Join friends for routes through pine forests, farmland, and local villages, culminating in a barbecue lunch of kosher, pasture-raised meat from Grow and Behold, followed by an interactive marketplace of local, sustainable vendors, swimming and boating, children’s programming from Teva, and more! Your participation supports Hazon Philadelphia in running innovative Jewish programming on food, health, and  sustainability.

Not a cyclist? The Ride wouldn’t be possible without our dedicated crew, who support and cheer on riders, help behind the scenes, and then enjoy the lunch and afternoon with their rider friends. Registration sold out last year, so sign up today! hazon.org/phillybike

We dreamed, you and I,

my brother and my sister,

interpreter it has none,

an ancient dream it is,

as the days when we went forth from exile,

but you forgot it or did not elucidate it for yourselves,

and I did not recount it to you.

Grand is the dream,

vast like the void of the universe,

and we long for it with our souls,

but I will not remind you of it this time,

except for a small fragment/excerpt.
Now, please hear, my brother,

please hear my dream, my sister,

and remember that you also dreamed as I did.

 
In my dream–and here it is,

I arrive at the land.

And the land is neglected and desolate

and is in the hands of foreigners,

and the destruction darkens the light of her face

and destroys her spirit,

and an alien government corrupts her.

Distant from me and strange to me

is the land of my ancestors,

and I, too, am distant from her and a stranger to her.

The single connection that ties me to her,

and the lone memory that reminds me

that she is my mother and I am her son,

is–because my soul is also desolate

like her,

for it, too, fell into the hands of foreigners,

to destruct it and destroy it.

I feel the destruction and I ponder the ruins

with all my soul

and with every ounce of my being,

and a divine voice goes forth from the ruins and declares,

“Mortal! Consider these ruins,

and consider them once again,

turn not a blind eye to them.

And you shall know and gain insight

to what you already understand,

that the destruction is the destruction of your soul,

and the destroyer is the destroyer in your life,

in the midst of which you lived in foreign lands

and which clung to you until this time.

Remember this,

for your redemption requires this!

And as you continue to ponder and to dig deeper,

you shall see that from below the ruins

an orphan cinder still whispers,

saved by hiding from the spirit of that life,

and the spirit of the land breathes upon it

to bring it to life.

And when it totally abandoned that life,

which others created,

when you left their land and arrived here

to create a new life for yourself, your life–

then cinder smoldered and lived,

glowed and brought forth its flame,

and you returned and lived,

and your people and your land returned and lived.

Rabbi Katy Allen is a board certified chaplain and serves as a Nature Chaplain and the Facilitator of One Earth Collaborative, a program of Open Spirit. She is the founder and rabbi of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope, which holds services outdoors all year long. She is a co-convener and coordinator of the Boston-based Jewish Climate Action Network.

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.

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

On this second night of Hanukkah, we continue to increase in holiness by lighting two candles and by adding to the “Litany of Harm” and the “Call to Action,” and by adding a new action to our personal list of ways in which to re-dedicate ourselves. (See Night 1 for a full introduction.)

Hanukkah Night 2:

We continue the Litany of Harm:

For all those in island nations, where rising sea levels and superstorms threaten their very existence. We stand in witness!

For all coastal cities and villages, where storm swells and flooding put lives and homes at risk. We stand in witness!

For all those who suffer from tropical diseases, and those at risk from spreading diseases and heat waves. We stand in witness!

For farmers and all who eat, as droughts ruin crops, incomes, and food supplies. We stand in witness!*

We continue our Call to Action:

We’re ready to act because we have a favorite place on earth that we want our great-grandchildren to experience. With love in our hearts, Compassionate One, move us to action.

We’re ready to act because somewhere we heard John Muir’s voice, reminding us that in the beauty of nature we see the beginning of creation. With beauty in our hearts, Creator, move us to action.**

And we add to our list of actions to which we re-dedicate ourselves.

For the second night, we focus on food. What are the ways in which you are prepared to change your eating habits to better protect the Earth and farm workers? What can you give up or what can you take on that will make your food healthier for both you and the planet?

Here are my thoughts for this second night of Hanukkah:

Eloheinu v’elohei avoteinu v’imoteinu, Our G!d and G!d of our ancestors, give me strength on this second night of Hanukkah, and help me to re-dedicate myself to remembering that I am created in the image of the Holy One of Blessing and to eating organic, local food.

What will you add to your list tonight?

Hanukkah Sameach – Happy Hanukkah,

Rabbi Katy

* by Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman

** by Rev. Jim Antal

Thirteen Jewish organizations, under the umbrella of the Green Hevra, have issued the following joint statement today publicly calling on the U.S. government to reject the Keystone XL pipeline:

It has become abundantly clear that we are consuming far too many fossil fuels. In this Sabbatical/Shmita year, when the Torah calls for deeper gentleness toward the Earth, we are especially conscious of the dangers to the Earth from the drilling, transporting and burning of tar-sands oil. The resources that would be devoted to the Keystone XL pipeline should be devoted instead to initiatives in clean energy, a fast-growing field in which we hope the United States will take a leading position.

Climate change, worsened by burning more and more oil that the Keystone XL pipeline would permit, poses a grave threat to the security of the United States, Israel and the world.

Jewish tradition is not monolithic, and the issues around the pipeline are complex. But the Jewish community has consistently sought to take a stand in favor of creating a better world for all. It is hard for us to believe that building the Keystone XL pipeline could possibly do so.

This is not the first time that Jewish organizations have taken a stand against Keystone XL and we call upon fellow Jewish leaders to join us in encouraging President Obama and Congress to reject the Keystone XL pipeline.

Signed by the following members of the Green Hevra:

Amir

Aytzim: Ecological Judaism

Eden Village Camp

Energiya Global

Habonim Dror North America

Hazon

Jewish Climate Action Network

Jewish Farm School

Jews Against Hydrofracking

NeoHasid.org

Reconstructionist Rabbinical College / Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

The Shalom Center

Shoresh Jewish Environmental Programs

There is a place in Shabbat tefillot where we should have “Yemima bat Avraham Avinu haKadoshah” in mind together with all who died Al Kidush HaShem. It’s the part called “Av HaRachamim” found before Ashrei of Musaf.

Karen Yemima Mosquera Barrera, 22, was buried on the Mountain of Olives in the Holy Land this week. The story of Yemima’s life is becoming known during these days preceding the anniversary of the death of our matriarch Rachel.

Sabrina Schneider stands behind Yemima’s mother Rosa Cecilia Barrera and sister at the funeral. Source: Metro Ecuador

“She was buried at midnight of Oct. 27th – on the Mount of Olives. The cemetery facing the Old City of Jerusalem – the site famous for being the place where the righteous ones will first be resurrected at the End of Days,” wrote Chaya Lester, co-founder of Shalev Center, spoken word artist, and tour guide in the Holy Land in the Jewish arts online publication Hevria.

“It is the greatest spiritual aliyah that any man or woman has ever attained in the history of Am Yisrael, granting her the privilege of being buried on the highest point of the Mount of Olives and earning her the title ‘HaKedoshah Yemima bat Avraham Avinu, H”YD,’”wrote Sabrina Schneider, women’s health and childbirth worker and relative of Yemima. “Among many other things that were said in her hesped, one Rebbe said she will be the first to rise from the dead.”

Schneider’s posek, Talmid of HaGaon Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, t”zl advises all of Am Yisrael that there is a place in Shabbat tefillot where we should have “Yemima bat Avraham Avinu haKadoshah” in mind together with all who died Al Kidush HaShem. It’s the part called “Av HaRachamim” found before Ashrei of Musaf.

Schneider has been posting updates to her facebook wall since the senseless tragedy at Ammunition Hill light rail station October 22, 2014, where the first to die was 3 month old baby Chaya Zissel Braun. A look into on Yemima’s background was published in Voices Magazine blog when she was in critical condition at Hadassah hospital October 24. Reports included information for praying, offering charity, or doing other mitzvot for her recovery.

The Foreign Ministry of Israel flew in Yemima’s family from Ecuador following the attack. The Jerusalem Mayor and the Ecuadorian Ambassador to Israel were at the funeral, but no state representatives attended.

