RAFAEL BRATMAN
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How Energy uses Water
Tonight there is a great Midwestern thunderstorm in the sky. Lightning bolts are flashing, and the rain is pouring down. This has put me in a mood of wonderment at the awesome power of the Heavens, and has 'sparked' my curiosity regarding the relationship between electricity (lightning) and water (rain). While there can be rain without lightning and lightning without rain, the combination of the two is a fairly common occurrence ...
Support the Shaar Hagai Kennels & the Canaan Dogs
This week I was alerted to an issue that resonated deeply with me. I was asked to sign a petition in support of the Shaar Hagai Kennels, who are facing eviction by the Israel Government Lands Authority. Tied up in this legal battle is the fate of the Canaan dog, a breed of dog most closely related to the dogs depicted in the bible. After reading of how the kennel owner moved to the desolate location 42 years ago as a Zionist seeking to settle the ...
PONDERING FREEDOM ON THE EQUINOX
The main theme of the upcoming holiday of Pesach is the issue of Freedom, in all its complexity. The Jewish people are brought out of slavery in Egypt (literally Mitzrayim, or narrow place) and we are commanded to remember this act of deliverance by G-d, and to teach it to our children. We are supposed to keep this memory of redemption always in our thoughts and words; the daily prayers and the Sabbath blessing over the wine contain passages rememb...
Tu B’Shvat Fruits — Meaningful Foods!
It is a widespread custom on Tu B’Shvat to eat of the seven species – five fruits and two grains – associated with the Land of Israel. The Land of Israel is described in Deut 8:7-10 in terms of the resources that it offers, “For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams and springs and fountains issuing from plain and hill; a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs and pomegranates, a land of ...
Olives — the fruit of light and metaphor
As today is the first day of Chanukah, I think it a fitting time to reflect on the virtues of olives and olive oil; their benefits, and some of their hidden meanings. The story of Chanukah is the age-old struggle of the Jewish people to remain Jewish in a non-Jewish world. According to the Talmudic legend, when the Hasmoneans recaptured and cleansed the Temple following their victory over the Syrians, they were able to find only a single ...
The many meanings of Sukkot
I love the holiday of Sukkot, and for many reasons. I feel it is a holiday with many meanings, and many lovely paradoxes. I love how Sukkot encourages us to spend more time in the outdoors, and yet how it encloses us within walls and a roof, even as we are exposed to the elements at the same time. I love how it reinforces our human ingenuity in building structures, and yet reminds us how fragile and impermanent these structures really are. I love ...
On Jews and Gold
As the global economy continues down the tumultuous path toward financial meltdown, the value of gold has correspondingly skyrocketed. From a value of around $300 an ounce in the year 2000, the price of gold today sits at $1,784. The price of silver has had even more of a meteoric rise during this same period. Very likely this move toward the precious metals is a reflection of investors fears regarding the fiat money system itself and the reserve-...
On Technology and Faith
I have worked myself up into a state of near-frenzy lately, driven by my concern for the state of the world and its inhabitants. Despite my best efforts to remain calm, it seems to me that Chicken-Little’s call of, “The Sky is Falling” rings truer every day. From widespread environmental destruction to pending economic collapse to illegal and unconstitutional U.S. military aggression, the future of the humanity is looking ...
How counting to 50 can heal the planet
Last week we completed the Sefirat Ha-Omer, the counting of the 49 day period between Pesach and Shavuot, culminating with the celebration of Shavuot, which falls on the 50th day. In agricultural terms, this is a period of waiting in between the barley harvest and the wheat harvest in Israel. In religious terms, this period is a time for preparation and transformation that preceeds Matan Torah, the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Sefirat ...
Moving Beyond the Global Warming Debate
Perhaps this is heretical talk for an environmental blog, but I have always been skeptical of Global Warming alarmists. From the start, I have felt this issue was a distraction from the more pressing environmental issues of our time. What does it matter if sea levels are going to rise decades from now, I thought, if there is already no healthy food to eat, no clean water to drink, few rainforests left in which to preserve rare & endangered ...
