Earth Etude for Elul 29 - Shana Tova

Photos by Gabi Mezger
Words by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen

G!d made a promise never to destroy the world again. We see that promise in every rainbow that arcs across the sky. We see it, too, in rainbows all around us. 

G!d had the power to make the waters of the flood recede. We have no such power. May we make a promise never to destroy the world, not even once.

To keep such a promise requires us to notice every petal of every flower, every color of every hue, every detail of our lives and of the world around us. May we begin with ourselves, our own hearts, and build therein rainbows of promise. May we, during the Days of Awe, find the strength to save ourselves, our families, our communities, and our world, one petal at a time.

Shana tovah - May your New Year be filled with joy and blessings, and may you each and every day, remember the rainbow that we must build.
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Gabi Mezger is retired and enjoys photography, reading, beading, and travel. She serves as the cantorial soloist for Ma'yan Tikvah.

Rabbi Katy Z. Allen (ARJ '05) is the founder and leader of Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope in Wayland, MA, and a staff chaplain at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA.

Earth Etude for Elul 28 - I Am My Beloved and My Beloved Is Me

by Daniel Kieval

I have a friend who reads people's auras. He sees all sorts of colors like green & red & purple. He says anyone can do it. All it takes is forgetting everything you think you know & just looking. I've tried it & even though I haven't seen any colors yet, everyone I meet looks so beautiful when I stop knowing everything, that it's pretty hard to go back to the old way.

                                “Beautiful People” by Brian Andreas

Such is the mysterious beauty of our world that when we observe any part of it deeply we have no choice but to fall in love.

Many naturalists and nature educators will say that the best way to develop a connection with the Earth is to practice what is called a “Sit Spot.” Here’s how it works: Choose one place in the world and spend time there daily, at all times of day and night, in all weather, in all seasons. In your spot, sit in silence and focus fully on the world around you. As you learn to quiet your mind and let go of everything you think you know, you become open to receiving what nature is presenting to you in that moment. Over time you gain a deep sense of the patterns of life around your Sit Spot and, just maybe, you fall in love.

A personal connection with Earth is not something new we have to acquire. Every one of us has carried it in our bodies since the first Adam (human) was formed from the Adam-ah (earth). By turning all of our awareness to nature’s gifts, we come home again to that relationship which we’ve had all along.

In Elul, we focus on the process of teshuva – returning, coming home – through personal reflection and examination. What the Sit Spot is to the Earth, teshuva is to our own souls. We visit our “Sit Spot of the Self” daily; we see what it’s like there in all weather and moods. We let go of what we think we know about ourselves and instead we quiet down and listen. We discover the subtle beauties of our inner ecology.

Our souls, like the Earth, have always been there waiting for us, but we lose touch with them as the clutter of everyday life fills up our heads. In Elul we visit our souls with devotion until we fall in love with ourselves again. That is what it means to do teshuva: to come back to our pure essential nature that is as unspoiled and good and true as every other primordial piece of Creation. Only after we’ve done this are we ready to face the infinite on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

Spend time with yourself this Elul. Be quiet. Be curious. Be present. Let go of judgment and observe openly and honestly. In so doing, may you come home again to a loving relationship with the created Earth and your own perfect soul.

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Daniel Kieval works as a Jewish environmental educator with Teva, a program of Hazon/Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center.

Earth Etude for Elul 27 - Sunrise Sunset – Evening the Frayed Edges of Our Lives

by Rabbi Jeff Foust

Sunrise and sunset are special liminal times calling forth awe and mindful awakening to spiritual realities we otherwise might totally miss. It’s no accident that the main traditional prayer times for Jews are sunrise and sunset.

This simple profound reality is especially moving me this year as I prepare for the Teshuvah/Realignment/Renewal work of Elul before Rosh HaShanah. I’ve been reflecting on a powerful liturgical adaptation by Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael of the opening evening prayer Ma’ariv Aravim. She calls it “Evening the Evenings”. It combines interpretive English with the traditional Hebrew. What especially moves me is the chorus: “Evening the evenings; evening the frayed edges of our lives; Ma’ariv Aravim…; amen.” The key for me is that “Ma’ariv Aravim” refers both to “The One Who brings on the evening” and to the Creator of the heavenly vaults of light and darkness (Aruv can a heavenly vault or a containing boundary) which almost come together at the time of sunrise and sunset (in Hebrew called “Bein HaArbayyim”/Between the Heavenly Vaults of Light and Darkness).

