Earth Etude for Elul 1 — Of Happenstance and Wondering
by Rabbi Katy Allen
~ By happenstance of geography,
Eden–
gathering the fruits of the land
borne by dint of natural ecosystems,
ever-changing as the seasons progress–
is just a distant prehistoric memory
of Paradise.
From Eden straight into working the land we went–
by the sweat of your brow
you shall till the land.
No pauses with our new-found awareness
to experience
being fully integrated into the ecosystems
outside the gates of Gan Eden.
No longer were we part and parcel of Creation,
now we had–
and have–
dominion;
now we reshape the landscape,
the ecosystems,
the water, the air, the flora and fauna.
By eating of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge,
we became like G!d,
attempting to rule the rest of the world
but without Divine wisdom
or understanding.
Every seventh year,
we endeavor to recapture a bit of Eden–
letting the land lie fallow,
depending once again–
ideally–
only upon the natural bounty
of the original ecosystems–
what remains of them
after achieving our fruit-eating-induced
relationship of power
over the land.
Why this seventh-year reverie?
Perhaps stored in our genes
we retain a memory of collapse–
agriculturally induced destruction of an ancient ecosystem,
decline in productivity,
engendering vulnerability at the hands of invaders,
or of climate-change stoked famine
that triggered collapse.
Or perhaps the Edenic understanding
that if G!d had not rested on the seventh day–
if neither we nor our beasts nor our servants
nor the land
ever rested,
that this, too,
would inevitably
lead to collapse.
All of this a happenstance of geography,
G!d having made the Divine Self known
in a specific and powerful way
in a cradle of civilization,
in a place where agriculture arose
so many millennia ago.
A wondering arises–
what might Yah have said to Adam and Eve
in different corporeal whereabouts,
in a land where no hoe or plow
had ever struck the soil,
no animal
had ever fallen under the yolk of Homo sapiens,
no collapse of civilization–
as a result of famine
or agriculture-altered ecosystems–
had ever wreaked havoc
on the psyches and the historical memories
of the peoples,
in a land with ongoing experienced knowledge
of gathering the fruits of the land
borne by dint of natural ecosystems,
ever changing as the seasons progress–
what might G!d have said?
A wondering arises,
how might history have progressed
if our tradition had truly kept alive
not just the memory,
but the non-agricultural knowledge and practice
of how to live in Eden,
how to be an integral part
of the native ecosystems–
and the critical importance thereof?
A wondering arises.
Rabbi Katy Allen is the founder and rabbi of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope, which holds services outdoors all year long, and the co-founder and President pro-tem of Jewish Climate Action Network-MA. She is a board certified chaplain and a former hospital and hospice chaplain and now considers herself an eco-chaplain. She received her ordination from the Academy for Jewish Religion in Yonkers, NY in 2005 and lives in Wayland, MA, with her spouse, Gabi Mezger, who leads the singing at Ma’yan Tikvah.
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