This past Sunday, over 100 members of the Jewish community, from New Bedford, MA to Brattleboro, VT, gathered at Hebrew College in Newton, MA, for the first Jewish Climate Action Network conference, “From Uncertainty to Action: What You Can Do About Climate Change.” According to Rabbi Arthur Waskow, it was the first conference of its kind, “I would have heard about it,”  he told us, if there had been another.

For four hours, we learned together, sang together, talked together, and connected to each other. And through all this, we were inspired, motivated, and recharged. It was an amazing afternoon. I am grateful to all those who helped make it happen, and to all those who took the time and energy to come. It was a vision fulfilled; it was a start, not and ending. It was a new beginning, of putting the Boston area Jewish community into the conversation about climate change.

As Jews, we are deeply rooted in Torah and in community. Today, we brought these together in the context of climate change.  The power of that connection was felt by every one present.

We will go forward from here, together. We will grow stronger. We will become more connected. We will build community. We will build enthusiasm and determination. We will weave networks of interdependence, caring, compassion, and trust. We will speak out. We will bring about change.

We will make a difference.

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

Summery of the conference:

• Panel exploring what Judaism adds to our understanding and ability to respond to climate change
• Two rounds of workshops, each of which will provide concrete information about a specific way to respond to the threat of climate change and to connect with others
• Opportunity to speak with community organizations and businesses involved in environmental work
• Special workshop for teens and tweens
• Short wrap-up program highlighting what has been accomplished and providing a send off
• Facilitation of informal gatherings for dinner at nearby restaurants those who want to continue the conversations.

A schedule and descriptions of workshops and bios of workshop leaders can be found at http://www.jewishclimate.org/may-2015-conference.html

When: Sunday, May 17, 3-7 PM

Where: Hebrew College, Herrick Road, Newton
Registration: https://secure.hebrewcollege.edu/form/uncertainty-action-what-you-can-do-about-climate-change

Cost: $18 donation (optional); students are free.

Co-sponsors include: Hebrew College, Center for Global Judaism, Hazon, LimmudBoston, Shomrei Bereshit: Rabbis and Cantors for the Earth, and others.

Last chance to help us make Israel a greener, environmentally healthier land: Until the end of April you can vote online for the upcoming World Zionist Congress. The results determine, among other things, the division of power at the Jewish National Fund’s international board.

For the past decade I have sat on the JNF board, largely because of the support and intervention of the Green Zionist Alliance – a wonderful group of young environmentalists who decided to get involved and improve Israel’s environmental performance. This support has allowed me to represent them and pursue any number of important green initiatives which include:

· creating new sustainable forestry policies for the JNF,

· putting bike lanes on the organization’s agenda,

· creating a brand new “affirmative action” program to systematically reach out to Israel’s Arab minorities to finance environmental projects,

· increasing the organizational commitment to green building and solar energy,

· leading the fight to prevent JNF funding over the green line,

· expanding funding for forestry and agricultural research as well as river restoration projects, and

· fighting for good government and transparency.

There is a lot more that needs to be done. Whether or not I can continue depends on whether the “GZA” – or Aytzim as they call themselves these days gets enough votes. It only takes ten dollars to register and 3 minutes online to vote. (The polls close this Thursday April 30th). Here’s a link to Vote Green Israel: www.worldzionistcongress.org

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. And thanks to all of you who have already voted green for the support. – Alon Tal

(Considered by many to be the leading environmentalist in Israeli history, Alon Tal is a co-founder of the Green Zionist Alliance)

You can support the Israel you want to see. All American Jews can vote in the World Zionist Congress election going on right now. One of the most common questions, we get is why it costs $10 to vote. As Mirele Goldsmith, a Green Israel slate member answers: “The American Zionist Movement has contracted with an independent company to run the online election.  This is to insure that the election is fair.  The registration fee is being used exclusively to pay for the election.  It is not a donation to the WZO.  I wish there was no fee, but it is a small price to pay to make a real difference in the future of Israel.”

Green Israel Platform: Peace for All • Green Energy • Sustainable Development • Diaspora Relations • Air Quality • Ecological Ecology • Animal Rights • Food Justice • Water Conservation • Schmita • Recycling • Encourage Environmental Start-Ups

Green Israel Slate: Eli Bass, Ellen Bernstein, Fred Scherlinder Dobb, Karin Fleisch, David Fox, Matthew Frankel, Ilana Gauss, Brett Goldman, Mirele Goldsmith, Wendy Kenin, David Krantz, Frances Lasday, Evonne Marzouk, Hody Nemes, Morgan Prestage, Shira Rosen, Richard Schwartz, Jacob Schonzeit, David Sher, Garth Silberstein, Marc Soloway, Lawrence Troster, David Weisberg, Eric Weltman, Laurie Zoloth

Please vote Green Israel. Go to http://jewcology.org/2015/03/votegreenisrael/ or worldzionistcongress.org for more info.

“May the merciful One turn our hearts toward the land,
so that we may dwell together with her in her sabbath-rest the whole year of Shmita.”

Harachaman hu yashiv libeinu el ha’aretz
l’ma’an neisheiv yachad imah b’shovtah, kol sh’nat hash’mitah!

הָרַחֲמָן הוּא יָשִיב לִבֵּינוּ אֶל הָאָרֶץ לְמַעַן נֵשֵב יָחַד עִמָהּ בְּשָׁבְתהּ, כָּל שְׁנַת הַשְׁמִיטָה

The words of this blessing were written by Rabbi David Seidenberg. Nili Simhai made it into a singable liturgy by setting the words to the “Sosne Nigun” by Jonah Adels, z”l. (Listen to the song at www.neohasid.org/resources/shmita-harachaman.)Harachaman blessings come after the main part of the blessing after the meals, and they ask for special blessings, including blessings related to Shabbat and holidays. Sing it at your Tu Bish’vat seder and at every meal this whole Shmita year!

Shmita means “release”, and the Shmita year is about release or liberation for the land, liberation between the people and the land, and liberation between people themselves. This Harachaman blessing references all three kinds of liberation, and it does that by using three different verbs that include the letters Shin ש and Bet ב. The first, yashiv, comes from the word “turn”, lashuv, לשוב, and it refers to our returning to a right relationship on a heart level with the Earth. The second, neishev, comes from “to settle” or “dwell”, lashevet, לשבת, as in shevet achim gam yachad — how good it is for brothers and sisters to dwell together, and it refers to liberation between individuals in the year of release, when debts are canceled and food is shared. The third, b’shovtah, comes from lishbot, לשבות, to rest, and it refers to the shabbat that the land itself enjoys in the Shmita year, as it says, “the land will enjoy her sabbaths”. This is the true nature of tikkun olam: tikkun, repair and restoration, on all these levels together. That is what must happen to fix the world.

You can download the PDF at neohasid.org/pdf/Shmita-Harachaman.pdf or get a PNG graphic of the blessing at neohasid.org/resources/shmita-harachaman/ (there are 8 Harachamans per page) to use at your Tu Bish’vat seder and for every meal during this Shmita year.

The words fit into the song like this:

Harachaman hu yashiv libeinu
el ha’aretz, el ha’aretz
Harachaman hu yashiv libeinu
el ha’aretz, el ha’aretz 

l’ma’an neisheiv yachad imah
imah b’shovtah
neisheiv yachad imah
imah b’shovtah

kol sh’nat hash’mitah
kol sh’nat hash’mitah
kol sh’nat hash’mitah
kol sh’nat hash’mitah

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

An election has started that gives you a chance to have a say about Israel’s environmental future. While most Jews are unaware of it, they are entitled to a voice about Israel’s future. That voice is the World Zionist Congress, which meets every four years in Jerusalem with the mandate to fund programs and create policies that will help achieve the goals of the Jewish People.  The Congress was initially set up by Theodor Herzl and led directly to the establishment of the State of Israel.  It has been a partner with the Government of Israel since that time but sadly, very few Jews know that they have a chance to speak up through their vote. if you are Jewish and over 18 years of age, you can make your voice heard by voting!