“My daughter died in God’s name. I don’t want her death to be in vain,” said Yemima’s mother Rosa Cecilia Barrera at the funeral. “Her dream was to come to Israel to start her life. I am heartbroken. No one can heal my sorrow.

“It pains me that these terrorists are so full of hate and they set out to murder innocent people… She was murdered just because she was Jewish.” In fact, Yemima was murdered on her way to study Torah.

Rachel Cries for her Children

Mothers of the then-kidnapped boys Rachel Frenkel, Bat Galim Shaer and Iris Yifrach appeal to the United Nations. Source: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Website

Earlier this year, we heard from the mother of a kidnapped boy, when she spoke at the United Nations in defiance of a request from the government of Israel appealing for the safe return of her son and the two other abducted boys. Rachel Frankel, director at the Jewish women’s studies institute Advanced Halakha Program at Matan and Jewish law instructor at Nishmat, continued on as a spokesperson for the missing and then murdered children.

Rachel Frankel said kaddish at the funeral for her 16 year old son Naftali Frankel on July 1, 2014. It was the first time most Israelis and Jews on the planet saw and said “Amen” on a blessing spoken by a woman. “Rachelle Fraenkel became a public leader, a national heroine and, just as important, a religious heroine as well, over the 18 days that her son and his friends were missing,” wrote Haaretz reporter Yair Ettinger.

Rosa Cecilia Barrera and Rachel Frankel are two of many mothers grieving the loss of their children to violence, terror and war. May these mothers and all the mourners be comforted.

Our great matriarch Rachel Imeinu cries, in the Jewish bible, the book of Jeremiah, grieving the exile of her children. And the Creator annuls a decree against the Jewish people in her merit, promising that they will return home.

Avi (C) and Rachel (R) Frankel and their son (L), recite Kadish close to the body of their son Naftali Frankel, 16, (unseen) during his funeral service in the Jewish settlement of Nof Ayalon, in the Israeli West Bank, on July 1, 2014.(AFP PHOTO/DAVID BUIMOVITCH)

Heart and Prayer of the Jewish Matriarchs

As we read in the book of Samuel during Rosh Hashana, Hashem “remembered” Chanah and blessed her with a child after her heartful pleas. The way that Chanah prophetically prayed at the holy site became the basis for how Jewish people pray the Amidah – sober and standing, with their lips forming their words from the heart.

We have a story about Yemima praying Shemona Esrai, and it serves as another model for devotion. Yemima prayed the Amidah so devoutly that she did not notice that a 7.1 Richter earthquake hit, describes Varda Epstein in her blog post after attending Yemima’s funeral. This experience as well as a dream that her mother had, propelled Yemima to go to Israel from Equador, her country of origin. “She would bring her mother and her sister over to Israel and help them follow in her footsteps,” Epstein wrote.

In a report in Israel HaYom, Yemima’s teacher compared her to another great biblical woman, Ruth. “She was like Ruth the Moabite, who came here and sought to be part of the Jewish people… She really loved Israel, and was connected to it in an exceptional way.”

Yemima converted to Judaism 5 months ago. Like so many people across the Americas today whose ancestors were forced to convert to Christianity or die, many descendants of Converso Jews have retained some rituals, and Yemima’s mother had inherited the customs of lighting candles Friday nights, and covering mirrors in the home after the death of a family member. Yemima is not alone in her passion to return to her Jewish spiritual roots, a phenomenon among Conversos from the American Southwest and southward. In Jewish tradition, converts are highly regarded for making the incredibly heroic life transformation.

A week after her burial, next Monday night November 3, 2014 is on the Hebrew calendar 11 Cheshvan 5775 the yarzeit of Rachel Imeinu, also referred to as Jewish Mother’s Day. Customarily, Jews around the world honor the anniversary of the Matriarch Rachel’s passing collectively and individually.

The Grace of Rachel Imeinu

“Take me to Israel! That’s my country! That’s where I’m going to marry and have children, and that’s where I’m going to die and be buried,” Yemima’s mother heard her exclaim one night while she stayed up late studying Torah at home in Ecuador, according to Sara Yoheved Rigler who wrote about Yemima’s tragic death on Aish HaTorah’s website. Yemima worked hard and travelled far to reach her spiritual status and eventually the sacred site on the Mountain of Olives where she was buried.

“My dream is to be buried on the Mount of Olives, because when Moshiach [the Messiah] comes, I will be the first to rise up and be in the Holy Temple. Can you imagine that?” were Yemima’s words, her friend Yael Barros recounted of their walks outside the Old City walls.

Various blogs quoted NRG news’ report that Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat at the funeral described Yemima as, “a delicate soul and guardian of peace who fought to be a Jew.”

“A modest, perfectly righteous convert sacrificed her life for her people, in the Holy City,” writes Varda Epstein of Yemima. Yemima and Rachel Imeinu both exemplify the grace of a Jewish woman, and they both died tragically young.

“At her funeral, one Rebbe said that Yemima is the modern-day prototype for TODAY’s righteous woman… Just by learning about her life, we as women elevate ourselves spiritually,” Sabrina Schneider posted to her facebook wall.

“She was known especially for her tzniut (on ALL levels not just clothing),” in other posts, Schneider described Yemima’s outstanding character. “She was fearless, patient, strong, silent, wise, gentle, compassionate and respectful of others… not to mention, smart.”

Wendy Kenin (left) and Chaya Kaplan Lester (right) visiting Rachel’s Tomb, Summer 2011. Kever Rachel is the 3rd holiest site to the Jewish People.

Yemima travelled far to reach her exalted resting place on the Mountain of Olives, just as Rachel Imeinu travelled far before she was planted in Bet Lechem – the third holiest site to the Jewish people. Yemima worked hard to attain her Jewish life, as Mama Rachel struggled spiritually for years before Hashem blessed her with children.

Yemima succumbed to injuries on the second day of the Jewish month Cheshvan. A week after her burial, next Monday night November 3, 2014 is on the Hebrew calendar 11 Cheshvan 5775 the yarzeit of Rachel Imeinu, also referred to as Jewish Mother’s Day. Customarily, Jews around the world honor the anniversary of the Matriarch Rachel’s passing collectively and individually. Thousands visit Rachel’s Tomb, and more gather around the world to learn Torah in her merit. Saying blessings, giving charity, and doing mitzvot are some of the customs that can be performed individually.

“It is to this beauty of Jewish nature and character that we return during the month of Cheshvan by reconnecting with our matriarch Rachel, with our own Jewish nature, and with ourselves,” writes Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh on the Chabad website, who says that Rachel is described as the most beautiful woman in the Torah. In contrast, he makes reference to terrorism in relation to Jewish nature. “True Jewish beauty and grace destroy the enemy indirectly by leaving him void of any beauty or grace himself, making him irrelevant and powerless.”

Yemima’s life demonstrates the spiritual growth and pure aspirations that can be achieved by each person, and should serve to inspire and increase the prayers, devotion, and grace of the Jewish people as we cry and pray for peace. May the memory of the holy be a blessing.

Sabrina Shneider articulates about Yemima’s passing:

Am Yisrael has gained a great soul in shamayim along with our great patriarchs and matriarchs. A tremendous warrior for peace. She is a tzadika amitit, more alive now than ever. B’zchut her mesirut nefesh to give her life al kiddush HaShem all of Am Yisrael along with the entire world should merit to see a geula shleima karov v’yameinu!

We lived with the wild animals once, rather than carving out separate spaces for us and our domesticated fellow travelers. According to the Torah, that is the real truth, and all the owning and property and buying and selling is an illusion. We can return to that truth during Shmita, when we get to root ourselves in a real way in the land – not by owning it by being with it. Not by fencing it but by taking down fences. Not by hoarding but by sharing everything, with all the creatures.

