Text by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen Photos by Gabi Mezger Baruch atah Adonai – Blessed are You Adonai — Blessed is the spark of G!d — of Life, of Light, of Specialness, that burns within your being, within every living being. Blessed is the Spark. Eloheinu melech ha’olam – Our G!d, Sovereign of the Universe — We acknowledge You, Source of All, from before time began to the end of time, and beyond, from this pin point of place to the farthest ends of the Universe, and farther still. We acknowledge You. As the words of the blessings enter the atmosphere, as the match kindles the candles, as the lights glow in the night, may blessing sparkle in your being, surge forth, encircling the Universe, touching all that is, from your inner most vulnerable pin point to the ends of the Universe and beyond. May blessing blossom in every corner of the cosmos. Rabbi Katy Allen is a board certified chaplain and serves as an Eco-Chaplain and the Facilitator of One Earth Collaborative, a program of Open Spirit. She is the founder and rabbi of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope, which holds services outdoors all year long. She is the co-founder and President pro-tem of the Boston-based Jewish Climate Action Network, and a hospice chaplain. She received her ordination from the Academy for Jewish Religion in 2005. Gabi Mezger photographs wherever she goes.
Text by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen Photos by Gabi Mezger The moon appears in the sky while sunlight still shimmers, the sky can still be called blue, and clouds are visible. In the waning daylight, the reflection of the reflected light we call moonlight sears a bright path across the sea. As darkness rolls in the moon seems to brighten. And when the darkness of the sky is complete – though not fully complete – the reflected light still shining forth in the sky and the reflection of that reflection, a glittery path in the sea, make perception of surrounding rocks and ridges possible. The candles we kindle radiate visible light, that emitted through the blessings we recite invisible. How are these two lights reflected? Can one see their reflections shining forth from our faces? From our hearts? And is there a reflection of those reflections that makes perception possible, enabling those nearby to readily perceive not rocks and ridges but love, compassion, wisdom and peace? Rabbi Katy Allen is a board certified chaplain and serves as a Nature Chaplain and the Facilitator of One Earth Collaborative, a program of Open Spirit. She is the founder and rabbi of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope, which holds services outdoors all year long. She is the co-founder and President pro-tem of the Boston-based Jewish Climate Action Network. She received her ordination from the Academy for Jewish Religion in 2005. Gabi Mezger photographs wherever she goes.
Text by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen Photos by Gabi Mezger dark emotions lurk in our hearts heaviness weighs down our souls the night stretches on interminably; we cannot see we are lost hope fades but the picture is incomplete a candle burns piercing the darkness anticipating dawn reviving hope carrying us forward into a new day Rabbi Katy Allen is a board certified chaplain and serves as a Nature Chaplain and the Facilitator of One Earth Collaborative, a program of Open Spirit. She is the founder and rabbi of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope, which holds services outdoors all year long. She is the co-founder and President pro-tem of the Boston-based Jewish Climate Action Network. She received her ordination from the Academy for Jewish Religion in 2005. carrying us forward into the new day
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 this considered Shmita?” Sometimes I would find a direct link between their action and the way I understand the Shmita year. And sometimes, although I cannot see the connection at first, for them it is obvious. But sometimes (and these are my favorites) I am able to track the source of their initiative and its expression by them; such as when a teacher told me excitedly that her school students were keeping Shmita Notebooks, recording all the good things that happened to them each day, not realizing that the woman who invented this idea was a career woman who decided that her personal Shmita would be to stop running in the “rat race” and to begin being grateful for what she already had! But the reality is that it doesn’t matter whether the idea behind a person’s initiative is clear to me in terms of Shmita values. For all the stories have in common that the people behind them share one thing: to try to “do Shmita” as they understand it, in ways which are meaningful to their personal moral code, in addition to (or with no connection to) any halachic obligations. World Shmita Nigel Savage, President of Hazon, tracked a very interesting change in attitudes to Shmita in an article which fronted Hazon’s March newsletter. Reviewing articles about Shmita published in the New York Times in Shmita years over the past 64 years, a recent and startling change emerged. In 1951 (the Shmita year 5711) a major article (this link requires a subscription) appeared explaining the heter mechira procedure which