When I hear and experience “Evening the evenings” I experience the light of “Bein HaArbayyim” touching the shadows and ragged edges first between the heavenly vaults of day and night at sunset, and then touching all the shadowy dark constricted frayed places of the world, including in my own self and my entire bodyheartmindspirit. I actually tremble and shake in the original sense of “haredim” (the tremblers), but it feels good because I know that the path to teshuvah and renewal is in letting my frayed, shadowy dark place be evened out by G!D’s light and love.

With G!D’s help and our sincere efforts, may our Elul journeys be enlightening and renewing.

*If you would like to check out the full song see HTTP://WWW.CDBABY.COM/CD/RABBIGRR

It's also often sung Friday nights at Boston's B'nai Or.

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Rabbi Jeff Foust is Jewish Chaplain and member of the interfaith Spiritual Life Center at Bentley University. He does pastoral care and counseling through the Jewish Chaplaincy Council, leads creative life cycle events and services, tutors youth and adults, and has a special interest in Kabbalah and embodied spirituality. He can be reached through his website www.rabbijeffreyfoust.com or email foust.jeff@gmail.com.

Earth Etude for Elul 26 - Teshuvah and Eden

by Rabbi Robin Damsky 

I am sitting in my yard as I write this, amidst the din of cicadas singing their love songs to one another, with the wind lusciously blowing around the 93-degree day. Although hot, the garden is nevertheless my favorite place. To my left are the grapevines yielding their first crop of grapes. To my right is a series of raised beds forming a giant U: lettuces under their shade cover, two compost bins, onions, carrots and beets, turnips and daikon, broccoli and collards, peppered with kale plants in every available space, with companions of sweet alyssum to keep the aphids at bay.

There is the tomato jungle; I call it thus because picking the fruits takes me into their internal forest. Only one sunflower sprouted this year, but she is majestic. Near her is the peach tree, barely able to hold up her arms right now for the weight of her pearly orangey fruits. Surrounding her are mints – chocolate and orange, spearmint and peppermint, fennel, peas and beans and onto the baby fig tree with its first set of figs: twelve. Not bad for a first year crop, and on a tree that’s just over three feet high. Aah. I exhale at the grace that God provides through these food plants.

This is only one side of the yard. Last year I began the project of turning my yard into an organic, edible landscape. Culinary herbs, fruit and nut trees, medicinal herbs, fruit shrubs, and plants with edible parts such as rose hips, ferns and violets abound.  There are artichokes – Chicago’s not their normal habitat, but I’m giving them a shot. Abundant berries, winter squash, cucumbers and watermelons. And the Jewish connection: parsley, of course, hyssop and horseradish. It is a work in progress, but it is immensely fulfilling, a personal Eden.

Our tradition tells us that we were exiled from Eden to toil the soil, but I find that working the earth brings Eden. The sounds and smells, the growth and the creatures are all a piece of Eden. As a rabbi, the idea of a time when all life – human, animal and plant, can live together peaceably, is one of my main visions. The garden contains all the ingredients for that. It is a place where we learn respect, because we know the potential myriad of setbacks: weather, “pests,” soil conditions, to name a few. It is a place where we learn gratitude. How happy is the child that picks her homegrown carrot? The boy who chews on his first string bean that he planted himself?

That’s just the beginning. Sharing produce with the homeless is an important gift to give each season, through our local food pantry and homeless shelter. Bringing community members in to work the earth who need extra income helps those in need while teaching them about how to grow their own food. Simultaneously, we build community across all lines: religious, ethnic, racial, even across the generations. I have made some wonderful friends through the garden that I never would have met otherwise. And we also teach our children in the arenas of Judaism, nutrition, and sustainability.

What is teshuvah if not return? Are we not working to return to source – to God, to oneness, to wholeness with all of creation? The shofar rings out each day of Elul: Awake! Awake! Awaken to our work to create wholeness.

