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

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.

contributed by all the organizations and initiatives on “the Map” http://jewcology.org/map-of-initiatives/

Here’s a quick bit of Sukkot Torah to start us off: “The four species of the lulav represent the four types of ecosystems in the land of Israel: desert (date palm), hills (myrtle), river corridors (willow), and sh’feilah, the lowlands (etrog). Each species has to be fresh, with the very tips intact – they can’t be dried out, because they hold the water of last year’s rain. Together, they make a kind of map of last year’s rainfall, and together, we use them to pray for next year’s rains.” I hope everyone enjoys the wonderful array of activities and ideas we are generating. We are a strong and beautiful network. Please add more to this list if you like: write to rebduvid86@gmail.com and I’ll update this page. I will also be updating the format and fixing the fonts — I don’t have time Erev Yom Kippur to do more than simply share this content. Thank you to everyone who shared, and g’mar chatimah tovah! Rabbi David Seidenberg, neohasid.org

Resources

from Judith Belasco, Hazon

http://hazon.org/educational-resources/holidays/sukkot/ Hazon also has an incredible array of resources on Shmita linked at: http://hazon.org/shmita-project/educational-resources/resource-library/

from the Religious Action Center

“Eco-Friendly Sukkot”  http://resources.rj.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=1369

“Table Texts about Food Justice” http://rac.org/pdf/index.cfm?id=23602

from Max Arad and Rabbi Carol Levithan, The Rabbinical Assembly

“The Sukkah as Shelter: A Source Sheet” http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/jewish-law/holidays/sukkot/sukkah-as-shelter.pdf See also: http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/jewish-law/holidays/sukkot

 from Jeffrey Cohan, Jewish Vegetarians of North America

“Sukkot, Simchat Torah, and Vegetarianism” http://www.jewishveg.com/schwartz/hlydysu.html

from Rabbi Katy Z. Allen, Ma’yan Tikvah

Ushpizin for an Ecological Sukkot by Laurie Levy https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzF1ISt_50TyVG9lWE0zOXJpd1k/edit

from Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Shalom Center

14 articles on Sukkot at: https://theshalomcenter.org/treasury/114 including “Reb Zalman’s Prayers for the Earth on Hoshana Rabbah” and “Spread over all of us a Sukkah of shalom, salaam, paz, peace!”   from Rabbi David Seidenberg, neohasid.org “How-to Build a Sukkah For Under $40” http://www.neohasid.org/sukkot/a_simple_sukkah/ more links at: http://neohasid.org/zman/sukkot/ including “Eco-Torah for Sukkot”, “Hoshanot, the Original Jewish Earth Prayers”, and “Egalitarian Ushpizin with a Prayer for the Earth”

 from Canfei Nesharim via Rabbi Yonatan Neril

resources can be found at http://canfeinesharim.org/sukkot/ and on Jewcology http://jewcology.org/resources/sukkot-shemini-atzeret-resource-and-program-bank/

 also from Rabbi Yonatan Neril, for Jewish Ecoseminars

http://www.jewishecoseminars.com/let-the-land-rest-lessons-from-shemita-the-sabbatical-year/

 from Nati Passow, Jewish Farm School

Two resource sheets for Shmita to be posted on Jewcology – look for them on Monday before Sukkot

 from Anna Hanau, Grow and Behold Foods

Recipes (meat): http://growandbeholdblog.wordpress.com/tag/sukkot/

Events

We have three big regional festival events going on, Sukkahfest, Sukkot on the Farm, and Sukkahpalooza, and lots more local events:

 from Judith Belasco, Hazon/Isabella Freedman

Oct 8-Oct 12, Sukkahfest at Isabella Freedman Retreat Center http://hazon.org/calendar/sukkahfest-2014/

 from Pearlstone

Oct 8-Oct 12, Sukkahpalooza http://pearlstonecenter.org/signature-programs/sukkot/

 from Sarai Shapiro, Wilderness Torah

Oct 9-Oct 12, Sukkot on the Farm, Green Oak Creeks Farm, Pescadero CA http://www.wildernesstorah.org/programs/festivals/sukkot/   local events and projects:

from Hazzan Paul A. Buch, Temple Beth Israel, Pomona CA

Our synagogue will break ground during Sukkot on a 1/2 acre urban farm on our property, in cooperation with a local NGO. The farm will be fully managed by the NGO at no cost to us, and all workers are paid a living wage. The produce grown will be available for purchase to our congregation and sold at farmers markets in the area. A portion will be dedicated to those who are food insecure. Question for everyone: Do you know of any other synagogues who have dedicated their land in a similar way?  Please note this is not an urban garden, but a functioning not-for-profit commercial project.

from Becky O’Brien, Boulder Hazon

Oct 6, at 5:30 pm, family sukkot program, in partnership with the south Denver JCC Oct 12, at 4:00 and 7:00 pm, screenings of “Road to Eden”, co-sponsored with the Boulder JCC Oct 16, Sukkot Mishpacha, a program for young families at a local organic farm Rabbi Julian Sinclair stopped in Denver/Boulder on his recent book tour promoting Shabbat Ha’aretz; we hosted five programs with him earlier this month. We are leading a shmita hike for local staff of Jewish organizations to help them decompress from the hectic time of the high holidays. We expect that many shmita-related programs will arise throughout the year but we don’t yet know what they will be.

from Helen Bennet, Moishe Kavod House

Fri Oct 10, Shabbat in the sukkah Tues Oct 14, Sukkot Festival dinner, co-hosted with Ganei Beantown (Leora Mallach). Moishe Kavod is planning to run a series of learning and DIY sessions on shmita starting in November, with focuses on economic justice, food and ag system, and chesed/caring community principles.

 from Gail Wechsler, St. Louis Jewish Environmental Initiative (JEI)

Sun Oct 12, 4-6 PM, screening of the film “Fire Lines”, about joint Israeli and Palestinian fire fighting efforts during the Carmel fire of December 2010. The film includes environmental themes as part of the reason for the fire was overforestation of the affected area. The director, Avi Goldstein, will speak after the film.  In partnership with the Jewish Community Relations Council, Webster University and the JCC.

followed by:

Sun Oct 12, 6-7:30 PM, organic potluck Sukkot dinner. In partnership with the JCC and its Garden of Eden, a community garden that grows organic fruits and vegetables to benefit the clients of the nearby Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry. Both events at the Jewish Community Center Staenberg Arts & Education Building.

from Michael Rosenzweig, Boulder JCC

We have a great event each year called Sukkot Mishpacha, where we partner with a local farm so the children and families can learn about environmental issues, do fun arts and crafts projects, and pick their own gourds. http://www.boulderjcc.org/events/2249/2014/10/14/boulder-jcc-events-calendar/sukkot-mishpacha/ Note: I have not included narrative detail in general here, but I found Rhonda Ginsberg’s description so delightful to imagine and I just didn’t think I could condense it. So here is what she wrote to me, with some minor editing:

from Rhonda Ginsberg, teacher, Carmel Academy, Greenwich CT

For Sukkot we do a 4 year rotation focusing on different aspects of the holiday.  The first year of the cycle we invite the ushpizin and have the 7 species at a festive meal.  The second year we look at wind with kite flying as a major activity, the third at rain and water, and the last year at stars and shade. Each exploration is done both from the Judaics side with text study and from the science/experiential side. This year we are looking at water.  For the K to 3rd graders, teachers act out the story “Why Does it Rain on Sukkot”, MS. Frizzle (science teacher) comes to teach about rain & why it’s needed, then students rotate through stations that are led by 4th graders and teachers.  At the stations they investigate kosher tops for pipework sukkot, create rain sticks, have various water activities & races, sing songs & learn the dance “Mayyim”.  For the 5th to 8th graders, they start with an appropriate text study.  Then, the 6th through 8th graders become the instructors teaching the other grades about the aspect of water that they researched and created a project for.  6th graders look at the water cycle, which they present through posters, dioramas, etc.  They also perform a song and skit on the water cycle.  7th graders research water pollution – causes, effects, and possible solutions.  8th grade engineering students investigate flooding – causes, effects, how engineers have created solutions.  8th grade honors biology students investigate droughts, concentrating on trouble spots in the Western US, Israel & the Middle East, and Africa.  They also look at causes, effects, & possible solutions.  Then we have a Simchat Beit HaShoava – the biblical Water Libation ceremony which took place during Sukkot in Temple times, with students singing, dancing, juggling, filling pools with golden pitchers, etc.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Does cli fi have a
future?

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

http://pcillu101.blogspot.com

danbloom@gmail.com

bubbie.zadie@gmail.com


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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For anyone interested in Bible study, nature, the environment or religion, this unique and valuable resource elucidates the connections between Judaism and the natural world.

The Natural Bible explores how religious environmental values can help us have a healthier relationship with the earth, and at the same time, how an appreciation of the natural environment enriches our understanding of the biblical text’s use of metaphors from the natural world.

Topics include sustainability and stewardship, our relationship with living creatures and God’s creation, and environmental justice. Essays on water, plants and animals explore symbols from the world of nature, and how the Jewish calendar and holiday cycle are linked to the climate and land of Israel.

This 250+ page book includes a guide to the many plants and trees of the Bible, and
Tu BiSh’vat resources. Features searchable text, built-in glossary and index, hypertext links, multimedia and interactive elements. Bookmark favourite passages, highlight text, and take notes for study cards and sharing.

Perfect for teaching Jewish ideas or holidays, preparing Torah study or writing a d’var Torah, or encountering an unfamiliar biblical plant (whether on a hike in Israel or reading the weekly Torah portion).

The Natural Bible by Baruch Sienna.

Published by Behrman House.

Samples and more info:

http://thenaturalbible.weebly.com

]]> https://beta.jewcology.com/2013/01/the-natural-bible/feed/ 0 https://beta.jewcology.com/2012/10/shabbat-noach-is-coming/ https://beta.jewcology.com/2012/10/shabbat-noach-is-coming/#comments Tue, 16 Oct 2012 20:20:12 +0000 http://jewcology.org/2012/10/shabbat-noach-is-coming/

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

PR blurb for this class: If you think you are too busy for this session then it’s probably exactly what you need! Simplifying one’s life is a process, done most effectively with the support of others who are doing the same. Together we will explore the issues and principles of Voluntary Simplicity and share experiences, ideas, frustrations, and successes on the road to a simpler life, with an emphasis on the spiritual disciplines and rewards inherent in the simplifying process, using Jewish vocabulary.

Anava – Humility
Hodayah - Gratitude
Ba'al Tashkit & Haganat Hatevah - Avoiding Waste and Preserving Nature
Bitul Z'man - Wasting Time
Tzedek/Tikkun Olam- Social Justice and Improving the World
Kehilla – Community
Menuchah – Rest

The Bible tells the story of men working together to build a giant tower that will reach the sky. God decides to sabotage the project by “confusing” their language which brings the project to a standstill. One of the questions that have intrigued commentators throughout the ages is what exactly was the problem with the construction of the tower that prompted God to halt the project? Did the people sin? And if so, how? Was the “confusing of the languages” a punishment or the logical outcome of a mistaken ideology. Many different interpretations have been suggested by both classical and modern commentators. In this lesson we will concentrate on one explanation that links the fate of the tower with the promises and pitfalls of technological development and try to think of how the story can apply to some of the issues facing us today.

