Humility in Bonding.

Every year that a tree grows, a new layer or ring of wood forms around the trunk, just under the bark. A tree generally produces one layer of wood each year, comprised of two rings of slightly different colors. The light-colored section is the spring and summer growth. The darker, denser wood is the fall and winter growth. The alternation of the light and dark make the rings visible. When a tree is cut down, we can count the rings of the stump, and find out how old it was at the moment of cutting.

We can also get the general idea of how old a tree is by hugging it. Martin Buber made the idea of an intimate relationship with a tree famous in his book, I and Thou, when he spoke of having an I-Thou relationship with one of these impressive plants. We can count the tree rings, or we can put our arms around the tree and see if our hands with touch on the other side. If the tree is way too big around for this, we can hold hands with our friends and see if together we can encircle it. When we hug the tree, when we engage with it, we enter into relationship with the tree, and, in Buber's words, it "ceases to be an It."

The same is true with our relationships with each other. We can count the wrinkles, the pounds, the errors, the false steps, or the grey hairs, or we can put aside our superiority and put our arms around the ones we love and enter into relationship. We can experience humility and love, humility and bonding.

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 forty days which is five weeks and five days of the Omer.

The fall foliage in New England is stunning. Bright reds and oranges and yellows take one's breath away. In the Midwest, where oaks predominate, the colors are more subdued – yellows, yes, but softer shades of burgundy, salmon, and coral, and much less commonly the brilliant scarlet, crimson, and tangerine that we see here.

But no matter what color the leaves turn in the autumn, sooner or later they all fall to the ground. Left behind are bare trees, less interesting, at first glance seemingly lifeless.

But the trees are still alive. They go dormant to survive the winter, but they are alive. We can also take the opportunity of the lack of leaves to focus more closely on other parts of the tree that we might not notice at the height of summer – the bark, the pattern of the branches, the shape of the dormant buds. And, as my mother would say, without the leaves on the trees, we can see into the woods and get a better view of the landscape. We get a whole different view of the forest. We can see the trees. And it is the trees that make the forest.

Endurance in Bonding. Sometimes our loved ones are clothed in the brilliant beautiful colors of a New England autumn. Sometimes they wear the quieter colors of the oak forest autumn. Sometimes they wear the many shades of green of the spring or the summer forest. And sometimes they seem naked, like the deciduous forest in winter. But if we look closely, we will see the dormant buds and the bark of our loved ones. And we will see the trees that make the forest in which we live, and that will be a Divine gift.

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-nine days which is five weeks and four days of the Omer.

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.

I think of the majestic redwoods of the Pacific coast. They are so tall that it is impossible to see their crowns, and some are so big around that a car can drive through the middle. How do water and nutrients climb to the top of these trees? I think of early spring in New England, and the buckets – or plastic tubing – attached to sugar maple trees, catching the rising sap. How does the sap flow against the force of gravity?

The upward flow of water and nutrients is an amazing feat of biological engineering found in all vascular plants, including flowering trees and conifers. The xylem (the wood) is made up of cells connected end-to-end to form long tubes. A major reason the water flows continuously upward through the xylem is that as water molecules evaporate from the leaves, the water in the xylem is pulled upward to take the place of those evaporated molecules, and thus it continues on and on in a continuous stream. Forces of binding hold the water molecules together with such strength that they keep on rising, always able to resist the force of garvity.

What forces of binding and bonding hold us to those we love and care for, despite other forces that could break apart our bonds? What is it that restrains those forces that could break our bonds? What is it that keeps us in powerful connection, what causes our bonds with the Divine to remain strong, despite pulls and tugs that would turn us away? Our restraint, our ability to resist the forces that would pull us away from our journey with and toward the Divine keeps our bonds, and our hearts, intact.

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-seven days which is five weeks and two days of the Omer.