How interesting it is that the Messianic Age is the very vision of Eden. What better way, then, for us to do the work of the High Holy Days than to plant? We bring ourselves closer to God’s creation and advance the healing that pulls us a little closer to the Messianic Age. Plant and tend. A little Eden awaits you.

Shana tovah – A year of wholeness for all. 

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Robin Damsky is the rabbi of West Suburban Temple Har Zion in River Forest, IL, www.wsthz.org. She is the proud mother of Sarah. In her spare time she promotes tikkun olam - repair of the world - through the garden.

Earth Etude for Elul 25 - Circling Home

by Rabbi Kaya Stern-Kaufman

Turning, always turning

To every turn, a season

To every season, a spirit

To every spirit, a soul

To every soul, a home

Ani l’dodi v’dodi li

I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine

Elul pours forth a call

Turn as the earth

Around your sacred truth,

Hold to your center

           but move from your place.

See

from a new angle, Who You Are

And who you need to be

We are fiery emotions

We are waters of compassion

We are centered breath of life,

We are steady solid clay

An eternal breath wrapped in dust and light

Turning

always turning

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Rabbi Kaya Stern-Kaufman,MSW is the Founder and Director of Rimon Resource Center for Jewish Spirituality in Great Barrington, MA. www.rimonberkshires.org. She is a former psychotherapist and feng shui practitioner with a life-long interest in comparative religion and the creation of sacred space and sacred time.

Earth Etude for Elul 24 - The Humility of Rabbits

by Leora Mallach

I am an educational vegetable gardener, that is to say, I facilitate learning about food and grow vegetables for people to eat. Vegetable gardens don’t happen by chance, but are manicured and maintained on a regular basis. There is pre-season planning, worry and hope as things sprout, groups of students to program with, volunteers to direct and family picnics to coordinate.

When I first saw evidence of the rabbits over the winter I didn't totally understand the implications. Ever the optimist, I thought they could hang out in the ivy, frolic in the playground (once the pre-school kids left) and generally leave me and my vegetables alone. They could have their space, and I’d have mine.

And then they ate my pea shoots.

Planting continued on, and weeks later who was I to tell the 9^th grade boys who relished in cutting back ivy that the cute little rabbits had eaten up all their hard work? The volunteer who had gotten so excited when she planted her first seeds, (A trio of Blue Lake, Cherokee Wax and Purple Queen beans) that she took a picture of the patch of soil, would she want to know that her beans were now mere colorful sticks?

I raised my fists at the rabbits. I cursed at them. I chased them. They shook their white bunny tails at me and scurried away.

I called the experts, some helpful and some not. Fencing would have to be dug 6 inches down- how would the beds still be accessible? Would they ruin the aesthetic of the space? Wait it out some said, once the plants are big enough, rabbits won’t want to eat them. An exterminator would use a gas chamber… uh, NO.

The advice I went with was to become a rabbit harasser. I sprinkled fox urine around the rabbit hole so they would think they were being stalked. I had friends bring over their dogs to “leave their scent” in the area. I sprinkled bovine blood granules on the beds next to the vegetables.

When I could take it no more- I bought Havaheart trap. The first morning when I went to go check the trap, I wasn't sure if I really wanted to find a rabbit inside. Although I had located a lovely new home (more then two miles away, by the water, it also included a bridge and a bench, in addition to a wide grassy area) I was nervous. If I hold their lives as sacred, their creation as an act of divinity, then shouldn't we be able to co-exist in teh garden together?

I often wonder what these rabbis are teaching me. I am still learning. In this time of teshuvah, of love, of renewal, of working toward our best selves, I am humbled by the rabbits.

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Leora Mallach is the Co-Founder of Ganei Beantown and this is her third year running the organic vegetable garden at Temple Israel of Boston. When not harvesting cucumbers she can be found writing experiential education curriculum, hiking in the mountains, or being crafty.

Earth Etude for Elul 23 - Adonai, Adonai

by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen

Adonai, Adonai, G!d, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abundant in goodness and truth, showing compassion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin. (Ex. 34:6-7)

G!d speaks the Divine name twice! Wouldn't once be enough? Whose attention is G!d trying to reach?