Click here to view the lesson plan.

This lesson plan is part of a series of curriculum units developed by the Galilee Foundation for Value Education in cooperation with the Melton Center for Jewish Education for Bialik College in Melbourne, Australia. Other lessons in the course are:

Lessons in the full course:

1-2 Two creation stories
3 Tower of Babel
4 The mitzvoth dependent on the land
5 Blessings
6 Introduction to projects fair
7 Biodiversity
8 Cruelty to animals
9 Vegetarianism
10 The commons (reshut harabim)
11 Water conservation
12 Family size
13-14 Global warming
15 Sustainable development
16 Wealth, consumption
17 Conservation
18 Advertising, materialism
19 Importance of life
20 Genetic engineering
21 Nuclear energy
22-23 Israeli case study – Hula Valley
24 New ten commandments

For access to the full curriculum, please contact the Galilee Foundation for Value Education.

The Exodus is not just a historical remembrance, it is a personal and immediate story as well; "And you shall explain to your son on that day, "it is because of what the Lord did for me when I went free from Egypt'" (Exodus 13:8). Thus, the story of the redemption from Mitzrayim serves as a national and historical template that should be applied on an individual and present level. This is the idea of biblical self-help — that the story of our past holds the key to our future. As Jews, it is our duty to contemplate the concepts of freedom and redemption as laid out in the story of the Exodus and apply these lessons to our lives on a daily basis. We must ask ourselves difficult questions, such as "In what ways am I enslaved?" "In what ways am I free?" "Where am I stuck (constricted in a narrow place) in my life?" and "How can I merit redemption?". These are not easy questions, and there are no easy answers. We must be brutally honest with ourselves and with each other in order to transform our state of exile into a state of deliverance. Indeed, most of us are enslaved in ways that we are not even consciously aware of. This is the deepest level of enslavement — when you don't even realize that you are enslaved. For once you are able to grasp and articulate what it is that holds you down, you have taken the first step toward freedom from its spell.

So it is that I find myself reflecting on the state of freedom in America, and have found, unfortunately, that it is in a sad state of affairs indeed. Since last Pesach, we saw the U.S. government commit murder of American citizens without charges or trial. Then we saw the passage of the NDAA into "law", which effectively ended the 700 year legal precedent of Habeus Corpus as laid out in the Magna Carta (as well as the much older Torah law, which also requires a trial in a system of Justice). Most recently, Mr. Obama signed an executive order entitled "National Defense Resources Preparedness", which gives the 'right' of the government to take any resources or personal labor it deems necessary for the national defense. The writing is on the wall for anyone who cares to read it. We are all prisoners in a system gone horribly wrong. That the curtailment of these liberties is done in the name of our own 'protection' adds irony and insult to the situation. Whether we acknowledge these uncomfortable facts or not is a question only of how much we are paying attention. We are not free, in any political sense of the word, and we seem to be losing what little freedoms that still remain at an ever accelerating rate.

Thus I find the message of Pesach speaks ever more poignantly, as the world sinks deeper into galut. We must remember that the Lord delivered us from Egyptian bondage in order to tie us to His Will, as laid out in the Torah values of tzedek, emet, v shalom (justice, truth and peace). We Jews are no strangers to coping in times where injustice prevails. During the Pesach seder, we tell the story of the Bnei Brak seder during the times of the Roman occupation of Israel. There Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Elazar Ben Azaryah, Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon were reclining and discussing the Exodus from Egypt, illustrating that we must keep the memory of redeption alive even in the darkest hours. While we can no longer count on miracles like the parting of the Reed Sea, we fortunately have the holiday of Purim to prepare us for the redemption of Pesach. Purim reminds us that the Lord works through human actions as exemplified by Esther's bravery and courage in confronting the King regarding the injustice of Haman's plans. Thus we must work to bring the light of truth where darkness lies, and Justice to where tyranny reigns, on both physical and spiritual levels. Today is the Spring Equinox, the perfect balancing point between light and darkness. By remembering the lessons of the Exodus story, we push ever onward toward the light, where Justice and Righteousness shall prevail.

Download this audio podcast to learn more about the Jewish requirement to show compassion towards animals and the prohibition of Tza'ar Ba'alei Chaim (causing harm to animals).

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

See all Core Teaching Animal Welfare Materials!

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

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

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

See all Core Teaching Animal Welfare Materials!

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

Compassion for all Creatures

By Rabbi Dovid Sears

"God is good to all, and His mercy is upon all His works" (Psalms 145:9). This verse is the touchstone of the rabbinic attitude toward animal welfare, appearing in a number of contexts in Torah literature. The Torah espouses an ethic of compassion for all creatures, and affirms the sacredness of life. These values are reflected by the laws prohibiting tza’ar baalei chaim (cruelty to animals) and obligations for humans to treat animals with care.

At first glance, the relevance of the above verse may seem somewhat obscure. It speaks of God, not man. However, a basic rule of Jewish ethics is the emulation of God's ways. In the words of the Talmudic sages: "Just as He clothes the naked, so shall you clothe the naked. Just as He is merciful, so shall you be merciful…"[1] Therefore, compassion for all creatures, including animals, is not only God's business; it is a virtue that we, too, must emulate. Moreover, rabbinic tradition asserts that God's mercy supersedes all other Divine attributes. Thus, compassion must not be reckoned as one good trait among others; rather, it is central to our entire approach to life.

Benevolence entails action. Beyond the subjective factor of moral sentiment, Judaism 1) mandates kindness toward animals in halakhah (religious law), 2) prohibits their abuse, 3) praises their good traits, and 4) obligates their owners concerning their well-being. In this article, we consider our responsibilities to animals as creatures of God, deserving of compassion and respect.

Kindness Toward Animals

"One should respect all creatures," asserts Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, "recognizing in them the greatness of the Creator Who formed man with wisdom. All creatures are imbued with the Creator's wisdom, which itself makes them greatly deserving of honor. The Maker of All, the Wise One Who transcends everything, is associated with His creatures in having made them. If one were to disparage them, God forbid, this would reflect upon the honor of their Maker."[2]

Compassion for animals is the measure of spiritual refinement. In his classic work of Jewish ethics, Mesilas Yesharim (“Path of the Upright”), Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707-1746) asserts that it is one of the basic characteristics of a chassid, by which he means a person striving for spiritual perfection.[3] Indeed, the Midrash states that both Moses and King David were chosen by God to be leaders of Israel because of the compassion they had previously demonstrated toward their flocks.[4] There are countless tales of tzaddikim (righteous individuals) and their concern for the well-being of animals. This concern may extend even to wild creatures for which we bear no direct responsibility.

As the Maharal of Prague (Rabbi Yehudah Loew ben Bezalel, 1512-1609) observes, "Love of all creatures is also love of God; for whoever loves the One, loves all the works that He has made."[5] The realization of this truth is the central point of Jewish mysticism. And it is the root of the Jewish ethic of compassion for all creatures.

The Laws of Tzar Ba’alei Chaim—Preventing Cruelty to Animals

On what grounds are acts of cruelty to animals (tza'ar baalei chaim) prohibited? Nowhere does the Torah state, "Thou shalt not afflict animals." Yet the rabbis of the Talmud all tacitly accept that such acts are forbidden by virtue of an unbroken tradition beginning with Moses at Mount Sinai. They only question the specific grounds and ramifications of the prohibition.[6] The Talmud (Bava Metzia 32b) cites a dispute as to whethertza'ar baalei chaim is forbidden by scriptural law or rabbinic decree. The discussion concerns the case given in Exodus 23:5 in which a traveler encounters the animal of his enemy "lying under its burden," and the Torah's mandate that he intervene.[7] Although the Talmudic discussion is inconclusive and some later opinions view the prohibition as rabbinic,[8] Maimonides (R’ Moshe ben Maimon, 1135-1204) and most authorities treat the prohibition as scriptural.[9]

What practical difference does this make? One difference is that if tza’ar baalei chaim is scripturally prohibited, one must not only refrain from causing an animal pain but actively intervene to relieve it. According to some authorities, this is implied by the Torah's injunction in the above-mentioned case, "You shall surely help him with it."[10] Another practical implication concerns the laws of the Sabbath. If the prohibition is scriptural, certain Sabbath restrictions may be waived to relieve the pain of an animal.[11] Still another variable is the severity of punishment for transgressing scriptural, as opposed to rabbinic laws. The prevailing halakhic (Jewish legal) view is that tza’ar baalei chaim is scripturally forbidden.[12] Therefore, we are obligated to assist an animal; and, on the Sabbath, this obligation takes precedence over all rabbinic restrictions.[13]

Animals for Food

One issue about which Judaism disagrees with the animal rights movement (or at least one trend within the animal rights movement) is the philosophical view that puts animals and humans on the same plane.[14] The prohibition of tza'ar baalei chaim does not apply to situations in which human beings are permitted to make use of animals, namely to serve legitimate human needs. One primary example is that (as a concession to the desire for meat) the Torah permitted the slaughter of animals to Noah and his descendants.[15]

However, the permission to slaughter animals for food was given within a complex set of limitations, an important part of which is concern for the suffering of those creatures who forfeit their lives for our benefit.[16] The humane handling of livestock immediately prior to slaughter is required by halakhah (Jewish law). For example, an animal should not be slaughtered in the sight of another living animal,[17] and restraining the animal should be done as carefully as possible.[18] For centuries it has become an additional requirement that the slaughterer (shochet) be a Torah scholar.

Since animal slaughter is permitted within these limitations, any resultant pain the animal might suffer would not fall under the halakhic (Jewish legal) prohibition of tza'ar baalei chaim.[19] According to most authorities, this exemption extends to all other religiously sanctioned reasons for animal slaughter, such as to provide human beings with clothing or products for medical purposes, or to benefit us in any significant way.

Aside from any ritual or other significance it possesses, shechitah (kosher slaughter) seeks to minimize the animal's pain.[20] Indeed, after more than three thousand years since the Torah was given at Mount Sinai, no other form of slaughter has proven itself superior in this regard. Rabbi J. David Bleich, a contemporary authority on Jewish law, states: "Shechitah is the most humane method of slaughter known to man. The procedure involves a traverse cut in the throat of the animal with an extremely sharp and smooth knife. Due to the sharpness of the knife and the paucity of sensory cutaneous nerve endings in the skin covering the throat, the incision itself causes no pain … The resultant massive loss of blood causes the animal to become unconscious in a matter of seconds.”[21] This assertion is supported by a substantial body of scientific evidence.[22]

What Happens Prior to Slaughter

Having discussed some of the religious and ethical aspects of shechitah, we also must address the treatment of animals prior to slaughter. Here it must be acknowledged that today's raising of animals for food remains problematic.

Until recent times, animals belonging to Jews typically were raised on private farms, under relatively humane conditions (although no doubt there were some farms with bad conditions, then as now). The shochet was a familiar figure to his community; he worked for each customer on an individual basis, and probably slaughtered large animals relatively infrequently. In modern society, however, all this has changed. Mass production steadily began to take over the food industry, beginning with the great stockyards of Chicago following the Civil War and followed by the first supermarkets in the 1930s. Since the 1940s we have witnessed, in addition to the traditional methods of agronomy, the rise of "factory farms," which produce beef cattle by the millions and fowl by the billions every year for human consumption.[23] Given the economic realities of today's food industry, the Jewish community ineluctably has been enlisted into this system. It is not commercially feasible for kosher meat suppliers to raise their own livestock, and none do so. (Some have contract growers, and therefore may have more of a say about the conditions of these animals, but this is uncertain.)