The voting takes place from January 14, 2015 through April 30, 2015.  Every Jewish person over age 18 is entitled to vote for the slate of his or her choice.  As with the first Zionist Congress held in 1897, there is a nominal charge to vote ($5 for persons under the age of 30 and $10 for those above the age of 30).  The charge is used to defray the costs of the election.

The 37th Zionist Congress will meet in October 2015 and will include 525 delegates representing Jews in many nations around the world. The United States will field 145 delegates who represent a variety of political organizations.  My slate is called Green Israel, which includes Ayztim–Ecological Judaism;, the Green Zionist Alliance, Jewcology.org, and Shomrei Breishit. We are focused on taking action to protect Israel’s environment, increase the country’s use of renewable energy, and to help Israel become a global leader in sustainable practice.

Why Vote for Green Israel?

Many groups will be competing to participate in the 37^th World Zionist Congress but few can have the impact that Green Israel can. While competing groups would like to have their voice heard on political issues involving Israel and its foreign or religious policy objectives, they may not have any significant impact because the Israeli Knesset has exclusive control over these issues. The Green Israel slate can make a difference on issues regarding land since the World Zionist Organization controls the Jewish National Fund, which owns over 14% of the actual land of Israel. What is done on that land (which includes nature preserves as well as cities) can be directly influenced by the World Zionist Congress. In other words, Green Israel can make a real impact and not just a symbolic one. We can create more environmentally friendly practices and help Israel be more energy independent if we can garner enough votes.

The Green Zionist Alliance (GZA) is the first environmental group to ever participate in the World Zionist Congress. Now Green Israel, which has become the umbrella slate for Aytzim, the  GZA and our other Jewish environmental partners, has been embraced by all streams of the Zionist movement — left to right, secular to religious, Reform to Orthodox. From the early Zionist pioneers to Israel’s modern environmental, water-saving, and renewable energy technologies, ecological sustainability has been a fundamental tenet of Zionism. Those who love the land of Israel must work to protect it. Voting for the Green Israel slate will help ensure that environmental sustainability stays at the forefront of Israel’s future.

To learn more about GZA’s past work and past legislation as well as about the resolutions we are planning to bring to the 37th Congress, please see: http://www.aytzim.org/congress .

Please vote for a green Israel by voting for the Green Israel slate at: http://worldzionistcongress.org .

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

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

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

• 4 days of kosher farm-to-table food in a pluralistic Jewish community and a rockin’ New Year’s Eve “Butterfly Masquerade” party
• Rabbis and leaders in Jewish thought bringing to life history, ethics, Jewish text, meaningful prayer, and more
• Expert cooking demonstrations and hands-on learning with renowned chefs
• Homesteading workshops with farmers and city folk for backyard chickens and beekeeping
• Conversations and take-home resources about food justice that will engage you in questions such as: How do poultry and pollinators affect what we eat, and how does what we eat affect them? What governmental policies are supporting or detracting from our ability to uphold our food values? And how does being Jewish fit into all these foodie issues? Learn from the experts and you will never look at eggs, bees, or food prices the same way again!

As we head into winter, the light changes and creates changes inside of us. Dusk descends upon the Earth earlier and dawn arrives later.  An evening walk takes us through luminous pockets of blue, white, red and green. For some, winter light brings a melancholy and longing for bright summer sunlight. For others, the candles and iridescent colored bulbs bring excitement and nostalgia.

It is with this consciousness of light and its effects on the human condition that the Jewish people observe Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights.

During Hanukkah, we commemorate the triumph of the Maccabees over the Greeks in the 2nd century BCE.  When they rededicated the desecrated Temple, the Maccabees found only one cruse of oil left to light the ceremonial lamp.  That cruse of oil was only expected to last for one night; however, it lasted for eight days.

What meanings can we glean from the miracle of the oil? Perhaps it is that no matter how abused or degraded an individual or a group may be, there is the capacity in it for more fire and light than one could ever imagine. Or maybe it is that triumph over oppression illuminates what is good.  We have what we need even if it doesn’t seem as though we have enough.  We can enter darkness in our world and in our souls knowing that we will endure, and that world has what it needs to illuminate truth, beauty and goodness.

Congregation Har Shalom is getting ready to construct its outdoor hanukkiah, which we light each night in front of the synagogue.  What will be different about this year’s Hanukkah Festivities at Har Shalom?

Generally the custom on Hanukkah is to light one candle for the first night, and one additional light each night until the eighth night when the hanukkiah is aglow with all eight branches burning brightly.  This custom was the custom of the School of Hillel.  A lesser known form of the ritual – that of the House of Shammai- is to light eight lights on the first night and one fewer each night until one candle remains lit.  This year, since it is a shmita or sabbatical year in which we allow fields to lie fallow as instructed by the Torah, our community has decided that we will light our public hanukkiah according to the lesser known tradition. This mirrors the shift away from production and cultivation of land which in our times can be construed as increasing consumption of energy and natural resources.  The lights of the universe and beyond will be felt most profoundly on the culminating 8th night instead of eight lights that are humanly constructed and lit.

The sabbatical year occurs every seven years and provides the opportunity for a shift in perspective towards humility in which we can explore the non-dominant approach.   Our usual way of doing things is interrupted and we take some time to retreat into stillness.  From there, new approaches to address old problems arise, a welcome opportunity in this challenging year.  We hope you will join us in staring into the night sky and that you will be blessed with discernment, and the lights of awareness and new hope.

Rabbi Shoshana Leis is co- rabbi of Har Shalom Center for Jewish Living.  Jennifer Geraci is the Vice President of Spiritual Practice at Har Shalom. Visit congregationharshalom.org for information on Hanukkah activities and more.

Chanukah commemorates the single small container of pure olive oil — expected to be enough for only one day — which, according to the Talmud (Shabbat 21b), miraculously lasted for eight days in the rededicated Temple.

A switch to vegetarianism would be using our wisdom and compassion to help inspire another great miracle: the end of the tragedy of world hunger, therefore ensuring the survival of tens of millions of people annually. Currently, from one-third to one-half of the world’s grain, and about three-quarters of major food crops in the U.S. (e.g., corn, wheat, soybeans, oats), is fed to animals destined for slaughter, while almost a billion poor people chronically suffer from malnutrition and its debilitating effects, tens of thousands of them consequently dying each day, one every few seconds.

Chanukah represents the victory of the idealistic and courageous few, over the seemingly invincible power and dominant values of the surrounding society. We learn through both our religious studies and history that might does not make right, even if it sometimes rules the moment. Therefore, quality is more important than quantity; spirituality is more vital than materialism, though each is necessary. “Not by might and not by power, but by My spirit,” says Zechariah 4:6, part of the prophetic reading for Shabbat Chanukah. Today, vegetarians are relatively few in number, though growing, but the highest ideals and spirit of Judaism are on their side.

According to the Book of Macabees, some Macabees lived on plant foods — to “avoid being polluted” (by eating non-kosher meat)— when they hid in caves and in the mountains to escape capture. Further, the major foods associated with Chanukah, latkes  (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly donuts), are vegetarian foods — as is chocolate gelt — and the vegetable oils that are used in their preparation are a reminder of the pure vegetable oil (olive) used in the lighting of the Temple’s Menorah.

The miracle of the oil brings the use of fuel and other resources into focus. One day’s oil was able to last for eight days in the Temple, a miracle of resource conservation. Conservation and energy-efficiency are sacred acts and vegetarianism allows resources to go much further, since far less oil, water, land, topsoil, chemicals, labor, and other agricultural resources are required for plant-based diets than for animal-centered diets, while far less waste, pollution, and greenhouse gases are produced. For example, it can require up to 78 calories of non-renewable fossil fuel for each calorie of protein obtained from factory-farmed beef, whether kosher or otherwise, but only 2 calories of fossil fuel to produce a calorie of protein from soybeans.

