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Earth Etude for Elul 25 – Work for the Sake of Life and Work
by A. D. Gordon
translated by Katy Z. Allen
I feel that life,
it is narrow like Sheol,
and my soul is within it
as within a press,
crushed, broken
pounded;
my life is frothing also
within my soul,
and causing havoc within me,
I shake myself violently
with all my strength
shake off from upon myself
and from within myself,
that life.
I begin everything anew,
everything anew.
From the very beginning I begin life,
and I do not change anything.
I do not fix anything,
but do everything anew.
The first ...
Earth Etude for Elul 24 – Clouds
by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen
Ephemeral...
always moving...
constantly changing...
untouchable..
beautiful...
and also impactful...
productive...
important...
connected...
...like life.
Earth Etudes for Elul are a project of Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope.
Earth Etude for Elul 23 – On T’shuvah and Leapfrogging Through our Lives
by Moshe Givental
I have had the privilege of spending a lot of time outside this summer at the sacred grounds of Pickard’s Mountain Eco Institute. In my deep yearning to reconnect this one Adam (Earth-ling) with Adamah (Earth) I have tried to listen a bit more deeply than usual, and take R. Hiyya’s advice in the Talmud (Eruvin 100b) to learn something about how to live from our animal friends. The frogs greeted me with quite a croak the first night here, so I took that as a cue to pay extra attention to them.
I don’t know about other people’s natural ...
Earth Etude for Elul 22 – Help Me Be
by Carol C. Reiman
May I be as steady as the oak,
ocean, owl's gaze;
Flexing as the bird's wing,
cattail in the breeze,
stream around the stone;
Patient as the long daylight,path to the horizon,journey to my core;
Gliding back and forth,
Inner, outer,
values mirroring my mien.
As I tire, fresh start,
spiral ever out afar;
Treasuring earth's teaching;
voicing its protection;
seeing to its keeping,
as I work to seek my own.
Earth Etudes for Elul are a project of ...
Earth Etude for Elul 21 – Be Like Water
by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen
photos by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen and Gabi Mezger
Water breaking
Water vast
Water quiet
Water reflective
Water pounding
Water connecting
Water powerful
Water contemplative
Water focused
May we be like the water.
Earth Etudes for Elul are a project of Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope.
Light the Way – Support Pope Francis’ Call for Climate Action on September 24
Pope Francis is speaking to world leaders at the UN on September 25 with a simple message for politicians: There is no more time for talk. Now is the time to act on climate change.
In his recent encyclical on climate change, Pope Francis wrote that “…faced as we are with global environmental deterioration. I wish to address every living person on this planet.” His impassioned message to humanity was drawn from Torah. He wrote that Genesis 2 teaches us that we are required to respect and protect the dignity of every human being. And Psalm 148 is a ...
Earth Etude for Elul 20 – Saluting all who stand tall in the face of “Climate and Carbon Pharoahs”:Rabbinical activist plans eco Yom Kippur services at Lincoln Memorial
By Susie Davidson
This article was first published in the August 27 issue of the Jewish Journal of the North Shore.
On June 18, Pope Francis released his long-awaited, climate-centered encyclical, “Laudato Sii,” which translates to “May the Creator Be Praised," and is taken from a prayer of St. Francis of Assisi acknowledging Brother Sun, Sister Moon, and all other elements of Creation.
To enthusiastic worldwide reception, the encyclical stated that humans were morally bound to protect the planet for future generations, and especially for the vulnerable ...
Earth Etude for Elul 19 – Movement Building and the Body
by Janna Diamond
I invite you to sit up tall. Relax your shoulders. Soften the muscles in your face. Inhale and exhale. Tune in to where you are.
Did you know that movement in the body does not repeat itself? Even the most subtle motion. Each gesture is an expression of exactly where you are in space at a given moment. Movement is information. Sensation is knowledge. Every second is a discovery. You are here.
The body is our environment. The environment is our body.
Let us become fluidly adaptable beings, softening to ourselves and those around us. Generating ...
Earth Etude for Elul 18 – Elements
by Judith Felsen, Ph.D.
When You gave us wind
we hid from it
when You offered us rain
we wasted it
when You made us earth
we contaminated it
when You gave us air
we polluted it
when You showed us fire
we abused it.
Our response to You
has been destruction.
Your response to us
is Your correction.
Maybe we have one more chance
for our connection.
Judith Felsen, Ph.D. Copyright 2015
Judith Felsen holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, certificates in hypnotherapy, NLP, Eriksonian Hypnosis, and Sacred ...
Why Perform a Rite That Kills Chickens as a Way To Seek God’s Compassion?
The period before and during Yom Kippur, Judaism's holiest day, is one in which Jews ask for God's compassion so that we will be forgiven for our transgressions during the previous year and granted a happy, healthy, peaceful new year. Yet, many Jews perform the rite of kapparot (in Ashkenazic Hebrew kappores or in Yiddish, shluggen kappores) in the days before Yom Kippur, a ritual which involves the killing of chickens.
Kapparot is a custom in which the sins of a person are symbolically transferred to a fowl. First, selections from Isaiah 11:9, Psalms 107:10, 14, and ...
Earth Etude for Elul 17 – Taking Stock of the Future
by Rabbi Lawrence Troster
During the month of Elul it's traditional to do a heshbon ha-nefesh a spiritual accounting of what we did in the past year so that we can do teshuva or repentance for what we have done wrong or failed to achieve. Indeed, the first step of teshuva is the recognition of doing wrong. We then can move on to trying to fix that wrong and gain atonement.
