On the Frontlines of a Battle with God: Time to Pray

Last week several significant markers of time converged: Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Commemoration), Rosh Hodesh, Sefirat haOmer, and the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day. All of this during a global pandemic. What can we learn from this?

Since graduating from college until two years ago, I have been working as a System Engineer. Systems Engineers provide technical guidance and oversight to other engineers and program managers. One engineer says we have this problem with our design and another says no please dedicate your resources here to help with our software bugs that keep malfunctioning. The Systems Engineer says wait, these are problems in the same product, maybe there's a solution that can address or help both? Instead of separating, let's look at the bigger picture since often seemingly independent issues can be tied to a common problem. Humans are naturally horrible systems engineers, we respond to urgency and the problems in front of us, and though some of us try hard to come up with solutions that fix our greatest problems by getting to the bottom of it, we bring with us so many biases, expectations, preconceptions and limited information, resources and time, and all of this to various degrees can hold us back. Gd, however, is the ultimate System Engineer. Gd created ALL (Key Word in Hebrew for below texts: all/everything = "Kol"). Gd creates systems of systems that work flawlessly together and that are beyond our comprehension, and they are inextricably linked. It seems that the seemingly divergent problems of our world often can be linked to common or shared causes.

This d'var Torah helps establish Gd as Creator Extraordinaire of ALL through familiar liturgy and psalms. It does so by also showing creation to be an ongoing and active process. It is NOW, today, always, it's not only a future state; it has aspects in the aspirational but also in the immediate and intimately near. Intimacy with nature shapes the language of our prayer and how we express ourselves; our deepest emotional connections to Gd are expressed through psalms; and we get our language for prayer through the living world; Gd is constantly supporting and sustaining His creatures.

In order to effect such praise, we must know it, and be in relationship with it for the words to have meaning, or at least to reach their full transformative power. A desire to connect with God and our liturgy requires engaging with the natural world.

It's not just once that these themes occur, it's that they reoccur and reoccur, and they can be found in prominent and familiar places. We would be doing well for ourselves to ask what are the implications for us? What is a world that aligns these ideas and develops corresponding values for us, our children, our families and communities? These sources of connection are not buried, hidden away in cryptic texts and obscure commentaries, but rooted in elemental words that form who we are as a people in prayer, words that we say every day, every week, every month, every year, and every moment.

While we can talk about recycling, composting, air travel, transportation in general, eliminating fossil fuels, renewable energy, picking up after your dog, not littering, single use materials, reduction of plastics, animal agriculture, industrial food systems, and while they are for sure part of the solution, if it's not grounded in a systems thinking approach and conversation we need to think bigger. Why? It's part of seeking and modeling Gd in our lives. I should also note that today we have unprecedented power and influence. And with that more has been entrusted to us, and more responsibility is on our shoulders than any other historical moment to bring others together to do good work as individuals and as communities. And the culmination of this d'var Torah is we don't need to know the answer. We just need to care. Can we say such praise of Gd, praise that is so basic to who we are, without reflecting back on our choices and their consequences, without engaging in deeper conversations?

Why is this coming up now BTW? We're behind the curve, maybe it's too little too late. But if we look at the sources, each day we are renewed, so doing nothing is not an option. If you're alive, you matter. We need a whole lot more of something. As a Jewish community, as a collective, in the decades and centuries past, we didn't have the stature or awareness to ask these questions and be part of the conversation to influence our systems; in many ways we also found ourselves part of these systems after the fact, and already worked our requirements into them, such as how to survive and keep kosher in the modern world of industrial food production, for example. But now we know the consequences, and we're just as much entrenched and part of the system as everyone else. With very few and rare exceptions, our animals raised for food are the same animals that benefit non-Jews, just that the ones for meat are sent to a different slaughterhouse. That matters when we realize the implications and what would our Sages say if they saw our present world. I am of the opinion that it would be utterly unimagineable to them and they would not permit us or strongly advise against us participating. As noted, what's true of the past is no longer true, in that we have influence. We as Jewish communities have power. So how do we use it? What matters more than anything is what we do with ourselves. Let's first understand the scope of the problem, ask lots of questions, examine the wisdom we have inherited, and then make choices that align us with what is good and right in the eyes of Gd. So let's start there. In what ways are we responsible to exercise our power as communities in ways that we might have been absolved before? Are we free not to act given what we know, that we have choice, and we have what to guide that choice. Who do we aspire to be? Is prayer not a reflection of who we are, our yearnings, and what is expected of us?

I want to suggest that as the sources below bring out, our most basic rhythms (daily, weekly, monthly, annually) as Jews are connected with nature and the larger world, and they are present every day and at each moment of our lives through prayer and for those seeking connection with a Higher Source. Themes of renewal, creation, and repentance are clearly present. Below is just a very very small sampling of what is part of our liturgy. What's most transformative for me, is when we see the themes of Rosh Hashannah reflected in Rosh Hodesh and more interconnections with these and other themes of Shabbat and our daily prayers all pointing back and forth to each other. We then can realize that it isn't for us just to show up on Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashannah and at that time to think about our behavior, but that we need to show up every month, every week, every day, and that every moment is ripe for teshuva (repentance), to the best of each our abilities.

I'm not sure if it's often thought of in this way, but our general life orientation as Jews, more than other cultures and particularly Western ways of thinking, is structured to relate with relative ease to thinking about the struggles that result from the intergenerational and the interdependent nature of the effects of environmental disregard and a changing climate. In short, our actions affect others and our tradition's disposition is one of "we are commanded so we do"; caring matters but we need to define and be clear about our obligations to Gd and to others. In fact, doing is more esteemed than caring. For Jews, obligation is defined by law and inheritance, and elaborated upon through midrash and other sources. Environmental ethics are transgenerational and concerned with those who are most vulnerable and who have contributed less to the problem. This is a justice, fairness, and ethics issue which our tradition has much to say on.

