January 2007 Archives

Rabbi Grossman and Rabbi Stern make several excellent and practical suggestions for cutting down pollution and lowering demand for non-renewable sources of energy. In addition to these important measures, I also encourage us to strive to cultivate a relationship of respect and wonder with the natural world so we can come to regard it as something worth enjoying and protecting, and not just as yet an additional area in our lives to feel guilty about.

The medieval kabbalists created an elaborate seder for Tu B’Shevat modeled on the more familiar Passover seder, which included the eating of various fruits and nuts and the drinking of four cups of wine. They did this because they saw the natural world and its cycles as a tangible manifestation of God’s power and goodness; as we come to know and appreciate the divine within the natural world, we can come to better know and appreciate the divine within ourselves.

So this Tu B’Shevat, by all means follow the excellent ecological advice of Rabbi Grossman and Rabbi Stern. But also hold a Tu B’Shevat seder--many excellent examples are online (including one here from COEJL). Do activities designed to appreciate the beauty of nature: Go for a bike ride, garden, take a hike, look at Ansel Adams photographs, or even watch a nature video on the Discovery channel--anything to reconnect with the power and splendor of the natural world. Cultivate an awareness of the wonder that lurks just behind the everyday and that leads us to a relationship with nature based on appreciation, not exploitation.

As Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel observed in his masterpiece "God in Search of Man": “Human beings have indeed become primarily tool-making animals, and the world is now a gigantic tool box for the satisfaction of their needs... It is when nature is sensed as mystery and grandeur that it calls upon us to look beyond it.”

For starters this Tu B’Shevat, we should all take notice of how many of our elected officials run around busy city streets in massive SUVs built for the Rocky Mountins. The only reason I can think of as to why all of sudden in the last 10 years politicians need SU’s is so that they have enough room to fit in their car to fit their ever growing egos.

OK, enough silly rhetoric, here is a simple plan of action. This Tu B'Shevat, ask your elected officials to make a choice: Either (1) stop using SUVs or (b) set a higher standard for miles per gallon of gas that the automobile companies are required to fulfill when they build the SUVs.

Right now SUV’s are not legally considered cars but rather some other “machine” that allows the automobile industry to duck the 27.5% mpg rule that governs all automobiles put on the road. Aside from taking up too much parking room and space in crowded cities, SUVs are gas guzzling giants that only increase our reliance of Middle Eastern oil resources. Perhaps the greatest irony with SUVs is that only 5% of their owners ever need them for the kind of off-road mountain riding shenanigans that they are built for.

Go tell your elected official to stop using SUVs.

-- Posted by Rabbi Eliyahu Stern

Winter has finally come to the East Coast. I must admit I did not mind the sunny January days that reached into the 70s. There are benefits to global warming if you, like me, prefer sun to snow. However, there are dangers as well. The recent decision by Great Britian’s Tony Blair to mobilize his nation around global warming (for much of England will otherwise literally disappear under water) is a sobering reality check.

In Genesis, God gives Adam and Eve the job not just to “conquer” the world (i.e., to tame it for productive use) but to “care” for it (to be good stewards of its resources and species). God’s command is all about balance: balancing our needs and desires with our responsibility to the larger world and to the future.

It is particularly appropriate to think about our stewardship of the Earth as we begin February with Tu B’Shevat, the New Year for Trees. Like all holidays, Tu B’Shevat has its own rituals, from planting trees in Israel through the Jewish National Fund to holding a Seder based on the traditions of the ancient kabbalists.

Like all Jewish holidays, Tu B’Shevat also contains lessons that are designed to change our behavior, not just one day, but every day of the year. One such lesson is that God expects us to do all we can to be responsible stewards of the earth and the environment which sustains it. There is a lovely story about a sage named Honi who, as an old man, planted a tree that would probably not bear fruit in his lifetime. When he was asked why, he explained that just as his ancestors had planted trees for him, he was planting for his descendents. We have the same responsibility as Honi to prepare the earth for future generations.

It is not too late to stem global warming. Here are ten New Year’s Resolutions for Tu B’Shevat that can help:

1) Buy recycled napkins to help save one million trees, according to Newsweek magazine.

2) Turn your thermostat down two degrees in winter and up two degrees in summer to save 2,000 lbs. of CO2 a year.

3) Replace a regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb to help save 1,000 lbs of CO2 per bulb.

4) Turn off lights, monitors, and other electronics when you leave a room, even for a few minutes, to cut your energy bill by up to a third. (It worked for me!)

5) Walk more, bundle errands to be gas efficient, and buy fuel efficient cars.

6) Keep your car in tune and tires at the right pressure to save up to 4% on your gas mileage (that’s 20 pounds of carbon dioxide for every gallon saved).

7) Buy food with an eye to its impact on the environment: Where possible choose locally grown, fresh rather than frozen, and organic rather than regular produce.

8) Recycle, including mail inserts and envelopes without your address. Old cell phones, PDAs, and rechargeable batteries can be recycled for free by mail through the Sierra Club.

