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This morning I am going to be a nudnick-what can I say, at least I'm honest.
Let me tell you a story. There was once a new rabbi who came to his first pulpit. And on the first Shabbat that he was there, he delivered a good sermon. Afterwards, everyone congratulated him, the chair of the search committee smiled, quite pleased with himself, the president of the schul relaxed, maybe this would be a good year, and all was well.
The next Shabbat, everyone came to schul, ready to hear the rabbi's words and he gave the same sermon. I don't just mean a similar sermon, I mean the same exact sermon, word for word, No one knew what to say, so they went home quietly and all week the phone lines buzzed. The third week, the rabbi got up to speak, the congregation was perfectly still, and lo and behold, again the same sermon. This time they had to do something, so the president and the search committee chair were designated to go and speak with the rabbi. They made an appointment and came into his office. “Rabbi, its so wonderful to have you here and we want you to feel very comfortable, but there is just one thing that is causing some concern. The first week you were here, you gave a very good sermon, and the second week, you gave the same sermon, and this week again the same exact sermon.” The rabbi was unperturbed. “Well of course I gave the same sermon, you're still acting in the same way.”
I don't think the connection I am going to make this morning between our Torah portion, the story of Creation, and the Jewish notion of human stewardship of the earth is a great chiddush, a novel connection. But even though it is not a new idea, I think it is an important one, one which need to be transformed from ideal into practice.
I do believe that most of us are aware that Judaism demands stewardship of the earth.
In the real world, you know something has really caught on if its on television. At Shir Hadash I can sometimes judge how far ideas have penetrated into our community's culture, by whether they have made it into the bar and bat mitzvah creative service booklets. The idea of stewardship has. Let me share with you a section from the midrash, which is read often in our sanctuary as the Yotzer Or prayer on Saturday mornings, sometimes followed by the singing of Eli Eli.
“And God saw everything that God had made and found it very good.
And God said. This is a beautiful world that I have given you. Take good care of it, do not ruin it. It is said: Before the world was created, the Holy One kept creating worlds and destroying them. Finally God created this one and was satisfied. God said to Adam: This is the last world that I shall make. I place it in your hands; hold it in trust.”
Last year was very special on the secular calendar, because of the approaching millennium. This year is special on the Jewish calendar, because 5761 is a shemittah, a Sabbatical year. In ancient time, slaves were liberated in the seventh year, and the land was allowed to lay fallow. For farmers in Israel today this is a complicated proposition, and there is much maneuvering within the letter of the law, so that their produce can still be designated kosher. But for us, in an urban setting, the meaning of shemittah the Sabbatical year, is not grounded in the minutia of halachah, but in the spirit behind it.
What does the Torah tell us in explaining the Sabbatical year? “The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.” The land is not our personal possession; it is ultimately God's property. We hold that property in trust, like tenant farmers, as we read in Leviticus: “You are but strangers, resident with me.” The earth is part of an intergenerational covenant. We have benefited by the actions of previous generations, and we may not act so as to despoil it for future generations.
This is not a contemporary Reform, politically correct idea recently introduction into Judaism. It is a theme found in the Torah and the Talmud, in Philo and in Maimonides, in the writings of Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav, and in Sefer Hachinuch. Let me quote just one passage from Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsh, a leader of 19th century Orthodoxy in its struggles against the Reform movement: "Not thine is the earth, but thou belongest to the earth. To respect it as Divine soil and to deem every one of its creatures a creature of God, thy fellow-being. Consider the things around you. I lent them to you for wise use only; never forget that I lent them to you. As soon as you use them unwisely, be it the greatest or the smallest, you commit treachery against My world, you commit murder and robbery again My property, You sin against Me."
This is the message of our Torah reading this morning, the story of Creation. Listen to the words of Arthur Green, rabbi and theologian: “Telling the tale of creation is itself a statement of love for the natural world. It needs to be accompanied by actions that bear witness to that love, without these it is false testimony.” So, one question remains. How will I know if I have to give this sermon again next year? What are some measurable outcomes, some observable results?
I can put this sermon away when I see more energy efficient vehicles in our temple parking lot. (less suv's in the Temple parking lot and more electric, hybrid or other non-gas guzzling cars.) The Sierra Club identifies increasing the fuel efficiency of automobiles as the biggest single step the United States can take to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and the threat of global warming. Fuel economy can be increased through the development of more efficient vehicles and this is influenced by our buying habits.It can also be increased or decreased by shifting the mix of the vehicles on the road. Replacing your sedan with an s.u.v. for example, for even just one year, is the energy equivalent of leaving your refrigerator door open from now until the beginning of the next Sabbatical year--and you know what your mother said about not closing the refrigerator. Third, fuel efficiency can also be increased by increasing the number of people in each vehicle, as in carpooling. When everyone is in a carpool, at least a few times a week, whether to work, or school, or to Temple events I'll know I can relegate this sermon to the recycling bin.
Some other measurable results:
With a little help from some of you, our office could figure out a way to mail paper bulletins and bulk mail to those who want paper but to let email suffice for those who read that regularly instead.
With a little help from some of you, our religious school could serve snack and our oneg committee dessert, without creating as much garbage.
Think of the opportunities. You could be the first in your neighborhood, not to have that snazzy new energy guzzling piece of equipment, but to have a newly designed hyper-efficient solar energy electricity generator on your roof. Episcopal Power and Light can even help you get a grant so the start up costs are minimized. Ask Eliot Klugman about it; he and I are investigating the possibility of putting one on the school building roof. They do it in Israel, and have for years, why can't we do it here?
I know many of you are remodeling and adding on to your homes and I am sympathetic. I shared a bedroom with my brother until I was 11, very unhappily, so how can I tell you not to. But when you add on, consider what you really need- every additional square foot of new home construction destroys a geometrically increased amount of resources, not only for construction, but also for furnishing and maintaining, for heating and cooling. And when you remodel the kitchen, consider, how about some energy efficient appliances? How about materials that require less toxic cleansers?
Over the past two years energy efficient technology has improved faster than it has been adopted. Not just fluorescent lights and energy efficient refrigerators, but windows, roof insulation and all manner of appliances, including computers, home entertainment centers and exercise machines. In addition, if this seems like a good time to sell your house, how about moving into some higher density housing? Higher density housing will help our community meet the housing needs of all our members, in addition to increasing the use of public transportation, another fuel efficient mode of travel.
Does all this sound like Don Quixote to you?
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