According to the methods of factory farming, animals are commonly raised in intensely crowded, artificial environments in which their emotional needs are largely ignored. The Federal Animal Welfare Act specifically excludes food animals. Thus, the industry has developed new systems of raising animals that have exponentially increased production and profits; there may be factory farms that are exceptions to the rule,[24] but animal activists contend that the vast majority showminimalconcern for the well-being of the animals they havebred. These systems have recently come under scrutiny by consumers and regulators alike.

From a Jewish point of view, these methods are highly questionable. Rabbi Aryeh Carmell, a founder of the Association of Orthodox Scientists of Great Britain who for many years has served on the faculty of Israel's D'var Yerushalayim Yeshiva, has written: "It seems doubtful … that the Torah would sanction factory farming, which treats animals as machines, with apparent insensitivity to their natural needs and instincts. This is a matter for decision by halakhic authorities.”[25]

As for the handling and slaughter of animals, Dr. Temple Grandin of Colorado State University in particular has pioneered efforts to improve animal welfare conditions. Dr. Grandin created a set of humane standards under the aegis of the American Meat Institute (AMI). Many of these standards have been taken up by slaughter houses in the US, but they are not legally required.[26]

Inhumane practices have a long, dark past in the American food industry, and the Jewish community cannot be blamed for them. However, in light of the importance of proper animal treatment in Jewish law and tradition, we must not implicitly condone such practices by taking advantage of them without protest, rationalizing that we have not directly violated the laws of tza'ar baalei chaim. The establishment of higher humane standards in our society as a whole is a moral undertaking for which we, as willing participants in the system, must take responsibility. While the political issue of “animal welfare” may be new to many Jews, our concern about proper treatment of animals is clearly called for by traditional Jewish values.

In recent years, more sustainable kosher meat enterprises have emerged. Two examples, KOL Foods and Grow and Behold Foods offer non-caged, grass-fed, antibiotic free, glatt-kosher meat. The animals are raised in open-pasture on small, family farms and then slaughtered under the supervision of the Orthodox Union or Star-K; there are other such kosher companies, as well.[27] These local initiatives operate with missions to uphold the values of tza'ar ba'alei chaim. However, it must be admitted that the added cost of such meat limits the market to the special niche that can afford it–which leaves out many families—or to those who are willing to significantly reduce their consumption of meat.

Compassion to Animals in Other Areas

The Torah advocates sensitivity to the feelings of animals above and beyond the permissibility of acts that may cause them pain. A well-known example of this involves Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, the 2nd century sage who redacted the Mishnah. The Talmud tells how Rabbi Yehudah was punished at the hand of Heaven for speaking callously to a frightened calf that sought refuge at his feet while being taken to slaughter.[28] The various commentaries question the nature of Rabbi Yehudah's wrong-doing; after all, he neither afflicted the calf, nor did he speak falsely. One explanation is that a person of Rabbi Yehudah's spiritual stature should have displayed greater compassion, beyond the letter of the law.[29]

In keeping with this principle, many of our greatest sages showed diligence in saving animals from distress, even when not compelled to do so by halakhah. Rabbi Yisrael Salanter (1810-1883), founder of the modern Mussar movement, once spent the evening of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, rescuing a lost calf belonging to a Christian neighbor, while his congregation unknowingly waited for him. The revered Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian (1876-1970) personally attended a stray cat that sought refuge in his yeshiva. During his youth, the Chazon Ish (R. Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz, 1878-1953) lowered himself into a deep pit to save an animal of a non-kosher species.

This call to a higher moral sensitivity is not only addressed to great tzaddikim (righteous individuals) like Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi; it is relevant to all. One example of the widespread relevance of such behavior is cited by the Rama (R. Moshe Isserles, 1530-1572) in his authoritative glosses on the Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law). "The law permits one to pluck feathers from a live goose, but people refrain from doing so because this is an act of cruelty.”[30] Thus, we see that even the extralegal conduct of ordinary folk constitutes a halakhic factor, and that the suffering of animals in the service of human needs may not be discounted as morally inconsequential.

Surely this higher sensitivity should be applied to areas of questionable human necessity. Several examples include animal experiments for cosmetics or luxury items;[31] the forced feeding of geese for the production of foie gras;[32] raising calves for white veal;[33] and common practices of the fur industry.[34] I have been told that there are producers of veal and fur that maintain high humane standards, and therefore it is possible to implement higher industry standards unilaterally. However, such improvements have been debated for many years with little result.

The Talmud states that the Jewish people are praiseworthy for their desire to serve God beyond the letter of the law.[35] This expression of religious devotion has been applied to many ritual precepts; should we not apply it with equal diligence to precepts that affect other living creatures? Moreover, this directly benefits God's works and improves the world. By engaging in acts of compassion, we become worthy of receiving the blessing of our sages: that God will show mercy to those who are merciful.[36]

________________________

Rabbi Dovid Sears is the author of "The Vision of Eden: Animal Welfare and Vegetarianism in Jewish Law and Mysticism" (Orot 2003) among other Judaica works. He directs The Breslov Center of New York, whose website is http://breslovcenter.blogspot.com/.

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

See all Core Teaching Animal Welfare Materials!

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

[1] Sota14a; cf. Sifri on Deuteronomy 11:22.

[2] Tomer Devorah, ch. 2.

[3] Mesillas Yesharim, ch. 19.

[4] Shemos Rabbah2:2.

[5] Nesivos Olam,Ahavas Re'i, 1.

[6] She’arim Metzuyanim B'Halakhah, Issur Tza'ar Baalei Chaim, 191, cites the view of Teshuvos Harashba, nos. 252 and 257, that the prohibition of tza'ar baalei chaim applies to humans as well as animals.Teshuvos Chavas Yair, no. 191,rejects this opinion.

[7] The Gemara (the portion of the Talmud that presents the debates and traditions of the sages) considers the nuances of the text: Does the term "lying" indicate a temporary condition, excluding an animal that habitually lies down under its burden? Does "lying" exclude an animal that is standing? The Gemara reasons that such possible distinctions only apply if the prohibition is a rabbinic enactment, which would entail a lesser degree of stringency; if the prohibition is Scriptural, there are no exclusions.

[8] Some authorities understand Maimonides’ position in Hilchos Rotze'ach 13:9 as following the view that the prohibition is rabbinic. They include: P'nei Yehoshua, Bava Metzia 32b; Hagahos HaGra al HaRosh, Bava Metzia, chap. 2, see 29; Biur HaGra, Choshen Mishpat 272:11; also see Minchas Chinnuch, 80.

The Chasam Sofer advances the opinion that, although causing pain to an animal is scripturally forbidden, the obligation to rescue an animal in distress applies only to one's own animals; see Teshuvos Chasam Sofer, Yoreh De'ah, nos. 314, 318, and Choshen Mishpat, no. 185. This appears to be consistent with the view of Maharam Schick on the Taryag Mitzvos, Mitzvah 80. Authorities who do not make such a distinction include: Noda B'Yehudah, Mahadurah Kama, Yoreh De'ah, nos. 81-83; Shulchan Aruch HaRav, Vol. 6, Tza'ar Baalei Chaim, 4; Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, 191:1; Drach Maysharim, 15:1; et al. The Netziv in Ha'amek Davar, Deuteronomy 22, maintains that one is not obligated by Torah law but is required to intervene by rabbinic decree. In Eishel Avraham: Tinyana, Yoreh De'ah 305:20, R. Avraham of Butchatch argues that the relief of tza'ar baalei chaim directly or indirectly caused by a human being is incumbent upon any Jew capable of intervening by scriptural law. For further discussion see R. Yitzchak Nachman Eshkoli, Tza'ar Baalei Chaim (2002), chap. 11.

[9] Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Rotze'ach13:9, according to Kesef Mishneh, ad locum. This is supported by Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Shabbos 25:26 and Maimonides' Commentary on the Mishnah, Beitzah 3:4. Most authorities agree that tza'ar baalei chaim is scripturally prohibited, including the Rif on Shabbos 128b; Sefer HaChinnuch 450, 451; Rosh on Bava Metzia 2:29 and Shabbos 3:18; Nimmukei Yosef, Bava Metzia 32b; Me'iri, Bava Metzia 32b; Shitah Mekubetzes, Bava Metzia 33a; Sefer Yere'im, 267; Sefer Chassidim, 666; Rama, Choshen Mishpat 272:9; Levush, Orach Chaim 305:18; and Magen Avraham, Orach Chaim 305:11. These sources are listed in R. J. David Bleich's essay "Vegetarianism and Judaism," Contemporary Halakhic Problems, Vol. III. R. Bleich’s extensive research was extremely helpful to me in annotating Chapters 3 and 6 of my source book, “The Vision of Eden: Animal Welfare and Vegetarianism in Jewish Law and Mysticism” (Orot 2003), of which the present essay is an excerpt with revisions.

[10] See Rashi on Shabbos 128b, according to the view that halachos may be derived from reasons explicitly stated in the Torah. Also note Rabad as quoted in Shitah Mekubetzes, Bava Metzia, 32b; Levush on Orach Chaim 305:18.

[11] Specifically, a Jew may violate rabbinic prohibitions for the sake of relieving the pain of an animal, and a non-Jew may be requested to intervene where Scriptural prohibitions apply; see
Ritva, Bava Metzia 32b; Rosh, Bava Metzia 2:29 and Shabbos 18:3; Magen Avraham, Orach Chaim 305:11; Korban Nesanel, Shabbos 18:3. If indirect intervention fails or is not possible, Shiltei HaGibborim on the Rif, Shabbos 51a, note 3, permits one to assist the animal directly.

[12] Which Scriptural verse or verses therefore comes to establish these laws? Rashi (R. Shlomo Yitzchaki, 1040-1105) in his commentary to Shabbos 128b. cites the verse that describes an animal collapsing under its burden: "And you shall surely release it with him" (Exodus 23:5). Since the prohibition of tza'ar baalei chaim is only implied but not openly stated here, other Rishonim (medieval authorities) seek its basis elsewhere. Both Maimonides (Guide of the Perplexed 3:17). and Rabbi Yehudah HeChassid (1150-1217 CE, Sefer Chassidim, 666) derive it from the Torah's censure of Balaam the Midianite for angrily striking his donkey. The anonymous author of Sefer HaChinnuch (13th century) relates it to the prohibition not to take the limb of a living animal (Mitzvah 452, this being one of the Seven Laws of Noah). The same author also invokes the prohibition of tza'ar baalei chaim in discussing the negative commandment of plowing with two different species of animals yoked together (Mitzvah 550). Rabbi Menachem Meiri of Perpignan (Beis HaBechirah on Bava Metzia 32b) relates it to the law of not muzzling an ox while it is treading grain.