During this sixth week, trees will provide our inspiration, beginning with oak trees. Growing up in the Midwest, I learned about "oak openings." Oak openings occurred as a result of fires that in the past regularly swept across the prairie land of southern Wisconsin, where I lived as a child. In some areas, the result of these fires was a prairie that wasn't a totally open vista. These prairies were park-like savannas groups of oak trees, or oak openings, scattered throughout, and with areas of shrubs, as well as the more familiar grasses and other flowering plants. The oaks and shrubs survived the fires and kept on growing, but since most trees couldn't survive, the fires kept the area relatively open.

Lovingkindness in bonding. Once, oak openings were common. In Wisconsin alone there were 5.5 million acres. Now there are less than 500 acres. It was an ecosystem that depended on wildfires. The combination of wildfires and oaks, shrubs, and various plants created this unique ecosystem.

What kind of bonding in our lives creates a unique situation that is something greater than the sum of its parts? When we come together with others in deep and significant ways, we bring something special into the world, this is the kindness that emerges as a result of our bonding. These are the gifts that result when we open our hearts and our souls, and precious gifts they are.

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-six days which is five weeks and one day of the Omer.

The materials were shared at least 145 times on the web, in at least 99 social media postings, and reached over 51,000 people during the course of the year, as part of a Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment. The materials comprise the most comprehensive set of learning materials on Torah and the environment ever created, and are intended as a resource for the entire Jewish community!   

If you're like me, it goes like this:
Every year I plan to count the Omer with an actual Omer Counter. I will check off the boxes every day so that I never lose track of what day it is, or forget to count a single day.

Then, I spend weeks upon weeks cleaning and preparing for Passover. In the frenzy, I forget that the Omer begins on the SECOND DAY of Passover. And so I begin my counting without an Omer Counter.

Somewhere around day 10, I am looking for a Omer Counter that I can print out — something that is free, one page, reflects my values, and helps me connect to the agricultural realities of the land of Israel, a significant feature of the Omer period. But I can't find one!

Then around day 20, I'm trying to remember if we're on day 20 or 21 and wishing I had printed out my Omer Counter on the day before Passover.

So, if you are in the same situation as me, here is what you have been looking for: the Green Omer Counter from Canfei Nesharim. Enjoy! (And print it out before chag begins!)

P.S. Learn more about Counting the Omer and Connecting to the Land

Lesson One: Everything Comes from the Land (upper elementary school and middle school students)
Teacher Guide
Student's Course Book

Lesson One Alternate: Everything Comes from the Land (older middle school and high school students)
Teacher Guide
Student's Course Book

Lesson Two: We Have to Maintain the Land (upper elementary and middle school students)
Teacher Guide
Student's Course Book

Lesson Three: Lessons of Sefirat HaOmer in Working Towards Balance (Izzun) (upper elementary and middle school students)
Teacher Guide
Student's Course Book

Additonal Resource: Meaning of the Omer in Three Lessons (for text-savvy middle school students)
Teacher Guide
Student's Course Book

All materials originated from Canfei Nesharim.org

Get a printable version of this article

Introduction:

The time between Pesach and Shavuot, when we count the Omer, is a time not only for spiritual reflection and refinement of our middot, but an opportunity to connect to the land of Israel and our responsibility for the earth.

Most of us are familiar with the spiritual implications of the holidays of Pesach as the time of our freedom and leaving Egypt, and Shavuot, the time of receiving the Torah. The time of “Counting the Omer” between these two holidays is a time for spiritual refinement, elevating our freedom to a level at which we are prepared to receive the Torah. Less well-known are the agricultural aspects to the Pesach and Shavuot holidays, which mirror and inform the spiritual aspects.

These agricultural aspects make the time of “Counting the Omer” a time to look toward our Jewish sources for greater understanding of our connection to the Land of Israel and the earth, as well as our responsibility to protect that land and the environment as a whole.

In ancient Israel, Jewish society was primarily agrarian (farm-based) and most Jews were farmers. The Shalosh Regalim (Sukkot, Pesach, and Shavuot) had deep agricultural connections along with the spiritual significance. On Pesach, in the Beit HaMikdash (Temple in Jerusalem), the kohanim (priests) would begin bringing the Omer of barley flour mixed with oil in the Temple. This Omer offering was brought every day in the Temple until Shavuot, when two loaves of wheat bread were offered.