Reflections on a Religious School year almost past
It seems hard to believe, but with the Pesach holiday having past, there are only 2 weeks of classes remaining in my Religious School calendar. This being my 6th year teaching a Jewish / Environmental education curriculum to 6th graders, I feel I have developed a pretty good set of teachings which I have presented & discussed with my class. However, I can’t avoid the feeling that there is still so much left to teach these students that we ...
Famine in Egypt — Parallels to Today
With Passover approaching, the themes of freedom and liberation from bondage tend to be in the front of our minds. However, any true analysis of liberation must first ask the question of how and why we were put into the state of bondage in the first place. In order to be truly free, we must consider not only our current state of subjugation, but come to understand the causes of that subjugation in order to reconcile the exile and not repeat the same ...
The Holiness of Eating
This weeks Torah parsha, Shemini, begins on the eighth day of the ceremony to ordain the priests and consecrate the Tabernacle. Moses instructed Aaron to assemble several types of animals and a meal offering as sacrifices (called korbanot in Hebrew) to God, saying: “Today the Lord will appear to you." (Leviticus 9:1–4.). At one point, Moses becomes angry at Aaron and his sons for failing to eat the sin offering at the proscr...
On Overpopulation
There are a good many issues upon which Environmental and Jewish values seem to be in lock-step, and then there are those challenging issues where our environmental values and our Jewish values seem to come into conflict. Perhaps no issue presents such divergent viewpoints between the Environmental and Jewish perspective as that of “overpopulation”. As our planet is set to cross the 7 Billion human threshold this year, and environmental ...
Jewish views on Food Security
Jews often talk about FOOD, and we often talk about SECURITY, but we don't often talk about FOOD SECURITY. Lately I've been reading many disturbing and important articles connecting recent riots throughout the Middle East and elswhere with increases in food prices and food shortages. The predictions are not good at all. Global food prices are at all time highs, and are not expected to go down any time soon. The riots are really just the tip ...
Bad few weeks on the Anti-GMO front, but its always darkest before the dawn.
Its been a bad couple weeks on the anti-GMO front. Last week the USDA approved the planting of GM Alfalfa without restrictions, and they are now poised to approve GM Sugar Beets as well. These approvals come as part of the efforts of the Obama administration to remove "burdensome" regulations, and are a sad betrayal of consumer's rights and environmental health concerns. Alfalfa, America's fourth largest crop, is planted on over 23 ...
Tu B’Shvat Reflections and Beyond
Now that Tu B’Shvat has past and the Seder which my Sunday School class led is over, its time for some reflections on what went well and what could be improved upon. Following this period of reflection, it is also important to identify some ‘next steps’ as far as the direction to take my students in, as well as the direction to focus our collective efforts towards. While I feel some relief that the Tu B’Shvat seder is over and ...
Ideas for creating an informative & transformative Tu B’Shvat Seder.
As the Tu B’Shvat holiday quickly approaches, I am scrambling to prepare my 6th grade class to lead the annual Tu B’Shvat Seder. This involves a combination of general study on Jewish attitudes towards trees, as well as teaching many specifics such as what blessings to say on each fruit and how to group fruits according to their ‘type.’ As this will be my sixth year leading this seder, I have developed a seder structure ...
Planning for Tu B’Shvat & reflections on a few Jewish plants
You might not expect it, but winter is a busy time for Jewish environmental educators like myself. While the garden rests frozen under a blanket of fresh Chicago snow, Tu B'Shvat is right around the corner. This holiday, which celebrates the New Year of the trees, is perhaps the most natural holiday to think about Jewish values of environmental preservation and appreciation. As in years past, my 6th grade students will be leading the rest of the ...
the Good, the Bad and the Dirty — Gardens as Outdoor Jewish Classrooms
Gardens can provide amazing settings for Jewish environmental education to take place. However, gardens can also present challenges and difficulties that typical "indoor" classrooms do not pose. This article will examine some of my experiences using gardens as a vehicle for teaching Jewish environmental lessons. It is my hope that others can learn from my experiences and adapt their teaching approach according to their own individual needs. ...