The medieval commentator Rashi teaches that “Adonai” is G!d's attribute of compassion, and that the Divine Name is said once before a person sins and once after the person sins and repents. It’s a nice image. I think also about Rabbi Arthur Waskow’s understanding of the four letter tetragramaton as a breath that happens when we try to pronounce the unpronounceable name, and he refers to G!d as the Breath of Life. So, the Divine Name being spoken twice is sort of like G!d breathing deeply twice, one before we sin and once after we sin and repent, or, in the verse above, two deep breaths before naming the aspects of Divine mercy and forgiveness that are available to us.

Jewish tradition teaches that we are to walk in G!d’s ways. Accordingly, this means that we, too, need to have all the qualities of forgiveness listed in this verse. The compassion to a thousand generations might be tough for one individual, but at least we can try to be merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abundant in goodness and truth, and forgiving of other’s transgressions. And taking two deep breaths can help us just as much, or even more, as it can help G!d! If we breathe deeply, letting the air in and out, with conscious awareness that we are bringing into our bodies molecules that were released from some other organism or from the Earth, perhaps we can better manifest in ourselves these amazing Divine qualities.

Philosopher and nature writer Kathleen Dean Moore writes in The Pine Island Paradox: “if you sit still in the dark, breathing quietly, the world will come to life around you…and then you will understand: you are kin in a family of living things, aware in a world of awareness, alive in a world of lives, breathing as the shrimp breathe, as the kelp breathes, as the water breathes, as the alders breathe, the slow in and out. Except for argon and some nitrogen, every gas that enters your lungs was created by some living creature—oxygen by plankton, carbon dioxide by the hemlocks. Every breath you take weaves you into the fabric of life."

When we are confronted by a difficult situation with another person, if we breathe deeply and remember the water, the oxygen, the nitrogen; the rain, the oceans, the mountains; the rain forests, the deserts, the water’s edge; the frogs, the salamanders, the bacteria – if we in those two deep breathes can allow such images to pass through our minds, reminding ourselves that we are but one tiny part of the amazing web of life on this amazing planet, and that the Breath of Life sustains us all, perhaps we will find it easier to walk in G!d’s footsteps and to be merciful and forgiving. Perhaps we will be able to look more kindly at our neighbors and ourselves. Perhaps an abundance of goodness and truth will seep into our beings, and bring healing to us and to the Earth.

With all my heart and all my soul, I pray, may it be so. Amen. Selah.

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Rabbi Katy Z. Allen (ARJ '05) is the founder and leader of Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope in Wayland, MA, and a staff chaplain at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA.

Earth Etude for Elul 22 - For Lifts

by Nyanna Susan Tobin

I am helped by...Remembering that where ever I sit or stand, it is sacred ground. Sometimes it is hard to believe this wisdom. But, If I can re-remember my roots, and my strong belief that we are all apart of the on-going cycles of creation and of unraveling,  then I can wake up and realize the miracle of this moment.

One of my goals for this summer was to slow down, and honor my desire for living closer to the land and water, in my neighborhood. But in between watering and harvesting for a few backyards, I have traveled all over New England. I went to a Slow Living Summit in Brattleboro, VT. I found and sold an antique (1740's) map in Hyannis, MA. I went to a Social Justice & Storytelling gathering in New Hampshire, and experienced the strong earth energy at The Round House in Colrain, MA. We also celebrated the crossing over of two special elders who live with me in Wayland Housing. And  participated in Ma'yan Tikvah's Shabbat in Nature retreat in mid-August. As Molly B. wrote, how does it all this cook nutritious bread? This summer, I have experienced so many others working to make our world work for the present and for the future.

Maybe all religions foster a love and awe of the past, our roots. The exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls at The Boston Museum of Science, is a journey into the past. Two thousand years ago, our ancestors made pots, and ink, and parchment. They lived in uncertain times, but they left us with their seeds, the work of their hands, and their written instructions for meeting the end. The end of existence is what the scroll scribes predicted. They were getting ready for their last breaths.

What will we be getting ready for this year? We have the science, the evidence of global warming and the rise of the waters. We have people living under tyranny, and those trying to take back their humanity.Our people are recovering from nearly loosing our footing on earth. I imagine that while I continue to struggle with budgets, and making real food, hopefully, I will be thankful for these daily struggles and the awareness that I am standing or sitting on Sacred Ground.