permits the “sale” of land to non-Jews to cope with the prohibitions of Shmita. In September 2000 (on the eve the Shmita year of 5761) another article appeared that discussed the halachic debate around the matter. An almost identical article appeared in October 2007 (the Shmita year 5768), and even then the main issue remained the “Jewish Wars” around the laws of Shmita. In September 2014 (the current Shmita year, 5775) the traditional Shmita article was published, but this time the article was entitled “In Israel, Values of a Holy Respite Are Adapted for a High-Tech World,” about all the Shmita-appropriate ideas and business initiatives inspired by high-tech companies. The entire article was written on a positive note with plenty of room for inspired ideas. These specific examples reflect two major trends that distinguish the current Shmita cycle, 5775, from its predecessors. Changing media discourse – only good will grow for us from this There is no doubt that the current Shmita year is characterized by a different way of talking in Israeli media too. It seems that halachic saber rattling (which has not disappeared, but has reduced in intensity) was replaced by in-depth discussions of the nature of the Shmita year and the way in which it is relevant to Israel in the 21st century, along with descriptions of a variety of initiatives in the social, economic or environmental “Shmita spirit.” The change in the discourse resulted from several factors that combined together. At the most practical level, the state Shmita Committee, which began its operations in the current Shmita year, gave budgetary endorsement to different halachic solutions to Shmita without defining which it considered a better solution. In other words, the Commission realized that some residents of Israel would only eat fruits and vegetables imported from abroad, so it addressed how it could permit the sale of the land’s bounty to others, and what should be done so that all consumers could benefit from fresh and healthy fruits and vegetables. This worked to neutralize the economic dimension of making the choice between financial survival and halacha, reducing the intensity of argument so that the resultant dialogue has enabled “different species” of Shmita observance to grow. We also arrived at the current Shmita year “ripe” for a different kind of discourse on the ideological and spiritual level. Many members of the religious community were ready, after so many controversies in the two previous Shmita years, for a discussion of a different kind; meanwhile many members of the general public, less exposed to the religious controversies, made personal decisions of their own (sometimes informed by the recent social protests and their aftermath) to find a Jewish economics which could be integrated into a social Zionist identity. Connecting these two publics was the task of Israeli Shmita Initiative, begun before the Shmita year with a long series of conferences, events and seminars which created a positive buzz and included a broad audience, from the kibbutz movement (more than 1,000 people attended the conference on the subject), through institutions of high-tech (which issued a document listing 49 ways technology firms might try to fulfill the Shmita spirit), the education sector, environmental groups, and the (previous!) Knesset (which held a special session on the subject, led by the Knesset Caucus for Jewish Renewal. Bodies that perhaps would not normally have become a part of such a discussion were keen to get involved so as not to “miss the boat,” and everyone benefitted from this. Perhaps most prominent was the Ministry of Religious Services which joined us, early in the year, with a campaign entitled “Shmita – only good will grow for us from this.” “Truth grows from the land” – a local practice The second distinctive feature of the current Shmita year is the proliferation of initiatives from the so-called grass
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
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 understands about tree rings can learn much about the life of an individual tree by reading and studying its rings, if it has been felled by a saw. Spirals. Concentric circles. We humans contain both. Our hearts and our souls and our bodies contain the stories of our life. Each life is hand- and soul-written, complex, difficult to understand. Sometimes we seek to stretch out the spiral to be able to read our inner text. Sometimes we are felled by a painful event, and the rings inside us are exposed to the outer world, giving a view into who we are. Our days are like scrolls. Our years are like tree rings. May we unroll them and open them up at this season, for our own introspection and learning, to help us learn to be better human beings. Earth Etudes for Elul are a project of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope. Rabbi Katy Allen is a board certified chaplain and serves as a Nature Chaplain and the Facilitator of One Earth Collaborative, a program of Open Spirit. She is the founder and rabbi of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope, which holds services outdoors all year long. She is the President pro-tem of the Boston-based Jewish Climate Action Network. She received her ordination from the Academy for Jewish Religion.