Here are the relevant verses about eating:

In the garden of Eden, “God said: Here, I have given to you all every plant seeding seed which is on the face of all the land and every tree which has in it tree-fruit seeding seed, for you all it will be for eating, and for every wild animal of the land and for every bird of the skies and for every crawler on the land in which there is a living soul (nefesh chayah), every green plant for eating. And it was so.” (Genesis 1:29–30)

In the story of the flood, “God said to Noah: …from all life from all flesh, two from all you will bring unto the ark to keep them alive with you, male and female they will be. From the bird by their species and from the animal by her species from every land crawler by their species, two from all you will bring unto you to make them live. And you, take for you from all the food which is eaten, and gather unto you, and it will be for you and for them for eating.” (Genesis 6:19–21)

And in the laws of the Shmita or Sabbatical year, it says, “YHVH/Adonai spoke unto Moshe in Mt. Sinai, saying: You all will come into the land which I am giving to you, and the land will rest, a Shabbat for YHVH/Adonai…And the shabbat-growth of the land will be for you all for eating: for you and for your male servant and for your female servant and for your hired worker and for your settler living-as-a-stranger with you; and for your animal and for the wild animal which is in your land, all of her produce will be to eat.” (Leviticus 25:6–7)

There is a debate among the the earlier rabbis, about whether the tree fruit in Eden was just for the human beings and the grass for the animals, or whether it was all for all of them. Nachmanides says that humans dined separately, but Rashi says that it truly was one family sharing one food supply. As for the ark, according to the midrash Noah had to create one great store of every kind of food, because each animal needed its own sustenance, and Noah and his family had to spend every hour of the day feeding the animals, since some ate at dawn and some during the day, some at dusk and some at night.

After the flood, in between the ark and Shmita, comes the tragedy of human history. The wars and usurpations, enslavements and empires, the amassing of gold and land by some and the impoverishment of others. And in between the two are also the tragedies of our relationship to the wild animals: not just using but abusing, extinguishing whole species, and losing touch with our own wild selves.

That’s reflected in the flood story: when Noah and family emerge from the ark, they are told that “a terror of you and a dread of you will be over every wild animal of the land and every bird of the skies, everything which crawls the ground and all the fish of the sea, into your hands they are given. All that crawls which lives, for you it will be for eating – like green plants I have given all to you all. Just don’t eat flesh with its soul, its blood.” (Genesis 9:2–3)

This is no blessing but a curse. And it is no dominion: according to one interpretation, the meaning of dominion in Eden was that when Adam would call to the animals, they would come to him. Now it would be the opposite – they will run away in terror. (“Rashi” on B’reishit Rabbah 34:12)

One question for us today, in this year of Shmita, is: how can we get ourselves back to the garden? Back before our fellowship with the animals was lost? That can’t mean turn the hands of the clock back on history. Shmita answers a slightly different question: how do we get back to the garden as grownups, after having eaten from the tree of knowing good and evil? It’s not about feigned or renewed innocence, but rather about knowing our power to destroy, and not exercising that power. It’s about finding fellowship with the land and the other animals. And above all, it is about finding rest – rest from ourselves, and rest with each other, with all the other ones that inhabit the land.

A midrash says that during the twelve months in the ark, Noah “did not taste the taste of sleep, not in the day and not in the night, for he was busy feeding the souls that were with him.” (Tanchuma Kadum Noach 2) Another midrash, says that when God was setting up the world, the earth heard God say, “It’s not good, the human being alone” and she realized this meant that human beings would begin to reproduce. Then the earth “trembled and quaked”, saying, “I do not have in me the strength to feed the flocks of humanity.” God promised the earth to feed humanity at night with sleep, and so share the burden with her. (Pirkei d’Rabi Eliezer ch. 12)

In our society, where almost everyone is racing to keep their jobs or make money or outcompete, we don’t really let ourselves sleep. As a society we never rest. We don’t get enough of this divine food. And it’s not because like Noah we are feeding all the creatures. But here’s what this midrash teaches us: a humanity that never rests is a humanity cut off from the unconscious, cut off from its divine sustenance, and it is a humanity that will destroy the earth.

It is time for us to rest, and to dream, as a whole society: Shmita.

It says in Proverbs 11:30, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and one who acquires souls is wise.” These souls are the animals, the midrash teaches, and it was because Noah was capable of caring for them that he was worthy of being saved from the flood. (B’reishit Rabbah 30:6) Are we worthy?

It also says in Proverbs 12:10, “A righteous person knows the soul of his animal.” It is time to practice this righteousness. Not just with the other animals, but also with ourselves. How will we know the soul of this animal within us? How will we make peace within, with each other, and with the land? How will we dream our animal dreams again? That is the door Shmita opens for us. That is the ark Shmita builds for us. And I believe that is how we get back to the tree of life in the garden.

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.)

Monday, June 9 – Friday, June 13, 2014 at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center

Join us for a week dedicated to renewing our relationship with the earth, gaining garden education skills, and studying eco-Torah. The Teva Seminar is the premier annual professional development opportunity in the field of JOFEE: Jewish Outdoor, Food, and Environmental Education. Featuring leaders in the JOFEE field: Nili Simhai, Mordechai Leibling, Jakir Manela, Cara Silverberg, Brent Spodek, Arthur Waskow, plus a team of talented educators from Teva, Jewish Farm School, Eden Village, and many more.

Now in its 20th year, this multi-day, hands-on training program is designed for educators, camp counselors, community leaders, and anyone who is seeking training in the emerging JOFEE field. Participation in the Teva Seminar will enhance the work of your community ­– whether your organization is just getting started in this field, or you’ve been wanting to add goats to your camp’s nature center, take a field trip with your Hebrew school to the farm, or offer a kosher foodie series or farmer’s market at your JCC. Each workshop is accessible to people with all levels of experience in gardening,wilderness skills, culinary arts, and/or experiential Jewish education.

• Learn to infuse Camp, Hebrew school, synagogue, or JCC programming with JOFEE-based activities
• Build new skills in Jewish environmental education
• Get trained to lead hikes and outdoor games within a Jewish context
• Take home resources to use in your community

Use code WELOVEU50 for $50 off. Generous scholarships available.

Presented by Hazon, Adamah and the Jewish Farm School, in partnership with: 7Seeds, Baltimore Jewish Environmental Network, Canfei Nesharim, COEJL, Eden Village Camp, Ganei Beantown, Green Zionist Alliance, Jewcology, Jewish Farm School, Jewish Greening Fellowship, Moishe House International, Neo Hasid, Pearlstone Center, RAC, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Shalom Center, Shoresh, Urban Adamah, Wildnerness Torah, Yiddish Farm

The Urban Adamah Fellowship, based in Berkeley, CA, is a three-month residential training program for young adults (ages 21–31) that combines urban organic farming, social justice training and progressive Jewish learning and living within the setting of an intentional community.

Through the operation of Urban Adamah’s one-acre organic farm and internships with social justice organizations, fellows gain significant skills, training and experience in all aspects of sustainable urban agriculture, community building, leadership development and food justice advocacy. The Fellowship’s experiential curriculum is designed to equip fellows with the tools to become agents of positive change in their own lives and in their communities.

Now in its third year, the Fellowship has graduated nearly 100 young adults who have gone on to work in the fields of environmental education and policy, sustainable agriculture, community organizing, Jewish education and social entrepreneurship.

Upcoming Fellowships

Spring: March 2–May 23, 2014

Summer: June 8–August 29, 2014

Fall: September 7–November 25, 2014

The cost of the Fellowship is offered on a sliding scale from $1,300 to $1,800. Program fees are highly subsidized and include room, board and all other program expenses. We accept 12­–14 fellows per season. Admission is on a rolling basis, and we encourage applicants to apply as soon as they’ve made the decision to enroll in a particular season.

Visit the Urban Adamah websitetoday to learn more and to request an application.

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The Urban Adamah Jewish Community Farm, located in Berkeley, CA, integrates the practices of Jewish tradition, sustainable agriculture, mindfulness and social action to build loving, just and sustainable communities.

Rabbi David has been researching Shmita since 1986 and teaching about Shmita since 1993. He is also the organizer of Rainbow Day (May 6-7 this year–see jewcology.com/resource/Rainbow-Day for details). David's writings about ecology include the following d'var Torah about Shmita for this year's Shabbat Behar campaign, hosted also at shmitaproject.org, where you can get lots more resources on Shmita. Read the d'var here, read it in the Huffington Post if you like, or download the pdf (link on right column).

