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Earth Etude for Elul 23: Signal Hill
by Thea Iberall, PhD
Signal Hill stands 365 feet above Long Beach in Southern California looking down on San Pedro Bay, home of the largest US port. In the 1500s, Tongva tribe members stood on the hill sending smoke signals to their families on Catalina Island. Early settlers used to call it the Bay of Smokes. Eventually, large homes were built on the hill, surrounded by an abundance of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Even a Hollywood movie studio shot films there.Signal Hill changed forever when oil was discovered in 1921. It became covered with over ...
Earth Etude for Elul 22: Fifty Shades of Green
by Rabbi Suri Krieger
“Green green, it’s green they say, on the far side of the hill
Green green I’m goin’ away to where the grass is greener still”
It’s a song that was a familiar refrain for me in my growing up years. I loved the message as much as the melody. We were a camping kind of family, and grazing in the greenery of the woodlands was my sacred place. But wherever we went… the Green Mountains of Vermont or the Poconos of Pennsylvania… the green was always somehow marred by the inevitable Fast Food throw-aways of the various camping ...
Earth Etude for Elul 21: The Earth Objects
by Rabbi Charles R. Lightner
“And the giants began to kill men and to devour them. And they began to sin against the birds and the beasts and creeping things and the fish, and to devour one another’s flesh. And they drank the blood. Then the earth brought accusation against the lawless ones for all that was done on it.” (1 Enoch 7:4-6)[1]
“And again I saw them, and they began to gore one another, and the earth began to cry out.” (1 Enoch 87:1)
The Book of 1 Enoch is the oldest work of Jewish apocalypse, portions dating to the fourth century BCE. Its ...
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 named since last Elul
(150 of them the beetles of which She is “inordinately fond”)
Is kind of impressive for an ...
Earth Etude for Elul 19: Like the Wilderness
by Rabbi David Seidenberg
The book of Numbers begins, “YHVH spoke to Moshe in the Sinai wilderness.” The midrash asks, why does it specify “in the Sinai wilderness”? Because the wilderness is ready to receive all people and belongs to no one. Just so, the Torah receives all people and belongs to no one, not even to the Jewish people. In the Shmitah year, we are similarly reminded that the land of Israel/Canaan/Palestine belongs to no one – that we are just “sojourners and temporary settlers” (gerim v’toshavim) on the land (Lev 25:23).
The rabbinic ...
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; so long the years.
Of tears; his right to humble space,
Immortal face, which none can see,
For neither son nor ...
Ravage or Repair? Time to End Offshore Leasing
Should the oceans be sold to the highest bidder? Ki li ha'aretz, the land is sacred.
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 were set there. There was even a documentary called “From Dairies to Prairies.”
Once, before it was farmland, it ...
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 edges for those in the margins.
Joy in first fruits, dancing in gratitudes, peace in the soul.
Carol C. ...
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 teaches us to appreciate water. Water, we are taught in Genesis, existed before the creation of the world – an insight ...
Earth Etude for Elul 14: This Elul, We Express Gratitude to Israel’s Leading Environmentalist–Dr. Alon Tal
by David Krantz
Dr. Alon Tal
As Rosh Hashanah approaches, it’s customary for us to take stock — What have we done wrong? What could we be doing better? — but Rosh Hashanah is also a time to look back and consider the many ways we have been blessed. This Elul, as his time in Knesset likely (and unfortunately) comes to a close, we are particularly grateful to Aytzim cofounder and Knesset member Dr. Alon Tal, Israel’s leading environmentalist, for all he has done to improve the wellbeing of Israel’s land, plants, people and non-human animals.
Aside from ...
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 the Spirituality of Coffee.
When coffee first became popular in Europe, cafes were visited by intellectuals 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 land in question. The Rabbi kneels down, gently placing his ear to the ground. After a few moments, the Rabbi stands up ...
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 alternatives
Will I tend my garden
Caring and nurturing what remains
Sharing my carrots
Will I burrow into my soul
r...
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 make us feel small and insignificant are terrifying. This is the opposite. To feel not only how tiny I am, but also how ...
Earth Etude for Elul 9: On the Mountain
by Rabbi Robin Damsky
Here I sit on top of the Mountain, watching the sunset. It is spectacular. Sunsets here always are. This one is that much more extraordinary as it tops off a powerful thunderstorm, a storm in which a vague sun was visible throughout, just trying to set and get ready for tomorrow.
My partner and I moved to the Mountain in December. It’s a bit off the beaten path, but we wanted enough land to start a food forest, raise hens and design a meditation labyrinth of natives and pollinators, so we can teach Body-Spirit-Gaia: mindfulness, physical ...
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 protect our home
Stand for truth, for justice, for hope
They may turn away and pretend that they don’t see
But ...
Earth Etude for Elul 7: Between Pharaoh’s Army and the Sea: “Normal” Subjugation or the Unknown
by Rabbi Arthur Waskow
The world is in super-crisis, standing where the ancient Israelites stood at the climax of Exodus: Ahead, a stormy Reed Sea and an Unknown Wilderness. Behind, the hoofbeats of Pharaoh’s horse-chariot Army, offering submission as the price of normalcy.
It took an adventurous activist, to step one – two – a dozen --- steps into the water, up to his nose, on the verge of drowning, before the rush of waters broke, divided, and a path opened up from what had become a Taut Place to signal that the birthing into Unknown could begin. There are ...
Earth Etude for Elul 6: Ode to a Woodchuck
by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen
Woodchuck—
you who make your home in my yard,
I see you wandering,
and eating,
always eating—
eating the grass (which is fine),
or the flowers I so carefully planted,
or the vegetable plants I’d thought would be safe—
this year you seem to especially enjoy zucchini,
having devoured their leaves not just once,
or twice,
or thrice,
but already four times,
and it’s only July.
I remember in the past when I hated you—
or perhaps it was your grandmother,
or great-grandmother,
or ...
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 trees blossom, the river retreats
And April’s parade is weeks away
March winds don't blow
February's snow pays ...