Source of the Universe, I praise You and offer gratitude for the gifts You have bestowed upon me. The highest of these is to serve as klei kodesh (holy vessel) for Divine flow. My sacred purpose is connecting people: to scout, discern, and share resources for repairing Earth and Your Creation from the desecration the privileged amongst us, myself included, have wrought. Humans have plundered and wounded this beautiful, alive, and finite planet to satisfy our hungers and wants. Erroneously calling it “ours,” it’s only a temporary dwelling place during our brief embodied existence.
Today, Iyyar 18, Lag Ba’Omer, Hod Sh’b’Hod, is an auspicious time to acknowledge the Holy One, often touted as working in mysterious ways. To illustrate: In 1989 and recently married, I was invited by our new rabbi, Warren Stone, to attend a social justice meeting and offer ideas for tikkun olam (repair the world) programs. Those present took turns sharing our passions. A lifelong environmentalist and deeply inspired by the first Earth Day during high school, I wondered why I hadn’t seen Jewish activism on this critical issue.
Rabbi Stone, later dubbed “Climate Rabbi,” had recently returned from Kallah, heard Ellen Bernstein speak about her fledgling initiative, Shomrei Adamah (Keepers of Earth), and met a Maryland organic farmer who wanted to organize a similar group in the DC area. Rabbi Stone suggested I call the farmer, Michael Tabor. I laughed! He was (and still is) our next-door neighbor. Months earlier and new to the neighborhood, we experienced a violent storm that downed our old oak tree, clipped Michael and Esther’s porch, and landed across their driveway. B’H’, it didn’t injure anyone, did little damage, and connected our families beyond our imagining.
We were led to co-found Shomrei Adamah of DC and organized the first Jewish environmental presence on the National Mall, Earth Day 1990, sharing ancient Jewish ecological teachings on handouts adorned with a design that came through me: a menorah tree surrounded by quotes. “Do not ruin and desolate my world, for if you ruin it, there is no one to set it right after you.” (Midrash Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1 on 7:13 c. 800 CE) and “L’ovdah u’lishomrah—to cultivate and preserve it.” (Genesis 2:15). Vessels of Divine flow, indeed!