Go to shmitaproject.com for more resources on Shmita and Shabbat Behar. Also, within the Shmita Project site, you can find core Shmita texts, core Shmita principles and core Shmita values/ethics. Go to jewcology.com for Rainbow Day resources.

_______________

"Shmita: The Purpose of Sinai"

Rabbi David Seidenberg, neohasid.org

What does Shmita, the Sabbatical year, have to do with Mt. Sinai? מה עניין שמיטה אצל הר סיני

This question was famously asked by one of the oldest midrashim, Sifra (Behar 1) and it has been pondered over for centuries. The question arises from the way the portion about the Sabbatical year is introduced in the Torah: "YHVH spoke to Moshe in Mount Sinai saying: Speak to Israel’s children and say unto them: When you come to the land which I give you, the land will rest, a shabbat for YHVH…In the seventh year, it will be the Sabbath of sabbaths for the land, a Sabbath for YHVH." (Lev. 25:2-4) If all the commandments were given at Sinai, the midrash wonders, why is Mt. Sinai only mentioned here?

And the answer that we can give today is deceptively simple: the whole purpose of the covenant at Sinai is to create a society that observed Shmita. It is in a land where Shmita is observed that human beings will learn to respect the Earth herself, by remembering that none of us can own her. "For the land is mine," God declares, “and you are strangers and settlers with me.” (Lev. 25:23)

And if none of us can own the land, cannot sell it and buy it, then what we do own is ultimately not ours, then the difference between rich and poor is not "just the way things are," then a person cannot be owned and the difference between slave and master is not real and not loved by God. In the Sabbatical year debts are canceled, and the land is ownerless. In the seventh sabbatical year, the Jubilee, all slaves are freed (including those who did not exercise their right to go free after the sixth year of their own service) and every family returns to its achuzato, its original landholding, becoming equal to every other family.

Only in such a society, where "property" does not designate the right to use up what one owns, but rather a kind of fleeting relationship to what one cares for, can people learn the true meaning of justice. Only in such a society can people learn to share their wealth, nurture the poor alongside everyone else, relieve debts, end hunger, and respect the fundamental human right to be free. The Sabbatical year was the guarantor and the ultimate fulfillment of the justice that Torah teaches us to practice in everyday life, and it was a justice that embraced not just fellow human beings, but the land and all life. The Sabbatical year was the ultimate meaning of rest, which we practice every week in the observance of shabbat. It was the Sabbath of sabbaths, Shabbat shabbaton.

After telling us outright that Sinai is about Shmita, the Torah also gives us other pointers to Shmita’s ultimate significance. Failure to let the land rest is one of only two mitzvot that are described as being the cause of exile from the land (the other being idolatry), while the purpose of exile itself is described as a way to force human beings to let the Earth rest. If we do not observe Shmita, still "the land will enjoy her Sabbaths…All the days of her being emptied she will rest what she didn't rest during your Sabbaths, when you were dwelling on her." (Lev. 26:34) The Torah is clear: It is possible for us to have shabbat without giving the land rest, but doing shabbat just for ourselves, even just for God, is not enough. Exile happens because the land’s right to rest comes before our rest.

There’s another clue to the importance of Shmita, a more subtle one. During the Shmita year, we are commanded to let the wild animals eat freely from our fields. "The shabbat of the land (what the land grows while it is resting) will be for you for eating: for you and for your servants and hired-workers and for your settler living as a stranger with you, and for your beast, and for the wild animal which is in your land, all of her produce will be for eating." (Lev. 25:6-7) The rabbis further expanded the meaning of this law, so that everyone was required to leave any gates to their fields open, and one could not eat in one's house food that was not also growing in the fields—in other words, so that human beings and wild (and domestic) animals were eating the same food.

Think about the only other time when humans and all the animals ate alongside each other in peace according to the Torah. When, and where, did it happen? It was in the Garden of Eden, before so many tragedies befell humanity. Before the flood. Before the relationship between humans and animals was torn asunder; before humans exiled themselves from the Earth. After the flood, the animals live in mortal terror of human beings. After the flood, God makes a covenant—not with the human beings, but with all the animals—a covenant to not destroy the Earth because of humanity.

It is the Sinai covenant which is meant to bring back into harmony a world twisted by human greed and violence. It is the Sinai covenant that is meant to restore the fellowship of human and animal, and to reorder our values, so that the well-being of the land and the community of life takes precedence over our own perceived needs. This is what it means to "choose life so you may live, you and your seed after you." (Deut. 30:19) This is what it means to “increase your days and your children’s days on the ground for as long as the skies are over the land.” (Deut. 11:21)

In modern parlance we call it "sustainability," but that’s just today’s buzzword. It’s called Shmita in the holy tongue, "release"—releasing each other from debts, releasing the land from work, releasing ourselves from our illusions of selfhood into the freedom of living with others and living for the sake of all life.

How is it, then, that our generation is the one that can answer the question, "Mah inyan Shmita etzel Har Sinai? How does Shmita emanate from Mt. Sinai?" It is because it is only now, when we see that human beings can really "ruin My world" and that there may be "no one who will come after you to repair it," (Kohelet Rabbah 7:13) only now can we understand what Shmita means. Only now can we see that the meaning of Mt. Sinai is Shmita. May it be Hashem’s will that we are seeing this in time to fulfill the vision, to "proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all her inhabitants," (Lev. 25:10) to all those souls traveling together with us on this planet.

Every Jewish community I have visited strives to honor the words of the Torah. Physically, we adorn the scroll beautifully, carry it carefully, touch it lovingly and read from it publicly. Spiritually, we pray that our hearts will open to its teachings, we study its words and generations of commentary on its words, and we affirm in community that its ways are ways of pleasantness and all its paths are paths of peace. To many Jews, the thought of a ripped or damaged Torah scroll is almost physically painful.

In the Tanya, a classic work of Hasidic philosophy, Rabbi Shneur Zalman writes that the actual words God used to create the world are present inside the elements of Creation, animating them. That means that nature — the mountains and oceans and forests and animals — is the living embodiment of the words of God, and the living embodiment of Torah. And it would mean that nature should be treated just as preciously as the Torah we kiss in synagogue. But while we honor the Torah of the synagogue, the Torah of parchment, we often fail to honor the Torah of nature, the Torah of the Earth.

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Joelle Novey is the director of Maryland & Greater Washington Interfaith Power & Light. She is the co-author of Green and Just Celebrations: A Purchasing Guide for Washington’s Jewish Families. She prays with four communities in Washington: Tikkun Leil Shabbat, Minyan Segulah, Tifereth Israel and Fabrangen.

The Jewish Energy Guide presents a comprehensive Jewish approach to the challenges of energy security and climate change and offers a blueprint for the Jewish community to achieve a 14% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by September of 2014, which is the next Shmittah, or sabbatical, year in the Jewish calendar.

The Jewish Energy Guide is part of COEJL’s Jewish Energy Network, a collaborative effort with Jewcology’s Year of Action to engage Jews in energy action and advocacy. The Guide was created in partnership with the Green Zionist Alliance.

Sign up here to join the Jewish Energy Network and receive weekly articles from the Jewish Energy Guide.

Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.

Here is my long-held vision for Judaism in this time of multiple crises:

To be a Jew is to see the world through the eyes of God, to be unreconciled to the world as it is, to be discontented with the status quo and unafraid to challenge it.

To be a Jew is to be a co-worker with God in the task of perfecting the world, to know that the world remains unredeemed and that we must work with God to redeem it.

To be a Jew is to feel deeply the harms done to others, to speak out in the face of wrongdoing, and to prod the conscience of those who passively accept the status quo.

To be a Jew is to stand apart from the world, to be a non-conformist, to shout “NO” when others murmur “yes” to injustice, to actively help uplift those in need and try to correct injustices, even as others stand idly by.

To be a Jew is to be intoxicated with a dream of social justice, to have an abiding concern for others, to have compassion without condescension for people who are poor, weak, and suffering.

To be a Jew means to know that God’s name can be sanctified by our actions, to try to live a life compatible with being created in God’s image by doing justly, acting kindly, and in all ways imitating God’s attributes.