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 on this day?” Mostly, we don’t ask. We get up and go about our business. We don’t want to question to present itself in our lives. It carries too much potential pain. On the other side of the planet, refugees are fleeing Syria, where death is so much more likely, putting the question of who will live and who will die front and center. People are fleeing other countries, too, many in search of a livelihood beyond poverty. People are fleeing their homelands in numbers not seen since World War II, since the flight of the Jews and all others in fear of their lives at that time. Today, one in seven people on the planet is on the move. It is as though the surface of the earth was alive, like moving tectonic plates, like shifting sands of the desert, like mountains upon mountains besieged by avalanches, like flood waters overflowing riverbanks and covering neighboring fields and plains. The world is alive with movement, human beings in search of safety, security, and survival. From outer space, in daylight, the Earth looks the same as always. Inside its molten core, it looks the same. Only on the outer surface and in the thin layer of atmosphere above it, are the changes apparent. The moon is waning. Rosh HaShanah is near. We begin to wonder, who will live and who will die. Who is on the front lines of war and climate change? Who is safe in places of peace and away from rising seas? Who will live and who will die? We do not want to ask the question. But our liturgy asks it, and we read it, and – perhaps – we wish the question were not there, we wish it would go away. We want that we all will live, in good health and well being. Life is difficult and the end will come, for each of us human beings, and for all living beings. Is the Earth a living being? Will it, too, die one day? It is too soon to know, but nevertheless, our liturgy, and at times our hearts, will ask the question. Earth Etudes for Elul are a project of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope. Rabbi Katy Allen is a board certified chaplain and serves as a Nature Chaplain and the Facilitator of One Earth Collaborative, a program of Open Spirit. She is the founder and rabbi of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope, which holds services outdoors all year long. She is the President pro-tem of the Boston-based Jewish Climate Action Network. She received her ordination from the Academy for Jewish Religion.
Eden Village Camp is Hiring! 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 role models, we foster our campers’ positive Jewish identity and genuine commitment to tikkun olam (healing the world). Our 2 acre educational farm and orchard are based on principles of permaculture, sustainable and organic farming. We produce annual vegetables, perennials, and tend educational gardens as well as animals. Farmer Educator Job Description at Eden Village Camp Main Responsibilities: Conducting daily work in the growing spaces, including annual production fields, educational gardens, fruit tree orchard, and animals Alongside Farm Director, create crop plan for all growing spaces for 2016 season Directing farm apprentices, campers, staff, and volunteers in meaningful, educational, engaging, and productive farm projects Overseeing educational gardens on the farm and other gardens on the site (ie, Director’s House Garden, Calendar Garden, and smaller site gardens) Maintaining all livestock and developing further plans for animal care Maintaining site-wide composting system Maintaining appropriate care of all farm related tools, machinery, facilities and equipment Increase beautiful and informative signs in growing spaces Participate in development of programming on and off-site Farm Educator in programming both on-site and off-site. Contribute in planning and preparing for Apprenticeship 2016 Training of Farm Educator Apprentices in Farm-based education. Leading and participating in ongoing farm staff meetings, check ins, and group practices Participate fully in our 8-week summer camp as a Farm Specialist Create and teach chuggim (special interest activities) during camp Requirements: Worked at least 1 full farm growing season Has educator experience, either in the experiential field or classroom Has experience with curriculum development Perennials or orcharding experience is not required, but is preferred Is open to living in a Jewish pluralistic setting Compensation Salary varies depending on applicant experience Benefits included Paid vacation included ** This position can vary depending on the applicant. If you have some, but not all of these requirements and are interested, please be in touch as the position is open to adaptation. For inquiries or to apply, please contact Farm Director Avi at For more general information about our camp and other programs, please visit our website: www.edenvillagecamp.org
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 water now restored with conscious care to purity, gives hope that time will come when we converse in fields of heaven’s gifts and not our devastation. May this Elul harvest both our callouses of conservation and active prayers of restoration as we farm Eden once again while gladly sharing toils of teshuvah in our healing fields with You. Judith Felsen, Ph.D. Copyright 2015 Earth Etudes for Elul are a project of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope. Judith Felsen holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, certificates in hypnotherapy, NLP, Eriksonian Hypnosis, and Sacred Plant Medicine. She is a dancer of sacred circle dance, an AMC kitchen crew, trail information volunteer, trail adopter, and daily student of Torah and Judaism. She is enrolled in Rabbinical Seminary International. She has studied Buddhism, A Course in Miracles, and other mystical traditions. She is a hiker, walker, runner, and lives in the White Mountains with her husband and two large dogs. Her life centers around her Jewish studies and daily application.
