Rabbi Tracee Rosen
Congregation Kol Ami, Salt Lake City, Utah
Kol Nidre 5768
(c) 2007, Rabbi Tracee Rosen. All rights reserved.
Every year at Kol Nidre, we recite the words: "All vows and oaths we take, all promises and obligations we make to God between this Yom Kippur and the next we hereby publicly retract in the event that we should forget them, and hereby declare our intention to be absolved of them." The rabbis tell us year after year: Yom Kippur helps us to atone for the sins we commit against God, but with sins we commit against each other, we must atone directly to that person.
But there's a third category of transgression we never talk about. What if we sin against humanity at large, what if we cause harm to this earth, what if the victims of our actions are animals, plants, nature itself? What is to be our remedy?
It's a fascinating question, really. When we atone, we assume there is a sentience, a will and volition on the part of the person or deity we are apologizing to. What if that's not the case? How then can we atone?
I raise this question because every year it becomes clearer and clearer that we have much to atone for. We have major teshuvah to do for the way we have treated this planet.
I.The science is already clear and incontrovertible. Excess emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is causing the earth to retain more of the sun's heat, slowly warming the planet's surface. This in turn is causing the melting of ice at the polar caps, creating more ocean, which absorbs the sun's rays rather than reflecting them off the ice (which is now melting faster as a result). This is having a significant effect of worldwide climate and weather patterns, not to mention coastlines.
The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World cartographers say they have had to redraw coastlines and reclassify land to reflect significant geographical changes since the last edition 4 years ago. The atlas's editor-in-chief says the new maps will let us see environmental disasters unfolding before our eyes. Some of the most marked changes highlighted in the new atlas include the Aral Sea in central Asia, which has shrunk by 74 per cent since 1967, Lake Chad in Africa, which has shrunk by 95 per cent since 1963, and the Dead Sea in the Middle East, which is 25 meters lower than it was 50 years ago. (Barney Porter, ABC News, 9/4/07).
Some of the effects of this climate change are going to be irreversible. In the long run, many species of animals will become extinct; other species will permanently change their habitats. The magnificent glaciers of Alaska, Greenland, and Iceland, will be severely diminished.
The Ilulissat Glacier in Greenland is now shedding ice chunks at a rate of 2 meters an hour, over three times as fast as ten years ago. Experts are now predicting that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's prediction that the sea level will rise 8 - 24 inches in the next century, which was published earlier this year, is too optimistic. They fear the actual rise might be closer to two meters.
I guess the good news is that if we hang on long enough, we'll be sitting on some primo oceanfront property here in Salt Lake City. The bad news is that all of the rest of the Californians will have moved here by then.
Twice a day in traditional liturgy we are reminded of the fragility of the earth:
From Deuteronomy Chapter 11:
While the early leaders of the Reform movement read this section of text as being a theological statement about reward and punishment, and subsequently removed this text from the daily liturgy, more modern commentators see this as a descriptive text of what will happen if we neglect our responsibilities to be the caretakers of the earth.
Today we know that we are facing a global situation of biblical proportions. The problem is big, and it seems insurmountable. We ask ourselves the question: what can I possibly do to make a difference? Even if every Jewish person in the world took action today, our ability to impact the situation is rather limited.
Jews are now roughly 0.2% of the world's population; less than the margin of error on the Indian census. If all the Jews in the world recycled their newspapers it will make pretty much no difference whatsoever. Nor if we installed solar panels in every synagogue, nor, more radically, if every Jew in the world swapped their existing car for a hybrid (we could maximally save 25 million barrels of oil a year, less than what OPEC extracts in one day).
Seen against the backdrop of the global problem, you and I don't seem to count. All the Jews in the world can't really make a dent. The situation seems hopeless.
And yet, as Elie Wiesel reminds us, "Just as man cannot live without dreams, he cannot live without hope. If dreams reflect the past, hope summons the future." We must always hold onto our hope. Hatikvah, The Hope, is the Israeli national anthem. Or as Margaret Mead put it: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
Judaism has given us some powerful tools to serve our purpose and be a light unto the nations in this effort.
We gave the world the story of creation, which when properly translated tells us that the dominion we are to have over the land is a responsibility to look after it and care for it. For years fundamentalist readers of our bible have misinterpreted that verse as meaning that humans have the right to do whatever they want on this planet. Only in the past few years have many of the evangelical leaders in this country begun to change their tune, realizing that this world is a precious legacy which we must preserve for future generations.
This is something our sages of old recognized centuries ago
From the Midrash: "God led Adam around all the trees of the Garden of Eden. And God said to Adam: 'See My works, how good and praiseworthy they are? And all that I have created, I made for you. [But] be mindful that you do not spoil and destroy My world--for if you spoil it, there is no one after you to repair it." (Midrash Kohelet Rabbah 7:13)
Rav Zutra, in the Talmud (Shabbat 67b), mandates fuel efficiency, saying that those who burn more fuel than necessary violate the law of not wasting (bal tashchit).
And a 13th century German text, Sefer HaChinuch (529), suggests that: "Tzadikim (righteous) people of good deeds...do not waste in this world even a mustard seed. They become sorrowful with every wasteful and destructive act that they see, and if they can, they use all their strength to save everything possible from destruction. But the r'sha'im (wicked) are not thus; they are like demons. They rejoice in the destruction of the world, just as they destroy themselves."
Moreover, Judaism gave to the rest of the world the idea and ideal of rest: Shabbat, one day a week, as an opportunity to restrain ourselves from abuse and overworking the land. The Torah also mandates that we allow the land to lie fallow for an entire year, once every seven years, wisely recognizing thousands of years ago, that we humans have the ability to decimate our land, and ordering that we not do so.
So the question is, what can you and I do to make a difference? Our responsibility is to act, and to teach others to act as well.