In addition to resource conservation and economic efficiency, a switch toward vegetarianism would greatly benefit the health of individuals, the condition of our environment, and would sharply reduce the suffering and death of billions of animals. Further, the social, psychological, and spiritual benefits should not be underestimated. Many people who switch to a vegetarian diet report feeling physically, emotionally, and spiritually better. And more and more Jews and others are doing just that!

Chanukah also represents the triumph of idealistic non-conformity. Like the Hebrew prophets, the Macabees fought for their inner beliefs, rather than conforming to external pressure. They were willing to proudly exclaim: this we believe, this we stand for, this we are willing to struggle for. Like the great Prophets and the celebrated Macabees, vegetarians represent this type of progressive non-conformity by an inspired minority. At a time when most people, especially in wealthier countries, think of animal products as the main part of their meals, vegetarians are resisting and insisting that there is a better, healthier, more compassionate, more environmentally sustainable, and ethical choice, one that better fits with our religious values and philosophical beliefs.

The word Chanukah means dedication, while the Hebrew root of the word means education. Each year, we should re-educate ourselves about the horrible realities of factory farming and slaughterhouses, as well as re-dedicate and beautify our inner temples. We can do this by practicing  the powerful Jewish teachings and highest values of Judaism, as another way to “proclaim the miracle” of Chanukah and Jewish renewal. These sacred values and holy deeds ( mitzvot) include compassion for others, including animals ( tsa’ar ba’alei chayi, preserving one’s health (pekuach nefesh), conservation of resources  (bal tashchit), proper spiritual intention (kavanah ), righteousness and charity (tzedakah), peace and justice (shalom v’tzedek), being partners in creation (shomrei adamah), healing our world(tikkun olam), and increasing in matters of holiness (ma’alin bakodesh v’ayn moridim), going from strength to strength, just as Hillel successfully argued that we should light the menorah for the eight days in ascending order).

Chanukah commemorates the deliverance of the Jews from the Syrian-Greeks. In our time, vegetarianism can be a step toward deliverance of society from various modern plagues and tragedies, including global warming, world hunger, deforestation, air and water pollution, species extinction, resource depletion, heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, obesity, rising health care costs, and lost productivity, among others.

One way to achieve the wonderful aspirations of Judaism is by switching to a vegetarian diet. A shift toward vegetarianism can also be a major factor in the rededication and renewal of Judaism, as it would further demonstrate that Jewish values are not only relevant but essential to everyday personal life and global survival.

The letters on a Diaspora dreidel), are an acronym for nes gadol hayah sham, a great miracle happened there. May the celebration of this joyous holiday inspire another miracle within each of us.

May we all have a happy, healthy, and miraculous Chanukah!

For more information, please visit the Jewish Vegetarians of North America web site at www.JewishVeg.com and The Vegetarian Mitzvah site at www.brook.com/jveg.

Daniel Brook, Ph.D., teaches sociology and political science and his e-books, including An Alef-Bet Kabalah and Social Truthscan be found at www.smashwords.com/profile/view/brook. He also maintains The Vegetarian Mitzvah at www.brook.com/jveg, Eco-Eating at www.brook.com/veg, is a member of the Advisory Committee of Jewish Vegetarians of North America, and can be contacted via brook@brook.com.

Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D., is the author of Judaism and Vegetarianism, Judaism and Global Survival, Who Stele My Religion?, and over 200 articles and 25 podcasts located at www.JewishVeg.com/schwartz. He is president emeritus of Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) (www.JewishVeg.com), president of the Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians (SERV) (www.serv-online.org), and can be contacted via President@JewishVeg.com

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Young Urban Moshav is thrilled to have the opportunity to create a demonstration garden at the JCC of the East Bay. The garden is intended to serve the after school program’s garden curriculum and to function as a Jewish outdoor learning center for the community. The project site design will integrate best urban garden practices with Jewish cultural items such as traditional holiday foods and the fruits of Israel. The space will accommodate groups of learners and holiday activities. Young Urban Moshav’s participatory approach includes support with community engagement, from communications content and crowdsourcing to strategic connections with other Jewish green initiatives.

Artisan Katherine Gulley of Raised Bedlam Woodworks (left), Green Educator Ezra Ranz (center), JCC East Bay Berkeley After School Director Cassie Brown (right) enjoy the new beautiful redwood garden furniture that arrived in November.

Young Urban Moshav, a new Jewish food start-up, has been accepted into the Hazon CSA network and aims to develop a residentially-based Community Supported Agriculture program. The JCC East Bay garden will be an example of garden design and implementation that Young Urban Moshav is offering for other institutions and private residences as it embarks on its goal to grow a system of interconnected urban agriculture sites across the East Bay.

In developing this exciting demonstration garden, Young Urban Moshav is sourcing labor and products from within the community whenever possible. As of the end of November 2014, exciting progress has been made. The garden has received its first major contribution from Katherine Gulley at Raised Bedlam Woodworks in Berkeley. A beautiful redwood table and bench, including end planters and a garden box, are already on site! Katherine makes custom outdoor and reclaimed furniture. She herself grew up in Berkeley attending the JCC and proudly claims that she was at her after school program at the JCC when the big earthquake of ‘89 hit.

Chuck Weis (left), Jory Gessow of Gessow Landscaping (center), and Garden Educator Ezra Ranz (right) scope out the site for grading upgrades.

The garden site, an alley between the southwest corner of the JCC building and the adjacent commercial CVS building, is being graded during the month of December so that the main area in use will be flat. Approval has been obtained for a retaining wall and ramp, to be constructed by community member Jory Gessow of Gessow Landscaping. You might recognize Jory from the annual Tikkun Leyl Shavuot events as he is an avid participant of many years!

JCC After School Director Cassie Brown has been overseeing the project. Green Educator Ezra Ranz has been coordinating between the JCC and Young Urban Moshav on a volunteer basis while already growing some starts with students in small boxes on location (pictured in the featured image of this article). Facilities Supervisor Chuck Weis is managing construction details regarding the building site. Front Desk Supervisor Selena Martinez has been filling an insightful and exemplary advisory role. The garden design has been developed by Young Urban Moshav volunteer Talya Ilovitz, who now is updating the drawings to include the newest developments.

Next major steps include construction of raised garden beds and installation of drip irrigation as well as a spiral herb garden and worm bin. Material contributions are being graciously accepted, from lumber to soil, garden equipment and planters to irrigation supplies, seeds, plants and even worms! Please contact youngurbanmoshav@gmail.com if you would like to contribute to this exciting Jewish community garden.

Vayetzei dish

This post originally appeared on Neesh Noosh: A Jewish Woman’s Year Long Journey to Find Faith in Food.

In Vayetzei, we read that Jacob leaves Beer-sheva at sunset to travel to Laban’s house. Jacob is at Laban’s house for 20 years, during which time he faces many challenges and uncertainties that shroud his life in darkness. After the 20 years there, he leaves Laban’s house at sunrise.

The Etz Hayim commentary describes “the 20 years at Laban’s house as a ‘dark night for the soul,’ years spent struggling with the dark forces represented by Laban’s treachery and Jacob’s confronting his own attracting to deceit” (p. 166).

