Shabbat / Shmita / Cycles of Rest Subscribe
A selection of initiatives, blogs, resources and communities on Jewcology that focus on Shabbat / Shmita / cycles of rest.
Blogs
The spirit of Hakhel gives hope for unity
- November 4, 2015
On Chol Hamoed Sukkot, we held the closing events of the Israeli Shmita Initiative. We carried our Hakhel Treaty on a three-day journey of events, from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem: collecting the lessons of the Shmita year and calling for the renewal of the covenant between all sectors of Israeli society. Whenever we stopped, we participated in mass events, with a clear message of unity and connection in the spirit of Hakhel. The journey began at the port of Tel Aviv, as part of the opening event of the Hakhel BaNamal festival in conjunction with Beit Tefilah Israeli. ...
“So come do Shabbat (of the land) with us” – Did we accept the invitation?
- November 4, 2015
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Local Shmita From the start of the Shmita year I made it my habit to spend a few days in one place or another with our “Shmita tent” – a broad, welcoming space offering people “time out” for relaxation, eating “the fruit of the land,” swapping books (we travel with a library from which people may take books), and listening and talking about our social dreams, especially those relating to the Shmita values. Many people came into the tent specifically to talk about how they personally chose to bring the Shmita into their lives: they often ask the question, "Is ...
Lessons on Activism From the First Two Chapters of Genesis
- October 16, 2015
Here are some of the important lessons on activism that I learned from the first two chapters of Genesis: 1. From Genesis 2:15, “the human being was put into the Garden of Eden to work the land and to guard (preserve) it,” I learned that I should be an environmental activist. This lesson was reinforced by Genesis 1:28, giving human beings “dominion,” because the Jewish sages interpreted dominion as responsible guardianship or stewardship. It is also reinforced by the following midrash (rabbinic commentary on the Torah): “In the hour when the Holy one, ...
God, Earth, and Earthling: 2 eco-theologies
- May 8, 2015
By Rabbi Arthur Waskow This past Shabbat, in the same mail–delivery to my door, there arrived both a copy of Rabbi David Seidenberg’s magnum opus Kabbalah & Ecology (published by Cambridge University Press), and the in-print Fall 2015 issue of Tikkun magazine, including an article of mine on “Prayer as if the Earth Really Matters. ” My article encodes into liturgy an explicitly unconventional eco-Jewish theology. It joins a series of articles in that issue of Tikkun that are a kind of anthology of eco-theologies in various traditions: ...
Alon Tal tells why it is important to vote for Green Israel Now!
- April 27, 2015
- 1 comment
Last chance to help us make Israel a greener, environmentally healthier land: Until the end of April you can vote online for the upcoming World Zionist Congress. The results determine, among other things, the division of power at the Jewish National Fund’s international board. For the past decade I have sat on the JNF board, largely because of the support and intervention of the Green Zionist Alliance – a wonderful group of young environmentalists who decided to get involved and improve Israel’s environmental performance. This support has allowed me to ...
Do we choose well? My personal campaign
- March 19, 2015
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I do not know exactly when my inner emotional life first became coupled with our national situation. It certainly wasn’t as a child or teenager – when I was completely self-centered around my personal life experiences. Later, as a bleary-eyed young mother I had begun speaking about the “situation,” but with the kind of emotional detachment of someone who has too little time and is overloaded building home and career. But somehow and at some time it just happened: I saw the direct connection between what happens to us as a people, and what I was going through ...
Eden Village is hiring farm educator apprentices for 2015 growing season!
- January 26, 2015
Eden Village Camp is Hiring! Submit Your Application About Eden Village Camp: Eden Village Camp aims to be a living model of a thriving, sustainable Jewish community, grounded in social responsibility and inspired Jewish spiritual life. By bringing the wisdom of our tradition to the environmental, social, and personal issues important to today’s young people, we practice a Judaism that is substantive and relevant. Through our Jewish environmental and service-learning curricula, joyful Shabbat observance, pluralistic Jewish expression, and inspiring, diverse staff ...
Stop Now! ‘Shmita’ and Climate Change
- January 25, 2015
Climate change is not a scientific or technical problem. The science is clear and the solutions are ready; it is an ethical problem. Will we, who have benefited from the burning of fossil fuels, take responsibility for the damage and make it right? There are at least three lessons we can learn from shmita.
Shammai, Shmita and Hanukkah
- December 10, 2014
As we head into winter, the light changes and creates changes inside of us. Dusk descends upon the Earth earlier and dawn arrives later. An evening walk takes us through luminous pockets of blue, white, red and green. For some, winter light brings a melancholy and longing for bright summer sunlight. For others, the candles and iridescent colored bulbs bring excitement and nostalgia. It is with this consciousness of light and its effects on the human condition that the Jewish people observe Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. During Hanukkah, we ...
R&R Shabbat at the JCC
- December 3, 2014
R & R: Shabbat at The JCC is an antidote to our 24/7 lifestyle. Make your Shabbat afternoon special and share in our community with workshops in art, yoga, meditation, food, music, study sessions, film, performances, creative art projects, spa experiences, and indoor and outdoor play. Enjoy programs for both children and adults. R&R is an amazing weekly opportunity to be together as a family and as a community; it’s an incredible alternative to the typical New York Saturday and it is our gift to you. Join us for programs that respect all levels of observance. ...