[13] However, there are mitigating factors. According to Nimmukei Yosef citing Rabbenu Nissim on Bava Metzia 32b, a Torah scholar, elderly person, or one who holds a communal position of honor, is exempt from the obligation to intervene. Also, the prohibition of tza'ar baalei chaim may be contravened to serve a legitimate human need, as stated by Ramban on Avodah Zarah 13b; also cf. Tosefos and Nimmukei Yosef on Avodah Zarah lla and Bava Metzia 32b. This is the halakhah; see Rama on Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah 24:8 and Even HaEzer 5:14; Shach on Yoreh De'ah 24:8; et al.

[14] The best-known proponent of this idea is Peter Singer, author of Animal Liberation (New York, 1975) and with Jim Mason, Animal Factories (New York, 1990). Although in Western philosophy it is difficult to find a precedent for such a thorough-going moral equivalence of the species, it may exist among certain Eastern religious sects; ct. Schochet, Animal Life in Jewish Tradition, chap. 14. However, the "theology" of animal rights is not an import from the Far East; it is a consequence of materialist philosophy, and Darwinian theory in particular. If the existence of God and the divine intention in creation are denied, good and evil must be seen as human constructs that vary according to each individual or group. (Indeed, from this standpoint, the moral impulse itself may be understood as a form of self-aggrandizement.) If contrary to Torah thought, man is not the central figure in creation, there can be no fundamental difference between humans and animals. Therefore, the quasi-religious fervor of some animal rights advocates may be an expression of this materialist "article of faith"; see Joshua Berman, The Temple: Its Symbolism and Meaning, Then and Now (Jason Aronson, 1995), pp. 148-154.

[15] This issue is discussed at greater length in "Judaism and Vegetarianism," Chapter VI, A Vision of Eden: Animal Welfare and Vegetatianism in Jewish Law and Mysticism (op cit.).

[16] Galya Raza, pp. 209-210, cites a Kabbalistic tradition that the souls of animals protest before the Divine Throne against Jews and Gentiles alike for having slaughtered them improperly, unnecessarily, or in a cruel manner; also ct. the pre-Lurianic Serer HaKanah, Mussar L'Morei Hora'os V'Shochtim, p. 307.

[17] Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah36:14, with Yad Ephraim and Pischei Teshuvah, both of which explicitly relate this to the prohibition of tza'ar baalei chaim; similarly, cf. Aruch Hashulchan, Hilchos Trelfos 36:70 (end).

[18] Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah, 58.

[19] R. Bleich (op. cit.) includes among those who exempt the act of slaughter from the prohibition oftza'ar baalei chaim: Teshuvos Avodas HaGershuni, no. 13; Noda B'Yehudah, Vol. I, Yoreh De'ah, no. 83; and Seridei Eish, Vol. Ill, no. 7. Apparently Tosafos on Sanhedrin 80a agrees in stating that withholding food and drink from an animal constitutes tza'ar baalei chaim, but killing it by a swift, direct act does not. Dissenting opinions include Shitah Mekubetzes on Bava Basra 20a, citing Ri Migash; Teshuvos Sho'el U'Meshiv, Mahadurah Tinyana, Ill, no. 65, as well as Sefer HaChinnuch, 45l. Later authorities that include putting an animal to death in the category of tza'ar baalei chaim include the Bach on Yoreh De'ah 116, s.v. mashkin; Sheilas Ya'avetz, I, no. 110; Teshuvos Shevus Yaakov, Ill, no. 71; Teshuvos Imrei Shefer, no. 34; and Ohel Moshe, I, no. 32.

[20] Tomer Devorah, chap. 3. Maimonides offers this rationale in Moreh Nevuchim 3:26, 48. A mystical reason for shechitah is given in Sefer HaTemunah III, Os Hey, p. 100.

[21] R. Bleich, op. cit., p. 205, ff. Rabbi Bleich is a Rosh Yeshiva at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University and rabbi of Congregation B'nei Yehuda.

[22] The objection to shechitah is by no means new, having been a common anti-Semitic subterfuge in various times and places. Hundreds of scientific studies have been published on shechitah, beginning with Dr. Isaac Dembow's Hachanah L'Shechita (Preparation for Animal Slaughter) (1892) and The Jewish Manner of Slaughter (1894). Perhaps the most thorough volume on the subject addressed to laymen is Shechitah in the Light of the Year 2000 by Dr. l.M. Levinger (1995). In Chapter 11, Levinger addresses the question of the animal suffering during shechitah, and concludes (p. 75): "Within 8-10 seconds [after shechitah] the centers for maintaining equilibrium lose their regulatory capacity. Corneal reflex disappears in small animals, though in larger animals it takes longer to disappear. Since it is known that the nee-encephalon is more oxygen sensitive than [other sections] of the brain, it may be assumed that the functional ability of the cortex ceases within less than 10 seconds after shechitah. Since the animal does not move within 10 seconds, it may be concluded that the animal does not feel pain …” Another study cited by Levinger is An Electroencephelographic Study of the Effect of Shechitah Slaughter on Cortical Function in Ruminants (1979) by L.l. Nangeroni and P.O. Kennett, Dept. of Physiology, New York State Veterinary College, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. The latter report states that among the sheep, calves, and goats tested, consciousness was lost 3.3 to 6.9 seconds after the incision. The researchers conclude that under normal circumstances, the act of shechitah is painless, or nearly so. Animal scientist Dr. Temple Grandin observed five kosher slaughter plants using upright restraint pens, but with other procedural variables. The shortest time for insensibility was 8 seconds, while the longest was 120 seconds; however, most animals collapsed within 30 seconds at all five plants. See “Ritual Slaughter” at www.grandin.com. Although Grandin is generally supportive of kosher slaughter, she points out that not all shechitah operations are the same from a humane standpoint.

[23] “United States Department of Agriculture Livestock Slaughter 2010 Summary,” United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service, April 2011, online at http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/LiveSlauSu/LiveSlauSu-04-25-2011.pdf

Commercial cattle slaughter during totaled 34.2 million cattle, commercial calf slaughtertotaled 878,600 calves, commercial hog slaughtertotaled 110.3 million hogs commercial sheep and lamb slaughtertotaled2.46 million sheep and lambs.Physicist and researcher Noam Mohr writes: The number of animals slaughtered in the US comprise only part of the total number that die here, as many do not reach the slaughterhouse. Neither do they include animals slaughtered abroad and then shipped to the US, even as they do include those slaughtered here for sale abroad. Nevertheless, they provide a picture of the slaughter industry in this country.

[24] In an email exchange over this point, Dr. Joe Regenstein of Cornell, a veteran food scientist and animal welfare activist long associated with Dr. Temple Grandin, argued that it is possible to meet high-level humane standards with factory farming, and that in fact a number of such farms he has visited have done so. One of the difficulties in researching this subject is the elusiveness of obtain objective and comprehensive knowledge of the facts.

[25] Aryeh Carmell, Masterplan: Judaism It's Programs, Meanings, Goals (1991), p. 69.

[26] See American Meat Institute (AMI) Recommended Handling and Stunning Guidelines on www.grandin.com

[27] More information about KOL Foods can be found at https://www.kolfoods.com, and about Grow and Behold Foods at http://www.growandbehold.com. Wise Kosher Natural Poultry offers Cornish game hens, ducks, and turkeys raised on organic feed under humane conditions by Amish and other farmers in Winfield, Penn., and slaughtered on the premises of the David Elliot Poultry Farm, Lake Ariel, Penn. Rabbinic supervision is provided by the Orthodox Union and BaDaTz of Crown Heights; see http://www.wiseorganicpastures.com/. Gestetner Kosher Poultry of Monroe, NY, produces organic free-range chickens that are raised without hormone or antibiotic injections. Rabbinic supervision is provided by the Vaad HaKashruth of Monsey, NY. Another family business, Pelleh Poultry of Monsey, NY, in conjunction with Bethel Farms, Bethel, NY, and under the supervision of R. Dovid Miller, serves a small clientele. However, animal activists caution that the term "free-range" can be misleading. Free-range chickens typically are de-beaked at the hatchery the same as battery-caged hens. In many cases such birds are kept indoors constantly, although the area in which they roam may be more spacious. Given the relative lack of government regulation of this industry, organic free-range poultry sometimes may be more contaminated than the standard product; see www.consumeralert.org/issues/food/organicfood.htm.

[28] Bava Metzia 85a.

[29] R. Yehudah Leib Zirelson, Ma'archei Lev, no. 110. In his essay on "Animal Experimentation" (see. IV), R. Bleich notes that the Maharsha on Bava Metzia 85a and Teshuvos Imrei Shefer, no. 34, sec. 10, 12, each propose different explanations for R. Yehudah's censure, but their conclusions agree with that of Ma'archei Lev. This is related to the principle of sanctifying oneself within the realm of the permissible, which varies according to the spiritual level of the individual. As the verse states, "You shall be holy, for I, the Eternal, Your God, am holy" (Leviticus 19:2). Nachmanides explains that without this call to holiness, "one could become a sordid person within the realm of the permissible" (ad loc.).

[30] Rama on Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer 5: 14. This ruling, cited in Issur v'Heter 59:36, is supported by Tosefos on Bava Metzia 32b. Also cf. Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 191:1; Shulchan Aruch Harav, Ovrei Derachim V'Tza'ar Baalei Chaim, 4.

[31] R. Bleich, ibid. sec. 5, cites Pri Megadim (Mishbetzos Zahav) on Orach Chaim 468:2, who differentiates between "great need" and "minor need"; Teshuvos Sho'el U'Meishiv, Mahadura Tinyana, III, no. 65. Also note R. Chaim HaLevi, at the end of the 1992 responsum mentioned in ff. 32 below re. killing animals for their furs and his invocation of the principle of tzorech chiyuni, legitimate human need. More recently former Sefardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, R. Ovadia Yosef, forbade animal experiments for cosmetics in a responsum dated 23 Adar 5762 (2002). In a private letter dated 21 Cheshvan 5763/27.14.02, R. Shear-Yashuv Cohen, Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Haifa, informed me that he forbids such experiments and is preparing a formal responsum on this issue.

