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Earth Etude for Elul 21 — A Little Omer on the Prairie
by Rabbi Margaret Frisch Klein
~ I live on the prairie. In the Prairie State of Illinois. On a summer’s day with large clouds towering over the cornfields, it is spectacular. Awe-inspiring. I remember to be grateful.
For several decades, I have followed
the practice of Rabbi Everett Gendler of planting winter wheat, rye or barley at Sukkot and
harvesting it during the counting of the Omer, the 50 days between Passover and
Shavuot. I have done this with generations of Hebrew School students and their
parents. It roots the Jewish year in the agricultural cycle. ...
Earth Etude for Elul 20 — Past and Present Pain
by Rabbi Katy Allen
~ What if...the feelings we have when we pass through...zones of destruction are actually arising from the land itself? What if it is the grief of the forest registering in our bodies and psyches—the sorrow of the redwoods, voles, sorrel, ferns, owls, and deer, all those who lost their homes and lives as a result of this plunder of living beings? What if we are not separate from the world at all? It is our spiritual responsibility to acknowledge these losses. What if this is the anima mundi, the soul of the world, weeping through us? We know ...
Earth Etude for Elul 19– Teshuvah in the Desert
by Rabbi Mike Comins
~ In order to acquire wisdom and Torah, one must make oneself hefker, open and abandoned, like this desert. (BaMidbar Rabbah 1)
Of the many
reasons our tradition offers for why the Torah was given at Sinai, one is
particularly relevant for Elul. The desert is an optimal environment to do Teshuvah. More than that. To reach our
full potential, we are advised to become like the desert.
Why does the
desert have the power to change us?
First and
foremost, the desert is a dangerous place. Like Hagar1 or Elijah2,
you can easily lose the way, ...
Earth Etude for Elul 18 — What I Hope to Be
by Joan Rachlin
~The temperatures, sun, moon, breezes, trees, grasses, plants, and flowers all signal that change is in the air. We’re moving into a new season and a new month, Elul, with its promise of transformation and its possibility of renewal.
Elul is when we can hit the reset button and
begin again. Sounds easy, but we cannot appeal to the “better angels of our
nature” without engaging in Teshuvah, or “return.” There are many
interpretations of what “return” means in this context but, in the end, each of
us must choose our own ...
Earth Etude for Elul 17 — Slow Down
by Nyanna S. Tobin ~
Slow food folding like a snail over her slime.
I remember my Dad in his slow down days.
Even his deep lined smile crept slowly over his face.
A thought made Jack Benny sound like a whirled-gig.
Perhaps my Dad was waiting for his angel,
While she was waiting for him to scream her name.
And he never did.
He seemed to be a life-long prisoner of Fear.
But my escape from that realm,
Invited me to gaze around the corner
To play hide-and-seek at ...
Earth Etude for Elul 14 –Inner and Outer Climate Change
by Rabbi Robin Damsky
A local toad finds a home in the pot of a rooting African violet (yes, the leaf got displaced).
~It’s been a year of change. Not just a move, but a move to a new climate zone and a very new culture. I moved from outside Chicago to Durham, NC, the South. The trees here are glorious – pines everywhere, wisteria in April blooming in the wild, crepe myrtle in vivid fuchsia and pale pastels just now. It’s hot. Average days are in the 90s and one can almost swim in the humidity. A long growing season brought daffodils in February, while I just ...
Earth Etude for Elul 16 — Prayer for the Two-Leggeds
by Daniel Kieval
To listen or join in prayer:
This is the time for us to finally come home
This is the time to know that we are not alone
To find our selves in a deep ancient web
This is the time to be embraced by the land
Kissed by oceans, taken by the hand
Rooted down into this deep ancient web
Receive us now
Retrieve us now
Redeem us now
This is the way that we awake from a dream
Wander out into life's ever-flowing stream
Listen now to the deep ancient web
This is the place that gave birth to us in love We are the children that Earth is dreaming ...
Earth Etude for Elul 15 — T’shuvah is an answer.
by Andy Oram
~ At High Holidays we speak intently and repeatedly of T’shuvah (תשובה), by which we mean repentance or returning to God. T'shuvah does mean "return", but it also means "answer." We have to answer both God's and a world that is dying before our eyes.
How can we answer? How can we approach the
High Holidays with the urgency demanded us of from the modern world? In these
times of imminent destruction, we also seek an answer to our plea for
deliverance. And when seeking answers, Jews turn back to the riches of Torah.
The word t'shuvah derives ...
Earth Etude for Elul 13 –Spiritual Lessons from God’s “Art Museum”
by Rabbi Dorit Edut
“Ma rabu ma’asecha, Adonai; kulam b’hochma aseeta; malu ha-aretz kinyanecha-- How numerous are Your works, O Lord; with wisdom You fashioned them all; the earth abounds with Your creations!”
These words
from the weekday morning blessings before the Shema prayer, were on my lips
constantly as I traveled through “God’s Art Museum” in Zion National Park and
Bryce Canyon this summer. At every turn was another gasp at an amazing sight –
truly photographers’ and artists’ paradise! Using only wind, water, red
sandstone, white ...
Earth Etude for Elul 12 –Two Poems
by Judith Felsen, Ph.D.
Urban Garden
~ Urban garden tiny patch of heaven nestled amidst brick and stone; kales and chards salute the sky bok choy sentry elegant, celery, parsleys hold court while lettuce species dance, each offering a breath of life oxygen of garden’s greens infuses air lungs spared inhale
may urban gardens grace this world,
edible planted prayers of green
reviving life and city air;
urban garden
blessing ground and all
Urban garden
tiny patch of heaven
nestled amidst brick and stone;
kales and chards salute the sky
bok choy sentry elegant...