Thus, during the time of Sefirat HaOmer, we refine ourselves (as wheat bread is more refined than barley). As we refine ourselves, we pray for the land of Israel and ask Hashem for a good wheat harvest. In ancient times, this would be followed by making the finest bread out of the choicest wheat crop to present to Hashem as an offering.

On Pesach, we change our prayers for rain in our tefilah, in hopes that the harsh rain will cease to provide us with a healthy and plentiful wheat crop. We pray instead for moisture in the form of more gentle “dew.” In effect, we are praying for the welfare of our land. Also during the “Counting of the Omer,” our spiritual refinement is understood as strengthening our relationship with Hashem and thereby increasing the fertility of the land (see 2^nd paragraph of Shema). In our time, part of our spiritual refinement might include improving our relationship to the land of Israel – and the land upon which we live.

The aim of the following program is to help children better understand this connection to the land during Sefirat HaOmer and our responsibility to take care of our Earth, especially the Land of Israel.

(See “Counting the Omer: A Tool for Nature Consciousness” by Ellen Cohn for sources on the connection between Sefirat HaOmer and the land.)

Activity:

1. Tell the children that after the first day of Pesach (beginning on April 8) and before Shauvot (beginning on May 28) we will be counting the Omer for 49 days (seven weeks). (See Torah Tots for more information on Sefirat HaOmer.) Explain how on Pesach we bring the barley offering and on Shavuot we bring the two loaves of bread to the Temple. In between, during the “Omer period,” we should pray for a good wheat harvest, increase our good deeds and adherence to the mitzvot, and protect the environment, all of which will in turn affect the quality of the wheat crop in the Land of Israel.

2. Ask the children where we get bread from. Some may say from the supermarket. Others may have experience making challah or watching their parents make bread. Ask them to think about how bread is actually produced.

3. In pairs or small groups, have children brainstorm all of the steps that the bread goes through before it gets to us (including planting the wheat, harvesting the crop, baking the bread, transporting it to the store, etc.) One option is to have the children make a diagram or a poster reflecting all of the parts of the bread-making process. This Discovery Channel video goes through the process of producing bread and may help the children think of more steps.

The following resources may also help you add ideas to the children’s suggestions:

• Beyond Bread
• Bread Info

4. Have the children bake bread and/or visit a kosher (if possible) bakery to watch the process of baking bread. A good bread-making lesson plan with recipe is available on Michigan's website.

Note: that you should replace milk with soy or rice milk so that the bread will be pareve.

Discussion:

1. Ask the children what surprised them most about the process of making bread. Was it more complicated than they expected? What do they think it was like for the kohanim (priests) making bread after offering the unleavened Omer offering for 49 days?

2. Ask the children what they learned about the connection of the land to Sefirat HaOmer. Why it is our responsibility to protect the Land of Israel? Elicit answers such as “we have the power to help the grain crop be better,” “we can make a difference to the land in Israel,” etc.

3. Ask, “What can we do to protect the Land of Israel?” Encourage answers such as pray for the land and the rain, plant trees in Israel through JNF, give tzedaka to other environmental organizations that help Israel, etc.

4. Ask, “What can we do to protect the land we live in?” Encourage answers such as buying more local food, turn off the water when we’re brushing our teeth, save energy by turning off the lights when we leave a room, recycle, reuse items, throw trash away, never throw things in the gutters, etc.

This content originated at Canfei Nesharim.org.

This text study and discussion guide accompanies Goats, Grapes and Greenbelts: Sustainability and Settling the Land. Great for Tikkun Leyl Shavuot!

This content originated at Canfei Nesharim.org.