First, we must change our own behaviors. Today I want to focus on two ways: energy conservation, and water conservation.
The single biggest way we individually impact global climate change is by reducing the energy we use in our homes, our businesses and our cars. Not all of us can afford to go out and buy hybrid cars, however. Still there is much that we can individually do to reduce our carbon footprints on this planet.
Two weeks ago, our bar mitzvah student, Ian Leaman focused his mitzvah project on energizing (pun intended) the congregation to be more attentive to ways of saving energy. He prepared this pamphlet with facts about energy consumption on one side, ideas for us to take action on the other, and a coupon for a discount on the purchase of compact fluorescent light bulbs.
Some of the statistics are pretty amazing. If everyone in this country would replace only their five most frequently used light bulbs with compact fluorescents, it would save this country $8 billion dollars in energy costs, and would reduce the greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to taking 10 million cars off the roads. (Energystar.gov Home Page)
Speaking of cars, Ian taught me to that when sitting in a drive-thru window, if the car is idling for longer than 30 seconds, it's better to turn it off. We burn as much gas in two minutes of idling as it takes to drive one mile. Better yet, we ought to avoid drive-thrus altogether, and park the car and go inside.
We can also save energy by doing things we don't normally associate directly with energy use. We need to be recycling. Recycling one 6-pack of aluminum cans saves enough energy to power a TV for 18 hours.
There are more suggestions on Ian's pamphlet, and he has generously provided us with additional copies that are available in the lobby. Please take one with you on your way out tonight.
A second area of critical concern in our efforts to be better custodians of the earth is our need to be more conscious of our water usage. Utah is the second driest state in this country, receiving only 13 inches of rainfall in an average year (Nevada receives only 9 inches). Yet we are second in the country in terms of per capita water usage. On average, we each use 293 gallons per day! Obviously, a lot of this water goes to keeping our lawns green, especially in the dry summers we've been having. But there are ways for us, short of totally xeroscaping, that can help us conserve this scarce resource. Adjusting our sprinkler systems to not over-water, not watering on windy days, watering between 6 pm and 10 am, are ways to reduce our water usage.
In addition, we can be taking steps inside the home, where more than half of our water usage occurs in the bathroom. Installing low flow toilet bowls, or lowering the tank's capacity by putting a filled 2-liter bottle in the tank, can save hundreds of gallons per month. Recently, I've started turning off the water when I brush my teeth. That saves about 3 gallons of water each time I brush. Installing low flow shower heads, if you don't already have them can also save 25 gallons a day, if you're used to taking 10 minute showers.
Our own Lisa Cohne is involved with a special initiative, called the Water-Wise Utah Partnership, sponsored by our local educational broadcasters and the Utah Museum of Natural History. The partnership is attempting to educate Utahns in order to reduce our water consumption by 25%. If we do that, we'll save enough water each year to fill the Jordanelle Reservoir. It's what's necessary to keep up with the tremendous growth we have been experiencing here in the last 10 years.
Last night, was the kickoff event for a new alliance, Utah Interfaith Power and Light, and interfaith response to climate change, because more and more faith communities are coming to the realization that proper stewardship of the earth IS a moral and religious concern. Rabbi Wenger graciously represented Kol Ami as a panelist, and Ian was present and shared about his bar mitzvah project. Kol Ami has signed on as a charter member with other local religious organizations in a pledge to do more to educate our members on the importance of environmental stewardship. We also pledge to conduct an energy audit of our own facility this fall, and to take steps to reduce our consumption and environmental footprint.
I know we're not all prepared to act on all these items right away, but I want to suggest that you pick two things where you are willing to make a life-style change in order to become better caretakers of the earth, and begin: today or tomorrow at the latest.
But in addition to action, I want you transform your changes into a sacred act. We Jews are great at creating ritual to accompany the ordinary, mundane activities of life. There is a Jewish way to put on your shoes and socks. There is a blessing to be said after going to the bathroom. By knowing and practicing these rituals, we elevate activities to moments of kedusha, sacredness.
In Hasidism and the Jewish mystical tradition there are special meditations called kavvanot or yichudim, which are typically said just before we perform a mitzvah, in which we basically announce our intent to perform this act as a mitzvah in order to help bring about tikkun olam, the repair of the world. In Jewish mysticism, these statements are not just for the benefit of the person performing the act, but are felt to actually help bring about a change in the entire fabric of creation. So as you take on these two new acts of conservation, I'm asking you to recite a kavanah, state your intention:
"I am ready to undertake this act of tikkun olam in order to fulfill the mitzvah of protecting the earth."
Every time you do this, whether you say it to yourself, or if there are others within hearing distance, you will be putting positive energy back into the world that will lead to more and more acts of healing and preservation.
In addition, the most important role we Jews can play in addressing the challenges of climate change, is to become bearers of the message to others. Throughout history, we have always been a people small in number, and yet we are called upon to be an or lagoyim, a light unto the nations. We are few in number, but we do have the power to make a difference. Remember that old TV commercial - I think it was for a shampoo: "She told two friends, and they told two friends, and so on and so on...."? That's what we need to do. Ian Leaman has already done his part - how about you?
How do we do teshuvah, when we have hurt this planet? Words of apology, and a ritual of intentionality are a start, but the only teshuvah possible is really through our sustained action.
Tonight, let us vow to change the way we act toward the earth, and the way we advocate for change in our country and the world. And let us not let these vows be annulled.
May we and the earth be sealed for a good decree - Gmar chatimah tovah.
Websites for more information and ideas:
www.coejl.org - Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life
www.waterwiseutah.org - water conservation ideas
www.energystar.gov - where to buy energy saving products
www. consumerenergycenter.org/myths/idling.html - information on idling your car