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Nyanna Susan Tobin is an Organic Storyteller, Member of Wayland Transition, loves real food, and can often be found walking with her dog and Wellness Partner, Ziggy.

Earth Etude for Elul 21 - How Do You Meet the World?

by Alexander Volfson

There are many ways to look at life. This lens through which we perceive reality affects how we feel and how we act. Elul, a time of returning, is a perfect opportunity to reflect on our lenses. Is our outlook truly helping us be the best self we can be?

Sometimes we can get into phases where we're caught up in one particular lens. You might notice a particular pattern of thought you're reenacting, along with some habits. For example I noticed that I was in an "afraid of the world" phase where I was checking the national news multiple times per day. I was stressing about how the economic turmoil of our country is and will affect me and my community.

This certainly wasn't the only line of thought I had, but many of my thoughts were pretty grim. At the same time, you can't entirely dismiss this as some unfounded fear. The cost of living, food and energy continue to rise and though the financial experts keep talking about a recovery, real incomes and the rate of employment are not keeping up. On top of this we're getting more extreme and unstable weather from climate change. You can see how this might shape my outlook.

We can get stuck in a specific outlook, but there are alternative ways to approach at the world. When I recognized this phase I paused to connect with the specific emotions that came up for me: fear, mostly. Meditating on this, I soon remembered another outlook were I see my actions as the "Earth acting through me". In this frame, I feel connected to the world around me (instead of afraid of it) and focus on asking, "at this very moment, how can I contribute?" Notice how this opens me up to options. Suddenly I'm thinking about the solutions to our economic woes. Thinking about what could make our communities more resilient I start asking open-ended questions: How many different ways can I support local agriculture? Low-energy and low-cost transportation? Healthy living? Connection to the physical planet and real ecosystems of which we are a part? You can probably see how this approach is more likely to help me find a meaningful way forward.

In fact, this reminded me of why Tikkun Olam initially pulled me into the Transition movement (a grassroots, community-level-focused effort to transition beyond fossil fuel dependence to a world of renewable energy and local resilience). The Transition approach is to look at change as an opportunity. The other key element is that we act in groups because it can be overwhelming on our own. Ultimately a few of us got together and co-founded our local initiative, Transition Framingham. Look around, you might find a group in your town (Wayland, Ashland, Sudbury and more) or maybe you have the opportunity to start such an effort!

So in this etude I leave you with two lessons for the price of one.

• What outlook have you adopted? Is it creating outcomes you like or behaviors you'd like to change?
• How can we return to a stewardship relationship with the Earth we all call home?

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Alexander Volfson, a humanist and Earth-ist, loves finding way to bring folks together toward sustainable lifestyles. When he's not fixing thing (from appliances to bicycles to computers) or planting them (for a permaculture designed garden), he's biking somewhere or learning something new. Alex is one of the founding organizers of the Framingham Sierra Club and Transition Framingham.

Earth Etude for Elul 20 - When the Land is Allowed to Rest

Photos by Robyn Bernstein, text by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen

The sabbatical year, or shmita (meaning 'release') is the seventh year of the seven year agricultural cycle described in the Torah and applying to the Land of Israel. During the shmita year, the land lies fallow, debts are forgiven, and all of creation is allowed to rest.

In this country, land set aside as conservation land is allowed to rest for long periods of time. Such land opens up for us many wonders that we might otherwise miss.

These are images from our Shavuot hike at the Massachusetts Audubon Society's Wachusetts Meadow Sanctuary.

Red Eft Salamander or Newt

Milk snake

The year 5775, beginning on Rosh HaShanah 2014, marks the beginning of the next Sabbatical Year. During this year, according to Jewish Law in the Land of Israel, debts are to be forgiven, agricultural land is to lie fallow, private lands become public, stored food and perennial harvests are to be redistributed to all. How can thinking about shmita change our thinking and our world? How can we use this year of 5774 to prepare us to observe shmitah? For resources to help your thinking, check out The Shmitah Project.
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Robyn Bernstein is the President of Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope, a music therapist, and an active member of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows.

Rabbi Katy Z. Allen (AJR '05) is the founder and leader of Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope in Wayland, MA (www.mayantikvah.org), a congregation that holds services outdoors all year long. She is also a staff chaplain at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA