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Transforming Pain into Beauty, Yom Kippur

by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen We have, to date, failed to stop the runaway train of climate change. On this holiest day of the Jewish calendar, we must ask ourselves, How can we find and extract beauty from the pain of our failure? What does it take for us to put love, compassion, and hope at the center of our lives, and in the process transform both ourselves and the world around us into something far more beautiful than anything we have known before? Part of what it takes is determination and an unwillingness to give up. We can learn something about determination from ...

Rosh Hashanah

The Challenge in life is to figure out how to turn our pain into beauty by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen Photo by Mary North Allen My mother, z"l often spoke of the challenge of dealing with pain as she navigated a life marked by trauma and mental crises, as well as profound and beautiful artwork and deep friendships. My brother, a gifted musician, repeats these words often. And lately, long after my mother's passing, they have been resonating strongly with me, informing my life. As we celebrate the New Year and enter Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe, ...

Earth Etude for Elul 29

A Flower's Call by Rabbi Malkah Binah Klein Hello! Hello there! Yes, you! I'm calling to you! Slow down See me Let me reveal my face to you Let me delight you and delight in you Join me in the New World, the world beyond worlds that opens through our face to face encounter Rabbi Malka Binah Klein, founder of Merkava, a new organization which supports the transformation and healing through creative ritual and spiritual practice. Her website is thrivingspirit.org.

Earth Etude for Elul 28

The Path of Blessings by Rabbi Josh Breindel ~In our journey through the month of Elul, the ancient Rabbis call to us across the years. They encourage us to engage in teshuvah – to turn from destructive behaviors and mend our ways. This practice has a special urgency today, following one of the hottest summers on record. We know that humanity has great power over our environment and the climate. The Rabbis shared this same perspective. While this midrash (Rabbinic story) was written 1,500 years ago, it’s just as relevant in our own day. When the ...

Earth Etude for Elul 27

A Narrow Bridge by Chaplain Dr. Rabbi Leslie Schotz Rabbi Nachman of Breslow says the world is a very narrow bridge. The main thing is not to be afraid. We are created from the earth and to the earth we will return. The heavens are water above. The lakes and oceans hold the mystery and life force below. We walk a path of hopefulness even as we reflect about the future of all life on earth. Our days are numbered. The Psalms remind us to treasure each day and open our hearts to its wisdom. The path we take can lead us to transformation. ...

Earth Etude for Elul 26

Refuge from Numbness by Anonymous ~In Genesis, G-d calls out to the Human, Ayeka, Where are you? However, where do we find Earth’s call for Humanity? How do we reconnect with our first potential soulmate, ADAM to ADAMAH? Amidst the stress, heartbreak, and numbness of daily life, how do we connect our little body to the body which is our Home? One of my spiritual practices in this daily chaos has been a dance practice called 5 Rhythms, except I don’t go there to dance. I go there because amidst the music and the evening darkness, is one of the few places ...

Earth Etudes for Elul 25

Jewish Foraging: What we give, what we take, praising our past, ensuring our future by Rabbi Michael Birnholz ~In the 1990s I was a counselor at URJ Camp Coleman. Now in a later part of my life, ordained as a Rabbi, with a family of my own, I have been honored to serve as faculty there. Camp has always been a place of powerful experience for me. This year, when I was asked to offer an elective, I realized I could incorporate a favorite activity, wild fruit foraging, into camp as an illustration of a valuable spiritual dynamic. While I certainly get a chance to ...

Earth Etude for Elul 24

Onyinyechi ("Gift of God") by Asher Hillel Burstein ~Blood-red light on a golden chainHangs low and onto me, overflowsLike a waterfall, I drown in its millionLambent drops formed at the other endOf the Earth, I am but a speckle butThe fiery stone holds the world entire inHer field where God, though too immenseFor the heavens may abide with comfortIn her breast where my eyes are led asIron to a magnet, moths to a candleThat consumes me and drains the lifeFrom my veins, a myriad of spritesTake flight and leave me wilted.I die in her flames.Asher Hillel Burstein is a ...

Earth Etude for Elul 23

You Shall Teach Them to Your Children by Rebecca Heisler ~ For many, Tisha b’Av is an arrow pointing towards the start of the cycle of teshuvah, that leads us through Elul and into Tishrei. The themes, questions, and prayers of this holiday can lead us to find meaning and connection in the season of returning. This year on Tisha b’Av, as I sat around a fire, I found myself praying for the children. It began with “I’m sorry.” And it continued, “I’m sorry for the world you are inheriting, and even more for the earth you are inheriting.” I�...

Earth Etude for Elul 22

Rosh HaShanah in the Northern Latitudes by Louise Quigley (Written in a year when Rosh Hashanah, the Autumn equinox, and the first killing frost in the garden all came together)Now frost-blighted fuchsias start to rot,crumpled tomatoes sag against their poles,and sap's ebb spreads across the leaves like gold;dark outlasts day again, and it gets cold.And this is the world's birthday, this the daywe call the head and start of another year.For now all nature turns to its decay:dun yard trash molders into fertile loam;Earth turns towards winter's still, which turns ...

