Susan R. Levine Subscribe
Earth Etude for Elul 20: Unfinished Blessing
by Bill Witherspoon We were supposed to name all the animals. Lately we have gotten pretty good at it, While it begins to dawn on us that Even that slender branch of the tree of life (Let alone the one on which crawl the slime molds, Or the branch dotted with archaea microbes that turn salt ponds pink Or the one spread with green life that converts sunlight into food) Is just too prolific for words. Still, 500 animal species ...
Earth Etude for Elul 18: Pine Needles
by Asher Hillel Burstein Of love’s immortal way they said, Cheat the grave her wonted siege. Garlands round your plot of earth, Home the wand’ring lights of I. Who now as all on edge of time, Toll the eager moonlit tide. No nuptial love has such a kind, That hopes for songs he cannot write. Nor knows a heart like his so dimmed, By sweet rejected notes; he aches. To share with one for whom he dies, By day, by night; ...
Earth Etude for Elul 17: Butterflies
by Rabbi Margaret Frisch Klein I live on the prairie, in the Prairie State of Illinois. Not a “Little House on the Prairie,” a big house, but there are vistas that remind me of that show. In a county that is known for its dairy farming. Borden Milk came from here. The library is the Gail Borden Public Library. That Borden. The house across from the synagogue is known as the “Butterman’s House” because the prices for butter as a commodity ...
Earth Etude for Elul 16: Illuminating the fire of the burning bush.
by Carol C. Reiman Livestreaming ladder of angelic messengers. Protecting voice of the she-ass, female with the weight of responsibility, birthing words of courage, seer of boundaries This is the place in which we have walked, oblivious or called. Wandering, weeping by waters, reaching beyond and within. Nurturing what was pulled from the reeds, allowing the land and its tenders to rest, leaving food at the ...
Earth Etude for Elul 15: Water is Life
by Dr. Mirele Goldsmith Not long ago, I visited Lake Itasca, the source of the Mississippi River. I was awed by the revelation that the Mississippi watershed extends to 40% of the United States and the river itself is 2,340 miles long. I was so moved that I spontaneously recited the blessing for fulfilling the commandement to immerse in living waters, the traditional blessing for visiting the mikveh (ritual bath.) Jewish tradition ...
Earth Etude for Elul 13: The Spirituality of Coffee
by Rabbi Steven Rubenstein Each year I choose a theme for my High Holy Day thoughts for my community, which they receive in written form. They are a continuation of the div’rei Torah that I write each week. An administrative assistant revealed to me that she enjoyed sitting down at her table on Saturday morning with her cup of coffee in hand to read my comments and to reflect upon them. From this admission I decided to devote this year’s theme to ...
Earth Etude for Elul 12: Repentence for Earthlings
by Rabbi Mike Moscowitz The story is told about two people who are disputing ownership over a piece of land, each claiming that it belongs to them. A rabbi is consulted to offer a ruling in Jewish Law to decide the case. After carefully listening to the arguments of both sides he says “Ok, now I need to hear what the land has to say about it.” With quite a bit of hesitation, both parties finally agree to accompany the Rabbi to the parcel of ...
Earth Etude for Elul 11: It’s Done, It’s Not Done
by Judith Black Our beautiful planet will survive and rehabilitate itself. We will not. Not the animals, not the insects, not the glaciers, not the poles. Seeing one’s own extinction Standing on that precipice We still have a choice to make Will I sink into the couch Despair invading every pore Weeping for the duration Will I fight like hell Pushing legislators and industry Creating clean, healthy, just alternative...
Earth Etude for Elul 10: We’re in This Together
by Rabbi Marisa Elana James Maybe you’ve experienced the moment that I sometimes do, back pressed to the earth, suddenly feeling that I’m getting a taste of the planet’s perspective, that the clouds aren’t moving at all, but instead I’m the one slowly rotating on my axis and spinning in space. The clouds stand still, while I roll backwards into the universe, dizziness setting in as this new orientation disorients me. Some moments that ...
Earth Etude for Elul 8: Le’ovdah ule’Shomrah
by Rabbi Louis Polisson and Gabriella Feingold The link below will play this beautiful song: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jkbJ2voDRh2VzOOkgBErU8tie1gTCFeU/view Le’ovdah ule’shomrah (x2) [Repeat x3] The storms, they crash, and the fires burn The rivers flood, and you don’t know where to turn Give me your hand And we’ll stand together For a better day Le’ovdah ule’shomrah (x2) We will serve the earth and ...