After going through these texts, we can go back to the questions of thinking like a Systems Engineer, and what does it mean to partner with Gd as opposed to being in tension with Gd's actions.

Maybe the intersection of Earth Day, Sefirat HaOmer, Rosh Chodesh, and Yom HaShoah, and this pandemic comes to say that history and choices matter, both our individual history and our collective history as Jews and as human beings in relation to the entire world. And never before, in almost every way, has our story been so obviously intertwined with the story of everyone else and everything else. This is playing out daily before our eyes during the pandemic and becoming increasingly more perceptible in other ways over the longer term, one being the accelerating effects of climate change.

Rav Kook and the Lorax tie this all together at the end.

Repent, pray, have faith, change our story.

If there is in fact tension between Gd's will and our actions around the environment, then due to the seriousness and the radical shift that's needed -- not dissimilar to current unprecedented behavioral changes during the pandemic, let's call it a battle, then is This Who you want to be in war with? To be clear: The title of this d'var Torah and this source are being used for a hyperbolic effect. So who's side do YOU want to be on?

These following three sources Psalms 24, Psalms 95 and Nehemiah 9 are from our routine prayer service. Psalm 24 we say every Sunday and much during the high holidays. Psalm 95 is the first Psalm we say to greet the Sabbath each Friday night during Kabbalat Shabbat, and part of Nehemia 9 we read every day before we recount the splitting of the sea; as prominent rabbis have suggested that event itself is an actualizing of the purpose of creation.

It matters why we choose this natural resource or this forest to supply our goods or raise our food, Gd's Glory is there, it fills all the world, every inch, (and it's not ours), so better have good reason

All of creation was created with the attribute of mercy; and then is continuously illuminated, the land and all its inhabitants, with compassion. We ask for Gd's compassion because Gd is compassionate to all. What if we also appealed to Gd's compassion through our actions?

Gd is renewing the world every day. How can we be partners in renewing the world each day? In what ways are we helping? In what ways are we working against this? And how much so?

The first thing we are commanded to say after we've eaten and been satisfied is this paragraph. But is this a contradiction if the food that satisfied us in meeting our needs put us in competition with Gd's goals of sustaining all. If we are relying on others to provide our food as most of us do these days, could this be interpreted as an imperative for a just food system? One that's concerned for all humans and all creatures.

Lest you should be unsure or forget right before you daven shmonei esrei for the evening service:

BARUCH SHEAMAR. How we start praise. Endless blessings of Gd. We start out by setting our intention on the One who created all and Who has compassion on all He/She created. Of note, this formula for introducing radical praise and wonderment can compassion for the creation ends with a blessing that ties the whole passage together. To further emphasize the content of these blessings as ingredients for praise, one just has to notice that the blessing is identical to the closing blessing of the Hallel service that we add during festivals and certain special occasions.

Ahsrei is a central prayer/psalm in our liturgy, said at least three times a day. It's theme's are central to describing spiritual goals and our relationship with the Almighty. Here's a snippet of related aspects to this conversation, a description of what it looks like to dwell in Gd's house (Happy are those who dwell in Gd's house- opener). In verse 18 (purple below), normally I think we think this is talking to human, but given the use of KOL, could we not conceive of it replying to any of Gd's works? All scream out to him, and he hears sincere calls made in truth. In fact, perhaps the battle is a result of their calling. Perhaps the other creatures are screaming out against us? and for good reason.

Psalm 148 : Praise Gd in unison (that's our model): UNITY with all creation

Can we imagine a world that we as humans are also part of where the seas, the fields, the trees, forests and everything in them exult and shout for joy? How do we get closer? (Psalms 96 and 98)

On Shabbat: We recall Creation and actively "do stopping" because Gd stopped creating on that day. Doing Shabbat is an example of modeling Gd. In order to get back on track, can we ask in what ways aren't we modeling Gd? Gd looks back on all of creation and says it was very good. In today's industrialized world, to support our lifestyles, each of us may be contributing more to destruction (the opposite of Gd) than to creation, Gd does not destroy (Psalms 78:38).

NISHMAT, is added on Shabbat and festivals to the morning service. It is an example how we use Gd's creations to know how to praise, and just barely get there. Yet even if we could fully relate to these words, we say it's not enough. How much more so when we are estranged from the natural world; can we even begin to begin to praise and to thank in the fullness that this world offers without serious change to our relationship with all beings and creations? (intentional BEGIN twice). Also notice particularly the end with "Barchi Nafshi" ("Bless oh my soul"), which links to Rosh Hodesh, we'll get to next its larger context.

Monthly: On Roch Chodesh we also recall Creation, but first we repent and ask for atonement. Rosh Hodesh is like Rosh Hashannah in many respects: recalls creation, commemorates creation, and we seek atonement.

Judaism's orientation to life aligns with one that is needed to respond to the climate crisis. A people of obligation and responsibility to others, we are concerned with those alive today and with those in generations to come

It is only when we have mastery that we can choose to sing with others, and for that song to mean something, when we have choice, the Song of God, can then be sung; the resolution of the struggle is Yashir El.

If we see that the annual is reflected back each month, which is reflected back each week, which is reflected back on us each day, then we see that the themes of Rosh Hashannah and the opporutinity for doing teshuva and making change are open to us everyday. Our actions matter today as they matter during the month of Tishrei. Gd is actively recreating our world right now and judging our actions, are we partners in creation or dare I say the opposite?