Reject Keystone XL
- December 2, 2014
Dec. 2, 2014 Thirteen Jewish organizations, under the umbrella of the Green Hevra, have issued the following joint statement today publicly calling on the U.S. government to reject the Keystone XL pipeline: It has become abundantly clear that we are consuming far too many fossil fuels. In this Sabbatical/Shmita year, when the Torah calls for deeper gentleness toward the Earth, we are especially conscious of the dangers to the Earth from the drilling, transporting and burning of tar-sands oil. The resources that would be devoted to the Keystone XL ...
Out of the ark and into the garden: The story of Noah in the Sabbatical year
- October 24, 2014
There are three places in the Torah which talk about human beings and the animals – including wild animals – sharing one food supply. In Eden, in the ark during the flood, and in the Sabbatical year or Shmita. There’s a lot more to these stories, but you don’t really need to know much more to understand the basic message of the Torah. We lived with the wild animals once, rather than carving out separate spaces for us and our domesticated fellow travelers. According to the Torah, that is the real truth, and all the owning and property and buying and selling is an ...
Confessions of a Shemitah Skeptic
- October 7, 2014
- 1 comment
Two weeks ago, on Rosh Hashanah, we marked not only the beginning of another year in the Jewish calendar, but the beginning of Shemitah, the Jewish sabbatical year. Every seven years, Jewish farmers in Israel are commanded to let their lands lie fallow, not to plant, plow, prune trees or in any way improve the land, to harvest only what they can eat themselves (from perennial plants that do not need to be sown each year), and to leave the rest for whoever wants to pick them. In addition, at the end of the Shemitah year, we are commanded to release debts. Shemitah ...
Cranberry Shabbat with Mayan Tikvah
- October 5, 2014
Cranberry Shabbat Saturday, October 25, Raindate, November 1 Wachusett Reservoir, Boylston Join us for our annual Cranberry Shabbat. We will intermix songs and prayers with wild cranberry picking, and share a picnic lunch at the end. Please bring something to share and your own drinks and utensils. (Warm soup sounds good for a picnic in October!) Also bring containers for the cranberries. Most of our pickings will be given to a homeless shelter for their Thanksgiving dinner. There may be muddy spots, so be prepared footwear-wise, and it could be windy and chilly ...
Sukkot and Shmita Resources and Events
- October 3, 2014
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SUKKOT AND SHMITA RESOURCES AND EVENTS for 2014-15 contributed by all the organizations and initiatives on “the Map” http://jewcology.org/map-of-initiatives/ Here’s a quick bit of Sukkot Torah to start us off: “The four species of the lulav represent the four types of ecosystems in the land of Israel: desert (date palm), hills (myrtle), river corridors (willow), and sh’feilah, the lowlands (etrog). Each species has to be fresh, with the very tips intact – they can’t be dried out, because they hold the water of last year’s rain. Together, they make a kind ...
Climate on Rosh Hashanah – an existential threat to Israel
- September 23, 2014
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Protecting Israel doesn't just mean getting off of Arab petroleum, it means getting off of all petroleum. If you're not advocating for that, you might as well be calling for the destruction of the state.
Earth Etude for Elul 28- Sweet and Sour Grapes
- September 22, 2014
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by Rabbi Robin Damsky I am in my favorite place at my favorite time: in the garden, in the morning, before the cars have started up, before the noise of lawnmowers and leaf blowers. The crickets are singing, the birds responding. The rising sun’s light filters through the leaves. A beginning. It has been a tough year in the garden. An endless winter caused a late start and temperatures have been cooler than usual. A call from critter to critter that I cannot hear lets them know there is bounty on my corner. Maybe it’s because the peach tree lost its ...
Earth Etude for Elul 27- Gratitude
- September 21, 2014
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by Judith Felsen My King, where do I quest for comfort and consolation in times of weariness and aching of my soul? Where do I seek wisdom when the burden of errors regrets and sadness accompany my hours? Where do I cherish and find refuge and sanctity when I am transparent and exposed to myself? My Lord, Your streams wash over aching, Your mountains call to look up to You, Your grasses and undergrowth cushion the heel and every step, Your flowers bring joyful response to all inquiry, Your trees are time worn standing presence ...
Earth Etude for Elul 26- We Will be the Change We Want to See
- September 20, 2014
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We will be the change we want to see I am squatting I am wringing laundry with my hands I am picking chunks of dirt from the soles of my feet I am learning to smell the open sewer when I breathe in and out I am walking I am jostling in a vikram, in a small car that must have the air conditioning switched to off in order to make it up the Himalayan Mountain where love calls I am exhausted I am exhilarated I am joyful I am fretting as we weave ourselves up the steep slope and you can ...
Earth Etude for Elul 24- Elul Love and Joy
- September 18, 2014
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by Maggid David Arfa I’d like to speak about Joy. I know that Elul is upon us; a time for relentless self-reflection, spurred on by the blasts of shofar. And yet, the rabbis in their complexity have added another dimension to Elul, Love. Remember the acronym for Elul? It’s from the Song of Songs, Ani l’dodi v’dodi li - I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine. Reciprocal love is spiraling back and forth right here in Elul along with our lists of how we missed the mark. Isn’t this worthy of attention? What might it mean? ...