However, despite the challenges and darkness that Jacob deals with in the 20 years, he also connects with God.  Etz Hayim continues, “when the Sages attribute to Jacob the institution of the evening prayer (Ma’ariv), they may be crediting him as the first person able to find God in the midst of darkness” (p. 166)

La Cienega farmers market. Pomegranate

Jacob’s time of darkness was an opportunity for him to find God. And, as  Yael Shy comments, “Jacob leaves us with the challenge of recognizing our encounters with God in all God’s forms.” There are many dark and challenging parts of our lives and society. Our food system is one. How is it possible that the wealthiest nation in the world has 45.3 million citizens living in poverty and 49.1 million hungry people?  In addition, for 29 million Americans who live in low-income areas, the nearest supermarket is more than a mile away. When someone is poor, without transportation and/or living in a low-income area without a supermarket, it significantly hampers one’s ability to eat nutritious food. Despite, this dark aspect of our society, there are countless individuals who recognize this challenge and are re-imagining our food system.

Black wild rice

Rabbi Brad Artson writes in The Bedside Torah, about the “power of imagination” in Vayetzei. He writes that, “through the power of imagination, each of us retains the ability to transform the world. . . . Our religion trains us to visualize a better world. . . .[and] as with Jacob, our imagination can provide the necessary first step toward transforming our world and ourselves” (p. 47-48).

Many Americans are envisioning and transforming our food systems to ensures that poverty and hunger are eliminated and that all people have regular access to nutritious foods.

One such person is Karyn Moskowitz of New Roots in Louisville, KY. She’s featured in  Faith in Food: Changing the World One Meal at a Time, a fabulous new book by Susie Weldon and Sue Campbell that shares inspiring, exciting stories of global food activists who, guided by their faith, are re-imagining their food systems Karyn’s organization runs “Fresh Stops” which works with residents who are low-income and live in neighborhoods without access to fresh produce. Through New Roots, residents pool their money and SNAP (food stamps) benefits to bulk purchase fresh produce from local farms. Without this program, participants would not be eating these healthful foods.

My mandarin tree

The recipe I created this week symbolizes Jacob’s journey from sunset to sunrise, with darkness in the middle of his journey. The dish is anchored on both ends by a citrus mixture, symbolizing sunset/sunrise and black wild rice in the center to represent darkness.  The pomegranate seeds mixed with the rice are a reference to God’s recognition of Jacob’s hard work tending to Laban’s ” streaked, speckled and mottled flock.”  After presenting on a platter, to symbolize the journey, one can then blend everything together in a bowl to enjoy.

Wild Rice, Citrus, Pomegranate Dish

Ingredients

2 Valencia oranges, chopped
2 Mandarin oranges, chopped
1 cup black wild rice
1/2 Pomegranate seeds
1 handful mint, chopped
olive oil
salt

Vayetzei, part 2

Preparation

1. Cook rice over medium heat until done.

2. Chop oranges into small pieces. Finely chop mint and blend with oranges.

3. When rice is done, fold in seeds, drizzle with olive oil and add a pinch of salt. Place in center of platter and citrus mixture on each end.

4. After serving, blend ingredients together.

B’tayavon!

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.

Two weeks ago, on Rosh Hashanah, we marked not only the beginning of another year in the Jewish calendar, but the beginning of Shemitah, the Jewish sabbatical year.  Every seven years, Jewish farmers in Israel are commanded to let their lands lie fallow, not to plant, plow, prune trees or in any way improve the land, to harvest only what they can eat themselves (from perennial plants that do not need to be sown each year), and to leave the rest for whoever wants to pick them. In addition, at the end of the Shemitah year, we are commanded to release debts.

Shemitah has become a hot topic among progressive American Jews, largely as a result of an awareness campaign by Hazon, the largest Jewish environmental organization in North America.  Given my involvement with Hazon, and the Jewish environmental movement more broadly, people I speak to are often surprised to hear that I am deeply ambivalent about efforts to adopt some form of Shemitah-observance outside of Israel.  My reservations are threefold:

1. As an Orthodox Jew, who sees Shemitah primarily in halakhic (legal) terms, I’m leery of efforts to redefine Shemitah in a way that is counter to the halakhic tradition. By suggesting that Jews outside of Israel should be practicing some version of Shemitah, we risk disparaging the halakhic tradition, which tells us Shemitah is primarily about agriculture and exclusively applies to the land of Israel.
2. There also seems to be something almost anti-zionist about taking a commandment that by law only applies in the land of Israel (a “mitzvah teluyah ba’aretz”), and applying it elsewhere.  This would seem to represent a basic denial of kedushat ha’aretz, the sacred status of the land of Israel in Jewish law and imagination.  To be sure, in the days of the Sages, Jews in Egypt and Babylonia adopted practices that by law only apply in Israel, such as tithing their produce, but even so, they stayed away from Shemitah (and, in fact, tithed even during the shemitah year, when Israeli farmers practicing Shemitah were of course exempt from tithing).
3. Any effort to transpose Shemitah outside it’s existing halakhic framework depends on a clear understanding of the underlying values of Shemitah. While I have no theological or halakhic objection with the attempt to identify the underlying values of mitzvot such as Shemitah, this is a process that requires serious study, and must be approached with deep humility and an open mind. Otherwise, it is all too easy to just look for our own pre-existing values in the mitzvot.  As an environmentalist who believes that in order to survive as a society, we need to move beyond industrialized, petroleum-driven mono-crop agriculture, it would be very easy for me to say Shemitah must be about practicing sustainable agriculture. It’s much harder to honestly ask what Shemitah is doing, and to look for answers with an open mind among the details of the law and the writings of great thinkers.

Because of these serious reservations, I have been hesitant to join in with others in the Jewish environmental world in adopting shemitah-type practices outside of Israel, or practices deemed to be “in the spirit” of shemitah.  But I do want to participate participate in this once-every-seven-years opportunity for a conversation about halakha, values, and utopian social visions.  As an Orthodox rabbinical student, the most obvious and natural way for me to start engaging with Shemitah, is simply to study the sources. After spending this past summer studying the laws of Shemitah as found in the Mishnah, the Yerushalmi and in Rambam, and reading what some Jewish thinkers over the centuries have said about the underlying values of Shemitah (for an excellent summary, see Shemitah by Rav Yosef Zvi Rimon).  I found myself, in spite of all my reservations, thinking about taking on practices for the year that would embody some of the underlying values of Shemitah.  The question remained how to do so in a way that would be respectful of halakha and sanctity of the land of Israel, and that would be intellectually honest.

The third concern is in some ways the easiest to address.  While I still believe it’s impossible to fully understand the meaning of a mitzvah without actually practicing it, in the case of Shemitah this is not a realistic option. Even in Israel, less than 2% of the Jewish population is professionally involved in agriculture, and in any case, legal work-arounds enable the agricultural economy to continue to function during the Shemitah year with some minor adjustments.  Without the option of an immersion in the gestalt experience of keeping Shemitah, our next best option for understanding the mitzvah and its underlying values is a thorough study of the halakhic and philosophical literature on the subject.

Even after spending a summer studying the subject of Shemitah, I don’t feel like I can say what THE value behind Shemitah is. Even were I much more learned and wise than I am, and even if I felt I understood Shemitah perfectly, my instinct tells me that few mitzvot, if any, can be boiled down to a single motivating value, certainly not a mitzvah as complex as Shemitah.  However, I do feel that, based on what I’ve read as well as my own thinking, I can with some confidence describe SOME of the values that seem to be inherent in Shemitah.

This removes the third concern.  What about the first two? These amount to a worry that by removing Shemitah from it’s traditional halakhic parameters, we risk insulting the halakhic system and denying the sanctity of Eretz Yisrael.  Both of these concerns can be addressed by adopting practices and a rhetoric that make it clear that we are not attempting to co-opt halakhic Shemitah for Chutz La’aretz.  While I know that others have made different choices, I would never dream of refraining from plowing, pruning, planting, or harvesting in the United States, the activities which constitute the core of Shemitah observance in Eretz Israel.  However, by taking on some purely voluntary restrictions that are intended to have some of the same effects as Shemitah, without attempting to mimic the form of the mitzvah, I hope to experience a taste of Shemitah without doing a disservice either to the halakha or to Eretz Yisrael.