View a printable version

The period of the Omer and the festival of Shavuot present opportune times to explore our connection and relationship to the land. On the first day of the Omer period, Cohanim (priests) made a barley offering in the Temple in Jerusalem. [1] On the fiftieh day, Shavuot, the Cohanim would prepare and offer two loaves of wheat bread from the new wheat harvest, as well as animal sacrifices. The grain offerings of the Omer (barley) and Two Loaves (wheat) had to come from the choicest grain of the land of Israel,[2] and thus represented an offering to G-d of the best of Jewish agriculture in Israel. The Torah calls Shavuot ''Chag Habikkurim,' the festival of the first fruits, because it centered on the general Jewish population bringing to the Temple offerings of the first fruits of their crop and tree harvest.[3] All together, the offerings of Shavuot were thus brought from Jews' fruit trees, cattle herds, and agricultural fields.

The Jewish people have been around a long time—3747 years since Avram and Sarai came to Israel,[4] of which over 1500 years involved significant settlement in the land of Israel.[5] How did they manage to live in the land of Israel for so long? While Divine Providence in response to the people following the commandments played the fundamental role, the Oral Tradition provides guidelines for living in the land of Israel that can give us a clue about living sustainably on the land over a long period of time.

The time period before and after the destruction of the Second Temple (20 CE to 200 CE, also known as the Mishnaic period) was a period of increased demand on the natural resources of the land of Israel. During this time, the Jewish and gentile population expanded to about 2.1 million inhabitants,[6]fed in good part from grain, wine, and oil produced in Israel.[7] At this time and for centuries afterward, most Jews still farmed the land.[8] The central role of agriculture to the Jews in Israel is reflected in one of the six tractates of the Mishna—Zera'im (seeds)– being about the Torah laws of agriculture in Israel.

According to the Ramban (Nachmanides), the Torah commands that Jews settle the land of Israel,[9] and the Midrash states that this includes planting trees and crops in the land.[10] Yet several threats to Jewish farming developed at multiple levels of the farming process—the leaves and fruit of the crops; the wood of fruit trees; the land available for farming, orchards, and grazing; and the fertility of the soil itself. The Mishna contains rulings that protect against these threats to continued Jewish settlement in the land of Israel.[11] Most of the laws that will be explored in this dvar Torah were for the sake of "settling the land of Israel" (yishuv Eretz Yisrael).[12]

From Biblical times to the present, humans' involvement with fruit orchards, grazing, and agriculture – all essential for providing the food that sustains us – have presented challenges to environmental sustainability. The Oral tradition can teach us about sustaining the land over time, both in the times of the Mishna and today.

Voracious Goats

The Torah often describes the land of Israel as "a land flowing with milk and honey."[13] The Talmud interprets this to mean “milk flows from the goats' [udders], and honey flows from the dates and the figs.”[14] From this one can understand the significance of goats and shepherding to Israeli society. For example, the Sages teach how herders would take their flocks for grazing for a six-month period between Pesach and the beginning of winter, and how some herders would keep their flocks in pasture-land year-round.[15] Professor Gedalyahu Alon, in his noted history of Mishnaic and Talmudic times, writes that some herders raised flocks of sheep and goats in great numbers.[16]

Goats and sheep are voracious herbivores, and the rabbis in the times of the Mishna and Talmud witnessed the impact these animals had in devouring crops in fields. For example, the Talmud records an incident in Babylonia of goats eating a farmer's crops: “Some goats [went into a field] in Nehardea [and] ate some peeled barley [which they found there]. The owner of the barley went and seized them, and made a heavy claim on the owner of the goats.”[17] Rashi comments on the goats' exceptional appetite.

In response to the threat to crops posed by goats and sheep in the land of Israel, the Mishna prohibited raising goats and sheep in agriculturally-productive parts of Israel.[18] The Mishna states, “It is not right to breed small cattle in the land of Israel.”[19] This enactment appears in the Mishna, the Oral tradition that was codified by Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi about 200 C.E. According to Rashi,[20] the Mishna aimed to ensure the fulfillment of the mitzvah (command) of settling the land of Israel (yishuv Eretz Yisrael). The flocks were entering farmers' fields and eating agricultural crops, thus they were prohibited. Tosofot Yom Tov explains the view of several commentators that a goat could not be kept even within an individual’s house, since the Sages were stringent on 'settling the land of Israel' – even concerning a person harming their own crops.[21] This enactment was also adopted by the Rabbis in Babylonia for the Jewish community there,[22] which in the times of the Talmud replaced Israel as the most sizeable Jewish community in the world. Furthermore, the Talmud in Sanhedrin 25b prohibits freely grazing oxen and cows as well.

