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Restoring and Transforming the Ancient New Year for Animals
- July 25, 2013
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Another Jewish holiday? Don't we have enough already? Not according to Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA), of which I am president emeritus. We are working with a coalition of Jewish groups and individuals to restore and transform the ancient and largely forgotten Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana L'Ma'aser BeHeima (New Year's Day for Tithing Animals for sacrifices when the Jerusalem Temple stood) into a day devoted to increasing awareness of Judaism's beautiful teachings on compassion to animals. These teachings include: (1) “God's compassion is over all His ...
Restoring the New Year for Animals
- July 10, 2013
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Rosh Chodesh Elul, the beginning of the month before Rosh Hashanah, begins a month when the shofar is blown at weekday morning services (except on Shabbat), and Jews are to examine our deeds and consider how to align our lives more with Jewish values. When the Temple stood in Jerusalem, Rosh Chodesh Elul was a New Year for Animals, a day devoted to tithing for animal sacrifices. After the second Temple was destroyed in 70 CE, there was no longer a need for this holiday and today very few Jews have heard of it. Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) is working ...
Tisha B’Av and Vegetarianism
- July 3, 2013
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There are many connections between vegetarianism and the Jewish holiday of Tisha B'Av: 1. Tisha B'Av (the 9th day of the month of Av) commemorates the destruction of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem. Today the entire world is threatened by climate change, and modern intensive livestock agriculture is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. 2. In Megilat Eichah (Lamentations), which is read on Tisha B'Av, the prophet Jeremiah warned the Jewish people of the need to change their unjust ways in order to avoid the destruction of Jerusalem. Today, climate ...
RELATING TISHA B’AV TO TODAY’S ENVIRONMENTAL CRISES
- June 23, 2013
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Tisha B'Av (the 9th day of the month of Av) which we commemorate this year on July 15-16, reminds us that over 2,000 years ago Jews failed to heed the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah, with the result that the first Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, the first of many negative things that occurred on that day, including the destruction of the second Temple as well. Today there are many "Jeremiahs" warning us that now it is the entire world that is threatened by climate change and its effects, species extinction, soil erosion, destruction of tropical rain forests and ...
Spreading Our Roots on Shavuot
- May 9, 2013
Blog post by Joshua Boydstun, Jewish Farm School Rabbinic Intern ----------------------------------------------------------- As a rabbinical student, I spend a lot of time thinking and talking about metaphorical “roots”: What is “the root of an idea”? Are texts and traditions “rooted” in a particular time or place? Is it dangerous to be “rootless”? And if so, how can we “get back to our roots”? All of these metaphors depict the “root” as something fundamental and foundational—as a point ...
Shavuot and Vegetarianism
- May 3, 2013
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Shavuot and Vegetarianism By Richard H. Schwartz There are many connections between vegetarianism and the important Jewish festival of Shavuot: 1. Shavuot is described as "z'man matan Toratenu" (the season of the giving of our law (the Torah)). It is this Torah that has in its very first chapter God's original, strictly vegetarian, dietary regimen: "And God said: 'Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed - to you it shall be for food'" (Genesis 1:29). ...
A Shavuot Message: Applying Torah Values To Our Diets
- April 25, 2013
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A Shavuot Message: Applying Torah Values To Our Diets By Richard H. Schwartz Since Shavuot is z'man matan Torateinu (the commemoration of the giving of the Torah to the Israelites on Mount Sinai), many dedicated religious Jews admirably stay up the entire first night of Shavuot to hear talks about and discuss Torah teachings. Among these Torah teachings are that Jews should preserve human health, treat animals with compassion, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, help hungry people, and pursue peace. By becoming vegetarians, and ...
Rosh Chodesh Iyyar: Seeing Ourselves Among the Barley
- April 18, 2013
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Blog post by Josh Boydstun, Jewish Farm School Rabbinic Intern ——————————————————————————————- During the month of Iyyar (April 10-May 9, 2013), we traditionally engage in S’firat Ha’omer (“The Counting of the Omer”), which begins on the second day of Pesach (the 16th of Nissan) and ends on the festival of Shavu’ot (the 6th of Sivan). This intervening ...
Environmental Connections to Passover
- March 25, 2013
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Environmental Connections to Passover By Richard H. Schwartz In view of the many current environmental crises that face the world today, this is a good time to consider environmental messages related to Passover and the events and concepts related to the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt: 1. Today's environmental threats can be compared in many ways to the Biblical ten plagues: * When we consider the threats to our land, water, and air, we can easily enumerate ten modern "plagues". For example: (1) global warming (2) rapid melting ...
The Plight of Farm Workers
- March 24, 2013
A few nights ago my wife and I watched a really intense episode of Law and Order SVU which focused on a disturbed couple who abused young children and used them as indentured farm laborers. My wife, who is a doctoral student in food policy at Rutgers University then emailed me the following link about a topic we have discussed several times over the past few years: http://www.npr.org/2011/07/09/137623954/the-troubled-history-of-the-supermarket-tomato. This book reveals disturbing details related to conditions in which farm workers often operate, something ...