[32] Authorities opposed to this practice include the Bach on Yoreh De'ah 33:9; Chochmas Adam 16:10; Sha'arei Tzedek on Yoreh De'ah 33; Divrei Menachem (Divrei Shalom), p. 143, col. 2; Darkei Teshuvah, Yoreh De’ah 33:131, 142, 143, citing Teshuvos HaTzemach Tzedek, no. 17, Nekudas HaKessef, et al.; She'ilas Shalom Tinyana, no. 154 (end); Tzitz Eliezer, Vol. XI, nos. 49, 55 (end), citing the Chida in Machzik Beracha, Yoreh De'ah 33:19, and R. Zvi Elimelech Spira of Dinov, et al.; ibid. Vol. XII, no. 52; Teshuvos Har Tzvi, no. 26; Shema Shlomo, Yoreh De'ah, no. 1. The Taz is inclined to permit it if the birds are fed gently. On this basis the Chasam Sofer takes a lenient view in Teshuvos Chasam Sofer, Vol. I, no. 25. Nevertheless, I am told that most Chassidim in Hungary before the Holocaust would not eat force-fed geese due to uncertainty as to their kashrus. For a comprehensive halakhic perspective, see R. Binyamin Adler, Kashrus U'Treifos B'Ohf, chap. 33, sec. 98-129. I have read that more recently R. Yosef Sholom Elyashiv of Jerusalem has taken a lenient position, but I have not obtained his responsum on the issue. It also should be noted that not all growers are the same. Some allow their fowl to roam freely and do not resort to methods of extreme deprivation. For example, see http://www.hudsonvalleyfoiegras.com/index.html. However, the same plant has had serious problems of an environmental nature, incurring the wrath of the Humane Society; see http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2010/05/HVFG_050610.html

[33] Given the brutality of obtaining seal-furs for women‘s coats by beating the animals to death with clubs, the cruelties of trapping, and the sometimes inhumane procedures of fur farms, the late Rav Chaim David HaLevy, Sefardic Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, ruled that furs obtained by such means should be boycotted. In a 1992 responsum, Rav HaLevy states: "If the killing of animals for the obtainment of their furs were accomplished by a quick, easy death, that would be one thing; but in actuality, this is not the case … The animals are caught in a kind of ring trap that causes them great anguish until they are released and killed and stripped of their furs. This constitutes actual tza’ar baalei chaim; there can be no disagreement about it." The same authority adds: "I have been informed that nowadays there are farms where animals are raised for the purpose of killing them and using their furs … However, as explained above, according to many authorities, even killing without tza’ar baalei chaim is forbidden if there is no compelling human need (tzorech chiyuni). According to all views, it is clear that such acts are tainted by cruelty, which is foreign to the character traits of the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob … Therefore, one should refrain from wearing furs." Also note R. Chaim ibn Attar, Ohr HaChaim on Leviticus 17:13, citing Mishneh Torah, Ma’achalos Asuros 8:17, as well as his Sefer Pri To'ar, sec. 117, which prohibit the trapping of non-kosher animals by Jews on the grounds of tza’ar baalei chaim. However, R. HaLevy objects to complicity in such acts even when performed by others.

[34] It is difficult to ascertain how many animals are killed for furs annually in the U.S. The Humane Society places the total number at approximately 30 million animals (www.hsus.org). According to the Fur Commission of the USA, approximately half the animals killed for their pelts are raised in confinement on "fur farms," where eventually they are euthanised by carbon dioxide, pure carbon monoxide gas, or lethal injection. The American Veterinary Medical Association and the Geulph University Research Facility in Canada deem these methods to be humane (www.furcommission.com). However, because the industry is for the most part self-regulated, a significant percentage of cage-raised animals are not killed by these methods, but by carbon monoxide generated by engine exhaust, anal electrocution, genital or ear-to-foot electrocution, or by having their necks broken. Pressure from animal activists has led to the banning of the steel-jawed leghold trap in 89 European countries. In 1999, the U.S. House of Representatives banned the use of leghold traps and strangling snares on all National Wildlife Refuges. In 2001 H.R.1187 was introduced in the House of Representatives, which proposes to ban all uses of such traps in the U.S., as well as importing or exporting any article of fur obtained by such means. An alternative to these devices, the body grip or "Conibear" trap, was developed decades ago as an instant-kill trap; however, some studies indicate that as many as 85% of its victims may languish in agony for substantial periods of time with broken backs and other mortal injuries; see H.C. Lunn, "The Conibear Trap: Recommendations for its Improvement," Canadian Federation of Humane Societies, 1973.

[35] Berachos 20b.

[36] Shabbos 151b; Bava Metzia 85a; Megilah 12b; Yerushalmi Bava Kamma 8:7; Zohar Ill,92b; also note Likkutei Moharan I. 119.

Compassion for all Creatures

By Rabbi Dovid Sears

"God is good to all, and His mercy is upon all His works" (Psalms 145:9). This verse is the touchstone of the rabbinic attitude toward animal welfare. The Torah espouses compassion for all creatures and affirms the sacredness of life. These values are reflected by the laws prohibiting cruelty to animals and obligations for humans to treat animals with care.

A basic rule of Jewish ethics is the emulation of God's ways. In the words of the Talmud, "Just as He is merciful, so shall you be merciful" (Tractate Sotah 14a). Therefore compassion for all creatures is not only God's business; it is everyone’s. Moreover, rabbinic tradition describes God's mercy as above all other divine attributes. Thus, compassion must not be reckoned as one good trait among others; rather, it is central to the entire Jewish approach to life.

As the Maharal of Prague (1512-1609) observed, "Love of all creatures is also love of God; for whoever loves the One, loves all the works that He has made.”

Benevolence entails action. Beyond moral sentiment, Judaism mandates kindness toward animals in religious law; prohibits their abuse; and obligates their owners concerning their well-being.

One of the main human uses of animals is for food. As a concession to the desire for meat, the Torah permitted the slaughter of animals to Noah and his descendants. However, the permission to slaughter animals for food was given within a complex set of limitations, an important part of which is concern for the suffering of those creatures who forfeit their lives for our benefit. The humane handling of livestock immediately prior to slaughter is required by halakhah (Jewish law).

In today's food industry, treatment of animals prior to slaughter remains problematic. Until recent times, animals belonging to Jews typically were raised on private farms, under relatively humane conditions (although no doubt there were some farms with bad conditions, then as now). The shochet (Jewish ritual slaughterer) was a familiar figure to his community; he worked for each customer on an individual basis, and probably slaughtered large animals relatively infrequently. In modern society all this has changed. Since the 1940s we have witnessed the rise of "factory farms," which today produce beef cattle by the millions and fowl by the billions every year for human consumption (for detailed statistics based on USDA figures, see www.usda.gov). The Jewish community ineluctably has been enlisted into this system; it is not commercially feasible for kosher meat suppliers to raise their own livestock, and none do so.

The meat industry has developed systems of raising animals that have exponentially increased production and profits. According to the methods of factory farming, animals are commonly raised in intensely crowded, artificial environments in which their emotional needs are largely ignored. In the United States, the Federal Animal Welfare Act specifically excludes animals raised for food.

The late Rabbi Aryeh Carmell of the Association of Orthodox Scientists of Great Britain and faculty member of Israel's D'var Yerushalayim Yeshiva, wrote: "It seems doubtful … that the Torah would sanction factory farming, which treats animals as machines, with apparent insensitivity to their natural needs and instincts. This is a matter for decision by halakhic authorities” (Masterplan: Judaism It's Programs, Meanings, Goals (1991), p. 69).

However, there are factory farms that are exceptions to the rule. In the belief that animal slaughter can be humane, animal scientist Dr. Temple Grandin of Colorado State University in particular has pioneered efforts to improve animal welfare conditions. Dr. Grandin created a set of humane standards under the aegis of the American Meat Institute (AMI). Many of these standards have been taken up by factory farms, but they are not legally required.

Inhumane practices have a long, dark past in the American food industry, and the Jewish community cannot be blamed for them. However, we must not implicitly condone such practices, rationalizing that we have not directly violated Jewish law. The establishment of higher humane standards is a moral undertaking for which we, as willing participants in the system, must take responsibility. Implementing change is certainly within our reach. The real question is if enough people care.

The Talmud (Tractate Berakhot 20b) states that the Jewish people are praiseworthy for their desire to serve God beyond the letter of the law. This expression of religious devotion has been applied to many ritual precepts; should we not apply it with equal diligence to precepts that affect other living creatures? By engaging in acts of compassion, we become worthy of the blessing of our sages (Tractate Shabbat 151b): “God will show mercy to those who are merciful.”
_____________________

Rabbi Dovid Sears is the author of The Vision of Eden: Animal Welfare and Vegetarianism in Jewish Law and Mysticism (Orot 2003) among other Judaica works. He directs The Breslov Center of New York, whose website is http://breslovcenter.blogspot.com/.

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

See all Core Teaching Animal Welfare Materials!

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

This year upon reading the Megillah, I was struck by something in particular. Every major character in this story, goes out of his or her way to fight for what he or she believes in, even when it is inconvenient, dangerous or unlikely. This is true not only for our heroes and heroines, but also for the villains too.

Vashti loses her exalted place in society and is excommunicated after she stands up for the independent sexual rights of women.

Mordechai sacrifices (or at least risks) his stature in the court by not bowing down to Haman. He also sacrifices his closest relative to the throne so that she will be in a position to help her people.

Hadas sacrifices her name, becoming Ishtar (or Esther). She sacrifices her autonomy to serve as her people’s representative in the court, and she risks her life and status to come before the King to fight to save her people.

Even Haman is constantly manipulating the King and using his position to get his anti-Jewish decree made and to get the treatment he believes he deserves as an ‘honoured man by the King.’

Throughout the story people are constantly advocating, manipulating, lobbying, positioning, etc., to be able to achieve something, usually for the greater good. God is not mentioned, even once. No one prays, except maybe during the fast of Esther, which also doubled as a public hunger strike, because Purim stands as a reminder we have to do it ourselves.

This Purim and for the rest of Adar, focus on an issue facing your community, society or the planet. Stand up, strive and sacrifice to help address a specific concern and to promote what you believe is a good alternative.

Did you remember that she is actually given two names? “He brought up Hadassah, who is also Esther, his uncle’s daughter…” (Megillah Esther, 2:7). The name Hadassah, Hebrew for myrtle, brings to mind the lovely myrtle tree, with smallish star shaped flowers and bluish, purplish berries- giving off a delightful spicy odor. Wikipedia teaches that myrtle is the Mediterranean plant of love, connected with both Aphrodite and Venus- very apropriate, don’t you think? Oh, did I mention that another Greek name for Venus is our stars name- ‘Astara’! Perhaps we can reconstruct Valentine’s Day and reclaim the myrtle as the new rose?

We can also look into uncle Mordechai’s name and discover the sweet smell of myrhh hidden inside Mordechai. In the midrash (Esther Rabbah 2:5) we find, “just as myrhh (‘mor’) is head of the spices, Mordechai is the head in righteousness.” You’ve heard of ‘strong like bull’ or ‘brave like lion’, now we can add, ‘a leader like myrhh’. Names are never merely flat letters pressed into a page.

All of this leads me to my great ‘Aha’. It came fourteen years ago, searching for a name for my new born son. I was shocked into a profoundly fun realization gazing through lists of Hebrew names: Zev, Dov, Talia, Aviva, Ilan, Evan, and Devorah. Have you guessed where I am going with this? Our Hebrew schools and communities are filled with people named Wolf, Bear, Dew Drop, Spring, Tree, Rock and Bee! Isn’t this wild!?

The amazing thing for me is that these names (and many more) are but one facet of a beautiful diamond that is also reflecting Jewish holidays, texts, prayers and ceremonies that deeply connect us with the land. Our ancestors wisely preserved this multifaceted diamond within our tradition, like ancient seeds stored in dry clay jugs, waiting for a generation like ours to recognize the potency of these particular facets.

Thankfully, the time has come when we can proudly proclaim Judaism as an ancient indigenous tradition. We no longer teach that myth, story and ritual are “primitive” and “inferior”. May we all find authentic ways to make these many connections with land and Jewish life self evident to ourselves, our families and our communities.

Please enjoy this small gift of names for fun and inspiration us as we explore and experiment our way into the future. My experience has been that they not only spice up our name games, but they help us share the ‘Aha’ that Judaism really is deeply connected to the land. They help counter the assumption that these ideas were cooked up at some hippie hillel. No, these ideas are as old as Adam, whose very name connects blood and earth (Heb: dom and adamah) inside one being.

