Clergy and Rabbinical Students Subscribe
A selection of initiatives, blogs, resources and communities on Jewcology intended for use by Clergy and Rabbinical Students.
Blogs
Inconsistencies Between Animal-Based Diets and Basic Jewish Values
- October 11, 2015
And God said: "Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree that has seed-yielding fruit -- to you it shall be for food." (Genesis 1:29) There are many inconsistencies between basic Jewish values and the realities of animal-based diets: 1. While Judaism mandates that people should be very careful about preserving their health and their lives, numerous scientific studies have linked animal-based diets directly to heart disease, stroke, many forms of cancer, and other chronic degenerative diseases. 2. ...
The Surprising Views of the Rav (Rabbi Yosef Soloveitchik) on Vegetarianism
- October 8, 2015
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This article was written with the editorial asistance of Rabbi Dovid Sears Rabbi Joseph Ber (Yosef Dov) Soloveitchik, simply known as "the Rav" by his wide circle of colleagues, students, and admirers, was generally regarded as one of the leading religious philosophers, Talmud scholars, and rabbinic leaders of the 20th century. He stressed that Torah values were in many ways compatible with world culture and secular studies, and promoted Jewish interaction with the broader community -- while asserting the need to preserve the purity of halakhah (religious law) and the ...
Earth Etude for Elul 28 – Shana Tova!
- September 12, 2015
text by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen photos by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen and Gabi Mezger May your new year be filled with peaceful rest... amazing vistas from high places... glory and grandeur... emerging from tight places... living off what is available... climbing ever upward... constancy amidst change... the ability to frame... opening... seeing the small and the holy, with friends... Shanah tova! Rabbi Katy and Gabi ...
Earth Etude for Elul 28 – Spirals and Rings
- September 11, 2015
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by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen Days are like scrolls: Write on them what you want to be remembered. --Bahya ibn Pakuda A Torah scroll is a spiral, when stretched out it forms one continuous stretch of parchment. Its handwritten text is complex, not easy to decipher and commented on throughout its history by those who seek to understand and find wisdom. Inside a tree, rings form one around the other, in concentric circles. They cannot be unraveled, but they, too, together form a complex text, telling the story of the life of the tree and its environs. One who ...
Earth Etude for Elul 27 – Who Will Live and Who Will Die?
- September 10, 2015
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by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen I have been visiting hospice patients and their families, and at each visit, I speak aloud the fact that Rosh HaShanah is only a few days away. From the secular to the more observant, the impending juxtaposition of the holiday to the loss of their loved one strikes a painful chord in their hearts. The day has powerful meaning. I think of the words of the traditional liturgy, "Who will live and who will die?" In reality, this question is before us every day. When we wake up in the morning each day, we could be asking, "Who will live and who will die ...
Earth Etude for Elul 26 – Weeding Fields
- September 9, 2015
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by Judith Felsen, Ph.D. There is much weeding needed in the fields now overgrown by chemical abuse and steadily polluted with our toxic waste. Will we still meet amidst our tainted crops? My King, I come to greet You with a glad and saddened heart, my knees now bent and resting on the lands we have destroyed. With willing hands and humble heart I work on wounded lands to bring teshuvah to our sullied soils and restore the bounty we once knew. I cannot seek for anything but Eden, I cannot want for anything but Home. Each piece of earth and drop of ...
Earth Etude for Elul 25 – Work for the Sake of Life and Work
- September 9, 2015
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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
- September 8, 2015
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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
- September 7, 2015
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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
- September 6, 2015
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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
- September 4, 2015
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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
- September 4, 2015
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
- September 4, 2015
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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
- September 2, 2015
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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 ...
Yom Kippur at the Lincoln Memorial
- September 2, 2015
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YOM KIPPUR Day of Atonement/ At-Onement Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC September 22-23, 2015 Sundown to Sundown For more information, and to RSVP, please visit the Facebook event page: Yom Kippur 2015 at the Lincoln Memorial Kol Nidre 6:30pm to 8:30pm Morning Service with Yizkor 10am to 1:30pm Minchah/Neilah 5:00pm to 7:45 pm, concluding with shofar blasts followed by a multi-faith vigil Yom Kippur is the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, a fast day for seeking both Atonement and At-Onement. At this moment in history, we humans ...
Earth Etude for Elul 18 – Elements
- September 2, 2015
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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?
- September 1, 2015
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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
- September 1, 2015
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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
- August 31, 2015
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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?
- August 31, 2015
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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 ...