I’ve been particularly interested Rav Kook’s idea of the Shemitah as a special year to disengage from the burden of worldly pursuits, in order to allow the inner divine light to shine more fully.  I’m also interested in the Chinukh’s idea that Shemitah is about relinquishing personal control over the earth and recognizing God’s sovereignty over the earth.  So, beli neder (without taking a vow) I’ve decided to adopt three special practices for the year that seek to reduce my own exploitation of natural resources, help me reduce my involvement with an unsustainable and spiritually toxic consumer culture and allow me more time and energy to focus on the things that really matter in life, all without attempting mimic the halakhic observance of Shemitah in Eretz Yisrael.  First I plan to forgo recreational air travel (one of the most expensive and resource-intensive means of getting from point A to point B). I’ve also decided to avoid buying any new non-consumable goods— any clothes, appliances, hardware or books I buy for myself this year must be used.  Third, I’ve decided give up my mobile data plan, in order to take back some the time and mental space that I had relinquished to the constant checking of my mobile device.

I feel it’s important to emphasize that I do not see these choices as way of observing Shemitah.  The halakha is very clear about what observing Shemitah means, and that, with the exception of releasing debts, it only applies in Israel.  They are, rather, my way of trying to bring some of the values of Shemitah into my life this year.

Finally, I want to say that my intention in writing this has not been to disparage anyone else’s approach to Shemitah.  For all the concerns I’ve described, I think it’s exciting that Jews of all stripes are talking about what Shemitah means and trying find ways to live the fundamental rhythms of Jewish time.  Moreover, I think anything that gets more Jews thinking about how to live a more spiritually and ecologically sustainable life, in a way that is authentically Jewish, is a good thing.

There’s a precious community garden nestled between buildings on a crowded cobblestone street high up in the city of Tzvat, Israel. It began 18 years ago as a memorial community garden, in memory of a son who passed too soon, and it became a city landmark. Today this sacred place, enjoyed by and open to all, is receiving loving support toward renewing the shared space.

The Garden Seeds: Untimely death of a son, grief of a mother, new friendship

First, a mother was seeking a way to honor her son who was killed by cancer as a teenager 20 years ago this past spring. Shirel Levine was considering planting a tree in his memory as she was grieving over her tremendous loss, as an American living in northern Israel. She met the wife of her doctor, and this righteous woman Tamar Bittelman (of blessed memory) expressed a deep compassion with Shirel for the loss of her son. Within 10 minutes of their first encounter, Tamar suggested a garden, and she offered to help set it up.

Steven’s Garden in Tzvat was first established with much communal involvement. The grand opening involved the unveiling of a mural, live music, food and celebration. Tamar and her husband Noach built the first garden beds and then weekly taught local children how to plant and grow food there. The garden lived on, and has been maintained over the years at a low-cost for the benefit of the community.

The author’s daughter from California visits the lemon tree that her kindergarten class donated to Steven’s Garden in Tzvat, Israel.

Somehow Steven’s Garden reached me throughout the years as I reside in the Western US. When I lived in Tucson in the 1990’s, I knew Steven’s sister and so our mutual friend Susan Silverman – also a gardener – ecstatically informed me about this sweet community garden when she visited Tzvat some years later. I personally met Tamar Bittelman in 2004 when I moved to the East Bay in California where she was teaching kindergarten. It wasn’t until 2010 that I discovered Tamar was a founder of Steven’s Garden, when my daughter’s kindergarten class at Oakland Hebrew Day School raised funds as a tzedaka project for Steven’s Garden, and purchased a lemon tree that was planted there. I visited Israel in 2011 for the only time ever with my children, and we visited the tree. Several young yeshiva bochers were enjoying the garden, sitting with their siddurim and chatting reclining on the bench under the mural. It was a joy to finally see this garden for myself, right across the street from the famous Kabbalah artist David Friedman’s studio.

Tamar Bittelman Tzeddekes: The Garden Founder’s Legacy

Tamar Bittelman was not only a kindergarten teacher but was also a co-founder of the Beit Midrash Ohr HaChaim, a unique unaffiliated independent Torah-learning center located in Berkeley, California from 1998 – 2012 under the spiritual guidance of Rabbi Herschel Yolles, the Samborer Rebbe z”l. Tamar started numerous gardens during her life, including a garden adjacent to Congregation Beth Israel in Berkeley before its renovation in 2004.

Tamar’s Tzvat garden legacy is an echo of the story of her grandmother, Esther Beker Reinin of the pioneering Sturman family who was part of Hashomer, an original Jewish defense organization in Palestine first established in 1909. Beker Reinin was part of the historic security organization, serving on horseback protecting the sprouting Jewish settlements. She was also involved in an agricultural school in Israel. Every year at the Beit Midrash Ohr HaChaim in Berkeley, Tamar would sponsor a kiddush to honor the anniversary of her grandmother’s passing, and she would retell stories. There was even a story of when Tamar was walking along a road in a kibbutz in Israel, and a some old-timers walked by her and stopped, and told her, “You look just like Esther Beker Reinin.”

Many of today’s Jewish environmentalists have met Steven’s Garden’s founder Tamar Bittelman. Tamar attended the 2011 Hazon Food Conference in Davis, California where her husband Noach Bittelman the Acupuncturist presented on Jewish health and spirituality, the Earth, and the Holy Land. One year after we attended the Food Conference, Tamar edited my first blog article for Times of Israel, where I recounted a special woman’s circle that we held at the Hazon event, in the broader context of women’s central role in redemption of the world according the Jewish tradition.

Tamar and Noach Bittelman moved back to Northern Israel from California in 2012. During her last visit to Berkeley one year ago, Tamar was excited to learn of my newest project, a Hazon CSA which is in its inception stages and includes in its food security concept residential and communal gardens, and a pop-up kosher vegan soup and salad restaurant. She made an extra call to me during her trip to share her enthusiasm for Young Urban Moshav, and agreed to serve on the Board of Directors.

Sadly, and to the shock of many who have declared her righteousness, Tamar passed away unexpectedly after returning to Israel, on a holy Shabbos during daavening 24 Shvat 5774 (January 25, 2014.) Tamar’s family has set up HaMorah Tamar Kindergarten Fund at Oakland Hebrew Day School in her memory. Tamar is buried in Tzvat, the same city in Israel where Steven’s Garden, which she founded 18 years ago, continues to grow.

The Memorial and the Garden Renewal

Steven’s mother described on Radio Free Nachlaot in August 2014 how others recount to her that they feel Steven’s beautiful energy in the garden. A memorial garden is an example of the environment as habitat outside our bodies for our emotion, spirituality, and communal sharing. It is a place of comfort and healing.

Steven’s Garden holds the empathy of a woman hearing another woman grieving for her lost son, the generosity of creativity that builds and enriches the community, and comfort for mourners. It is a legacy of a grandmother and then granddaughter who loved, guarded and nurtured Eretz HaKodesh and the people of the land.

Community gardens can serve many functions, and Steven’s continues to hold potential for many possibilities. With financial support from the people who cherish this special urban garden in Tzvat, Israel, Steven’s Garden can be renewed with new benches, upgraded irrigation and maintenance, and a new sign that will include Tamar Bittelman’s name as founder of Steven’s Garden. Contributions can be made through the end of this year’s high holiday season through the crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo – click to learn more and contribute.