Please email me with questions, reflections, new names for the list or just to say hi. All the best, david@maggiddavid.net

PS A wild and crazy thought experiment in honor of Purim. What if one of our yiddin was the first European to Vermont? Instead of French, Yiddish would have won the day. The wonderful state that is just a stones throw north of me would now be called Greenberg- Green Mountain- French for ‘ver(ts)-mont’! Chag Purim Same’ach!!

Earthy Hebrew Names

Compiled by Maggid David Arfa

BOY NAMES

Abel – Breath Adam-Earth Admon- Red Peony

Alon- Oak tree Alyan- Heights Arnon- Roaring Stream

Aryeh- Lion Ari- Lion Aviv- Spring

Barak- Lightning Beryl- Bear (Yid) Chaim- Life

Devir- Holy Place Dror, Deror- a Bird or Freedom

Efron- A Bird Eshkol- Grape Cluster

Evan- Stone Eyal- Stag

Gal/ Gali- Wave or Mountain Gilad/ Gilead- mntns east of Jordan River

Gur/ Guri- Young Lion Hersch- Deer (Yiddish)

Ilan- Tree Ira- Swift ( Arabic)

Ittamar/ Ismar-Islandof Palm Jonah/ Yonah- Dove

Kaniel- Reed/ Stalk Lavi- Lion Meyer/ Meir- One Who Shines

Miron- A Holy Place Namir- Leopard Naor- Light

Nir/Nirea - Plow/ Plowed Field Nirel/Niriel- G?ds Plowed Field

Nitzan- Bud Ofer- A Young Deer

Oren/Orin/Orrin/Oron- Fir Tree or Cedar Peretz- Burst Forth

Ranaan- Fresh Raviv- Rain or Dew

Rimon- Pomegranite Shimshon/ Samson- Sun

Tal- Dew of light Tivon- Student of Nature

Tsevi/ Tzvi- Deer Vulf/ Velvel/ Wolf/ Wolfe – Wolf (Yiddish)

Yanir- He Will Plow Zamir- Song; Nightingale

Zev/ Ze-ev- Wolf Zerach- Light Rising

Ziv/Zivi- To Shine

GIRL NAMES

Adva- Wave; Ripple Alona- Oak Tree Arava- Willow

Ariella- Lioness of G?D Arna/ Arnit- Cedar Arnona/ Arnonit- Roaring Stream

Aviva- Spring Ayala- Deer; Gazelle Berit- Well

Bluma/ Blume- Flower(Yiddish) Carmel/ Carmela/ Carmelit- Vineyard Chaya- Life

Dafna- Laurel Dalia/ Dalit- Branch

Deborah/ Debra/ Devra/ Devorah- Kind words; Swarm of Bees

Degania- Corn Dova/ Doveva/Dovit- Bear

Efrona- Songbird Elana- Oak Tree Esther- Star (Persian)

Gali/ Galit- Fountain or Spring Ganit- Garden

Gayora- Valley of light Gina/ Ginat-Garden

Giva/ Givona- Hill Gornit- Granary Gurit- Cub

Hadass/ Hadassah- Myrtle Tree Hasida- Pious One; Stork

Herzlia- Deer (Yiddish) Hinda- Deer (Yid) Ilana/ Ilanit- Oak Tree

Irit- Daffodil Jasmine/ Yasmine- Persian Flower

Jonina/ Yonina- Dove Kalanit- Anemone

Knarit/ Kanit- Sonbird Karna, Karnit- Rams Horn

Kelila- Laurel Crown (symbolizes victory) Keren- Horn

Kochava- Star Laila; Leila,Lila- Night

Levana, Livana- Moon, White Levona- Spice, Incense

Limor- My Myrrh Livia, Livya- Crown, Lioness

Luza- Almond Tree Margalit- Pearl Netta, Nteia- A Plant

Nili- A Plant Nirit- Flowering Nitza- Bud

Nurit- Buttercup Odera- Plow Ophra, Ofra- Young Deer

Orna, Ornit-Cedar Penina, Peninit- Pearl or Coral

Peri- Fruit Rachel- Ewe (symbolizing gentleness)

Raisa, Raizel- Rose (Yiddish) Rakefet- Cyclamen

Rimona- Pomegranite Serafina- To Burn, (tree sap?)

Sharon- Biblical Plain where Roses Bloomed

Shoshana, Susan, Susannah- Lily or Rose Sivia, Sivya, Tzvia- Deer

Tal, Talia- Dew Tamar, Tamara- date Palm

Tirza- Cypress Tori- My Turtledove

Varda, Vered- Rose Vida, Vita- Life

Yarkona- Green; Bird in Southern Israel; River in Northern Israel

Yemima- Dove Yona, Yonit- Dove

Ze’eva, Zeva- Wolf Zipporah, Tzipporah- Little Bird

Zivanit- Mayflower Zorah, Zora- Dawn (Arabic)

BAUM NAMES (Yiddish/German -Tree)

Buxbaum- Box tree Feigenbaum- Fig Tree

Applebaum- Apple Tree Birnbaum- Pear Tree Nussbaum- Nut Tree

Tannenbaum- Fir Tree Greenbaum- Green Tree Goldbaum- Gold Tree

Kleinbaum- Little Tree

These names were compiled from:

1. Buxbaum, Yitzhak, A Tu Beshvat Seder. Jewish Spirit Publications, NY, 1998.

2. Diamant, Anita, The New Jewish Baby Book. Jewish Lights Publishing, VT, 1994.

Maggid David Arfa is dedicated to sharing Judaism’s storytelling heritage and ancient environmental wisdom. Quality performances, workshops, and teacher trainings allow participants to explore story images, the natural world, traditional texts, and contemporary life. The goals of these programs include expanding the participant’s religious experience and enriching their spiritual imagination.

CD’s Now Available: The Birth of Love: Tales for the Days of Awe, includes David’s retelling of ancient mythology, Old World Yiddish tales (set in the Berkshire foothills), medieval folktales and more.

NEW CD: ,The Life and Times of Herschel of Ostropol: The Greatest Prankster Who Ever Lived- Light hearted folktales and Yiddish stories about Herschel, his wife Ida and life in Ostropol Ukraine.

For more information, please contact:

Maggid David Arfa, Shelburne Falls, MA

david@maggiddavid.net: www.maggiddavid.net

When God created the first human beings, God led them around the Garden of Eden and said: “Look at my works! See how beautiful they are – how excellent! For your sake I created them all. See to it that you do not spoil and destroy My world; for if you do, there will be no one else to repair it.

- Midrash Kohelet Rabbah 1 (on Ecclesiastes 7:13)

We are witnessing a time in which the future of the planet is at stake. The climate crisis is escalating, and it is upon each one of us to do what we can to change course. In the Torah it is written, “And you shall choose Life” (Deuteronomy 30:19). Today more than ever, this Jewish message teaches much about how we should be living on planet Earth.

And God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to work it and protect it. (Genesis 2:15)

The Jewish tradition, as it is reflected in Jewish sources and laws, embraces the perspective of a world in which humankind is in control; as it is written, “Be fruitful and multiply, fill and conquer the land” (Genesis 1:28). Yet humankind also has the unique role of protecting and taking responsibility for Creation; as it is written, “To work and protect” (Genesis 2:15). Humans are commanded to manage the world with humility, respect and responsibility to all of Creation – animal, vegetable, mineral.

The following concepts represent practical ideas for preventing waste and destruction in the world (the principle of bal tashchit), respect for animals (the principle of tzaar baalei chayim), and an active call for tikkun olam.

Six days shall you labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath unto the Lord thy God. (Exodus 20:8-9)

The Sabbath, Judaism’s great gift to humanity, dedicates one day of the week to social, family, and spiritual values, in contrast to the materialistic consumer culture that drives the rest of the week. The Sabbatical Year actualizes these values for an entire year, during which humanity is meant to practice social solidarity, minimalism, and the relinquishment of dominion over nature. Both Shabbat and the Sabbatical Year are premised on the same values of restraint and compassion for all living things that are the platform of any effective attempt to solve the climate crisis. At the core of any approach to ecological problems must be retraction of desire and development of sensitivity to the needs of all of God’s creatures.

Love your neighbor as yourself; I am God. (Leviticus 19:18)

Values of community, reciprocity, and concern for future generations, which characterize a healthy Jewish society, are also the basic building blocks of an environmentally sustainable society. The call for social justice (“Justice, justice, shall you pursue” Deuteronomy 16:20), sanctification of life (“Take good care of yourselves” Deuteronomy 4:15), and the precautionary principle (“Make a protective fence around your roof” Deuteronomy 22:8) are only a few examples of ways in which Jewish principles might guide a sustainable lifestyle in the Land of Israel and throughout the world.

Tikkun Olam – Acting on the Responsibility to Address Climate Change

We call upon the Jewish people to act for environmental “tikkun olam” – to reduce waste production, to move to clean energy, to conserve water and other resources, and to promote the move to sustainability within their families and communities.

We call upon all Jewish leaders and decision-makers to direct attention and resources to promote the values and practices of sustainability in Israel and throughout the Jewish world.

We call upon Zionist organizations, religious streams, and Jewish communities around the world to take concrete steps toward sustainability: to green Jewish institutions in Israel and the Diaspora; to promote local sustainability initiatives; and to emphasize environmental and social justice in the framework of Jewish Education.

We call upon the State of Israel and its institutions to commit to social-environmental responsibility: to establish ambitious goals for reduction of greenhouse gases; to develop clean, independent, and renewable energy sources; to promote the development and use of public transportation; to improve the treatment of solid waste and to convert it into a valuable resource; to implement standards for green building; to work for social and environmental justice for all citizens of the State; to preserve open spaces and biodiversity; and to act protect both human community and nature.

We strive to make Israel, the Jewish State, a model for sustainable values and practice, as it says: “From Zion shall come forth Torah.”

May it be that the words of Ezekiel manifest soon:

And he said to me: Have you seen this, son of man? Then he led me, and caused me to return to the bank of the river. When I had been brought back, behold, upon the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then he said to me: These waters issue forth toward the eastern region, and shall go down into the Arava; and when they shall enter into the sea, into the sea of the putrid waters, the waters shall be healed. And it shall come to pass, that every living creature swarming in the rivers shall come, shall live; and there shall be a very great multitude of fish; for these waters have come, that all things be healed and may live at the mouth of the river. And it shall come to pass that fishers shall stand by it from Ein Gedi until Eneglaim; there shall be a place for the spreading of nets; their fish shall be after their kinds, as the fish of the Great Sea, exceeding many. But the marshy places shall not be healed – they shall be given for salt. And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow every tree for food, whose leaf shall not wither, neither shall the fruit fail; it shall bring forth new fruit every month, because the waters thereof issue out of the Beit Hamikdash (Sanctuary); and the fruit thereof shall be for food, and the leaf for healing.

Ezekiel 47:6-12

I know that Tu b'Shevat has mystical meaning in addition to the more modern, environmental meaning we've given to it. For this seder, I wanted to blend a little of the mystical back into our understanding of Tu b'Shevat. I believe that this mystical understanding is not only complementary, but supportive of our goals at a deep level .