White House Arrests; Bitter Herb, Matzah, & Healing Climate
- March 22, 2013
Yesterday (March 21, 2013), along with 14 other religious folk, clergy and committed "laity," I was arrested for standing at the White House with Bitter Herb and Matzah, signs and songs, reciting the names of more than 100 people who had been killed by one result of the climate crisis: Superstorm Sandy. The action was organized by Interfaith Moral Action on Climate, of which The Shalom Center is a vigorously active member. We were calling on the president to act swiftly to heal our Mother Earth from the climate crisis, from the plagues that modern Pharaohs -- Big ...
The Rhythm of Nature and the Harmony of Tradition: Thoughts on Shabbat HaChodesh
- March 7, 2013
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Post by Joshua Boydstun, Jewish Farm School Rabbinic Intern Spring can be a dizzying time, particularly for those who travel. At my home in Philadelphia, we have barely seen any snow all Winter. Crocuses and other early bloomers are already starting to appear in my yard. In Western New York, however, where I was last weekend, the landscape is still blanketed in a foot of snow. And when I lead a Jewish Farm School Organic Farm Alternative Break in New Orleans next week, I can expect an equally jarring transition to a totally different climate. In a sense, we all ...
A Vegetarian Purimshpiel
- February 18, 2013
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Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg? A Vegetarian Purimshpiel Richard Schwartz Reb Henna taught: "Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Clearly, the chicken. How do we know this? We learn from the Book of Esther that when Mordecai asked Esther to go before King Ahashveros to plead for the Jewish people, she was 'chicken,' fearing for her life. Only when Mordecai 'egged' her on, telling her that perhaps she was enabled to be queen for just this EGGcelent purpose, did she muster the courage and 'scrambled' ...
Tu B’Av: Jewish Valentine’s Day?
- February 15, 2013
Hi All, For Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d do something short and sweet. So, I leave you with these tantalizing links below about a candidate for a Jewish Valentine’s Day – namely Tu B’Av. Have you heard of it? According to Chabad, the Talmud considers this holiday the greatest festival of the Jewish year, one that is even more important than Yom Kippur! To find out more, read below. Blessings for Love, The Farm Team http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/717175/jewish/Of-Holidays-and-Weddings.htm An ...
Tips for a Sustainable Purim
- February 12, 2013
Coming up toward the end of the month of February is the Jewish holiday of Purim. Purim celebrates unity and community as we commemorate how we were rescued from Haman’s plot to kill the Jewish people. Purim is a holiday with many wonderful traditions. These include delivering gift baskets of food to friends (the practice of Shalach Manot); dressing up (and/or dressing up your children) as characters from the Book of Esther; and baking and eating Hamantashen, fruit-filled pastries in the shape of the evil Haman’s hat. Below are some tips to ...
Purim and Vegetarianism
- February 4, 2013
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Purim and Vegetarianism By Richard Schwartz There are many connections between the joyous holiday of Purim and vegetarianism: 1. According to the Talmud, Queen Esther, the heroine of the Purim story, was a vegetarian while she lived in the palace of King Achashverus. She was thus able to avoid violating the kosher dietary laws while keeping her Jewish identity secret. 2. During Purim it is a mitzvah to give "mat'not evyonim" (added charity to poor and hungry people). In contrast to these acts of sharing and compassion, animal-based diets involve the feeding of ...
Thanksgiving Food for Thought
- November 22, 2012
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Thanksgiving and the Harvest At Thanksgiving we celebrate the abundance of the harvest, the end of the agricultural season and the entering of the winter cycle. During the previous summer, we’ve worked in partnership with the land to yield abundance before a season of scarcity. For many of us, the harvest will come from our gardens, as well as our agricultural fields. But what does a partnership with the land really mean, at its best? Thanksgiving is celebrated as a day of a meeting of cultures, between Native American and Europeans. In this light,we ...
Earth Etude for 27 Elul
- September 14, 2012
The Known and the Unknown by Rabbi Anne Heath I celebrated my first Hanukkah amongst my siblings and their children celebrating yet another family Christmas. We had gathered for winter break in Santa Fe, NM, at our brother's home, glad to be together after travels of varying distances and difficulties. My lengthy, made-it-in-one-day drive from St. Louis culminated in a wondrous night sky display. My younger daughter and I approached Santa Fe well after midnight. The cold, crisply clear night made for ...
Green Your High Holidays
- September 12, 2012
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Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are right around the corner. There are a number of things you can do as a way to resolve to be more environmentally aware this new year. Use local and organic ingredients in your meals: The healthiest foods for the holiday are foods that are grown locally without any pesticides. Food purchased from local farmers or that you grow yourself will be fresher and have a higher nutritional content than food flown in from hundreds of miles or more away. If you are planning to serve the traditional snack of apples and honey, consider that ...
A Very Green Rosh Hashanah
- September 7, 2012
On Rosh Hashanah, we celebrate the New Year and give thanks for the creation of our world. We dedicate time to family and friends and we reflect on our past year and celebrate the start of the new year. It's the perfect time to make new goals for the year ahead and try to do better for yourself, your family, and our world. Shopping for the holidays Be eco-"logical" about planning your family gatherings right from the get-go. Shopping locally for an organic Rosh Hashanah meal, apples and honey will not only help support your neighbours and ...