We will be the change we want to see

I am squatting

I am wringing laundry with my hands

I am picking chunks of dirt from the soles of my feet

I am learning to smell the open sewer when I breathe in and out

I am walking

I am jostling in a vikram, in a small car that must have the air conditioning switched to off in order to make it up the Himalayan Mountain where love calls

I am exhausted

I am exhilarated

I am joyful

I am fretting as we weave ourselves up the steep slope and you can see where the cars have already fallen off the cliff

I am terrified when I come upon a mighty pack of horses thrown into the road that barely fits one car—

Let alone the screaming families that want to test their fate on these trails that have seen no rain yet— not me

I am sore

I am flexible

I am sleepless and full of thoughts; I need a vacation from my mind

This landscape that changes when I turn the corner now, the next moment and the moment after that, this landscape is heavy and full and I feel that way—

Pregnant, ready to give birth

To ideas and poems and thoughts and love for those that come to share the same dust and dirt—

For a day, a week or months at a time—

One man who will live like a baba

I have found the nomadic family from which I once sprung

We walked and walked looking for a place to set camp

We the family

The agents of change

Aged and ageless are we

Tireless and tired

Policy makers, activists, farmers, and worker bees

We will be the change we want to see

Andrea Cadwell MA, MSc is a consultant for non- profits and NGO’s worldwide. She focuses on sustainable economic development and resiliency in addition to policy development and implementation.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

We ask: How have I changed? What have I done? What do I wish I had done? What do I hope to do in the future? How has the world changed? How did I impact the world? How do I want to impact it? 

It is time for heshbon hanefesh, examining our hearts and souls, determining where we’ve been and what we’ve done and what we wish to do better in the future. It is time for teshuvah, turning and re-turning to G!d. It is time for us to begin to make atonement for the things we wish we had or hadn’t done, and renewing ourselves, to do all we can to get ourselves to change.

To aid us on our journey, Ma’yan TIkvah is once again offer you a series of Earth Etudes for Elul for most of the days of the month of Elul. Each of the Etudes connects in some way to the Earth and to teshuvah, reminding us that we cannot disconnect ourselves from all that surrounds us, reminding us that we are part of an intertwined whole that is so incredibly diverse and rich and amazing, reminding us that we are not alone. And since this coming year, 5775, is a shmitah year, the one year in seven that the Torah commands that we let the Earth rest, our debts be forgiven, and our relationships renewed in special ways, some of our writers will focus on this Shabbat year for the Earth.

As you journey through the month of Elul, may you go from strength to strength, and may you find new ways to be in relationship to yourself, your loved ones, the Earth, and the One Source of All.

Chodesh tov – have a good month, and welcome to the Earth Etudes for Elul

Rabbi Katy Z. Allen

Earth Etude for Elul 1 – The Shmita Year

by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen

In the Torah, we find three cycles of seven that mark the Jewish way of being in the world: Shabbat, a day of rest for humans and animals after six days of work, shmita, a year of rest for the Earth and the community after six years of agriculture and economic interactions, and the Jubilee Year, the end of seven cycles of shmita, the year of freedom.

Does a day of rest each week have meaning to you? For many of us, such a frequent and regular segment of time to set aside for rest can be a challenge. Then what about a year of rest? That is even harder to wrap our brains around! What would it mean in today’s world to have a year that is set aside to be experienced differently than the previous six years and the upcoming six years? For the land around us and for the way we interact within our communities?

To give us a start in thinking about this complex idea as we enter into the month of Elul, here are the Biblical texts* that form the core teachings of Shmita, in some cases set in the context of the verses around it. I invite you to read, to consider, and to process these verses.

1  You are not to take up an empty rumor. Do not put your hand in with a guilty person, to become a witness for wrongdoing.

2  You are not to go after many people to do evil. And you are not to testify in a quarrel so as to turn aside toward many-and thus turn away.

3  Even a poor-man you are not to respect as regards his quarrel.

4  Now when you encounter your enemy’s ox or his donkey straying, return it, return it to him.

5  And when you see the donkey of one who hates you crouching under its burden, restrain from abandoning it to him- unbind, yes, unbind it together with him.

6  You are not to turn aside the rights of your needy as regards his quarrel.

7  From a false matter, you are to keep far! And one clear and innocent, do not kill, for I do not acquit a guilty-person. 8  A bribe you are not to take, for a bribe blinds the open-eyed, and twists the words of the righteous. 9  A sojourner, you are not to oppress: you yourselves know well the feelings of the sojourner, for sojourners were you in the land of Egypt.

10  For six years you are to sow your land and to gather in its produce,

11  but in the seventh, you are to let it go [tishm'tenah] and to let it be [u'nitashta], that the needy of your people may eat, and what remains,  the wildlife of the field shall eat. Do thus with your vineyard, with your olive-grove.  – Exodus 23.1-1

 

1  The Lord spoke to Moshe at Mount Sinai, saying: 2  Speak to the Children of Israel, and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land is to cease, a Sabbath-ceasing to the Lord.

3  For six years you are to sow your field, for six years you are to prune your vineyard, then you are to gather in its produce,  4  but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of Sabbath-ceasing for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord: your field you are not to sow, your vineyard you are not to prune, 5  the aftergrowth of your harvest you are not to harvest, the grapes of your consecrated-vines you are not to amass; a Sabbath of Sabbath-ceasing shall there be for the land! 6  Now the Sabbath-yield of the land is for you, for eating: for you, for your servant and for your handmaid, for your hired-hand and for your resident-settler who sojourn with you;  7 and for your domestic-animal and the wild-beast that are in your land shall be all its produce, to eat.  – Leviticus 25.1-7

1 At the end of seven years, you are to make a Release [shmita]. 2  Now this is the matter of the Release: he shall release, every possessor of a loan of his hand, what he has lent to his neighbor. He is not to oppress his neighbor or his brother, for the Release of the Lord has been proclaimed!…

7  When there is among you a needy-person from any-one of your brothers, within one of your gates in the land that the Lord your G!d is giving you, you are not to toughen your heart, you are not to shut your hand to your brother, the needy-one.

8  Rather, you are to open, yes, open your hand to him, and are to give-pledge, yes, pledge to him, sufficient for his lack that is lacking to him. 9  Take-you-care, lest there be a word in your heart, a base-one, saying: the seventh year, the Year of Release, is nearing- and your eye be set-on-ill toward your brother, the needy-one, and you not give to him, so that he calls out because of you to the Lord, and sin be incurred by you. 10  You are to give, yes, give freely to him, your heart is not to be ill-disposed in your giving to him, for on account of this matter the Lord your G!d will bless you in all your doings and in all the enterprises of your hand! 11  For the needy will never be-gone from amid the land; therefore I command you, saying: You are to open, yes, open your hand to your brother, to your afflicted-one, and to your needy-one in your land!  – Deuteronomy 15.1-2, 7-11

 

18  You are to observe my laws, my regulations you are to keep, and observe them, that you may be settled on the land in security,  19  that the land may give forth its fruit and that you may eat to being-satisfied, and be settled in security upon it. 20  Now if you should say to yourselves: What are we to eat in the seventh year, for we may not sow, we may not gather our produce?

21  Then I will dispatch my blessing for you during the sixth year so that it yields produce for three years; 22  as you sow the eighth year’s seeds, you shall eat of the old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall be able to eat what-is-old.  – Leviticus 25.18-22

 

10  And Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of Shmita, at the Festival of Sukkot,  11  when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your G!d at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.

12  Assemble [hakhel] the people, men, women, and children, and the travelers within your towns, that they may hear and that they may learn; and they will have awe before the Lord your G!d, and guard all the words of this Torah, and to act upon it,  13  and that their children, who have not yet known it, may hear and learn and have awe before the Lord your G!d, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.   – Deuteronomy 31.10-13

What do these verses inspire in us? What thoughts come to mind? How would YOU want to observe the shmitah year? What kinds of changes would this require?

May we each find the strength, the courage, and the will to make the changes needed in ourselves that will help the world to be a better place, from our hearts to the farthest point on the planet, from our homes to the deepest wilderness.

May it be so.