Had the problem been of a limited scale, the Mishna would surely not have placed severe limitations on shepherding, the occupation of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, his sons and the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Menassah. Even though the Torah praises the land as abundant in goat's milk, the Mishna prevented these animals from harming farmers' crops by preventing Jews from raising them in settled parts of Israel.

Fruit Trees, or Temple Firewood?

Each day in the Temple in Jerusalem a significant amount of wood was burned (Tractate Yoma 4:6), in fulfillment of three different commandments.[23] The wood required was so substantial that the Mishna prohibited using olive wood, grapevines and fruit-bearing fig trees and date palms for burning in the Temple.[24] This law protected these trees from being chopped down for this purpose.

According to the view of the Talmudic sage Rav Acha bar Ya'akov[25], this Mishna is because of the settlement of the land of Israel (Yishuv Eretz Yisrael). The commentator Mefaresh explains: "what is the meaning of ‘because of the settlement of the land of Israel’? Since if they would burn the olive trees and grapevines, there would not be found wine to drink or oil to anoint with, and the land of Israel would be destroyed."[26]

According to the Mefaresh’s explanation, burning olive trees and grapevines as firewood—even for the holiest of fires in the Temple—would diminish the availability of olives and grapes for human consumption. It appears that the Mishna was concerned that the scale of fruit-tree cutting would be so great as to make the land of Israel unfit for human settlement. About the olive, Rabbi Louis Rabinowitz writes that “its supreme importance lay in its valuable oil, valuable because it not only was the main source of essential fats but had the added value that it could be preserved indefinitely without going rancid.”[27] An Israel stripped of its two most productive, climate-appropriate species—olive trees and grapevines—would not be able to sustain a robust population depending on the fruit of its soil. Therefore the Sages forbid cutting down these species for Temple firewood. This law preserved the economic and agricultural viability of Jewish settlement.

In modern and historical societies throughout the world, the cutting of trees has caused dramatic environmental damage, leading to pollution, flooding, and desertification, reducing available tree resources (such as grapes and olives), and causing inhabitants to have to travel great distances to find additional wood for construction, cooking and heat. In modern times, the scale of tree-cutting, including of fruit trees, far eclipses that of the Mishnaic era. A recent book, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, details the cycle of wood cutting and the stress it causes subsistence farmers in Africa even today.[28] Our Sages avoided this damage in ancient Israel with their decrees.

Preserving Farmland and the Fertility of the Soil

In addition to protecting crops and wood, the Mishna also contains a ruling to preserve farmland itself. One example concerns the mitzvah of maintaining greenbelts around the cities of the land of Israel (migrash). The Torah commands that greenbelts be established around the 42 Levite cities.[29]The Sages understood that all Jewish cities in Israel should observe this command.[30] In addition, the Mishna contains a further ruling —for the settling of the land of Isarel (yishuv Eretz Yisrael) – forbidding turning farmland into greenbelts and vice versa, or greenbelts into cities and vice versa.[31] Rashi explains that the law aimed to maintain a proper balance of farmland for agriculture, greenbelt for aesthetics, and city for settlement. He continues that the reason farmland cannot be made into a greenbelt is so as to not reduce the land for sowing crops. Jewish law requires that land be designated for specific essential purposes—food production, animal grazing, open space, and urban areas.

The widespread phenomenon in Israel, North America, and throughout the world—of converting farmland and open space to suburban housing and offices—is forbidden by this Mishna. While the contours of Jewish sustainable urban planning are beyond the scope of this dvar Torah, the Sages clearly saw the need to preserve balance in settlement in the land of Israel. The reason appears to be out of concern for sufficient farmland and grazing area, over the long-term, to supply millions of people living in the land. The Oral tradition demonstrates an understanding of the long-term needs of providing land and food to the inhabitants, rather than the short-term pressures that might have encouraged the “redistricting” of land for different purposes.