Earth Etude for Elul 21

Turbulence Within and Without by Rabbi David Seidenberg Rabbi Nachman of Breslow taught: The divine name "YOU" (in Hebrew "Atah") is propitious over the sea to calm the waves. This is the inner meaning of the verse "YOU (Atah) rule over the magnificence/swelling (gay-ut) of the sea; in lifting its waves, YOU (Atah) will make them still." (Likutei Moharan 1:256 on Psalm 89:10) Waves of feeling can stir us up and arouse our passion, and they can arouse confusion. Amid turbulence can we see magnificence? Is there splendor to match the chaos and ...

Is Eating Meat and Other Animal Products Halachically Justifiable Today?

Based on increasingly dire warnings from climate experts and a significant increase in the frequency and severity of climate events, it is clear that the world faces great danger from climate change. As discussed below, averting a climate catastrophe depends very much on a major societal shift to plant-based diets. That would be helped significantly if rabbis declared that eating meat and other animal products is halachically unjustifiable today. Based on Jewish teachings, there are at least six halachic reasons for rabbis to do this: ...

Earth Etude for Elul 20

Healing the Soil, Healing the Soul by Rabbi Robin Damsky ~ I live a life of privilege. From being a single mother, I have a student loan debt for myself and my daughter that would take 20 debt cancellations to settle. I am approaching Medicare age and my hair thins by the hour. But I am healthier than most. I dance. I understand and prepare healthy food. I teach people about the earth. As a Jew I am in the minority, but I have a voice, and a platform through which to share and amplify that voice. I am newly married to the love of my life. And I live atop a mountain ...

Earth Etude for Elul 19

A New Way to Do Teshuvah by Maxine Lyons ~Doing teshuvah means to me being responsible for turning toward my better or higher self to improve personal relationships and as well as performing my share for all beings in this coming year. I feel more responsible to contribute to and join others in actions that promote more beneficial positive actions for climate change. In that spirit of responsibility and commitment, I am also honoring the memory of Rachel Carson and her impactful and revolutionary book, Silent Spring. She advocated that each ...

Earth Etude for Elul 18

Selichot [forgiveness] by De Fischler Herman ~What is the color of forgiveness? Is it pink, delicate as the bloom of a Peace rose? Is it green, refreshing like the mist from the sparkling sea? Is it red, warm as the rock in the desert sand? Is it yellow, bright as the sunflower in summer's field? Is it blue, cool as the water under the azure sky? Is it brown, rich like the soil beneath our weary feet? Is it black, dark like the night surrounding each of us? It must be white, reflecting God's light Crafting peace Healing wounds ...

Earth Etude for Elul 17

On Green Burials by Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin ~For seventy years this earth has cared for me. It has sustained my body with gifts from its own; given me firm places to take a stand and soft places to lay my head; it has thrilled me and comforted me, delighted me and frightened me. It has cradled my children and helped them grow. And it has done all this asking only one thing in return: “Tend well to me so that I may tend well to others after you.” For the last fifteen years I have tried to live up to this request. I have worked in the environmental arena ...

Earth Etude for Elul 16

Learning Turning from the World of Plants by Nina Judith Katz ~I like to spend time playing with plants, both in the woods and in the garden. There is something profoundly grounding about connecting deeply with the earth, whether through my feet feeling the tree roots as I walk a forest trail or my hands burrowing in as I wildcraft, weed, plant, and harvest. This grounding helps me feel my place in the world: among the plants, part of their world, their roots merging with mine. Through them, I feel my own place in the world. As I both weed and harvest weeds, I ...

Earth Etude for Elul 15

Embracing Change or the Muck at the Bottom of the Pond by Rabbi Judy Kummer ~Change doesn’t come easy for most of us. Many know the joke about the Buddhist monk who says to a hot dog vendor: "Make me one with everything." Chuckling, the vendor assembles the hot dog, gives it to the monk and says "that will be $4, please." The monk hands over a $20 bill, which the vendor pockets. After a moment, the monk asks for his change, at which point the vendor taps his chest and responds, “Change? Ah, change must come from within.” I grew up in a family not known ...

Earth Etude for Elul 14

For Gentle Change by Rabbi Ora Nitkin-Kaner The term ‘climate change’ can feel overly vague in part because of the ambiguity of the word ‘change.’ Change can come quickly or slowly. Change can feel welcome or catastrophic. Change can be the result of concerted, value-based effort—teshuvah—or carry the blunt force of surprise.June of this year was the first time I breathed in the smoke of distant wildfires. I knew it was a mix of luck and privilege that had shielded me up til then. I knew the smoke was coming, but the lived experience was still a ...

Earth Etude for Elul 13

Skit: Can Humans Be a Blessing? by Bill Witherspoon Historical note: The Green Team at Congregation Bet Haverim, Atlanta created a lay-led service on July 15, 2022, called “Blessings on the Climate.” Our guest d’var presenter was meteorologist and JCAN-GA advisor Mark Papier. To balance Mark’s serious (also hopeful) message, we did this silly skit with two of our funniest members as mimes. Because of a technical glitch, only the tail end of the skit was preserved on ...

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