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 thing, which opens my heart to life, which I knew was like it, is work. Not work for the sake of living, and not work in the name of being commanded, rather, work for the sake of life and work, which a new light touches upon it, such I saw, and here it is one of the portions of life, from its roots that are even deeper. Earth Etudes for Elul are a project of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope. Rabbi Katy Allen is a board certified chaplain and serves as a Nature Chaplain and the Facilitator of One Earth Collaborative, a program of Open Spirit. She is the founder and rabbi of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope, which holds services outdoors all year long. She is the President pro-tem of the Boston-based Jewish Climate Action Network and on the board of Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries. She received her ordination from the Academy for Jewish Religion.
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.
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 associations with frogs, but mine are not easily positive. I generally think they’re slimy and cold and ehhh! However, as I sat, listened, meditated, and watched, day after day, I began to notice some things. Frogs have this incredible capacity both to sit and to leap! They share this with grasshoppers as well as deer and many others. They are also incredibly patient. They can sit and sit, and watch and watch, long time. We humans can be quite impatient. We get bored easily. On the other hand, when we do act, many of us want to be methodical, intentional, and maybe even cautious. I know I err on this side. Frogs, on the other hand, have an amazing capacity to outdo us (and certainly me) on both fronts. They can both wait longer and leap further, every time. The central reference to frogs in our tradition happens during Passover (one of our other New Years). The sages comment on the fact that frogs filled every house, bed, AND oven (Ex. 3:28). They wonder about the frogs willingness to die, to jump even into the oven, to sacrifice themselves to get us out of slavery. The Yalkut Shemoni adds that it was the frogs who taught King David his greatest Psalms (Psalms 150, section 889). The frogs have Chutzpah. Can you imagine teaching David to sing? Have you ever heard frogs sing? They’re loud, but hardly beautiful, at least in that ordinary sense!! So what does any of this have to do with Teshuvah? I’m trying to take a cue from the frogs this year. I want to suggest that a frog’s ability to sing and leap, and to sacrifice itself have something to teach us about change. I’m not recommending anyone go jump into an oven, literally or metaphorically, but I want to nudge us to leap much more than we’re usually inclined to. Don’t do it blindly, sit, listen, reflect, maybe even longer than you’re comfortable (like the frog), but also be willing to leap, leap and maybe even sing! What might doing that look like in your life? Please join me, and let me know how it goes! Earth Etudes for Elul are a project of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope. Moshe Givental was born in the Soviet Union and immigrated to the US in 1990. He dashed his parents’ hopes of becoming an engineer like his older brother and father, and instead pursued a career as a psychotherapist before enrolling in Seminary to become a Rabbi. These have been natural expansions of his circles of care, from the one-on-one work of a therapist, to the communal work of a Rabbi, to the necessary global work of an Eco-Activist. Moshe is fascinated by the tiniest of wonders, falling in love with all creation, struggling, singing, playing, and learning to leap.
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 Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope. Carol C. Reiman juggles making a living, caring for family, and keeping ties with communities of human and non-human species.
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.