Another related example is a Rabbinic decree to protect the land of a person who was taken captive. The rabbis prevented the temporary user of the captive person's land from exploiting the land in a way that might weaken the land's fertility. The Talmud in Bava Metzia 39a says that "the Rabbis made a decree in order that [the tenant] would not degrade it [the field]."

As Rashi explains, the Sages decree prevents a situation in which the relative will likely "not fertilize the land with manure and he will plant incessantly and cause the land to deteriorate.“[32] Under this decree, the tenant who was working the field of his captive relative is considered as a sharecropper (aris) on the land. Such a person works a field for its owner and receives a portion of the produce in return.

The Sages’ ruling established the legal status of such a tenant as a person who is invested in the long-term fertility of the field. Otherwise, without knowing when the captive might return, this short-term farmer had a short-term incentive to extract produce and profit from the field without investing in its long-term sustainability.

Here the concern is not for the sustainability of the land of Israel in general (yishuv Eretz Yisrael) but the soil fertility of the land of an individual Jew who has been taken captive. This concern for soil-fertility is particularly significant in light of the Pulitzer-prize winning author Dr. Jared Diamond's linkage of soil fertility to the long-term sustainability of societies, and its lack as a key factor in their decline.[33]

Long-Term Lessons in a Short-Term World

These four decrees present an ancient Jewish environmental sustainability—living in a way that does not unduly deplete the natural resource base on which we depend. Informed by an understanding of the impacts of sheep and goats, fruit-tree-cutting, urban growth, and exploitative farming, the Oral tradition legislated a responsible path which would sustain the land for the long-term. Our Sages acted decisively to prevent damages, even when their choices seemed contrary to short-term needs such as wood for the Temple or the description of Israel as a place of “milk and honey.” These laws give us clues as to how the Jewish people lived on the land for so long. It may also give us some examples from which to learn in our current society.

Most of these laws, while quite progressive in Mishnaic and Talmudic times, carry little practical significance today. [34] The Temple is not standing, Jewish shepherds are seldom seen,[35] and no relatives farm the land of a farmer taken captive. Thus our sustainability challenges today are not about grass or grapes.

In Israel today, it is a challenge to live sustainably. For example, Israel struggles with ensuring water access to ten million inhabitants west of the Jordan River using limited water resources. The current population is likely about five times larger than it was at its peak before the Temple was destroyed. Per capita water consumption has also exploded, due to the ease and cheapness of piped-water. Israel also suffers from significant air pollution, caused in part from coal and gas-burning power plants on the coast.

Beyond Israel, the challenges of water and air are faced by countless millions of people worldwide. Today it is billions of people who seek a daily portion of grain, fruit, and meat. The cost of providing it to them is only just beginning to be understood. As individuals and as a larger society, what can we do to promote long-term sustainability for ourselves and our children?

The ancient wisdom of our tradition can provide some clues to help us find ways to sustain ourselves on the land. Several ongoing projects seem to build upon this ancient wisdom and apply it to today. For example, one innovative, experimental project underway in Jerusalem seeks to purify and recycle waste-water from mikvehs (ritual baths) for use in irrigation. The project may be expanded to recycle water from sinks and washing machines. Such reuse of water may be one way to encourage more wise use of this precious resource, in Israeli and beyond.[36]

Another exciting project aims to harness the sun's rays to heat water and thus reduce electricity demand. A project of the Good Energy Initiative works to provide financial incentives to poorer families in Isreel to use solar water heaters instead of conventional heaters that rely on burning fossil fuels.[37]

At a personal level, there are many things we can do to take action. Ultimately, the four decrees mentioned concern either preventing damage to another or prioritizing long-term needs by exercising restraint in the short-term. We would do well to consider today whether there are areas of our consumption where we could exercise restraint, especially in our choices for using food, water, energy, and consumer products, each major contributors to today’s sustainability challenges.

