Some of the biggest challenges I have faced when attempting to deepen my involvement in climate issues are anxiety and insecurity. Who am I to help tackle issues this big? We are asking a question not unlike Moses at the burning bush.
It is perfectly normal and natural to feel apprehension at tackling an issue as big as the redemption of an entire people, Moses would come across as an egomaniac if his response were a simple "challenge accepted." All the more so we who are not Moses, who feel tasked with aiding in the redemption of an entire planet, are more than a bit intimidated.
1. How does collective work differ from making individual lifestyle changes, in the way it feels and its practical affect?
G-d's response is to tell Moses to work with others, to blend his skills with theirs. When we do that, we multiply our impact many times over. Note in the Exodus narrative that the bigger Moses' circle of partners gets, the greater his impact. When we work with others, we also can better cope with the spiritual challenge of the task at hand because we have someone else to talk to and to share with.
2. What is an example from your own life where you have worked with others to overcome an obstacle, how was this easier because you tackled this challenge with others?
It is all well and good to work with others, but what if no one wants to hear you? Isaiah speaks of this frustrating challenge when dealing with the immorality and sinfulness of the leadership in his society.
Both Moses and Isaiah are both confronting the issue of how do I explain something so earth-shatteringly big that the message is simply lost on a lot of those hearing it? How do you explain redemption to people who have only ever known oppression, as Moses sought to? Morality and observance to the perpetually amoral and inattentive, as Isaiah sought to? How do you explain climate justice to people who have only ever known climate injustice, as we seek to? Many don't want to hear what is being said but we and they cannot afford for them not to hear it.
To wake others up to the nature of what is happening we use strong language, vivid and destructive imagery, as Isaiah did.
(טו) כִּ֣י אֲמַרְתֶּ֗ם כָּרַ֤תְנֽוּ בְרִית֙ אֶת־מָ֔וֶת וְעִם־שְׁא֖וֹל עָשִׂ֣ינוּ חֹזֶ֑ה שיט [שׁ֣וֹט] שׁוֹטֵ֤ף כִּֽי־עבר [יַֽעֲבֹר֙] לֹ֣א יְבוֹאֵ֔נוּ כִּ֣י שַׂ֧מְנוּ כָזָ֛ב מַחְסֵ֖נוּ וּבַשֶּׁ֥קֶר נִסְתָּֽרְנוּ׃ (ס) (טז) לָכֵ֗ן כֹּ֤ה אָמַר֙ אֲדֹנָ֣י יְהוִ֔ה הִנְנִ֛י יִסַּ֥ד בְּצִיּ֖וֹן אָ֑בֶן אֶ֣בֶן בֹּ֜חַן פִּנַּ֤ת יִקְרַת֙ מוּסָ֣ד מוּסָּ֔ד הַֽמַּאֲמִ֖ין לֹ֥א יָחִֽישׁ׃
(15) .... When the sweeping flood passes through, It shall not reach us; For we have made falsehood our refuge, Taken shelter in treachery.” (16) Assuredly, Thus said the Lord GOD: “Behold, I will found in Zion, Stone by stone, A tower of precious cornerstones, Exceedingly firm; He who trusts need not fear.
We speak of "irreversible damage", "catastrophic natural disasters" and "mass extinction." Isaiah pleads using his own jarring language. We feel hopeless, powerless. However tucked in amidst this doom and gloom is cause for hope in Isaiah 28:16. Through our work we are the tower of precious stones. We are a single powerful structure made up of many parts supporting and holding up one another.
3. How do you cope with the uncertainty of climate justice work? How do you deal with the knowledge that many disagree or will not acknowledge the reality of what is happening to our planet? How does this make you feel?
4. How does the spiritual component of working with others manifest itself in your life?
Daniel was among the Jews taken into exile in Babylonia after the fall of Jerusalem in 597 BCE. He and his companions endure many potentially fatal trials and tribulations, but Daniel continues to pray and maintain his connection to G-d . He has a series of visions, the final of which includes the words below, predicting light for the Jewish people after much darkness.
(3) And the knowledgeable will be radiant like the bright expanse of sky, and those who lead the many to righteousness will be like the stars forever and ever.
What are we to take from this, practically speaking? The founder of Hasidut, the Baal Shem Tov, explains.
(א) ושמרתם ועשיתם וגו'. ובפירוש רש"י ושמרתם זו משנה ועשיתם כמשמעו, צוואת הריב"ש עליו השלום, להיות תמים בעבודתו יתברך שמו עבודה תמה, ועיקר שלא לשכוח הדברים, ועיקר ללמוד בכל יום שיעור מוסר הן רב הן מעט, ולראות תמיד לדבק את עצמו במדות טובות והנהגות ישרות, ושלא יניח שום יום מעשיית מצוה הן קלה הן חמורה, וסימן לדבר (בפרק ב' דאבות) הוי זהיר במצוה קלה כבחמורה, פירוש זהיר מלשון (דניאל י״ב:ג׳) והמשכילים יזהירו כזוהר הרקיע, ר"ל הנשמה תזהיר ותאיר ממצוה קלה כמו ממצוה חמורה, כי (סנהדרין דק"ו ע"ב) רחמנא לבא בעי:
(צוואת הריב"ש ד"ב ע"א).
Do not allow a single day to pass without performing a mitzvah, whether it be a “minor” or “major” mitzvah. This is indicated in “Be zahir (careful; scrupulous) with a ‘minor’ mitzvah as with a ‘major’ one” (Avot 2:1). For [the word] zahir is an expression of “They that are wise yaz'hiru (shall shine) . . .” (Daniel 12:3). This implies that the soul will shine and glow from a “minor” mitzvah even as it does from a “major” one, for “The Merciful seeks the heart” (Zohar II:162b; Sanhedrin 106b).
It is hard to put into words the joy that these words from Daniel and what the founding Hasidic sage, the Baal Shem Tov, does with them.
(Explain the text, the shoresh stuff that the BST is talking about)
We cannot know what the impact of our work will be, it is not in our hands. However when we are careful to engage in the work of preserving and protecting our world, to follow the divine imperative laid out in Gan Aden to serve as the world's caretakers, our souls collectively light up the universe like so many stars whether our actions be big or small. There is not one star in the sky and your labors don't exist in a vacuum. Our light is many together as one. In moments of hopelessness or frustration, strive to see your light joined with the others that fill up the night sky.
5. How would you incorporate these ideas, of working with others and of the importance of actions whether big or small, into your own spiritual practice? Into your day to day lives?
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Find Psalm to end on, 119?