Uvalde Tragedy: What do we do?#728
05/27/2022 04:40:17 PM
Rabbi Irwin Huberman
Author | |
Date Added | |
Automatically create summary | |
Summary |
Parashat Behar
“We do not inherit the earth from our elders, we borrow it from our children.” First Nations Chief.
Shabbat For The Earth
About nine months ago, the world lost one of its greatest composers and country music artists, Nanci Griffith.
You may have never heard of her - but her contribution to our understanding of the beauty of the earth will eternally remain with our family.
As we would take long family trips through rural Alberta, often passing wheat and canola fields, her songs would provide the soundtrack for our journeys.
While many of Nanci Griffith’s songs pertained to love and life growing up near Austin, Texas, one - entitled Trouble in our Fields - spoke about the drought that devastated the United States during the early 1930s - in particular from Texas to Nebraska.
Experts concluded that during and immediately following the depression, communities pushed hard against the land, until the earth finally shut its hand.
There is nothing to say that this could have been avoided. People had to eat. Money was scarce.
Yet, through the songs of Nanci Griffith and others like her, we are reminded to this day about the importance of treasuring the earth.
It is also a message that the Torah stressed thousands of years ago.
In this week’s Torah portion, God teaches that the earth is a “living entity.” Through Moses, God tells the Israelites to rest the land every seven years.
In Hebrew, the word used is Shemmita - a “Sabbath of the Land.”
And yes, while the creation of jobs is vital within an often-insecure economy, we have come to understand what the Torah has been teaching for centuries: the earth needs its rest too.
This week the Torah “personifies” the earth. It teaches that, like each of us, the earth needs a Sabbath to replenish, refresh and re-set.
The early chapters of the Torah tell us that the Garden of Eden is a gift to us, but it is our responsibility “to work it and to guard it.” (Genesis 2:15).
The Kabballah our mystic tradition - teaches that there were six previous civilizations before this one, cautioning that that “this is the last earth we will get.”
In a previous career, I worked as a communications consultant for an environmental study that examined the effects of pulp mill effluent on the environment. Animals were dying. Fish were becoming laced with pollutants.
Before we would hold a public meeting in smaller communities - in order to increase attendance - we would visit Grade 5 classrooms and speak to students about the environment.
We quickly we learned that our children “get it.” Later that day they would appear at our informational meetings - parents and grandparents in tow.
Children are often the earth’s angels - encouraging older generations, to recycle, to conserve energy, or to consider alternative sources of energy.
Each year, as I read the commandment to rest the earth, I imagine God sending a message into the future.
I often think about how wasteful we continue to be. Rather than walking a few feet to the recycling container, we sometimes toss our soda cans into the garbage. I’ve always seen that as a sign of arrogance.
It is one thing to stress the earth. It is another to insult it.
In many other ways, we have become removed from the earth as a source of food and sustenance.
Peaches aren’t in season in Georgia? Import them from South America. Grapes are still on the vine in California? Bring them in from Chile.
Indeed, when it comes to food and the land, have we become too entitled?
Wrote Nanci Griffith:
“Now our children live in the city, and they rest upon our shoulders. They never want the rain to fall or the weather to get colder.”
In this week’s Torah portion, the Bible brings us closer to reality.
The ritual of Shemmita is an example of how an entire society chose to live at a significantly lower material standard for a year in order to nurture the earth.
Agreed, within our modern society, it would be difficult to shut down agriculture for a year, but this week the Torah encourages us to, at least, ponder the health and stress we place on the environment.
The message is clear: Do not take the earth for granted, nor the farmer who stewards this miracle of food.
As a First Nations chief taught me many years ago, “We do not inherit the earth from our elders, we borrow it from our children.”
This week, the Torah portion begs the question, “Are we borrowing too much?”
Indeed, if this seventh and last world is to survive, we need to not only respect our own requirement to rest, but that of the earth as well.
This week, God sends us a message to protect the miracle of life and the earth upon which we stand.
Let us, therefore, be good stewards - one act at a time.
For the earth is our home - our guarantee of ongoing life through our children and our children’s children.
Let us, therefore, remember to work it, but more importantly - as God commands: “to guard it.”
Shabbat shalom, v’kol tuv.
Rabbi Irwin Huberman
..............................