The Rabbis' understanding of these decrees as linked to 'yishuv Eretz Yisrael' is striking. It underscores how settling the land of Israel is not only about the mitzva incumbent upon individual Jews, but the greater communal responsibility for settling sustainably. And it is not just about settlement of the land now, but also sustaining it for future generations. We must live on the land in a way that lasts for generations by maintaining the natural resource base of the land and not degrading it. The Midrash teaches that settling the land of Israel is weighted against all the commandments in the Torah.[38] In addition, sustainably settling the land of Israel can be a model for the whole world and a light to the nations.

In his commentary to the decree on the tenant farmer (our fourth source), Rashi invokes the language of Genesis 2:15: “Now the Lord God took the man, and He placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to guard it.”[39] According to the Jewish mystics, the Garden of Eden is much more expansive than we think. As Sefer Habahir teaches, “Rabbi Amorai asked: Where is the Garden of Eden? It is on earth.”[40]

At a deeper level, these enactments and sustainable living are not just about ensuring our own survival, as important as that is. They enable us to fulfill the Divine mandate for stewardship of this planet with which G-d entrusted us. Perhaps that is why the agriculturally significant time of the Omer is also understood to have a deep spiritual significance. May we embrace sustainable living as an act of profound religious significance, and merit to live once again within a Garden of Eden on this planet Earth.

Footnotes:

[1] Vayikra (Leviticus) 23:11

[2] The Mishna in Menachot 8:1 even lists the regions where the choicest wheat was grown, including the Judaen Plain.

[3] Shemot (Exodus) 23:16

[4] In the year 2023 in the Jewish calendar

[5] Joshua led the Jewish people into Israel in 2490, where they remained (aside from the 70-year Babylonian exile) in significant numbers for about 1600 years (until about 400 C.E., when the Jewish population continued a centuries-long decline).

[6] About 30% of this total were non-Jews. This estimate was given by Dr. Meir Bar Ilan, senior lecturer, departments of Talmud and Jewish History, Bar Ilan University, personal communication, March 2010. This estimate is based on the past several decades of research, following Byatt, Anthony (1973) "Josephus and Population Numbers in First-century Palestine", in: Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 105, pp. 51–60. He provides a spectrum of about twenty scholarly opinions ranging from between below one million inhabitants and above six million inhabitants.

[7] Op. cit 1: A History, p. 268-70. Prof. Menahem Stern notes that during the end of the Second Temple era, “the economy of Palestine continued to be based on agriculture, as it had been throughout antiquity…The three main crops, as in earlier times, were grain, wine, and olives. In normal years the country supplied sufficient grain to meet its own needs and even to export some…Next to agriculture in economic importance among the Jews of Palestine were animal husbandry and fishing.” Prof. Gedalyahu Alon concurs that the three main aspects of the economy were agriculture, fruit orchards, and animal husbandry and that Israel was usually self-sufficient and even a net-exporter of grain. He proves this from several Rabbinic and historical texts (p. 99). See also Bava Metzia 107a on Rabbi Yochanan teaching to divide one's holdings between grain, olive trees, and grapevines.

[8] A History of the Jewish People, ed. Ben-Sasson, Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, MA, 1976, p. 232, 268, and 344. The Talmud: A Reference Guide, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, Random House: NY, 1989, p. 16.

[9] Ramban counts settling the land of Israel among the 613 commandments (Ramban to Sefer Hamitzvot, positive mitzva #4, and Ramban to Bamidbar 33:53.

[10] Midrash Bereshit Raba, chapter 64.

[11] It is also possible that the laws contained in the following Mishnaot were intended primarily to prevent damage to a farmers' crops or soil, since preventing damages to others is a prime concern of the Torah and the Sages.

[12] These decrees apparently sought to ensure at a societal level the fulfillment of the mitzva incumbent on each individual Jew of settling the land of Israel.

[13] Rabbi Dr. Akiva Wolff notes that the Torah uses this expression sixteen times, including in Deuteronomy 31:20. It appears an additional fifteen times elsewhere in Tanakh. Rabbi Dr. Wolff explores the environmental linkages of the following decree on goats and sheep in his dvar Torah on Parshat Vayeilech in Canfei Nesharim's Eitz Chaim Hee series.