Earth Etude for for Elul 11– Return to Our Values
by Deborah Nam-Krane
~ In 2017, I heard LaDonna Redmond, founder of the Campaign for Food Justice Now, speak at the Annual Gardener’s Gathering in Boston. An organizer working at the crossroads of food justice and racial equality, she laid out a familiar story: her child was allergic and/or sensitive to many foods, but to provide him with the food he needed, Redmond had to step out of her neighborhood because fresh fruits and vegetables weren’t available there. She started a community garden and cooperative, and each step in helping her family and community be ...
Earth Etude for Elul 10 — Earth Mother
by Carol C. Reiman
~ She holds us
in her arms,
charms us
with star sparkle
eyes,
lilac
breath,
song of rippling water
over stone.
She tells us our story,
from deep
in the loam of her heart,
fed by
rains and heat,
warmth, cold,
into the family
of breezes, currents, creatures—
those like us
and not.
Movement in spurts,
and slow,
creeping, climbing, sliding,
changing skins and gestures,
while we grow
along with our
earth siblings, cousins,
at pause and in dance,
flowing
in mutual ...
Earth Etude for Elul 9 — Elul: A Time to Start Shifting Our Imperiled Planet onto a Sustainable Path
by Richard H Schwartz
As the world spirals toward a climate catastrophe, the current Hebrew month of Elul again provides time for heightened introspection, a chance to do t’shuvah (repentance), to improve our lives and our involvements, before the “Days of Awe,” the days of judgment, the “High Holidays” of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
How should we respond to Elul today? How should we respond to the current reports of dire warnings and other environmental threats to humanity, including:
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an organis...
Earth Etude for Elul 8 –A Year of Travel, A Year of Wonder
by Susie Davidson
Photos (from top left clockwise): Louisiana Bayou from Amtrak; Maine foliage; Hills of Mexico, Del Rio Texas; Susie Davidson at El Paso Crossing; Banyan tree, Miami, FL.
~ Over the past year, I've had many unforgettable experiences in different countries and regions, within amazing, varied landscapes. There is nothing like discovering and living in a new environment. The languages, cultures, geography, and people are so different. However, it is within these strange surroundings that I have conversely noticed what is similar. There are common ...
Earth Etude for Elul 7 — To Everything There is A Season
by Maxine Lyons
~ Growth takes many forms and like other Jewish seekers, I rely on the life-cycle events to provide a framework for growth, celebrating nature and new life, knowing that to everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven. I started this year’s Elul preparation in June, with conscious gratitude for the experience of becoming a grandmother for the first time in my 70’s and ready to welcome a second grandbaby due to arrive before Rosh Hashanah.
Through my work as a professional educator with older adults for
several ...
Earth Etude for Elul 6 — God I Am Your Sapling
by Nakhie Faynshteyn
~ God I am your sapling
Let me take in your sunlightso that I may nourish my leavesAnd grow vibrant and green
Let me take in your rainsand let them soak into my roots beneath the ground
I will be nimble and bendMy branches will stretch and sprout budsWhile my roots hold me firm and planted
God I am your sapling
Nakhie Faynshteyn is a first generation immigrant from Odessa, Ukraine who lives in the Fenway area in Boston. He is as climate and social justice activist working with the Sunrise Movement, Kavod and Boston Workmen’s Circle ...
Earth Etude for Elul 5 — True Tikkun Olam
by Dr. Karen I. Shragg
~ Euphemisms have always hurt us. Jews have had their ears tuned in to anti-Semitic language for a long, long time and know when someone is trying to paint us in a negative picture while couching it in coded language.
But there is a new way that euphemisms are hurting the whole
planet and its future. Recently the forecast of species extinctions and climate
change have alarmed us and sent us running to our recycle bins, organic food
and if we have time, to our laptops to write letters to the editor about the
evils of using pesticides. We hear ...
Earth Etude for Elul 4 — Experiencing G!D in the Wilderness
by Rabbi Greg Hersh
~ Elul is the time of year where we can take a break from our routine and set ourselves on a path of returning to our purest and best selves. For many Jewish people, this involves getting dressed up and attending long services. In addition to (or in lieu of) those experiences, we can also accomplish these annual goals by stepping into the natural world, just like our teacher, Moses.
One day, Moses was doing his usual work of tending Jethro’s
flock, when he decided to “turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the
bush is not burnt. And ...
Earth Etude for Elul 3 — 200 Jewels
by Thea Iberall
~ I had a medical emergency. The room felt like the galley of a sinking ship and I was lurching against the walls. The doctor said my heart had become irregular. He handed me blood thinners and I wanted to run away. My mind flooded with trying to figure out what to do. His western medicine uses empirically-based tools and years of rigorous scientific testing. It’s ingrained into us to believe doctors. But this medicine is what killed my father.
Besides, it is only one model, one that continually evolves.
Look at how much Western medicine has ...
Earth Etude for Elul 2: A Plan
by Judith Black
~When despair for my planet came ramming down my door, my heart, my hope, I stood crushed.
When despair entered my
bloodstream and resonated as cancer, I nodded toward death.
When despair began to drive
away friends, family, like a toxic odor, I kept belching it out.
Then Spring woke the earth.
It bloomed in every color imaginable. It smelt like the heaven of the very
good.
It started to grow cabbage
and weeds and insects and flowers. It lives.
If this mother of us all has
the resilience to wake up and give life, who am I to lose hope?
...