One of the characteristics of the modern world is our ability to analyze possible future outcomes in a way that our ancestors could not. So we can take a future heshbon ha-nefesh if we want ...
Rosh Hashanah Message: Shifting Our Imperiled Planet Onto a Sustainable Path
Rosh Hashanah commemorates God's creation of the world. The “Ten Days of Repentance” from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur is a period to evaluate our deeds and to do teshuvah (repentance) for cases where we have missed the mark. Sukkot is a holiday in which we leave our fine houses and live in temporary shelters (sukkahs) to commemorate our ancestors journey in the wilderness. Hence, the upcoming weeks provide an excellent time to consider the state of the planet's environment and what we might do to make sure that the world is on a sustainable path.
When God created ...
Should Jews Become Vegetarians on Rosh Hashanah?
Rosh Hashanah is the time when we take stock of our lives and consider new beginnings. Perhaps the most significant and meaningful change that Jews should consider this year is a shift away from diets that have been having devastating effects on their health and the health of our increasingly imperiled planet. While many Jews seem to feel that the holiday celebration can be enhanced by the consumption of chopped liver, gefilte fish, chicken soup, and roast chicken, there are many inconsistencies between the values of Rosh Hashanah and the realities of animal-centered ...
The Custom of Kapparot in the Jewish Tradition
Every year, before Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), some Jews perform the ceremony of kapparot. The following, in question and answer format, is a discussion of the ritual and its relation to the treatment of animals.
What is kapparot [in Ashkenazic Hebrew or Yiddish, kapporos or shluggen kapporos]?
Kapparot is a custom in which the sins of a person are symbolically transferred to a fowl. Some Jews practice it shortly before Yom Kippur. First, selections from Isaiah 11:9, Psalms 107:10, 14, and 17-21, and Job 33:23-24 are recited; then a rooster (for a male) or a ...
Earth Etude for Elul 16 – Return to Our Pond
by Rabbi Dorit Edut
Frozen for months, life had chilled out for too long last winter. We began to wonder if a new Ice Age was coming more swiftly than predicted. Disaster was whispering in the wind from which we tried to hide all skin lest the frost take a bite. We stayed indoors and cancelled many a get-together because of the fierceness of this weather. On the pond in front of my daughter’s home, the white heron appeared once in March, as if sent by Noah, but all was solid ice.
In early April evenings, the story of our Exodus from slavery to freedom was told ...
Earth Etude for Elul 15 – Elul, the Month for Climate Action
by David Krantz
Tekiah! In Elul, we hear the call for the quintessential sound of the shofar every morning. It’s meant as a daily wake-up call to action. Appropriately, the word Tekiah itself also means “disaster.” Day after day in Elul, the shofar shouts: “Disaster! Act now!”
Just as an alarm clock gives us notice that we have to get to work, the shofar reminds us that time marches onward and that our mistakes won’t correct themselves. We must actively engage with the world to repair it and our relationships with each other. The process of repentance and ...
Earth Etude for Elul 14 – The Pool Is Closed
by Rabbi Natan Margalit, PhD
“The Pool is closed. Have a good night. God Bless America” the lifeguard announced as I climbed out of the public pool at 5:00 pm on an August evening. I was a bit taken aback by that “God bless America.” Well, of course. Yes, it's America, we’re in a public pool, why not? I hope God blesses America. We need to work for our own country, of course. Im ayn ani li, mi li – If I am not my own advocate, who will be for me? Said Hillel. But, it seemed to say more: God bless America –rah rah, go home team! Beat those ...
A Rosh Hashanah Message: Aplying Jewish Values to Help Heal Our Imperiled Planet
Rosh Hashanah reminds us of God’s creation of the world. The “Ten Days of Repentance” from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur is a period to evaluate our deeds and to do teshuvah (repentance) for cases where we have missed the mark. Sukkot, starting four days after Yom Kippur, is a holiday in which we leave our fine houses and live in temporary shelters (sukkahs) to commemorate our ancestors journey in the wilderness. So, that period provides an excellent time to consider the state of the planet’s environment and what we might do to help keep the world on a sustainable ...
Earth Etude for Elul 13 – Returning to Memories, Reflecting on Progress
by Rabbi Shoshana Meira-Friedman
When I was a teenager, my grandfather would set aside mailings from the Sierra Club to give to me when I visited. He knew I cared about nature, and that I identified as an environmentalist. (I never quite knew what to do with the mailings. I think I cut out a few photos from a calendar to hang on my wall.)
As I grew older, Pa – a first generation Jewish immigrant, who went from rags to riches in a generation – asked me how I could make a living from environmental work. I remember saying something vague, because I really didn't ...
Sukkoth, Shemini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah and Vegetarianism
Sukkot commemorates the 40 years when the ancient Israelites lived in the wilderness in frail huts and were sustained by manna. According to Isaac Arama (1420-1494), author of Akedat Yitzchak,and others, the manna was God’s attempt to reestablish for the Israelites the vegetarian diet that prevailed before the flood in the time of Noah.
1. On Simchat Torah, Jews complete the annual cycle of Torah readings, and begin again, starting with the first chapter of Genesis, which contains God’s first dietary law: “Behold I have given you every herb yielding seed which is ...