[14] Babylonian Talmud, Ketubot 111b

[15] Tosefta Beitza 4:11, Talmud Yerushalmi, Beitza ch. 5, Bablyonian Talmud, Tractate Beitza 40a

[16] Toldot Hayehudim B'Eretz Yisrael B'Tkufat Hamishna v'ha'Talmud, p. 101-2

[17] Tractate Bava Batra 36b and Rashi there.

[18] Mishna Bava Kama 7:7, Rambam Hilchot Nizkei Mammon 5:2. Forests and desert areas were exempt from this decree.

[19] Translation adapted from Soncino edition.

[20] To Bava Kama 79b. The Talmud there and on p. 80a discusses qualifications to this decree, and also mentions spiritual dangers to going against this decree.

[21] Commentary to the Mishna explaining the views of Rabbi Ovadia Bartenura, Tosafot, and Rosh.

[22] Tractate Bava Kama 80a, according to Rav Yehuda.

[23] These were the burning of the Tamid offering and those portions of the sacrifices offered on the altar, the burning of the incense, and maintaining the Eternal flame day and night.

[24] Mishna Tamid 29a and Talmud there. In the Talmud there and in the Tosefta to Menachot 9:14, Rabbi Elazar includes five additional trees in this decree, including sycamore, carob, and date-palm.

[25] A third or fourth century Babylonian Amora from the academy at Sura. His view is embraced by the Rambam Hilchot Isurei Mizbeach 7:3.

[26] Commentary of an unidentified Rishon (writing between 1000 and 1400 C.E.) which appears in place of Rashi, to Tractate Tamid, 29b. See Perushi Harishonim for the commentary of the Ra'avad, which also address yishuv eretz Yisrael.

[27] Torah and Flora, Sanehdrin Press, New York, 1977, p. 46. Rabbi Rabinowitz was the chief rabbi of South Africa.

[28] By William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer. The book is an autobiography by Kamkwanba about growing up in Malawi.

[29] Numbers 35:2,3

[30] Baba Batra 24b, and Arachin 33b, and Rambam, Hilchos Shmittah V'Yovel 13:5

[31] Torat Cohanim, Behar 6, Mishna Arachim 33b, and Bava Batra 24b. Tosofot Yom Tov to the Mishna in Arachin explains that Rashi and the Rambam understand the halakha to be like the first view in the Mishna that this law applies to all Israelite cities.

[32] Rashi to Bava Metzia 38b. See also Rashi to 39a where he gives a slightly different explanation. In his work Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, Prof. Oded Borowski details numerous allusions in the Tanakh to use of manure to restore soil fertility, and understands that it was a common practice in Biblical Israel. American Schools of Oriental Research: Boston, 2002, p. 145-8

[33] Collapse, Viking Publishers: New York, p. 489-90

[34] Perhaps the only one with widespread applicability is that on farmland, greenbelts, and urban area, but the reasons why it is not observed today are beyond the scope of this piece.

[35] Regarding the applicability of the decree of Jewish sheep-rearers today, see the Talmud, Tractate Baba Kama 79b that one can raise sheep in pens in Israel. See also Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 409:1 that it is permitted to graze sheep freely in Israel. Many 20th century halakhic authorities wrote responsa on this issue at a time when fields are common to Jews and therefore damage is possible from sheep and goats.

[36] Haaretz, June 2, 2009, “Experimental program to recycle wastewater tries to get God, Mother Earth on the same page” by Zafrir Rinat, online at www.haaretz.com . The article describes a project of the Jewish environmental organization Shomera.

[37] See more on this project on 'goodenergy'.

[38] Sifrei to Devarim 12:29, Tosefta Avoda Zara ch. 5.

[39] Rashi uses the same language of 'to work and to guard' in describing a relative farming a captive's field.

[40] The Book of Illumination, 2:31, attributed to Rabbi Nehunia ben haKana. It is considered as one of the most influential source of Kabbalistic teachings.

This content originated at Canfei Nesharim.org.