To achieve this, I began by reading from Inviting G-d In, Rabbi David Aaron's book about the holidays. Regarding Tu b'Shevat, he writes:

"The Torah teaches that G-d created the world so that we could experience goodness in general and His goodness in particular. Experiencing His goodness — bonding with G-d — is the greatest joy imaginable… If we eat and enjoy the fruits of this world for G-d's sake — because this is what He asks of us — then we are actually serving G-d and bonding with him. We serve G-d by acknowledging that the fruits of this world are His gifts to us and by willingly accepting and enjoying those gifts… We connect to G-d by serving Him, and this means obeying His commandments to enjoy the fruits of this world." (p. 158-159)

Rabbi Aaron goes on to explain that the mystical significance of Tu b'Shevat is to receive pleasure and have this act transformed into an act of service of G-d. He writes:

"An apple is not just an apple; an apple is a blessing. Maybe I could believe that apples come from trees but a blessing could only come from G-d. If I really contemplate the mystery and miracle of the taste, fragrance, beauty, and nutrition wrapped up in this apple, I see that it's more than just a fruit – it is a wondrous loving gift from G-d. When I taste an apple with that kind of consciousness, I cannot but experience the presence of G-d within the physical."

Thus, we began our seder with a true appreciation of the fruit as a gift from G-d. We began the seder with Canfei Nesharim's fruit meditation, but this time I tweaked it so that we could focus on the fruit not just as a blessing in itself but as a gift — from G-d! All the way through the seder, when we ate fruit, we savored it and we experienced it as a gift. This is part of the mystical beauty of Tu b'Shevat.

Just today one of the participants told me that every time she slows down to eat, she remembers what we learned and how delicious food can be.

The other thing I was interested in was having this seder make a real difference. That's not always easy to do, especially with a Tu b'Shevat Seder. So many things are happening at any one time, and the program does not lend itself to action. But this time we had a special opportunity. The very next day, on Tu b'Shevat, a group of environmentalists were going to meet with our delegate to Maryland's legislature to talk about bringing wind power to Maryland. This is a campaign our group is already behind.

The fourth world of the Tu b'Shevat Seder is emanation. It's about transcending physicality and I like to use the time to appreciate the importance of things we cannot see. I always ask: what things are important that we can't see? It's a meaningful exercise. People often take a few minutes to figure out an answer. Someone always figures out that "air" is something we can't see that's very important. Later on, someone usually comes up with "love." The suggestion I made this time: "the opportunity to make a difference." It's something we often cannot see. It may take many years before you can see any change at all! The emunah, the faith that it is possible is all we have for a long time. And althought it's hard to see, the possibility of making a difference is incredibly important.

That gave me the opportunity to speak of something else that we can't see: wind. And our group did something unique (thanks to Joelle Novey for suggesting it!): we sent a Tu b'Shevat card to our Delegate (Del. Ben Kramer) thanking him for his support of renewable energy, a friendly but encouraging reminder that people in his district care about this. You can download the card here.

Another thing you can see? The ripples of the difference you might make before they spread out. I experienced that when our efforts were covered in the Washington Post the next week!

I believe that we all have something meaningful to contribute to the world. Maybe the key is just this: to believe in something you can't yet see!

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The course is being offered by the New York-based Theological Research Institute, and has been accredited by the national PONSI accreditation agency in New York. Please contact the course instructor, Rabbi Yonatan Neril, MA at yneril@jewishecoseminars.com if you are interested or would like to receive the course syllabus. The course materials draw heavily on materials developed as part of Jewcology.

But our preparations are not only about shopping, cooking, invites and the changeover of dishes. Every year, we spend at least a little time considering what we should talk about at the seder table. We try to discuss something related to the theological and spiritual themes of the holiday. Usually, our discussion centers on the ethics of justice and liberation and how they apply to a some particular case in the world today.

The theme of justice is central to Passover and many of the texts in the Haggadah, Torah and Haftarah readings mention the connection between freedom and justice. The Haftarah for the last day of Passover is taken from the book of Isaiah (chapters 10-12). Chapter 11 contains the famous vision of the ideal ruler, descended from David, who will be filled with the spirit of God which will fill him with wisdom, valor and insight. This king will then rule with justice and will protect the poor of the land. At the same time, humanity and the rest of Creation will return to an Edenic state where there are no predators and no prey; where “the wolf shall dwell with the lamb.” (v. 6) and “the land shall be filled with devotion to the Lord as water covers the sea.” (v. 9b)

This vision is on many levels profoundly unnatural and unsuitable for modern ecological and political sensibilities. For example, biologically there can be no life without death, and today we would demand that justice is participatory and does not depend on a single male royal authority. Nonetheless the vision still stirs us emotionally as a desire for peace, justice and harmony in the world.

I look at the vision as also one of sustainability: if we have a political system that is equitable only then can we begin to live within the rhythms of the natural world. Justice in the human world is intimately bound up with a more sustainable relationship with Creation. So I hope for such a world where peace and harmony result from justice and sustainability.

But there is another vision in the Hebrew Bible that warns us of what will happen if we don’t create such a world. In the Book of Amos (5:18-25) the prophet mocks those who wish for “the Day of the Lord,” thinking that the end of human history will be pleasant and good. He says that the end will be destruction: “It shall be darkness, not light! As if a man should run from a lion and be attacked by a bear!” (v. 18b-19a) Creation will not be benign but the instrument of God’s judgment over an unjust world. God does not want our festivals, our hymns or our sacrifices, “But let justice well up like water, righteousness like an unfailing stream.” (v. 24)

This last verse is often quoted in a positive way by both Jews and Christians but I think that they miss the point when it is not put in context. Amos is referring to a new Flood as in Noah’s day that will wipe the slate of Creation clean of the unjust. It will not be a time of harmony but of destruction. It will be a cleansing of the impurities of human injustice. Injustice leads to environmental degradation which leads to instability and violence.

Thomas Homer-Dixon is a political scientist whosehas focused on threats to global security and on how societies adapt to complex change. He is widely regarded as a central figure in the environment and security debate and has significantly shaped the discussions in this field. In his book, Environment, Scarcity, and Violence (1999) he wrote:

…scarcity is often caused by a severe imbalance in the distribution of wealth and power that results in some groups in a society getting disproportionately large slices of the resource pie, whereas, others get slices that are too small to sustain their livelihoods. Such unequal distribution—or what I call structural scarcity—is a key factor in virtually every case of scarcity contributing to conflict…(p. 15)

The choice lies before us: we can work to create justice and stability now in a way that will bring equity, peace and harmony, or we can continue on the path to scarcity, conflict and environmental destruction.

Let use this time of Passover preparation to consider the real meaning of the festival and be provoked to take action.

I was having a good deal of trouble figuring out what I wanted write about this month on Jewcology. As I was searching for a topic I thought about doing a search for Jewish environmental poetry. The first passage that came up in my search was the following:

Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) 3:1-8
For everything there is a time and a season for every experience under the heavens:
A time to birth and a time to die,
A time to plant and a time to uproot the planted;
A time to kill and a time to heal,
A time to breach and a time to build;
A time to cry and a time to laugh,
A time to mourn and a time to dance;
A time to throw stones and a time for gathering stones,
A time to embrace and a time to be far from an embrace;
A time to search and a time to let go,
A time to guard and a time discard;
A time to rip and a time to mend,
A time to be silent and a time to speak;
A time to love and a time to hate;
A time to fight and a time to make peace.

This passage spoke to me for many reasons. The first, and most obvious, is that everybody is familiar with this passage because of Pete Seeger’s adaptation of it, and the Byrd’s cover of it making it into an international hit. I realized upon reading it that I had never really taken the time to read through the verse line by line and to meditate on each lines meaning.

As I began to do just that I had to pause after reading the second line. This past month I lost my grandmother, who was the last living parent of either my father or mother. At the same time, only two weeks later, my cousin and his wife gave birth to a beautiful boy. Although this cycle happens every day all over the world, it is not something I think about too much because it is outside the scope of my daily experience. I then moved on to each of the next lines and realized that each line can be read independently or as one long sentence.

I believe the environmental movement should mirror the structure and message of this passage. We must be strategic in the battles we choose to fight, and manner in which we speak to those we are attempting to convince. It is also important for us to take the time to appreciate the very environment we are attempting to protect. I think that each line in the verse can also be taken as a command. You can read “there is a time plant” as a suggestion, or as a command. The same can be said for each of the other lines. Reading each line as a command may change the way we think about both our strategy in taking on issues and the balance we strike between our advocacy and personal lives. We must at times speak up, but we also must take the time to be silent and allow others to take the lead (and also take the time to be silent with our own thoughts in order to think through our actions). We must at times fight hard, and even hate those who are taking positions that are so contrary to the concept of stewardship. However, there is also a time to put our differences aside with those we view as opposition , to let go, in order to make constructive progress. Most importantly we must take the time to laugh, love, and dance in order to sustain us through the uphill battle that we consistently face in our advocacy.

Our cliffhanger (see part 1 here ) left us with the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge firmly planted not within Tu B’Shevat, but within the middle of Mi Chamocha our blessing-song for redemption. Mi Chamocha is invoked in every prayer service directly after the Shema. We’ll begin by trying to make sense of this very old word, redemption, and then offer some ideas why Reb Elimelech of Grodzisk (d. 1892) might have placed his wisdom of the two trees there. Ready to wade in the water?

As we get our toes wet, let’s first explore redemption- our personal, communal and cosmic invocation of trust in a bright future. Let’s start with a surprisingly fun analogy from Rabbi Marcia Prager. She compares redemption with the old collectible green stamps. Back in the 1960’s, collecting them built grocery store fidelity- you would get a few with each purchase and could trade in books for new small appliances. Individually each stamp was near worthless, but she saw her mom filled with zeal- (you know, trust, commitment, enthusiasm and yearning), as she licked her stamps and filled out the books. She wasn’t just licking stamps- she was visualizing her new toaster! And when her zeal would flag, and doubt would creep in to her mind, and she wanted to say, “why bother!” she’d just look over to the counter and see that electric can-opener and know that it happened before and it can happen again!

Reb Marcia is playfully teaching us, like the Kabbalists before her, that redemptive power can be accessed in our small daily steps. Guided by the brightest future our imagination can view up ahead on the horizon- we keep our eyes on the prize as we place our steps each day and each moment. Planting trees, tending gardens, raising children, helping others… And yet, sometimes the goal can feel impossibly far away, our zeal begins to flag and we think- why bother? Then let’s remember crossing the Sea, the song celebrated in our Mi Chamocha prayer. Whether it is crossing the Sea or a new electric can-opener sitting on the counter- there are many personal, national and cosmic miracles that bring us to this day. Our tradition is teaching that to remember and celebrate is the path of renewed trust.

So now let’s take a breath and re-connect the wisdom of the two trees with this redemption contained within Mi Chamocha. Can you sense how Reb Elimelech is kind of like a great systems thinker? Holding with confidence that the world is non-linear, that tomorrow might be radically different than today; confident that surprises, even as big as the parting of the sea, can happen for us. In this context, perhaps the wisdom of the two trees is his reminder to balance each placed step to the best of our ability- because after all, as every hiker knows, our steps take us into the future. Reb Elimelech goes even further by implying that with this wisdom we can even help build the path as we are walking.