Please join us on Zoom,
Friday - 7:00 pm ET
for candle lighting, followed
by live Kabbalat Shabbat services:
Click link below to view or download
the abridged Friday Shabbat siddur: https://bit.ly/2JjvlL3
..............................
Saturday Shabbat & Musaf Service:
10:00 am ET
Sim Shalom Shabbat & Musaf Siddur: https://bit.ly/2zMtxJ3
You can also dial into these services:
646-876-9923 (New York)
Meeting ID: 971 8824 3757
Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/adPkXfg2VY
Fri, September 29 2023
14 Tishrei 5784
Rabbi's Last 50 E-Sermons
Moses' Final Lesson: It's Like Rain #795
Friday, Sep 22 5:39amThe Essence of Judaism #794
Friday, Sep 8 3:29pmGod Is Not Santa Claus #793
Friday, Sep 1 6:03pmRemembering the Gift Card #792
Friday, Aug 25 4:59pmDoes God Pull the Strings? #791
Friday, Aug 18 3:44pmZaidie and the Two Dollar Bill #790
Friday, Aug 11 3:50pmVoices at the Western Wall #788
Friday, Jul 28 6:06pmYad Vashem: A Personal Memory #787
Friday, Jul 21 2:01pmConversations In A Jeruselum Cab #786
Friday, Jul 14 4:50pmDebates "In the Name of Heaven" #784
Friday, Jun 23 6:12pmThe Power of Believing in Yourself #783
Friday, Jun 16 6:07pmThe Power of Light #782
Friday, Jun 9 5:40pmThe Most Famous Blessing of All #781
Friday, Jun 2 2:03pmYour "Other" Marriage Contract #780
Tuesday, May 30 12:20pmEchoes of Michael Jackson #779
Friday, May 19 5:03pmThe Legacy of Lesley Sue Goldstein #778
Friday, May 12 5:12amEye for an Eye: Leaving Revenge Behind #777
Friday, May 5 5:09pmHogan's Heroes, Israel & the Holocaust #776
Friday, Apr 28 3:39pmThe Sound of silence #774
Friday, Apr 14 5:22pmPassover: Eating from the Kid's Menu #773
Friday, Apr 7 1:43pmPassover After the Plague #772
Friday, Mar 31 5:19pmLife: We are Never Done #771
Friday, Mar 24 5:17pmWhat is YOur Exocus Story #770
Friday, Mar 17 5:32pmLosing our patience #769
Friday, Mar 10 6:08pmWe Never Lose Hope #768
Friday, Mar 3 3:09pmWhere Does God Actually Live #767
Friday, Feb 24 4:11pmSlavery in the toraH #766
Friday, Feb 17 5:45pmTaking the lord's name in vain? #765
Friday, Feb 10 5:04amSerach- The Torah's Forgotten Leader #764
Friday, Feb 3 5:11pmAdding FUn to judaism #763
Friday, Jan 27 4:56pmFeeling Like an Imposter #762
Friday, Jan 20 4:55pmWomen Breaking The Rules #761
Friday, Jan 13 5:29pmHow And Why We Bless The Children #760
Friday, Jan 6 4:24pmThe Start of Anti-Semitism #759
Friday, Dec 30 5:09pmJoseph's FaceTime #758
Friday, Dec 23 4:30pmWho We Tell Our Dreams To #757
Friday, Dec 16 6:06pmMoney and Happiness #756
Friday, Dec 9 5:25pmGod on the High Seas #755
Friday, Dec 2 2:00pmThe Man With The Mop #754
Friday, Nov 25 4:30pmHospitality—and the Fort McMurray Miracle #753
Friday, Nov 18 6:06pmKindness—Acting Like God #752
Friday, Nov 11 6:00pmWhat is Your Family's Story? #751
Friday, Nov 4 6:21pmKanye West: Where are the Voices? #750
Friday, Oct 28 2:23pmEvil and Life's Cartoons #749
Friday, Oct 21 6:34pmWho Wrote The Torah? #748
Friday, Oct 14 5:42pmMoses Says Goodbye: Three Parting Messages #747
Friday, Oct 7 5:38pmReturning To Our Innocence #746
Friday, Sep 30 6:21pmJudaism: Not That Complicated #745
Friday, Sep 23 5:09pmWhere Is Your Promised Land? #744
Friday, Sep 16 5:16pmGrowing Up With The Queen #743
Friday, Sep 9 5:40pmUpdate this content.