Earth's Blog Subscribe
Earth Etude for Elul 29
This is Where it All Begins by Rabbi Judy Kummer ~Human beings have often pondered the question of which came first, the chicken or the egg. As a gardener, I think more about the cycle of pollination and the growth of seeds and plants and flowers, which lead to more pollination and ultimately to the growth of more seeds. I thought of this recently as I was watching a bumblebee drowse lazily among glorious flowers in a garden, pollinating the ...
Earth Etude for Elul 28
Hineni--A Heart-centered Etude for this Season by Maxine Lyons ~I am practicing “active hope”– focusing my efforts to align with others dedicated to showing up to be counted together, to make a positive difference in this broken world and to express gratitude for the source of life. Hineni - Here I am - proclaiming the abundance and beauty of nature, to the wind that guides my steps in the forests and at the beaches, moving me along on ...
Shana Tova 5785
Shana tova! It has been a difficult and complicated year. finding sudden moments of meaning unexpected openings holy ground and deep companionship We allow ourselves to awaken to mystery and find strength in sacred community And as we enter the new year, we remember that life can, once again, blossom and begin anew. Shana tova! Wishing you and your ...
Returning to Potential
Earth Etude for Elul 27 by Akiko Yonekawa As a child growing up in Los Angeles, I had simple plans for adult life: to be an artist, teacher, actor, and/or mom. In my actual adulthood, I have had occasion to be one of those things - high school teacher - though I no longer teach. As the years progressed, I developed interests in religion and art history, so for a while I wanted to be a rabbi and then a museum educator. I am, to date, neither ...
Tending the Earth
Earth Etude for Elul 26 by Rabbi Marisa Elana James We do live in overwhelming times, as have so many of our ancestors, but I suspect that my great-grandparents’ lack of the internet and 24-hour news cycle made it somewhat easier to cope. Part of me wants to know about every wildfire, every tornado cluster, every new “thousand-year flood,” every point of data that helps me articulate what needs to change. And another part of me is ...
A Photographic Essay of Teshuvah in Seven “Verses”
Earth Etude for Elul 25 by Rabbi Steven J. Rubenstein, BCC God said, “Let there be vegetation of all kinds to create a sense of awe and wonder in my creatures and let them be stewards over this garden of beauty, protecting it and preserving it as a legacy for future generations.” And humans harvested from the bounty of the land, but they did not follow God’s commandment over the decades, destroying the land for their personal gain, ...
Earth Etude for Elul 24
Past, Present, and Future by Thea Iberall, PhD ~I'm at a shoreline retreat rocking on the dining hall porch. I'm thinking about how vulnerable everything is: people, the land, nature. I'm thinking about my own fragility. Flags above me are flapping in the breeze, a precursor to the remnants of the hurricane that will be hitting us tomorrow. I'm scrolling through the news on my phone: a white politician wanting to win an election, a famous black ...
Earth Etude for Elul 23
On Gardening and Our Spiritual Gardens by Ivy Helman, Ph.D. Hafik in the garden “And the divine sent the human out of the Garden of Eden, to till the soil, from where humanity had been taken.” - Genesis 3:23 Our connection to the land runs deep. It is recognized in the Torah. It is also a difficult connection, one that takes work and care, and one that I am learning more and more about as my partner and I take over the care of her ...
Earth Etude for Elul 22
The Thread of Elul by Carly Sachs ~What does thunder say and what stormor visitor has come to quench the secret thirst of the soul and how different the soft knockingof the heart and can you bathe in the waters of the breath? The dharma of a warrior is not to fight,but to love, and how do you trust that your vulnerability is your strength. Discernment is knowing that to holdand to release are not two beads, but one thread. Carly Sachs ...
Earth Etude for Elul 21
GoldenRod's Teaching for Elul by Kohenet Sephirah Oshkello ~As we journey through the Wheel of the Year, it is a gift to cultivate the soil and learn from the cycles of the earth. Elul - a month of reflection and growth; emulated in the GoldenRod sparkling all around us amongst the shifting seasons in Vermont. Elul and GoldenRod connect us to our sovereignty, reminding us that we have agency on who we want to be, how we behave, and the ...
