by Rabbi Marisa Elana James I’m lying on my back in the grass, watching the sky in late summer and the swallows and bats skittering across the sky. There are only a few clouds, stretching out thinly as the winds drag them by. 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 tiny the Earth is in the vastness of the universe, can be glorious, soul-expanding, joyful. In these moments, so deeply connected to this sweet little planet, I feel most strongly how much we’re in this together. The earth and I are partners in keeping each other alive and healthy and growing. The earth and I, back to back as we face serious challenges, holding each other as we spin together into the future. Rabbi Marisa Elana James is Director of Social Justice Programming at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah. A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, she was previously a college English teacher, competitive ballroom dancer, insurance broker, student pilot, bookstore manager, and professional Torah reader. Marisa and her wife, contrabassoonist and translator Barbara Ann Schmutzler, live in New York City.
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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 well being, regenerative agriculture, composting, permaculture… the work of Limitless Judaism.
Being a Shmitah year , and simultaneously following a tenet of permaculture to watch the land for a year before you plant, we have been doing just that: watching. Shema teaches us to hear; there is also listening in our observance. We’re on a couple of acres. Blessed with no landscaping we have a blank canvas. In our watching we’ve decided to put in two cisterns since the well here doesn’t have heavy output. We’re considering a pond. And thinking where to put a high tunnel for the winter garden. All this beauty and possibility rests on the anxiety we’ve been living in these last few years: Covid, politics, the ever-shrinking sense of our democracy – which now includes less power in the EPA to regulate pollution – shootings, shootings, shootings with more and more loss of precious lives, racial issues, religious hatred… was it always like this? I don’t think so. Yet we have a sense of community here on the Mountain, a constant reminder of what is good and right, and the commitment to treat our earth with kindness and respect: feeding her, learning from her and with her, and bringing that discovery and wisdom to those we touch. The generosity of the earth is a model for our relationships with ourselves and one another. I suppose this year has been a kind of teshuvah. It has been a return to the land, watching her and letting her soak up her rest, and through her, learning more about resting ourselves. Certainly this is part of what the Shmitah year is all about, and now that she comes to a close, we ask: what lessons have we learned? What gifts can we take forward? What work is still in front of us to heal us within, in our bodies, souls and psyches? Our inner work fuels our connection with Havayah – the Divine Presence of All, and therefore extends our healing and growth to the beautiful Creation that is our very lifebreath. This is the work and the play of Elul. May we engage our process with compassion and diligence, and may we see our work of heshbon hanefesh – taking account – grow vital shoots from us that connect with the shoots of others, weaving a planet of goodness, kindness, well being and caring for all of Creation. Shanah Tovah. Identified by Kenissa an innovator redefining Jewish life, Rabbi Robin Damsky recently launched Limitless Judaism™ – a project of learning, movement, meditation, melody, art, tilling and tending that draws the lines of connection between our physical bodies, our spiritual expression and Gaia, our earth cosmos. She is also the Rabbi-In-Residence at Judea Reform Congregation in Durham. She lives in on Thunder Mountain in Efland, NC. by Gabriella Feingold and Rabbi Louis Polisson 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 still we say “for our children to be free we must change our course, let go of the greed and make a better day” We’ll show them how we can heal our dying roots We’ll work the ground and they’ll see the flowers bloom The-sun comes up again Though we’ve got no time to lose We’re on our way Le’ovdah ule’shomrah (x2) We will serve the earth and protect our home Stand for truth, for justice, for hope [Repeat x2] Le’ovdah ule’shomrah (x2) [Repeat x3] Le’ovdah ule’shomrah (x2) We will serve the earth and protect our home Stand for truth, for justice, for hope Be the truth, the justice, the hope We are truth, and justice, and hope Louis & Gabriella are a married duo who compose original Jewish and spiritual folk music. Gabriella feels most spiritually connected in contemplating nature and in considering the needs and emotions that make up the universal human experience. She approaches