*Translations are from The Hazon Shmitah Handbook, by Yigal Deutscher, Anna Hanau, and Nigel Savage.

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

BEIT DAGAN, Israel (Dec. 7, 2012) — By 2050, agricultural yields will have to increase by 50 to 70 percent in the developed world and 100 percent in the developing world to meet the food needs of the 9.3 billion people on the planet, according to Prof. Ada Rafaeli, associate director of Israel's Agricultural Research Organization, the research arm of the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The organization is marking its 90th anniversary this week with a conference on the coming world food crisis.

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It’s the kind of thing that makes you proud.

I especially wanted to share about a recent event that I attended, the dedication of the new Vera Lieber Memorial Garden.

Vera Leiber was the preschool director at the school, in addition to other roles in the school, in the community, and in our county educational system. (She and her husband, Tsvi, were also supporters of Canfei Nesharim.) When Ms. Leiber died five years ago, she left behind so many people who loved and missed her. Now, her memory can be honored continually, through the dedication of Tsvi and his family and the hard work of staff at the Hebrew Academy, with a beautiful garden for preschool students.

Nancy Moses, the garden designer for the project, explained how the plan was made. The goal was to remove the candy-colored plastic play objects and create a multisensory environment for small children to interact with natural objects, learn where food comes from, and engage in creative play. Five new trees were planted ceremoniously in the garden. Artistic decorations in the garden were also made by the children.

The garden includes specific creative activity “rooms,” including a salad table, arbor, performance area, boulder areas for jumping and climbing, and an edible garden with herbs. The teachers can also integrate lessons about science, planting, and healthy nutrition in the garden.

At the dedication, educators showed a video of the children interacting in this new play area. A fallen tree had been transformed into play logs for the children to sit on, but because they were moveable, they became an active part of the children’s play.

Part of the stated goal of the garden is to help the children appreciate G-d’s world and the miracles of creation.

When I founded Canfei Nesharim more than ten years ago, the myth in the Jewish environmental world was that Orthodox Jews would never care about the environment. But things change. Now we see communities popping up with all kinds of creative and meaningful ways to educate themselves and their children about our connection to land, food, energy and the environment. It’s so rewarding to see!

Kol haKavod to the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy and the entire Lieber family.

Although these pictures were taken on a chilly autumn day, you can still see the beautiful flowers and the natural surroundings of this garden. May the garden grow, and may we see other versions of this model in Orthodox Jewish day schools across the country and the world!

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

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

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

Upcoming Fellowships

Spring: March 2–May 23, 2014

Summer: June 8–August 29, 2014

Fall: September 7–November 25, 2014

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

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

www.urbanadamah.org|510-649-1595 | info@urbanadamah.org| See us on Facebook

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

We’re nearing a time when the Earth will not provide as bountifully as it has in the past. In exchange for a loss of resources, I believe the Earth is pleading for us humans to return to ourselves, our deep souls, so we recognize a bounty that lives within us. Could this lead to the feeling of fertility in the human spirit, we may extend the times of plenty.

Answering this call is not easy. We cannot stop deadlines so we may each have the time return to ourselves as a form of resiliency. It’s a necessary evil to take this time. We may feel that we’re missing out on other activities, events, or conversations, or that we are not getting done as much work as we need to do. Yet there are moments in each day that we can seek the quiet retreat and go a little deeper, find a little more space.

Since I received the Elul writing project, I've decided to practice coming back to myself and following my instincts around taking time to be alone. The result has been time after work dancing, painting, hanging art, swimming, hiking, and listening! Who knew I had so much to say to myself. Some hangouts have been hard; I haven’t been the best of company at those times. But I exit these periods of time alone with a better understanding of me and my method of interacting with the world. I tune in with what my body wants, my spirit and my tongue for speech…I react with kindness to my friends and family, and say what I mean, say what I need. As a wise woman once told me, me are always working to maintain our ‘neutral.’

I think our souls are like bread dough that needs warmth to rise: our souls desire the heat of our beings to nurture our internal culture. At some point we get punched down as a test to our abilities, and need to remind ourselves of our importance, kindness, and intelligence to rise back up, overflowing the bowl. We bake the loaf, swallow a chapter of life, and start another.

Let’s bake bread with those around us—encourage our friends to take space to nurture themselves and warm the internal culture that is their ‘soul bread.’ For this New Year, let us practice feeding ourselves, for we can only effectively exchange light with others when we do.

Molly Bajgot is a senior undergraduate student at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst studying Sustainable Food and Farming with a concentration in Food Systems and Production. She is a strong believer in holistic systems and loves to cook, sing loudly, and live in the Pioneer Valley.

The opportunity to live and work in an immersive Jewish community first drew me to the Pearlstone Center in the winter of 2012. When a few months later conversation about creating a seven month immersive experience began to percolate I was ecstatic about the opportunity to be a part of making it come to life. Today Pearlstone’s Integrated Sustainability Apprenticeship is seven weeks into its inaugural season, and hosts eight fantastic apprentices who are transforming our farm, retreat center and the broader Jewish community whom we have the pleasure of hosting throughout each year.

The idea itself is quite simple. Eight young adults will live together on the farm, building a community for themselves and brining new breath and energy to the Pearlstone community as a whole. While here, apprenti (as they are lovingly known) work on the farm and in the retreat center, participate in creative and traditional expressions of Jewish tradition and practice, celebrate Shabbat and chagim together, as well as attend workshops in Jewish education, agricultural skills, team building and leadership development. In practice, maybe it isn’t so simple. But, in just seven weeks, this first cohort of thinkers, doers, and leaders have risen above the challenge and a community beyond what we could have expected in emerging in Reisterstown, Maryland.

It is hard to say what will emerge in the next five months. Together we will experience the cycle of the seasons and the Jewish calendar. The first fruits of our gardens, the turning of the wheel of our people’s history marked with holy days, the birth of new life in our animal pasture, and the consistent return of Shabbat each week. We will work hard and we will celebrate together, we will grow food and ourselves, and we hope for the opportunity to welcome you to this amazing community as part of one of the many incredible programs and retreats that happen at Pearlstone throughout the year.

Richard Schwartz

For many years Danny Shapiro looked forward to staying up all night at his synagogue with his friends on the first night of Shavuot, hearing talks about and discussing Torah teachings. This year he especially anticipated this annual commemoration of the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, because Rabbi Greenberg would be meeting with Danny and other college students for an hour at 3 AM to answer any questions on Judaism that they brought up. Danny had recently become a vegetarian and had done a lot of background reading on Jewish connections to vegetarianism and he wanted to find out what the rabbi thought about the issue.

When Rabbi Greenberg acknowledged Danny raising his hand during that session, Danny said, “Rabbi, it is wonderful that we are learning so many beautiful Torah teachings tonight and at other times at this synagogue. But I have been reading about Torah teachings on taking care of our health, treating animals with compassion, preserving the environment, conserving natural resources, and helping people, and they seem most consistent with vegetarian diets. So, I wonder why Judaism does not endorse vegetarianism?”

Rabbi Greenberg responded: “You raise some very good points, Danny, but I hope that you are aware that Judaism does permit the eating of meat. Some scholars feel that it is obligatory to eat meat on Shabbat and holidays.”

Danny responded, “Yes, I recognize that Judaism permits people to eat meat. Evidently Jews have a choice, as indicated that there are Israeli chief rabbis who have been or are strict vegetarians. So, shouldn’t this choice be made considering the Torah teachings I mentioned, and the very negative effects of animal-based diets on human health, animals, and the environment? With regard to eating meat on Shabbat and holidays, according to the Talmud (Pesachim 109a), since the destruction of the Temple, Jews are not required to eat meat in order to rejoice on sacred occasions.”

In response, Rabbi Greenberg said, “We should recognize that there is much in the Torah and the Talmud about which animals are kosher and about the proper way to slaughter animals. So eating meat is certainly not foreign to Judaism.”