To be a Jew means to believe in the unlimited potential of people in spite of the evil and injustice around us, recognizing that we have been chosen to serve as an example, to strive to be “a light unto the nations.”

To be a Jew means of course many specific practices concerning Shabbat, kashrut, and much more. It means study and worship, and most of all action and observance. It means all these things and far, far more. It is not always easy to be a Jew, but it is always a very significant and worthwhile endeavor.

The Beet-Eating Heeb is here to save the day! Or at least to fill a void.

Blogs devoted to vegan and vegetarian Judaism have all but vanished.

Consider:

Heeb ‘n’ Vegan, once a thriving place in cyberspace, hung an “out-of-business” on its door in 2010.

Shalom Veg, another favorite of meat-abstaining Jews, has gone months without posting new content.

The last thing the world needs is another blog. Except in this case.

As interest in all things vegan and vegetarian continues to grow, the Beet-Eating Heeb (BEH for short) has plenty of information to share, issues to discuss, and people to interview.

BEH has ambitious plans for this site. In fact, he originally named this blog “The Ambitious Beet-Eating Heeb.” But Wife of BEH astutely noted that “Beet-Eating Heeb” is hard enough to say.

So what is so ambitious about this blog? Here is some of what you can expect to find here in the weeks and months ahead:

• A serious examination of what the Torah has to say about food. The laws of kashrut matter, but there is much more.

• A curating and analysis of news about relevant food issues. The Beet-Eating Heeb spent 18 years in journalism, so he knows how to spot a good story, presumably.

• Interviews with rabbis, food experts, activists, vegans, vegetarians, flexitarians, pescatarians and carnivores. But BEH draws the line at freegans. (Google it. You’ll understand.)

• A dose of humor. While the consequences of industrial food production are rather sobering, The Beet-Eating Heeb still enjoys a chuckle as much as the next beet-eating guy.

• BEH is a busy guy, what with a day job, a family, and even a grad-school class. But there is so much to talk about, so much to digest (pun intended), and so much at stake, he is committed to posting on the Jewcology site at least once a month.

He hopes to see you often.

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

by Rabbi Anne Heath

I celebrated my first Hanukkah amongst my siblings and their children celebrating yet another family Christmas. We had gathered for winter break in Santa Fe, NM, at our brother's home, glad to be together after travels of varying distances and difficulties.

My lengthy, made-it-in-one-day drive from St. Louis culminated in a wondrous night sky display. My younger daughter and I approached Santa Fe well after midnight. The cold, crisply clear night made for perfect night-sky viewing, too good to be just an out-of-the-window-on-our-way-somewhere experience.

I stopped the car. We got out, glad to be standing. We stretched our road-weary limbs, all the while looking up in awe. We both agreed that it almost felt as if the sky were falling because the sky was so full of constellations and planets. The area's elevation made everything seem just that much closer.

Upon awakening late the next morning, we discovered that the bright, clear sky of the night before had been replaced by low-hanging gray clouds and occasional fog. Disappointing? Yes, but not nearly as problematic as what I perceived as "wrong" with the area's trees, grass and dirt/soil. The pinion pines were short and stubby. There wasn't much grass – green or otherwise. The dirt/soil was sandy clay. Nothing like the tall trees in St. Louis, nor the prevalence of lawns and dark, rich soil there. Nothing like the wide variation in flora in St. Louis – even in winter.

The brilliant night skyscape seemed "just right" immediately. The "wrongness" of the Santa Fe landscape didn't turn into "maybe this is OK" until almost the end of our visit, eleven days later.

I wondered on the drive home if my feeling of no longer fitting in at family holiday celebrations might have colored my feeling of not feeling at home in the Santa Fe physical environment.

I continue to wonder why I can get so stuck in needing my environment to be one that is comfortable and familiar. The push and pull between the lure of the new and the ho-hum-ness of the everyday is a recurring theme in my life.

In the lead up to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur this year it will be worthwhile for me to revisit the question of balance between the security of the known and the insecurity of the unknown, especially when the unknown represents new growth, renewal and health for my relationship with myself, with G-d and with others; and even more especially when a trek off into the unknown represents a running away from what's difficult in the midst of the known – something which needs healing.

If this is your experience, I pray that 5773 will be a year in which a clarity as brilliant as the cold winter night sky outside Santa Fe illuminates your path.

A member of both the Rhode Island and Massachusetts Boards of Rabbis, Rabbi/Cantor Anne Heath (Academy for Jewish Religion-NYC 2007) is beginning her tenth year of service as the spiritual leader of Congregation Agudath Achim and the Jewish Community House – a 100-year-old progressive, independent congregation in the heart of Taunton, MA.

Today’s environmental movement seems to focus strongly on doing. There are things to buy, actions to take, petitions to sign, policies to advocate. It is rare for environmentalists to think of prayer as a tool for change. Many people in today’s society think of prayer as a passive, contemplative activity – a break from action. Jewish teachings express a very different view of prayer. Prayer is one of the key tools that God has given us to change the world. As we will see, it is our responsibility and opportunity to pray for the health of the earth and human civilization living on it and with it.

Praying for a Sustainable World:

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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!

Enjoy this video on the topic of Praying for a Sustainable World!

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 Praying for a Sustainable World Materials!

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

Praying for a Sustainable World

By Evonne Marzouk

“Change your lightbulb! Call your senator! Buy a hybrid car!” Today’s environmental movement seems to focus strongly on doing. There are things to buy, actions to take, policies to advocate.

It is rare for environmentalists to think of prayer as a tool for change. Yet Jewish teachings express a very different view of prayer.[1] Prayer is one of the key tools that God has given us to change the world, and it is our responsibility and opportunity to pray for the health of the earth and human civilization living on it and with it.

At the moment before the human was first created, the Torah expresses an important lesson about our role in creation:

Now all the plants (siah) of the field were not yet on the earth and all the herb of the field had not yet sprouted, for Hashem G-d had not yet sent rain upon the earth and there was no man to work the soil.” (Gen. 2:5)

Rashi comments based on the Talmud:

For what is the reason that G-d had not yet sent rain, because there was no man to work the land and there was no one to acknowledge the goodness of the rain, and when man came and knew that they (the rain) are a need for the world, he prayed for them and they came down, and the trees and grasses sprouted.”[2]

In this understanding of our creation story, the very first task of the person is recognizing G-d, and then praying to G-d on behalf of creation. As Rabbi Daniel Kohn explains (based on Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook), one of the first acts of humans on this planet was to care for creation – by praying for it.[3]

Traditionally, Jews pray three times a day. The Talmud identifies Isaac as instituting the afternoon prayer service, based on the verse: “And Isaac went out to su’ah in the field before evening” (Gen. 24:63).[4] mThe word “su’ach” is unclear, but the Sages conclude that he was praying based on the linguistic similarity between this word and another reference for prayer in the Psalms.

Based on this, Rabbi Natan Sternhartz teaches: “Meditation and prayer are called 'sichah.' A plant or shrub is called 'si'ach.' When the plants of the field begin to return to life and grow, they all yearn to be included in one's sichah, in meditation and prayer."[5] This implies that not only does G-d want our prayers for the creation – the natural world is seeking them, as well.

Perhaps reflecting the importance of the prayer-human-creation relationship, the liturgy of Jewish prayers is filled with nature imagery and recognition of our dependence on natural resources. Nature takes on symbolic roles in relationship to humanity, to G-d, and to righteous activities for which we are encouraged to strive:

“A righteous person will flourish like a date palm, like a cedar in the Lebanon he will grow tall. Planted in the house of Hashem, in the courtyards of our G-d they will flourish. They will still be fruitful in old age, vigorous and fresh they will be.”[6]

Jewish prayers also help us recall and appreciate the beauty and consistency of nature, and how much we rely upon it and its Creator. This constancy is alluded to in the Psalm (repeated each morning in the Jewish liturgy):

“He Who illuminates the earth and those who dwell upon it, with compassion; and in His goodness renews daily, perpetually, the work of creation.”[7]

These nature-centric verses in the Jewish liturgy remind us to be grateful to G-d for providing the natural world we live in, and themselves serve as a prayer for continued blessing of natural resources.