singing as a practice of embodying and reflecting on those themes. Louis is deeply inspired by traditional modes of Jewish liturgy and uses music to connect to his religious and cultural heritage, bringing the past into meaningful engagement with the present moment through reinterpretation and renewal. Together, they bring you original music, hoping to provide new and wider avenues for Jewish and spiritual experience. Earth Etude for Elul 7 - Between Pharaoh’s Army and the Sea: “Normal” Subjugation or the Unknown?9/2/2022 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 some prophetic voices today who will take the first steps into the Unknown to grow a new world of love and justice. Or will the Greed of some and the Fear of others return us to normalcy and subjugation? The Problem: We face a double existential crisis, intertwined: Earth is under threat of mass extinctions and climate chaos arising from “Corporate Carbon Pharaohs” that bring plagues of fire, flood, famine and disease on large regions and small towns and neighborhoods. And in the United States and around the world, movements have grown to overthrow democracy, Surrendering to Pharaoh’s army, to corporate overlords who seek to cement their power by-subjugating communities by race, immigrant/refugee status, sex, gender, religion, kinds of work, and low income. A Theory of Change: The dangers that we face are rooted in spiritual failings – Greed for Wealth and Power, plus Fear of the unknown. Faith communities ought to be, and sometimes are, the embodiment of a world where Greed and Fear are minimal, the values of Love and Justice are central. And those values need to be actively carried into the world, not nurtured only at home or in a congregation. When great change has happened in America before, faith communities have gone into the streets and polling booths to make it happen. That is what the Prophetic Voice must inspire. Actifests: Activist Festivals to Transform the Future: The Shalom Center will respond to this super-crisis by activating activist festivals—“Actifests.” We will focus on the Jewish festival cycle, while welcoming allies to our public celebrations aimed at transforming the broader society, and will share in theirs when we are welcomed to their own new Actifests: For example: Passover Seders in the Streets, confronting those “pharaohs” who are plaguing Earth by burning fossil fuels. Isaiah’s challenge on Yom Kippur: “The fast God seeks is to Feed the Hungry, Clothe the Naked, House the Homeless, Free Prisoners from their Handcuffs, ” not only chanted in congregations but chanted again during Sukkot at Congressional home offices: “End Hunger in America!” “HouseEvery Homeless Person in America!” until the laws are passed and implemented. “Share Sukkot, Green and Grow the Vote”: In every Sukkot, we seek to harvest abundance not for the Jewish people alone, but for all the “seventy nations of the world.” In every Sukkot, we re-member that milchama, the Hebrew for “war,” means “m’lechem, away from bread” – that it is hunger for bread or for dignity that sparks wars and violence. We remember that we pray, “Ufros alenu sukkat shlomecha, Spread over all of us the sukkah of Your shalom” – not a fortress or a bomb shelter but this vulnerable, leafy, leaky hut is where we can share peace with our neighbors. Not only the Human neighbors but all the lIfe-forms of our planet, each a necessary part of the Great Eco-System of Echad. In every Sukkot, but especially this year. For this very year is Shabbat Shabbaton, a seventh year, a Year of Shmita – Release. Release for Earth from being forced to work and release for the pressed-down poor from debt. So next Sukkot comes just after the Year of Release. We hear Moshe Rabbenu, Moses our Teacher, telling us: And Moshe commanded them, saying: At the end of seven years, at the appointed-time of the Year of Release, on the pilgrimage-festival of Sukkot, when all Yisrael [the Godwrestling folk] comes to be seen at the presence of YHWH [Yahh, the Breath of Life] your God, at the place that the One chooses, you are to proclaim this Instruction in front of all Yisrael, in their ears. Assemble the people, the men, the women, and the little-ones, and your immigrant that is in your gates, in order that they may hearken, in order that they may learn and have-awe-for YHWH your God, to carefully observe all the words of this Instruction; And (that) their children, who do not know, may hearken and learn to have-awe-for YHWH your God, all the days that you remain-alive on the soil that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess. (Deuteronomy 31: 9-13å) So as part of our commitment to address the future with actifests, we must make every effort to make real Hak’hel -- Assemble! -- to challenge the House of Greed and Fear, to give fuller meaning to this Sukkot -- the Festival of Huts, the House of Love and Shalom. We know that