Earth Etude for Elul 5: Early
by Rabbinic Pastor De Fischler Herman Leaves yellow, wither, and fall Acorns drop, clacking on the street It is only the middle of August The creek shrinks, stalls, and stagnates Leaves floating, halt, holding in place We wave the flag for Independence Day Air swells, heats, and suspends Strawberries redden, picking time already And it’s not yet June Azaleas bloom and leaves unfurl Long before Mother's Day Cherry ...
Earth Etude for Elul 4: We Must Try to Finish the Work
by Harvey Michaels There is a tradition that in the month preceding the Jewish New Year in September, we begin our contemplation about our failures, and returning to our true selves - our Teshuvah. We can consider climate change a failure that we all share; a problem created by us all. And since we haven’t yet healed the Earth’s climate, we have more frequent extreme weather, fires, drought, floods, glacier melts, sea level rise, habitat ...
Earth Etude for Elul 2: How do we hear the silent sound of the Earth?
by Andy Oram The Unetanah Tokef prayer we say at High Holidays contains the famous phrase "a tiny silent sound" (translated in many ways) from I Kings 19:12. The phrase always grabs our attention because of the unexpectedness of the image. Let's look back at the context of the original phrase in Kings to see how it might help us deal with the onslaught of climate disasters. I Kings 19 describes the flight of Elijah after he has pulled off the ...
Earth Etude for Elul 1: For Lea
by Lorin Troderman Spirals of death in a season of drought Av reaches in and grabs a friend, again. Mourners lament in whispers “It’s way too early” I shout We grieve Each in our own way But together On Sunday we will gather by the sea Temple destruction remembrance day Our earth, a holy temple assaulted by our ignorance &...
A Vegetarian New Year
by Susan Levine ~ The New Year, January 1 of the Gregorian calendar, is the same as Rosh Hashanah for me. I think about things I have done over my lifetime and the most important thing I’ve tried to do is to become a vegetarian. But let me start at the beginning: Both my parents grew up in kosher homes and when they got married, they had a kosher home. But it wasn’t kosher enough for my father’s mother who would visit my parents but ...
Earth Etude for Elul 29: At the Hoh~A Rainforest in the Pacific Northwest
by Thea Iberall Hoh Rainforest on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State The Amazon Rainforest is the most biodiverse region on Earth and provides shelter to three million species of plants and animals. Billions of trees absorb tons of carbon dioxide every year and produce 20% of earth’s oxygen. It’s been called the Lungs of the Earth. But I read something most disturbing. The Amazon rainforest is now emitting about a ...
Earth Etude for Elul 27: At the Edge of the Sea
by Rabbi Louis Polisson (Hebrew translation is after the English) At the edge of the sea On the sand, on the stones, on the shells I stand In prayer But where should I look What am I supposed to see ~ I want to contemplate The sea The reflections of the sun in her waves Illuminate and entice my eyes _ But the obligation of the East Onward, eastward Arises in my mind And draws me To turn away from the ...
Earth Etude for Elul 25: Navel of the Earth
by Rabbi Ariel Wolpe Midrash Tanhuma teaches that when the Holy One began to create the world, the Holy One did so as a child grows within the mother. Just as an embryo begins as a small cell and then expands in all directions, so too the world was created from a single point—from even shtiya, the foundation or “drinking” stone. This stone is the navel of the earth, nourishing us and connecting us to the Divine Mother. According to Rabbi ...
Earth Etude for Elul 23: Teshuvah and Water
by Rabbi Steven Rubenstein ~Teshuvah is reflected in the power to change And the waters that cleanse our souls. Rabbi Steven Rubenstein recently celebrated his 25th anniversary since his ordination from the Academy for Jewish Religion. In that time he served congregations in San Francisco, CA, El Paso, TX, and Beverly, MA. In addition, he has served as Director of Spiritual Care at Shalom Park in Denver, CO and currently ...
Earth Etude for Elul 22: Healing in Nature and Helping Nature Heal
by Joan Rachlin It has been just over 17 months since my husband suffered a stroke. It wasn’t just our lives that changed that day, though, as March 11, 2020 was also the day that Boston went into lockdown in an effort to stem the spread of Covid-19. We therefore found ourselves living in a bubble within a bubble and rehab services were consequently hard to find. All of the outpatient clinics were closed and home care was limited. In this ...