Many of us long to make a difference in healing the world today. According to Jewish mystical teachings, our desire to make a difference comes from our souls.[8] Prayers are the language of the soul, and by praying we can affect ourselves and the world around us. It is also a basic Jewish understanding that when we pray, G-d listens and acts on the physical reality based on our prayer. Jewish tradition is filled with descriptions of these types of effective prayers.[9][10]

Jewish teachings help us realize that a moment spent in prayer is an active moment, with the power to make a difference. When we pray with a community, we become connected to the needs of the community and the rest of the world. To pray on behalf of the entire planet is to summon the entire earth within us.

Prayer is a vision for what can become, with a heart full of hope, inspiring a brighter future. Today, perhaps the most important thing for us all to pray for is the health of the earth and of a return to balance within human civilization. Let us pray.

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.

Evonne Marzouk is the founder and Executive Director of Canfei Nesharim: Sustainable Living Inspired by Torah.

[1] This article reflects a meaningful approach to Jewish prayer focusing on its relationship to nature and protecting the environment. This represents one Jewish understanding of prayer. Within our rich tradition, of course, there are others as well.

[2] Rashi to Genesis 2:5, s.v. ki lo himtir, based on Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Chullin p. 60b.

[3] Essays on Prayer, distributed in 2011.

[4] Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Brachot 26b

[5] Sichot HaRaN

[6] Psalms 92:13-15, translation of Artscroll Siddur.

[7] Morning blessings before Shema, as found in Artscroll Siddur, p 85-87.

[8] Based on the teachings of Rabbi Daniel Kohn on prayer, taught at Yeshivat Hamivtar in 2010.

[9] For example, Moses’ prayer for forgiveness, Exodus 32:32

[10] For example, Chanah’s prayer for a child, I Samuel 1:11

Praying for a Sustainable World

By Evonne Marzouk[1]

“Change your lightbulb! Call your senator! Buy a hybrid car! Think global, act local!” Sound familiar? These are today’s strongest environmental messages, the messages of action that we most likely associate with protecting the environment.

Today’s environmental movement seems to focus strongly on doing. There are things to buy, actions to take, petitions to sign, policies to advocate. It is rare for environmentalists to think of prayer as a tool for change. Many people in today’s society think of prayer as a passive, contemplative activity – a break from action.

Jewish leachings express a very different view of prayer.[2] The paradigm was established over 3,000 years ago in Egypt: “We cried out to G-d and He heard our voice; He sent an emissary and took us out of Egypt.”[3] The Midrash, part of the Jewish oral tradition, teaches based on this verse of a special power of Jews praying and G-d hearing their prayer.[4] What is true for the people is also true for their leader. The Midrash teaches that the greatest power of Moses, the leader of the Jewish people, was his communication with God via his mouth.[5] For example, when the desert tribe of Amalek attacked the Israelites in the desert, Moses' response was to act at both a physical and a spiritual level. He appointed Joshua to lead Israelite soldiers in battle, and then ascended a mountain to pray to God for the Israelites' success.[6] The Torah makes clear that his prayer– and not the military prowess of Joshua or his soldiers—was what decided the battle.

Prayer is one of the key tools that God has given us to change the world. As we will see, it is our responsibility and opportunity to pray for the health of the earth and human civilization living on it and with it.

Created to Pray

At the moment before the human was first created, the Torah expresses an important lesson about our role in creation.

Now all the plants (siah) of the field were not yet on the earth and all the herb of the field had not yet sprouted, for Hashem G-d had not yet sent rain upon the earth and there was no man to work the soil.” (Gen. 2:5)

What was this human role in relationship to rain and land? Rashi comments based on the Talmud:

For what is the reason that G-d had not yet sent rain, because there was no man to work the land and there was no one to acknowledge the goodness of the rain, and when man came and knew that they (the rain) are a need for the world, he prayed for them and they came down, and the trees and grasses sprouted”[7]

The rabbis teach that human beings’ prayers for rain are what make plants grow. In this understanding of our creation story, the role of the human being is apparent. The very first task of the person is recognizing G-d, and then praying to G-d on behalf of creation. As Rabbi Daniel Kohn explains (based on Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook), one of the first acts of humans on this planet was to care for creation – by praying for it.[8]

The verse immediately before this lesson states: “These are the products of the heaven and the earth when they were created on the day that Hashem G-d made earth and heaven” (Gen. 2:4). The proximity of these two verses demonstrates the direct connection between G-d’s creating of theearth and the tending of the creation, to be done by human beings. In other words, G-d created it in order for us to tend to it. Our integral role, however, is not exclusively through our actions. It is also through our prayers.

Many Jewish environmentalists have focused on another verse in Genesis: the instruction “to work and to protect” the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:15). Interestingly, some commentators understand the “l’ovda” (to work) as spiritual work: meaning prayer. Understood this way, our human responsibility is two-fold – to pray for it and to protect it.[9]

Praying for Creation

Traditionally, Jews pray three times a day, in the morning, afternoon, and evening. The Talmud cites a verse from the Book of Genesis to establish each prayer. The afternoon prayer, established by Isaac, has an interesting connection to nature. It is written:

Isaac instituted the afternoon prayer service, as it is said, “And Isaac went out to su’ah in the field before evening” (Gen. 24:63); and [the Talmud goes on to explain] there is no sihah except prayer, as it is said, “A prayer of the afflicted man when he swoons, and pours forth his supplications (siho) before Hashem” (Ps. 102:1).[10]

What was Isaac doing in the field before evening? The word “su’ach” is unclear, but the Sages conclude that he was praying based on the linguistic similarity between this word and another reference for prayer in the Psalms. If we contrast this word with the verse from Genesis above (“Now all the plants (siah) of the field were not yet on the earth”) we can see that there is also a relationship between the root of the word for prayer and the word for plants.

Rabbi Natan Sternhartz teaches: Meditation and prayer are called 'sichah.' A plant or shrub is called 'si'ach.' When the plants of the field begin to return to life and grow, they all yearn to be included in one's sichah, in meditation and prayer."[11] This implies that not only does G-d want our prayers for the creation – the natural world is seeking them, as well.

Other Jewish teachings also imply that every aspect of creation has its own special song, the basis of the text known as Perek Shira (literally, Chapter of Song). This understanding would seem to indicate that all non-human aspects of creation – inanimate, vegetable, and animal – are themselves constantly praying to G-d.[12]

Nature in our Prayers

Perhaps reflecting the importance of the prayer-human-creation relationship, the liturgy of Jewish prayers is filled with nature imagery and recognition of our dependence on natural resources. Nature plays a prominent role in the liturgy, taking on symbolic roles in relationship to humanity, to G-d, and to righteous activities for which we are encouraged to strive.

Numerous verses in the traditional liturgy identify nature as a commendable example, either for praise to G-d or in the righteousness identified within the natural systems. For example:

“Praise Him, sun and moon, praise Him, all bright stars. Praise Him, the most exalted of the heavens and the waters that are above the heavens. Let them praise the Name of Hashem, for He commanded and they were created…Praise Hashem from the earth, sea giants and all watery depths. Fire and hail, snow and vapor, stormy wind fulfilling His word. Mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars. Beasts and all cattle, crawling things and winged fowl.”[13]

“A righteous person will flourish like a date palm, like a cedar in the Lebanon he will grow tall. Planted in the house of Hashem, in the courtyards of our G-d they will flourish. They will still be fruitful in old age, vigorous and fresh they will be.”[14]

Jewish prayers also help us recall and appreciate the beauty and consistency of nature, and how much we rely upon it and its Creator. Because the rhythms of nature are so constant, we may forget how special it is that the sun rises each day, that waters continue to flow in the streams, and that intricate ecosystems thrive with numerous creatures in our forests and preserves. Aside from their intrinsic worth, these things also have a value to human beings. Without the water we drink, without the sun to warm the earth, without the rain – without any of these aspects of creation, we would not be able to survive. Environmental economists have termed nature’s processes ‘ecosystem services,’ and have valued them in the tens of trillions of dollars per year.[15] This constancy is alluded to in the Psalm (repeated each morning in the Jewish liturgy):

“He Who illuminates the earth and those who dwell upon it, with compassion; and in His goodness renews daily, perpetually, the work of creation. How great are Your works, Hashem, You make them all with wisdom, the world is full of Your possessions.”[16]

These nature-centric verses in the Jewish liturgy remind us to be grateful to G-d for providing the natural world we live in, and themselves serve as a prayer for continued blessing of natural resources.