we can only sow the seed for a future Harvest. For example, one approach to connecting prophetic Sukkot vision with contemporary issues and vigorous action this year: Providing people with simple instructions for gathering at home offices of Senators or Congressmembers or state/local officials, or of national offices or local branches of Chase Banks, or of local gun shops -- shaking the Four Species of branches and fruit in the seven directions of the universe, with suggestions for using North American species if the activists wish. Add new “Hosha-Na Please Save Us” prayers directed to the Breath of Life, addressing the need for even stronger climate action, for control of guns, for codifying Roe into state and national law. Connect with Get Out The Vote information. We choose for The Shalom Center this “actifest” role to move and mobilize those who are fed up with celebrating the past while the present and the future dribble blood. We choose this path like a wise individual species or culture in the eco-system; like a wise piece of the jigsaw puzzle, shaping its own unique shape to fit with others in a Unity of bounty. We choose this path to bring “spirituality” and “eco/social transformation” into a coherent sacred whole. In an old and exhausted “normal,” the festival cycles of the Jewish people celebrated moments from the past, rooted in the earthy dance of Earth, Moon, Sun. Now they need also to tap into a root that calls forth transformation of the eco/social future. We choose this path because in the Diaspora, the Festival cycle is the clearest way in which the Godwrestling Folk can make clear our prophetic vision in the seeing of all people. Can choose not bowing low to Pharaoh’s Armies, but to walk through waters of Unknown, into the Wilderness. Rabbi Arthur Waskow founded (1983) and directs The Shalom Center. He is the author of 28 books, including the Freedom Seder, Seasons of Our Joy, Godwrestling --- Round 2, and Dancing in God's Earthquake. 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 great-great-grandmother-- when I wanted you removed from my yard, and I tried to deter you, to get rid of you. In vain. But this no longer works for me. Instead of you, the hatred has passed, disappeared, vanished. I no longer have the strength to fight. I’ve come to understand that you, too, are one of G!d’s creatures, made in the Divine image, that you were, in essence, here before me. Not you specifically, of course, but your ancestors. They were munching this patch of land long before my ancestors invaded your territory. It’s chutzpadik for me to believe you don’t belong. What right have I to think I’m more important than you? I admit it would be dissembling on my part not to acknowledge the despair and sadness that overcome me when my zucchini plants are suddenly bereft of leaves, or when the plants I love don’t burst forth with color because of your constant munching. I honor my grief, holding it gently to my heart, grateful that I no longer ooze with hatred and that my desire to destroy is gone, knowing that I am blessed, but also knowing that I have much work to do to extend this to so many others. --מרמיטה ,את שעושה את ביתך בחצרי אני רואה אותך מסתובבת ,ואוכלת --תמיד אוכלת ,אוכלת את הדשא (שזה בסדר) ,או הפרחים ששתלתי כל כך בזהירות --או צמחי הירקות שחשבתי שיהיו בטוחים ,השנה את נהנית כנראה במיוחד מהקישואים ,לאחר שזללת את העלים שלהם לא רק פעם אחת ,או פעמיים ,או אפילו שלוש ,אלא ארבע פעמים .וזה רק יולי --אני זוכרת בעבר כששנאתי אותך ,או אולי זאת היתה סבתא שלך ,או סבתא רבא --או סבתא של סבתא ,כשרציתי שאת תיעלמי מחצרי ,וניסיתי למנוע ממך .להיפטר ממך .לשווא .אבל השגאה הזאת כבר לא עובדת בשבילי ,במקומך ,השנאה עברה .נעלמה, נכדה .כבר אין לי כח להילחם אחרי הכל, הגעתי להבנה שגם את ,אחד מיצירי האל ,נוצרה בצלם אלהים ,שהיית, בעצם .כאן לפניי ,לא בדיוק את, כמבן .אלא אבותייך הם נשנשו בחלקת האדמה הזאת .הרבה לפני שאבותיי פלשו לשטח שלך .זאת חוצפה מצדי להאמין שאת לא שייכת כאן איזו זכות יש לי לחשוב שאני יותר חשובה ?ממך אני מודה שזה היה להעמיד פניפ מצידי לא להודות את הייאוש והעצב שמתגברים עליי כשצמחי הקישואים שלי ,פתאום חסרי עלים או הצמחים שאני אוהבת לא מתפרצים בצבע .בגלל הלעיסה התמידית שלך ,אני מכבדת את אבלותיי ,מחזיקה אותן ללבי בעדינות אסירת תודה שאני כבר לא מטפטפת שנאה ,ושהחשק שלי להרוס נעלם .בידיעה שאני מבורכת אבל גם בידיעה שיש לי הרבה עבודה לעשות .כדי להאריך זאת לכל כך הרבה אחרים Rabbi Katy Allen is the founder and rabbi of Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope, which holds services outdoors all year long and has a growing children’s outdoor learning program, Y’ladim BaTeva. She is the founder of the Jewish Climate Action Network-MA, a board certified chaplain, and a former hospital and hospice chaplain. She received her ordination from the Academy for Jewish Religion in Yonkers, NY, in 2005, and lives in Wayland, MA, with her spouse, Gabi Mezger, who leads the.singing at Ma'yan Tikvah.
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