9) Learn more. See "An Inconvenient Truth," its web site http://www.climatecrisis.net, and check out the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life.

10) Post this list and use it throughout the year.

-- Posted by Rabbi Susan Grossman

In response to Rabbi Waxman: I am not at all suggesting we separate couples at death. That would be heartless.

Rather, I am saying the appropriate place for such couples is in a non-denominational cemetery. Someone who did not become Jewish before death does not receive the rights of Jewish burial after death, i.e. being buried in a Jewish cemetery. I know that distinction has encouraged at least some to formalize through conversion, the close relationship they have felt to the Jewish community for all these years. For others who never convert, there are other reasonable and respectful options for settling upon a joint resting place for both partners.

-- Posted by Rabbi Susan Grossman

I am surprised and disturbed by the tone of Rabbi Grossman’s post stating her opposition to allowing non-Jews to be buried with their Jewish spouses in a Jewish cemetery. She writes: “Let us... not undermine the final resting places of those who currently rest in peace.” It almost appears that Rabbi Grossman believes that the souls of those buried in a Jewish cemetery will catch cooties from the presence of a non-Jew buried nearby.

I understand Rabbi Grossman’s concerns about the current levels of intermarriage, but I also think that threatening to separate a couple in death who have been together in life will just alienate both members of the couple and won’t serve as a practical dis-incentive. There are many reasons people choose not to convert and this does not mean that they are working against the interests of the Jewish people or the Jewish community. On the contrary, they can often be active partners in raising Jewish families, supporting Jewish rituals and observances, and building Jewish community. If someone wishes to be buried in a Jewish cemetery I believe they are affirming their intent in death as in life to be fellow travelers: people who love and support the Jewish people and our communities.

What should Pres. Bush learn from Pharaoh? Virtual Talmud's Susan Grossman explores this question in this article on Beliefnet, written in response to the president's State of the Union address earlier this week. Click here to read and respond to...

So burial grounds have now become the new battle grounds for American Jewish identity.In a responsa regarding the permissibility of burying Jews and non-Jews together, Rabbi David Golikin, whom I have enormous respect for, closes his ruling that both Jewish...

In his piece on whether non-Jews should be buried in Jewish cemeteries, Rabbi Waxman goes too far, in my book, by suggesting that a Jewish cemetery fully retains its Jewish character if non-Jews are buried within it. Is a cemetery...

One of the issues that has been gaining prominence recently on the American Jewish scene is whether non-Jews--typically the non-Jewish partner in an intermarriage--may be buried in Jewish cemeteries. Traditionally, Jewish law has forbidden non-Jews to be buried together with...

Rabbi Stern raises an interesting point in distinguishing between making a general rule and judging each case on its own particular merits. The problem with a complicated situation like the one Rabbi Grossman writes about--a 9-year-old girl named Ashley with...

Rabbi Grossman gets it just right on the issue of Judaism’s relationship to bio-ethical issues. Here Judaism radically differs with certain elements of the Christian tradition. Instead of looking for an all-embracing universal theory that runs through every situation--such as...

As with most science, medical technology can be both a blessing and a curse. Our charge is to use such technology for good and not ill. The problem, of course, is that choosing a course that does "good" and not...

The ancient rabbis who wrote the Talmud (in modern-day Falluja, incidentally) understood something very important about capital punishment that we in this country–to say nothing of those in Iraq–seem to have forgotten. It’s not that capital punishment is philosophically indefensible,...

The entire war in Iraq has been one big tragedy deceptively perpetrated by President Bush. The American people should hold him accountable. That said, Rabbi Stern is missing the point when he thinks the issue surrounding Hussein’s execution is an...

Dear Thomas Freidman, In the spirit of the many letters you have written over the years I have decided to write one special to you. I have always enjoyed your pieces in the Times (especially after 9/11) and find myself...

Rabbi Grossman, if you read my posts, you would see that I have no problem condemning Orthodox violence. I have done so many times before on this blog and in other publications. Nor am I, nor have I ever been...

My problem with Rabbi Stern’s comments is that, while acknowledging the propensity for violence among the ultra-Orthodox, he dismisses it as a relatively minor phenomena in comparison to extremist violence by Muslims and Christians (though I am not sure of...

Point well taken, Rabbi Waxman. I pretty much agree with everything you are saying about certainty.I just think that by focusing on this aspect of Orthodoxy we end up missing more than we uncover. The miniscule rise in Orthodox violence...

Rabbi Stern, it strikes me, doth protest too much. It is true that the vast majority of Orthodox Jews are not extremists who will take matters into their own hands to enforce their own social and religious agenda. It is...

Reading Rabbi Waxman’s post, I thought to myself “I could easily have written the exact same piece…10 years ago when I was freshman at Yeshiva University.” Much of what Rabbi Waxman says is correct. The problem is that it’s too...

Rabbi Waxman is correct to be worried about the rise of religious extremism in the Jewish community. He should be equally worried that the Israeli government continues to pander to the extortion of the religious right, enabling the ultra-Orthodox haredim...

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