Healing the World: Through Prayer

Many of us long to make a difference in healing the world today. We may assume that our instinct to improve the world comes from our minds, our genes, or the society in which we live. According to Jewish mystical teachings, our desire to make a difference comes from our souls. The soul has experienced true bliss in the place where it comes from, and it knows that more is possible in this world. The soul sees that things in this world have not achieved their full potential. Our soul is the part of us that is not satisfied with the way things are and desires healing for the world.[17] Prayers are the language of the soul, and by praying we can affect ourselves and the world around us.

As souls seeking healing for our world, what can we pray for? At the general level, we can pray for the wisdom of our leaders, for more committed action by the Jewish community, for the success of our individual projects, and for all involved in the effort to build a more sustainable world. More specifically, we can pray for the strength to make environmentally positive choices, for the health of other species, and for people who are affected by environmental tragedies.

According to Rabbi Daniel Kohn (based on Rashi according to the Talmud), prayer is a tool for changing the world because by praying, we change our inner reality. Since we are part of the world, by praying, we become more complete and then bring that completeness into our world. Our inner life is the part of the world that we have the most influence upon; by changing our inner life through prayer, we bring goodness into the world. In this way, prayer is an active and critical part of our difference-making work.

In addition, it is a basic Jewish understanding that when we pray, G-d listens and acts on the physical reality based on our prayer. Jewish tradition is filled with descriptions of these types of effective prayers, from Moses’ prayer for forgiveness[18] to Chanah’s prayer for a child[19]. It is also a basic Jewish teaching that it is our responsibility to pray for the people and projects for which we are responsible.[20]

One prayer may make a world of difference, but the combined prayers of hundreds or thousands of people may, perhaps, inspire change on a global scale. A physical action like biking instead of driving impacts this process by reducing the amount of carbon emitted. A spiritual action like praying works at the transcendent level and may subtly generate far-reaching changes.

Jewish teachings help us realize that a moment spent in prayer is an active moment, with the power to make a difference. When we pray with a community, we become connected to the needs of the community and the rest of the world. To pray on behalf of the entire planet is to summon the entire earth within us. The more a person cares about this world and turns to G-d to make it complete and whole, the more G-d gives.

Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Kook emphasized the positive spiritual value of a person singing their song with all of God's creatures. He wrote:

Then there is one who rises toward wider horizons, until he links himself with all existence, with all God's creatures, with all worlds, and he sings his song with all of them. It is of one such as this that tradition has said that whoever sings a portion of song each day is assured of having a share in the World to Come.[21]

Prayer is a vision for what can become, with a heart full of hope, inspiring a brighter future. Today, perhaps the most important thing for us all to pray for is the health of the earth and of a return to balance within human civilization. Let us pray.

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.

Evonne Marzouk is the founder and Executive Director of Canfei Nesharim: Sustainable Living Inspired by Torah.

[1] The author acknowledges Rabbi Yonatan Neril for his helpful editorial suggestions on this piece.

[2] This article reflects a meaningful approach to Jewish prayer focusing on its relationship to nature and protecting the environment. This represents one Jewish understanding of prayer. Within our rich tradition, of course, there are others as well.

[3] Numbers 20:16

[4] Midrash Tanchuma, Beshalach 9, cited in Rashi to Numbers 20:16.

[5] Midrash Tanchuma, 3, cited in Rashi (Rabbi Solomon Yitzhaki, France, 1040-1105 C.E.) to Numbers 22:4.

[6] Exodus 17:8-13.

[7] Rashi to Genesis 2:5, s.v. ki lo himtir, based on Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Chullin p. 60b.

[8] Essays on Prayer, distributed in 2011.

[9]As explained by R' Natan Greenberg. The Netziv (Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, b. Mir, Russia, 1816 – d. Warsaw, Poland, August 10, 1893, in his commentary Harchiv Davar) teaches on Gen 2:15 that the 'work' of Gan Eden was spiritual work, and not agricultural work. Rabbi Greenberg connects this to the inherent link between people's spiritual work and the maintenance of the world.

[10]Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Brachot 26b

[11] Sichot HaRaN

[12] As explained by Rabbi Avraham Aryeh Trugman in The Mystical Power of Music, p. 66.

[13] Psalms 148:1-10, translation of Artscroll Siddur.

[14] Psalms 92:13-15, translation of Artscroll Siddur.

[15]“The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital,” Costanza et. al, Nature 387, 253 – 260 (15 May 1997); online at http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v387/n6630/abs/387253a0.html The article notes that “for the entire biosphere, the value (most of which is outside the market) is estimated to be in the range of US$16–54 trillion (1012) per year, with an average of US$33trillion per year. Because of the nature of the uncertainties, thismust be considered a minimum estimate. Global gross national product total is around US$18 trillion per year."

[16] Morning blessings before Shema, as found in Artscroll Siddur, p 85-87.

[17] Based on the teachings of Rabbi Daniel Kohn on prayer, taught at Yeshivat Hamivtar in 2010.

[18] Exodus 32:32

[19] I Samuel 1:11

[20] The model for this behavior is the High Priest who, during Temple times, was expected to pray for his generation. See Babylonian Talmud, tractate Makkos 11a, as cited in To Kindle A Soul: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Parents and Teachers by Lawrence Kelemen, p. 66.

[21] Orot HaKodesh vol. II, p. 444-445, translation by Rabbi Avraham Arieh Trugman in The Mystical Power of Music, p.132

Enjoy this Hebrew/English source sheet and study guide on the topic of Resources . 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 Praying for a Sustainable World Resources!

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

Click here to hear Jewcology's podcast on Praying for a Sustainable World.

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 Praying for a Sustainable World Materials!

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

Elul Greening

by Judith Feinstein

Have we done the reparation

so to take the consolation

and digest it all and well?

Have we psalms we want to hear

releasing some for other's ears

while disregarding somber prohets' words?

Can we see Akiva's vision, crumbling Temple fox is running as a sign

Moschaiach's coming or do we yet deny our state?

Do we choose to not attend to

what this month we must amends do

so that we are then released

from martyr's fate at our own hands.

We do not need be in danger

as we cannot be a stranger

to our laws and ethics

taught to clear our minds our selves and souls.

We can aid Moschiach coming

as we heal ourselves from stumbling

while we clear our air and water

and our lands from their decay.

Our earth,Your Temple tilling,

with kavanah we are willing

to correct the wrongs we've found.

Close to soil we work with bittel

our open hearts see great and little

ways in prayer and joy to heal our home.

We sing in joining all among us

working, tilling all the ruckus

we are greening for Moshiach with our King now in the fields.

We are happy ever greener

Elul's days are ever cleaner

all life and living ever dearer

clearing for Moschaich's nearer.

As we return our earth to Eden,

Hashem's fields with peace reseeded

reflect teshuvah practiced now.

We are grateful for reflection

deep with care and introspection

we beg release from broken vows.

Tilling as we learn the lessons

happy with forgiveness' blessings

we are in Adamah's Eden

choosing once again for consolation of atonement,

plowing fields with Your forgiveness

greening Eden this Elul

returning to the garden of Your love.

Judith Feldstein is a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, a Certified Hypnotherapist, a Neurolinguistic Programmer, an Eriksonian Hypnosis practitioner, a Sacred Plant Medicine apprentice, and practices Sacred Circle Dance. She is also an Appalachian Mt. Club trail adopter, an Appalachian Mt. Club trail information volunteer, and enrolled in Rabbinical Seminary International. She is a hiker, walker, runner, student and teacher of A Course in Miracles, a student of Buddhism, a student of Gnosticism and mystic paths, an eldercare provider, a wife and a “mother” of several canine rescues (currently Shepherd and Neufy).