Danny had come prepared to answer counterarguments, so he responded, ”Yes, that is certainly true. But, there is also much in the Torah and our other sacred writings that point to vegetarianism as the ideal Jewish diet. For example, as indicated in Genesis 1:29, God’s initial intention was that people be vegetarians. And according to Rav Kook, the first Chief rabbi of pre-state Israel, based on Isaiah’s prophecy that, ‘the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, … and the lion shall eat straw like the ox’ (Isaiah 11:6-9), the Messianic period will be vegetarian.”

Rabbi Greenberg was surprised by Danny’s evident knowledge on the issues, but he responded, “I have to tell you one thing that concerns me. Jews historically have had many problems with some animal rights groups, which have often opposed shechita (ritual slaughter) and advocated for its abolishment. Some have even made outrageous comparisons between the Holocaust and the slaughter of animals for food.”

Danny was also ready for this argument. He answered, “That is certainly true, Rabbi, but Jews should consider switching to vegetarianism not because of the views of animal rights groups, whether they are hostile to Judaism or not, but because it is the diet most consistent with Jewish teachings. It is the Torah, not animal rights groups, that is the basis for observing how far current animal treatment has strayed from fundamental Jewish values. For example, as Samson Raphael Hirsch stated: ‘Here you are faced with God’s teaching, which obliges you not only to refrain from inflicting unnecessary pain on any animal, but to help and, when you can, to lessen the pain whenever you see an animal suffering, even through no fault of yours.’”

Rabbi Greenberg next stated, “Another concern is related to two teachings in Genesis: The Torah teaches that humans are granted dominion over animals (Genesis 1:26) and that only people are created in the Divine Image (Genesis 1:26, 5:1). I fear that vegetarians are promoting a philosophy inconsistent with these Torah teachings, hence potentially reducing the sacredness of human life and the dignity of human beings.”

Danny countered, “As you know, Jewish tradition interprets ‘dominion’ as responsible stewardship: we are called upon to be co-workers with God in improving the world. While the Torah states that only human beings are created “in the Divine Image,” animals are also God’s creatures, possessing sensitivity and the capacity for feeling pain. God is concerned that they are protected and treated with compassion and justice.”

Thinking that there might be questions from others, Rabbi Greenberg concluded: “Well, I am sure that there are additional issues about vegetarianism that should be addressed. But I think that you have made the case for at least having a broad discussion of the Jewish and universal issues related to our diets. I thank you, Danny, for your diligence in raising these issues. Perhaps next Shavuot, I will make a consideration of vegetarianism the theme of my talk at he start of our all-night Torah study.”

By Richard H. Schwartz

There are many connections between vegetarianism and the important Jewish festival of Shavuot:

1. Shavuot is described as “z’man matan Toratenu” (the season of the giving of our law (the Torah)). It is this Torah that has in its very first chapter God’s original, strictly vegetarian, dietary regimen: “And God said: ‘Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed – to you it shall be for food’” (Genesis 1:29).

2. To honor the Torah, many Jews stay up the entire first night of Shavuot to study Torah teachings. It is some of these teachings -to guard our health and our lives, to treat animals with compassion, to share with hungry people, to protect the environment, and to conserve natural resources – that are the basis for Jewish vegetarianism.

3. Shavuot is also known as “Chag Hakatzir” (the Harvest Festival), since it climaxes the year’s first harvest. Hence, it can remind us that many more people can be sustained on vegetarian diets than on animal -centered diets. While the Torah stresses that farmers are to leave the corners of their fields and the gleanings of their harvests for the hungry, over 70% of the grain grown in the United States is fed to animals destined for slaughter, as 15 to 20 million people worldwide die annually because of hunger and its effects.

4. The Talmudic sages also referred to Shavuot as “Atzeret” (the closing festival of Passover). This name implies not only that Shavuot completes the harvest begun at Passover time, but also suggests that the Torah completes the physical liberation celebrated during Passover. Yet, while the Torah has many teachings on compassion toward animals and indicates, as part of the Ten Commandments, that animals are also to be able to rest on the Sabbath day, most farm animals are kept in cramped confined spaces where they are denied exercise, fresh air, sunlight, and the fulfillment of their instinctual needs.

5. There are several other Torah teachings that are seriously violated by animal-based diets: a) While the Torah mandates that people should be very careful about preserving their health and their lives (Deuteronomy: 4-9, 4-15), animal-centered diets have been linked to heart disease, stroke, several forms of cancer, and other illnesses; b) While many Torah teachings are concerned with protecting the environment, modern intensive animal agriculture contributes significantly to climate change, soil erosion and depletion, extensive air and water pollution related to chemical fertilizer and pesticides, and the destruction of tropical rain forests and other habitats; c) While the Torah mandates bal tashchit, (Deuteronomy 20:19, 20) that we are not to waste or unnecessarily destroy anything of value, animal-based agriculture involves the wasteful use of food, land, water, energy, and other resources.

6. Shavuot is a festival of thanksgiving to the Creator for His kindness. The full Hallel, psalms of praise and thanksgiving from Psalm 113 to 118, are chanted during morning synagogue services. Since one must be in good health and have a clear conscience in order to fully rejoice and be thankful, the many health benefits of vegetarian diets and the knowledge that such diets are not harmful to hungry people or animals are factors that can enhance thankfulness.

7. On Shavuot, Jews read the Book of Ruth in synagogues. One reason is that its barley-harvest setting echoes the harvest just ending as Shavuot arrives. One of Ruth’s outstanding attributes was her acts of kindness. Vegetarianism is a way of showing kindness, because it best shares food with hungry people and it doesn’t involve the mistreatment and slaughter of animals.

8. The Book of Ruth begins with Naomi, Ruth’s future mother-in-law, and her family leaving Israel because of a severe famine. Today, agricultural experts are predicting major shortages of food in the near future are being predicted and a major reason is that people in China, Japan, India, and other countries where affluence has been increasing, are joining the US and other western countries by moving to animal-centered diets that require vast amounts of grain.

9. The Book of Ruth indicates that Naomi’s family suffered the death of her husband and her two sons because the family fled in the time of famine rather than using their leadership to help others in need. In contrast to this selfish act, vegetarianism considers not only personal well being, but also encompasses broader concerns, including the global environment, the world’s hungry people, animals, and the efficient use of the world’s resources.

10. According to the Talmud, Shavuot is the Day of Judgment for fruit trees and there is an obligation to pray for them. Yet, to create pastureland for cattle, tropical forests are being rapidly destroyed. The production of just one quarter-pound fast food hamburger can require the destruction of 55 square feet of tropical rain forest along with much animal and plant life.

11. Shavuot involves the highest spiritual teachings (the revelation of the Torah on Mount Sinai) and down-to-earth considerations – the wheat harvest and the offering of the first fruits in the Temple. This reminds us that ideally we should relate heaven to earth and translate the Divine laws to our daily lives. Vegetarianism is an attempt to do this because it applies Torah teaching to our sustenance needs.

In view of these and other connections, I hope that Jews will enhance their celebrations of the beautiful and spiritually meaningful holiday of Shavuot by making it a time to begin striving even harder to live up to Judaism’s highest moral values and teachings by moving toward a vegetarian diet.

Baruch Sienna, a Jewish environmental educator, will be leading an amazing nature/environmental tour to Israel this Feb. 26-Mar. 7, 2013. We will be hiking, birdwatching, and visiting (and eating at) organic farms, learning from environmental organizations about water pollution/restoration, waste/recycling, and alternative energy initiatives in Israel. The places we are visiting are awesome.

For a full itinerary, visit www.arzaworld.com, or call toll free: 1-888-811-2812 to register or for more information.

Email: israel.naturally2013@gmail.com.