I’d like to swim a little deeper before we enter into the match of the century. As you can imagine, it turns out that the kabbalists have explored these images for quite some time. Reb Elimelech was not the first.

The kabbalists didn’t sculpt, paint with oil or create stained glass- their medium of choice, was image and story! (you gotta love’em) Their creative imaginations were set to the project of imagining God- before, during and after the existence of our world. In their imaginations, they connected the unimaginable cosmic Nothingness that pervades all with the Tree of Life. It doesn’t have to make sense- just flow with it. Our world flows from the Nothingness creating the Somethingness that is this world. This Somethingness is connected with the Tree of Knowledge. The important point for us is that early on, the kabbalists paired the Tree of Life and Tree of Knowledge together, teaching that only together can they make up our world. After all, they are both mentioned in the Garden of Eden= they must have to be connected. A paradox is formed if you choose ‘either/or’. By the mystics definition, no forms are possible in the sea of Nothingness from which all creation flows. Alternately, the forms by themselves are merely outer coverings, like the bandages that create the presence of the invisible man.

In the 1700’s, a new community of mystics began to create new meanings. Hasidism combined these ideas from the medieval Zohar with their characteristic psychological insight and creativity and created something new. They connected the pathos of selfless humility with the cosmic Nothingness of the Tree of Life and the pathos of self assertion with the Somethingness that is also the Tree of Knowledge. These personally intimate layers also generate paradox if you mistakenly try and imagine only one pole of this pair.

For instance, humility alone can devolve and collapse into meekness. Imagine here Peretz’ long suffering Bontsha the Silent. When Bontsha is given an opportunity to ask for anything from the heavenly hosts, including redemption for the entire cosmos, he can only ask for a warm roll with butter. In response, a sustained groan spills from the heavenly realms. Self assertion can also prove problematic by easily turning into hubris and arrogance when we forget the mysterious gift of life that manifests our actions. Growing up in America we don’t have to go far to understand this.

For those that know Hasidic stories, we can sum up by saying, ‘Number 27’. You know, the one where Reb Simcha Bunam talks about the two notes we should always carry in our pockets- in one pocket we carry the note that says ‘we are dust and ashes, going back to dust and ashes’. In the other pocket we carry the note ‘for my sake the world was created’. Is this not the wisdom of the two trees? In this way, we can remember that all acts of our self assertion are buoyed by the mysterious source of life. The same wisdom that sustains the prophets as they confront injustice can also sustain us in our everyday life. Reb Elimelech is reminding us that all of this is planted inside our humble Mi Chamocha prayer.

Now we are able to come back around to the “match of the century’. What might Rabbi Heschel have meant when he said: “…I am not ready to accept the ancient concept of prayer as dialogue. Who are we to enter a dialogue with God?” He then declares that he is only an “it” immersed within the all that is God and can not be an ‘I’. Why might Rabbi Heschel be attacking dialogue, which just happens to be the backbone of Martin Buber's work? Perhaps Rabbi Heschel is reminding us of the wisdom of the two trees and balancing Martin Buber's vision of God that is found in our relationships, by focusing on the Tree of Life, the cosmic Nothingness, an aspect of God in which we are totally subsumed. Reminding us not to forget the wisdom of both trees, of balance, of active God work in creating an "I and Thou" field, as well as the totally subsumed, "All is the immensity of God no matter what we do", view as well.

I wonder if perhaps Rabbi Heschel is playing the trickster by specifically attacking dialogue in his comments. It seems that Rabbi Heschel was particularly good at rebuking the traditional community for not being liberal enough and rebuking the liberal community for not being traditional enough. Perhaps, Rabbi Heschel is reminding us to remember that this word “God” whatever it might mean to us, means way more than we can ever hold in our words and in our being.

Whew, Deep breath. One last question. In what additional ways might we understand this image of the two trees? What polarities might be smoothed when we open our hearts and imagination to Reb Elimelech’s wisdom. Are we becoming out of balance by focusing too much effort on personal change and minimizing civic engagement? Are we bringing our attention only to the human community around us and forgetting our neighbors that are birds, animals, trees, rocks and water? Are we pouring our energy into words of utility and forgetting words of prayer? Are we spending too much time with words and forgetting color, music, dance, forest and stream? As we imagine the biggest and brightest sustainable and peaceful earth we can imagine, here's to the wisdom of the two trees helping us move there, step by step.

Please share where Reb Elimelech leads your imaginings. After all, as the divine voice from the heavenly realms was recorded to say in the Talmud, “These and these are the words of the living God”*.

PS This blog is based on a beautiful teaching that I’ve learned from Elimelech of Grodzisk (d. 1892). He was the father of Rabbi Kalonymous Kalman Shapira who became known as the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto. I found it in a book about the Shema, a volume of Lawrence Hoffman’s (editor) amazingly vast, multi-volume, contemporary commentary on the prayerbook called My People’s Prayerbook. Nehemiah Polen and Lawrence Kushner bring the mystical and Hasidic perpectives to this book and the teaching grows from Reb Elimelech’s perspective on the daily blessing Mi Chamocha, our celebration song for trust in a bright future- trust because after all, we have just crossed the sea to safety.

The teaching from Rabbi Marcia Prager was a small bit from her teaching on the Shema and blessings, heard in person at the Davenning Leadership Training Institute. For further information on this transformative two year prayer leadership program, please visit, http://www.davvenenleadership.com/

Maggid David, www.maggiddavid.net

*The full text is found in this wonderful collections of texts on civility can be found on the Jewish Council for Public Affairs site here:

Rabbi Abba said in the name of Sh’mu’el: For three years the House of Shammai and the House of Hillel debated [a matter of ritual purity]. These said, “The law is according to our position,” and these said, “The law is according to our position.” A divine voice came and said, “These and these are the words of the living God, and the law is according to the House of Hillel.” But if these and these are both the words of the living God, why was the law set according to the House of Hillel? Because they (the House of Hillel) were gentle and humble and they taught both their own words and the words of the House of Shammai. And not only this, but they taught the words of the House of Shammai before their own.(Talmud Eruvin 13b)

Indeed, environmental concerns seem to be fairly low on the international priorities list these days. Look at the recent failure of the Durban conference, in which governments, (most notably my own Conservative Canadian government), were unwilling to focus on environmental concerns choosing instead to lead with economic considerations.

It’s not a surprising response from world leaders, but it is a short sighted one. What governments are missing is that environmental issues ARE social issues. Climate change will be or possibly already is, a contributing factor to famine and social unrest in developing countries such as Sudan & Congo, and will play an increasingly larger role in the social and economic stability of western countries as well.

So what can Tu B’shvat, an ancient agricultural tax holiday, teach us in this time of social, economic and environmental unrest?

In its original context, Tu B’shvat, the ‘New Year of the Trees’, is the beginning of the agricultural tax season, a reminder that we have a communal responsibility to feed and clothe others. No matter how removed we are from the natural world, Tu B’shvat acts as an annual reminder these resources come from nature and agriculture and that our relationship to God and to other people is manifested through how we utilize these natural resources. We have a responsibility to ensure that people are cared for and the land is protected.

Social, economic and environmental concerns are completely interwoven, both in Jewish values and in modern life. We cannot address one without addressing the other simultaneously. It’s a lesson of particular importance in 2012 given the current physical and political climate.

Tu B’shvat 2012 is a call to solve social and environmental issues in one. This year make your theme environmental justice. Explore the interplay of social and environmental concerns throughout Jewish social and agricultural ethics. Discover easy personal and communal solutions that help both people and the planet.

We must protect clean water, clean air, arable land, and address the myriad of environmental challenges we face. We must simultaneously ensure the rights of individuals to access these resources and address the many social woes facing people and society.

In the shadow of the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street and European unrest, let this Tu B’shvat be an opportunity to explore how Judaism pioneered environmental justice and how we can apply this approach in our modern daily life.

Chag Sameach!

“For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams and springs and fountains issuing from plain and hill; a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land where you may eat food without stint, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you can mine copper. When you have eaten your fill, give thanks to the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.”

The five fruits are thus grapes (vines), figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates (honey), while the two grains are wheat and barley. Other species that are associated with the holiday of Tu B’Shvat are almonds (whose trees are the first to blossom in the spring, right around the time of Tu B’Shvat) and the carob. In last month’s blog post I focused primarily on the olive and olive oil, and the hidden meanings behind these. This was especially relevant last month as olive oil plays an important role in the holiday of Hannukah.

There are, in fact, deeper meanings to all of the fruits and grains used to describe the Land of Israel. As this fascinating article points out (based on the teachings of the Lubovitcher Rebbe), each of the Seven Species corresponds to a different attribute found in all people. The wheat is said to be nourishment for the human spirit inside all people, while the barley is considered as nourishment for the animal spirit contained within us. Grapes correspond to Joy, because wine makes you joyous; "my wine, which makes joyous G-d and men." (Judges 9:13). The fig – involvement, the pomegranate – deeds, olives – struggle (because they must be pressed to make oil), and the date represents our capacity for peace, tranquility and perfection. Of course, these fruits and grains are mentioned in multiple sources in Tanach, thus adding depth of meaning and alternative associations with each species.

These 7 species provide a tangible reminder of the Holy Land to Jews living in the diaspora, and help us feel connected to the Land of Israel, especially when fruits grown in Israel can be found. As the Land of Israel is holy, the fruits that grow from its soil have a special connection to the land. When we eat the fruits we ingest the holiness of the land with the fruits.

Tu B’Shvat is also one of the 4 new year’s mentioned in the first mishnah in tractate Rosh Hashanah. This means that there are some similarities between Rosh Hashana (which falls on the first of Tishrei) and Rosh HaShana ha Ilanot (Tu B’Shvat). The Torah says that “man is like a tree of the field” (Deut 20:19). Therefore, said the Lubavitcher rebbe, this day reveals a special aspect of Rosh Hashanah. “The Rosh Hashanah of the trees adds a level of fulfillment above [and beyond] that associated with Rosh Hashana, the day of man’s creation . . . Since Tu B’Shvat is the Rosh Hashanah of the trees, it generates new life-energy for [all] those dimensions of a Jew’s [divine] service which are compared to trees.” Rabbi Yisrael, the rabbi of Ger, writes; “Tu B’Shvat, which is the new year of the trees, is also a new year [for people] and a time for self-accounting and repentance. . . A person should take stock of his life when the trees are renewing themselves and preparing to produce fruits. That is when each one of us should consider how to renew himself in the service of God, for: ”One hour of repentance and good deeds is better than all the life of the world-to-come” (Avot 4:22).

From these quotes we can see that Tu B’Shvat is an auspicious time of year not just for trees, but for people as well. May we be able to channel the energy of the fruits that we bless and eat on Tu B’Shvat toward living our lives in accordance with the Divine Will. May we feel a connection to the holy Land of Israel by eating of fruits which are grown there, or by eating of the 7 species to which Israel is compared. In so doing, we bring down divine blessing that our activities should bare fruit just as we pray for the trees to bare fruit. May this Tu B’Shvat be a sweet, joyous, and fruitful new year for us all!