Swimming on Our Backs

by Rabbi Judy Kummer

All week long, a challenge with a family member plagued me. I stewed over it, allowed it to twist my kishkes into tight knots and my body into a ship tossing on waves of wakefulness in nighttime. I even watched it tug at my mind and heart during long lake swims thru otherwise placid waters. Tears and fresh water mixed, a potent cocktail of sadness.

And then, during one swim at dusk, as I flipped over onto my back to reach into back crawl, I looked up and saw the most glorious sunset spread across the sky. Streaks of orange and purple hung there, jewel-like, so vibrant and real I wanted to stretch my hands out to touch them.

I swam on my back for much longer than usual that evening, not wanting to turn over and miss even a moment of this glory. And remarkably, the strain of my earlier angst was nowhere in my mind. My muscles, my heart, my limbs all felt freed, untangled, if only for a while. I had allowed myself a wonderful gift in being present in that lovely moment.

The emotional challenges in the family persisted for days. At long last, after much discussion, they finally subsided. Throughout this time, the beauty of those jewel-like colors in the sky remained suspended in my memory, a gentle arcing reminder of the benefits of being present and aware.

I found myself wondering and thinking about that gift of presence – of being present – and of the awareness of the Divine Presence that it can lead to.

As we approach the High Holidays, it is incumbent on each of us to do heshbon hanefesh, a spiritual stock-taking, and make rectification where necessary with God, with our fellow human beings and with our deepest selves.

When we are present with our most true selves, there is a greater chance that we can find a way back to reconcile with those with whom we may be in conflict.

I do think that the reconciliation that eventually happened in the family took place because of a deep awareness of the needs of each soul involved. It was only because each of us was willing to be present both to our own soul’s yearnings and to the yearnings and needs of the other that we could finally move beyond our differences. And the sweetness of this reconciled state has a tinge of the holy to it.

When we are willing to stop and tune out the noise that most of us live with, and be present with what is around us and within our hearts in that moment, then, sometimes, we can be graced with a sense of harmony with others and with an awareness of the Divine Presence, the Source and Creator of All.

What a remarkable gift we give to ourselves and to those whom our hearts hold dear.

Rabbi Judy Kummer serves as Executive Director of the Jewish Chaplaincy Council of Massachusetts, and is an organic gardener and social activist in Boston.

Maintaining the Climate

by Lois Rosenthal

“If you go by my statutes and keep My commands and do them, I shall give you rains in their season and the land will give its yield…” Lev 26:4

The ancient Israelites trusted G-d to maintain the seasons in a fixed and repeatable way. They had worked out their lunar/solar calendar and holidays based on planting/harvesting seasons. Droughts were certainly a constant worry, but timing of planting and harvest was consistent enough year after year to be considered fixed by G-d.

Suppose they had begun to experience progressively earlier onset of Spring, increasingly extreme weather, changes in animal behavior and other phenomena we now know to be caused by global warming? Surely they would have seen this as a punishment from G-d for sins they would struggle to identify.

We moderns know what “sins” have caused the destabilization of our climate – overuse of fossil fuels, a stiffnecked refusal to believe our scientists, worship of the god of profit. We don’t need to invoke punishment from an angry G-d; the more modern parenting term “natural consequences” will serve. We are witnessing the consequences of sins of the human community, begun most likely out of ignorance; still with us out of arrogance.

What kind of atonement can possibly have an effect on global warming and accelerating climate change? If every Jew in the whole world minimized their carbon footprint would this have any effect at all? There are so many questions; the problem seems so huge as to dwarf any individual’s ability to help. We must do what we can – certainly work to elect government officials who understand global warming and pledge to seek solutions. We can meditate on this enormous problem during the High Holidays to figure out what can be done. The Earth is in dire need of help.

Lois Rosenthal is a member of Temple Tifereth Israel in Winthrop. In addition to participating in Shabbat services, she works with Hebrew School students and prepares students for Bat/Bar Mitzvah. Previously, she was an academic in the sciences.

Personal Reflections for Elul: Mindful Turning to the Path of Love

Rabbi Jeff Foust

For me, the key to the entire Jewish New Year period comes in the month of Elul, the Hebrew month which precedes Rosh HaShanah. I often have heard people complaining about being weighed down by all the emphasis during the holiday on the mistakes and wrong doings in our lives that we need to repair. Elul reminds us that the very foundation for the spiritual work that we do at this time of year is returning (in Hebrew Teshuvah) to a loving relationship with the Source of all life, with each other, with our own higher selves, and with the ecology of our earth household. Feeling this love provides me with both the support and the motivation to reciprocate the love and to work through and resolve anything that’s getting in the way of that loving relationship. Then even if someone else is still unable to open their hearts, at least my heart can be open.

This emphasis on love is at the very center of the meaning of Elul, which comes from its initials which point to a passage from the Biblical Book, the Song of Songs: Ani L’dodi V’dodi Li/ I am for my beloved and my beloved is for me.”

Becoming aligned and feeling at one in love is also a central part of our ritual of blowing the Shofar, which is done every weekday morning in Elul. We begin and end with the call of Tekiah, the single blast of the shofar, which powerfully resonates with our underlying oneness in love, and with the reality of love and reconciliation always being there for us if we only open our hearts to it. The other two broken blasts of the Shofar, the Shvarim and the Teruah, represent the broken places in our lives, and are bookended and held in love, while with the support of the One Who is the Source of all life, love, and blessing, we work on our Teshuvah, our return to living in loving relationship.

Rabbi Jeff Foust is Jewish Adviser and member of the Spiritual Life Center at Bentley University. He is a student and teacher of Kabbalah (embodied spirituality) emphasizing the integration of the spiritual, intellectual, emotional, and material aspects of our lives. He is also active in building positive interfaith relations, in pastoral care and counseling, leading creative services and lifecycle events, and teaching a wide variety of subjects such as Profits and Prophets, Biblical Pathfinders; Davenology (How to Make Prayer Real); Kabbalah, meditation, and creative movement.

For anyone interested in an opportunity to taste first hand some of the spiritual depth of this Elul experience of Tehshuvah through love, including the shofar blowing, Jeff will be leading a free global satsang guided meditation and discussion teleconference on September 6/ 19 Elul at 11:30 AM Eastern Daylight time. The hosts for the Satsang/Higher Knowing teleconference are Boulder’s Humanities Team and Portland Oregon’s Rev. Anakha Coman. Connection details will be posted at www.humanitysteam.org and www.anakhacoman.com.

As we speak, the Senate is debating the contents of the Farm Bill, which will substantially affect the next five years of US food policy. It is upon us to call our Senators and let them know that as Jews, we and our organizations support Farm Bill legislation that:

• reduces hunger and improves nutrition in the United States.
• promotes conservation and proper stewardship of the land.
• enables farmers in both the United States and the developing world to earn sustainable livelihoods.

Every call makes a tremendous difference! The Jewish Farm Bill Working Group just delivered a petition of 18,000 signatures for a Just Farm Bill to the House. By this Shabbat, dial the Senate switchboard:(202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected with one Senator from your state, and then call back and ask to speak with the other Senator. Share who you are, what you care about, and your support for some of the following amendments in the Farm Bill:

1. The Coburn and Durbin Amendments, to limit wasteful subsidy giveaways. Senators Coburn (R-OK) and Durbin (D-IL) have introduced an amendment that limits insurance subsidy payments to the largest farmers.
2. The Cardin Amendment, to protect soil and wetlands. Senator Cardin (D-MD) has introduced an amendment that restores a requirement that farmers receiving subsidy payments follow basic environmental protections.
3.The Gilibrand Amendment, to protect healthy food and nutrition. Senator Gilibrand (D-NY) has proposed an amendment that restores billions of dollars in cuts to the federal food stamp nutrition program, and provides more funding to put fruits and vegetables in schools.

4. You may also wish to support the Brown Amendment, to support small farms and rural development, the Tester Amendment for new organic breed research, the Grassley-Conrad Amendment to reduce corporate control of the slaughterhouses, the Merkeley Amendment, to make crop insurance available to organic farmers, the Leahy Amendment, which would increase institutional support for local food systems.

At the very least, ask them to Hold the Line on Farm Bill Conservation Funding, which is severely threatened by budget cuts. Then go home and tell 2 friends about it!