Earth Etude for Elul 20
Humans and Beavers by Judith Black A short reflection The beaver’s small black nose was gliding towards its lodge.The people sat idling in their SUVs waiting impatiently for the 4 lanes of traffic to break up. Humans and Beavers: the only two species that manipulate and shift their environment.Beavers make wetlands. New perspectives on history, familial dysfunction, aging, and our terribly challenged climate and environment are all ...
Earth Etude for Elul 19
Greenwashing Initiatives Pollute the Mikvah by Andy Oram ~Insincere gestures toward saving the climate fill the news these days. Governments classify biomass as a low-carbon energy source when many types of biomass1 put more carbon in the air. Carbon offsets, vaunted by many companies, also are mostly for show. 2 Insincerity is a perennial human trait, of course. Someone promises to give up smoking and then takes up vaping. A corporate manager ...
Earth Etude for Elul 18
Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall... by Rabbi Margaret Frisch-Klein “Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall…”Trees are like friends. Torah is a Tree of Life, so says Proverbs. We sing this as part of the Torah service. “It is a tree of life to them that hold fast to it and all its paths are peace.” Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav said that we should spend an hour every day outside amongst the trees. Each day when I go out for a walk, I say hello to ...
Earth Etude for Elul 17
Trace by Sheryl J. Shapiro ~In this chilly September twilighttufts of cottontail are flattened on the streetthe body drenched, glisteningThe piercing eyes of the crowsdraw the chalk line on the scene The rabbit belongs to the brambles, the earthThe birds are eager for a winter mealI want to lift this creature away from this runway A paper bag from my trunk becomes the gurneyto the small tangle of grass by the mailbox As the evening ...
Earth Etude for Elul 15
Appreciating Nature's Gifts by Rabbi Susan Elkodsi ~The tiny island country of Iceland sits atop two tectonic plates, the North American plate, and the Eurasian plate, which accounts for most of its landscape, along with its continual seismic activity. Thanks to a cousin who chose to have her wedding in Iceland this past May, I had the opportunity to visit just a small area of this amazing place. Miles and miles of lava fields, unable to be ...
Earth Etude for Elul 16
Zazu Dreams - Between the Scarab and the Dung Beetle -Cautionary. Fable for the Anthropocene Era by Cara Judea Alhadeff, PhD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14uU3UW0d1w ~Our collaboration combines four generations: Zazu (the dreamer), Cara/Mommia (the storyteller), Micaela/Nana (the artist), and Grand Papoo (the family photographer). Zazu Dreams focuses on human rights and ecological justice, merging humanities and the sciences, exploring ...
Earth Etude for Elul 14
Love is the Breath of the Soul by Rabbi Dr. Nachshon Siritsky Earth: Adamah In Hebrew, earth (adamah) is also (adam) which is humanity. Both have the same three-letter root (alef/dalet/mem), but earth/adamah has the extra Hebrew letter "Hey." Hey: the double letter in G!d's Name Hey: the vowel that opens us to Life Hey: (Breath/Ruach) called Avram and Sarai to leave the land where they could not breathe that they could awaken into ...
Earth Etude for Elul 13
Uncovering the Moon: The Compass of Compassion by Rabbi Margie Jacobs ~Growing up, I was taught that our prayers on the High Holidays were an effort to move God, who sits on a throne of judgment on Rosh Hashanah writing our fate in the Book of Life, to a seat of compassion by the end of Yom Kippur. But the Zohar, the 13th-century book of Kabbalah, offers us a different image. While Psalms 81:4 is often translated as “Blow the shofar on ...
Earth Etude for Elul 12
Learn to Acknowledge Defeat by Rabbi Paul Plotkin ~I have been a vegetable and herb gardener for the last 30 years. That means that I have had the pleasure of tasting wonderful tomatoes and carrots, snow peas, peppers and eggplants that had real flavor and something mysterious called freshness. It also means that I have experienced disappointment, failure, heartache and loss at a frequency much greater than success. At times after waiting ...
Earth Etude for Elul 11
God's eyes on the Land: Why our ancestors chose a land "of hills and valleys" by Rabbi David Seidenberg ~In Parashat Eikev, Deut 11:10-12, the Torah compares the land of Egypt to the land of Canaan. Egypt is sustained by a river-fed agriculture, whereas the land of Canaan is "a land of hills and valleys -- she drinks rain from the heavens." And, unlike Egypt, the eyes of God are upon the land of Canaan continually. Each of these distinctions bears ...