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 powerful lesson in the interconnection of all life. He wrote about the implications of the Sabbath, the Shmita Year, and the Yovel, for a world faced with climate change. Let’s make sure his message is heard! On the evening of Thursday, September 24, the night before Pope Francis speaks at the UN, Jews will be joining with other people of faith to Light the Way at a multi-faith Festival of Prayer and Music, just a few blocks from the United Nations. The program will continue into the evening with in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which will also be released on September 25. Following the Festival, a vigil will be held at the Church of Our Saviour at 59 Park Avenue. As we celebrate this season of teshuvah, tefilah, and tzedakah — repentance, prayer, and justice – let’s put our words into action. Meet us at Light the Way to offer prayers, meditations, and music, and to show the leaders meeting at the UN that we support a 100% renewable energy, zero poverty future. Light the Way Multi-faith Festival of Prayer and Music Thursday, September 24, 2015 at 4:30 pm Dag Hammarskjold Plaza 47th Street and First Avenue Information about the Light the Way Festival of Prayer and Music is available at http://ourvoices.net/newyork-lightstheway . For more on Pope Francis’ Encyclical, see What the Pope’s Climate Change Edict Means for the Jews and Three Gifts From Jewish Tradition. Here is a climate-themed kavanah you can offer during your services.
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 powerful lesson in the interconnection of all life. He wrote about the implications of the Sabbath, the Shmita Year, and the Yovel, for a world faced with climate change. Let’s make sure his message is heard! On the evening of Thursday, September 24, the night before Pope Francis speaks at the UN, Jews will be joining with other people of faith to Light the Way at a multi-faith Festival of Prayer and Music, just a few blocks from the United Nations. The program will continue into the evening with in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which will also be released on September 25. Following the Festival, a vigil will be held at the Church of Our Saviour at 59 Park Avenue. As we celebrate this season of teshuvah, tefilah, and tzedakah — repentance, prayer, and justice – let’s put our words into action. Meet us at Light the Way to offer prayers, meditations, and music, and to show the leaders meeting at the UN that we support a 100% renewable energy, zero poverty future. Light the Way Multi-faith Festival of Prayer and Music Thursday, September 24, 2015 at 4:30 pm Dag Hammarskjold Plaza 47th Street and First Avenue Information about the Light the Way Festival of Prayer and Music is available at http://ourvoices.net/newyork-lightstheway . For more on Pope Francis’ Encyclical, see What the Pope’s Climate Change Edict Means for the Jews and Three Gifts From Jewish Tradition. Here is a climate-themed kavanah you can offer during your services.
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 among us. But the next day, by one deciding vote, the Senate Appropriations Committee effectively gutted the EPA’s first-ever plan to implement limits on carbon pollution from existing power plants. And at the end of June, the Supreme Court granted the coal industry a reprieve from the Clean Air Act’s mandatory curbs on mercury emissions. Coal-producing states and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are reportedly preparing a suit against the mandates expected to end up back before the Supreme Court. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell urged governors to refuse to carry out the rules. Rabbi Arthur Waskow, founder and Director of the Shalom Center in Philadelphia, has labeled these foes of the environment “Climate Pharoahs.” On August 3, U.S. President Barack Obama, undaunted by the Climate Pharoahs among him, unveiled a revised Clean Power Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from US power plants by nearly a third. “We are the first generation to feel the impacts of climate change, and the last generation to be able to do something about it,” he said. Who is the Jewish counterpart to the Pope, and ecologically active leaders such as President Obama? Where is our Moses, our King David, our David ben-Gurion, to lead us to victory against fossil fuel defenders and enablers? In our day, I nominate Rabbi Arthur Waskow. Waskow, whose numerous books and writings include “Torah of the Earth: Exploring 4,000 Years of Ecology in Jewish Thought” (Jewish Lights, 2000), “Trees, Earth, & Torah: A Tu B’Shvat Anthology,” and “Jewish Environmental Ethics: Adam and Adamah,” in Oxford Handbook of Jewish Ethics and Morality (Dorff & Crane, eds.; Oxford Univ. Press, 2013), is consistently in the forefront of Jewish leadership climate actions, such as June 12’s Rabbinic Letter on the Climate Crisis, initiated in anticipation of Laudato Sii. To date, 414 rabbis have signed on against fossil-fuel extracting practices