** The Fine Print: Please use whatever gender pronoun you feel matches the texts as well as name for God, god, g-d, g!d, Mother Nature, Master of the Universe, the Hebrew term provided, higher power, or one you identify with.
Check In (check-in?) Questions:
Name, prefered pronoun, what is your walk-up song, & when you think of the word love who/what/where comes to mind?
Task: In your journals create side by side lists (diagram or pictures) of all the words/ideas you associate with a) conservation b)Judaism.
Discussion:
What are the parallels and differences between
conservation and Judaism?
What does conservation mean?
How does one conserve?
What values fall under this category?
What does it mean for something to be Jewish?
How does one practice this?
What values fall under this category?
Is There Such A Thing As Jewish Values?
Aaron Potek, Pluralist, Gather DC: We have a unique calendar, history, and culture with unique texts, practices, and wisdom. But unique values? No. Trying to claim any value as uniquely Jewish is dangerous — it implies no one else shares that value and can easily lead to a false sense of moral superiority. Judaism doesn’t have a monopoly on any value. But that doesn’t mean it is valueless. Like any moral system, halacha (Jewish law) is about figuring out which values to prioritize in each situation. Judaism also offers unique perspectives on how to enact different values. Besides, there is still value in reaffirming non-unique values.
https://forward.com/opinion/388394/we-asked-21-rabbis-is-there-such-a-thing-as-jewish-values/
“Conservation is a great moral issue for it involves the patriotic duty of insuring the safety and continuance of the nation.” On August 31, 1910, President Theodore Roosevelt uttered those words in his famous speech, “The New Nationalism.”
It was said of Reb Simcha Bunem that he carried two slips of paper, one in each pocket. On one he wrote: Bishvili nivra ha-olam—“for my sake the world was created.” On the other he wrote: V’anokhi afar v’efer”—“I am but dust and ashes.” He would take out each slip of paper as necessary, as a reminder to himself.
An Example: Orlah
The below texts is a few verses taken from Parshat Kedoshim. In this section God is instructing Moshe on the how to's with regards to the Mitzvot and being a holy nation.
(כג) וְכִי־תָבֹ֣אוּ אֶל־הָאָ֗רֶץ וּנְטַעְתֶּם֙ כָּל־עֵ֣ץ מַאֲכָ֔ל וַעֲרַלְתֶּ֥ם עָרְלָת֖וֹ אֶת־פִּרְי֑וֹ שָׁלֹ֣שׁ שָׁנִ֗ים יִהְיֶ֥ה לָכֶ֛ם עֲרֵלִ֖ים לֹ֥א יֵאָכֵֽל׃ (כד) וּבַשָּׁנָה֙ הָרְבִיעִ֔ת יִהְיֶ֖ה כָּל־פִּרְי֑וֹ קֹ֥דֶשׁ הִלּוּלִ֖ים לַיהוָֽה׃ (כה) וּבַשָּׁנָ֣ה הַחֲמִישִׁ֗ת תֹּֽאכְלוּ֙ אֶת־פִּרְי֔וֹ לְהוֹסִ֥יף לָכֶ֖ם תְּבוּאָת֑וֹ אֲנִ֖י יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃
(23) When you enter the land and plant any tree for food, you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden for you, not to be eaten. (24) In the fourth year all its fruit shall be set aside for jubilation before the LORD; (25) and only in the fifth year may you use its fruit—that its yield to you may be increased: I the LORD am your God.
Commentators generally assume that the law was good agricultural practice, and that early harvesting would conflict with careful cultivation and pruning during the first three years in order to insure later good harvests and allow maturing of the trees.[2] Grape vines produce fruit in three to six years, almond trees produce some flower buds in the fourth year and some fruit in the fifth, and sources from the Ancient Near East suggest that a good crop of dates was expected in the fourth year.[3] In discussing the commandment that the fruit could not actually be eaten until the fifth year, Rooker (2000) notes that in the Code of Hammurabi a tenant-gardener could not eat of the fruit of an orchard until the fifth year, when he shared the produce with the owner.[4][5]
Question:
- What exactly is this commandment?
- What happened to someone who ate this un-kosher fruit? Intentionally? Unintentionally?
- Is there space in our practice today for those of us who do not live in Israel?
The Sefer ha-Chinuch (Hebrew: ספר החינוך, "Book of Education"), often simply "the Chinuch" is a work which systematically discusses the 613 commandments of the Torah. It was published anonymously in 13th-century Spain. The work's enumeration of the commandments (Hebrew: mitzvot; sing. mitzvah) is based upon Maimonides' system of counting as per his Sefer Hamitzvot; each is listed according to its appearance in the weekly Torah portion and the work is structured correspondingly.[1]
ובענין זה מצאנו בגמרא שאמרו זכרונם לברכה (שם). ספק לי ואנא אכול כלומר שכל זמן שלא ידע האדם בודאי שהיא ערלה, שרי ליה למיכל מניה. והעובר על מצוה זו ואכל כזית מפרות האילן תוך שני ערלה, או אפילו משומר הפרי אותו הידוע שנאסר עמו חיב מלקות.
And regarding this, we have found in the Gemara that they said (Kiddushin 39a), "It is a doubt to me and I will eat" - meaning to say that any time that a person does not know with certainty that it is orlah, it is permitted for him to eat from it. And one who transgresses it and eats a kazayit from fruits of a tree in its years of orlah - or even from that which protects the fruit, [in the case] that it was known as that which was forbidden with it - is liable for lashes.
SO WHAT?
I don't live in Israel, I don't plant my own fruit trees,what does this have to do with me? (and why isn't there a reward listed in the text?)
The Pause Effect
Aka delete your dating apps, make dinner,
and never buy anything that's marketed as instant
Wrapping Up:
Values and Holiness
**How do I choose my values and how do I make them holy?**
*Holy in this conversation space is defined as: ___________________________