such as fracking, off-shore Arctic drilling, and oil trains, and their disproportionate impacts on low-income communities and communities of color. “’Carbon Pharaohs’ producers… endanger human beings and bring plagues upon the Earth,” the rabbis write. A longtime climate activist who has been repeatedly arrested at protests against pipelines and other earth-damaging energy technologies, Waskow holds a Ph.D. in U.S. history from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and was named by the Forward newspaper in 2005 as one of the “Forward Fifty” leaders of American Jewry. A founding member of the stewardship committee of the Green Hevra, an association of Jewish environmental organizations, Waskow is on the coordinating committee of Interfaith Moral Action on Climate. He continues to be active despite past throat cancer treatment and the arrival of his 80th year. He has traveled to Boston at least twice recently, for an environmental forum at the Boston Synagogue and a Jewish Climate Action Committee (JCAN) convention earlier this summer at Hebrew College co-organized by Rabbi Katy Allen of Ma’yan Tikvah of Wayland. This High Holiday season, Waskow is promoting speakers on Eco-Judaism (including Allen, who commissions a series of “Earth Etudes,” such as this essay, for Ma’yan Tikva’s blog each High Holiday season) to Jewish schools and institutions, for engagements to coincide with Pope Francis’ Sept. 22-27 U.S. visit. Past High Holiday environmental series at the Shalom Center have included 2008’s “Clouds, Yom Kippur, & Climate Crisis in the Balance.” On Tuesday, Sept. 22, the Shalom Center is sponsoring a Yom Kippur observance, including Kol Nidre, at sunset at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, to fall just before Pope Francis addresses a joint session of Congress on the climate crisis. (Those interested may contact Rabbi Mordechai Liebling of the Center at .) We can all be grateful to Pope Francis, President Obama, Rabbi Arthur Waskow and his staff at the Shalom Center, and to all eco-defenders who act individually, as leaders, and/or as members of organizations to protect and safeguard natural life on Earth, now and for years to come. A sustainable Shana Tova to all. Earth Etudes for Elul are a project of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope. Susie Davidson, a local journalist, author, poet and filmmaker, is the coordinator of the Boston chapter of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL). She writes for the Jewish Advocate, JNS.org, the Jewish Journal, the Jewish Daily Forward, and other media, and has contributed to the Jerusalem Post, the Boston Sunday Globe, and the Boston Herald. She coordinated the OccuPoetry series at Occupy Boston. She is also an active board member of the Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action (JALSA) and the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow (AHT).
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 authentic expression. Naming what we see and feel. Allowing sadness, fear, and hope to surface. In the face of incredible uncertainty, let us focus on how the physical body literally roots us in the perilous social and ecological conditions of our time. We must acknowledge that all bodies are not considered equal. We are seeing Brown bodies deemed illegal, Black bodies criminalized and brutalized, and all bodies, especially poor bodies, poisoned by the destructive consequences of capitalism. How are we relating to the body? How do we care for our home? We can embody change once we recognize that systemic transformation comes from our ability to connect to ourselves, each other and life around us. If we act from a deep sense of awareness and empathy, we intentionally practice that which we want to become and act according to our vision and values. We can overcome fragmentation and detachment. We can connect the dots between one another. We can draw connections from the issues at hand to the social movements working for justice. Let us join forces with greater clarity, purpose and power. Only then can we fundamentally disrupt the unjust systems that threaten our existence. Elul readies us for turning, returning, and change. We are made to change. Change is possible and inevitable. Change is our nature. In the face of all that is here and all that is to come, let us turn toward our relationship to our body. To thank it for holding us up. To allow it to express in real-time. For renewal and resiliency. For healing. For moving forward and moving towards wholeness. Earth Etudes for Elul are a project of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope. Janna Diamond is a movement builder and activist. She spent years as a professional dancer in New York City, shifted gears to focus on social justice and communal healing, and now seeks to bridge these languages. Janna works at HIAS, the Jewish global non-profit that protects refugees. She is deeply drawn to issues of forced migration, displacement, and the emotional and psychological effects they have on a population.
