Pathways of Jewish Nature Connection: Relationship, Wonder, Non-separateness

Relationship
Within the Human are incorporated the existential qualities of the Creation. The matter is such that the Human itself does not bear any resemblance whatsoever to any one creation, but bears resemblance to all of them combined. And that is what is meant when it says, ‘Let us make human…’(Genesis 1:26) for so it was that each and every creation gifted in Human an aspect of itself. And this is why Human was created last. So that they could be infused with all the qualities of all the Creations.
-Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, Shi’ur Komah, Torah, Ch. 4. Translation by Rabbis Gershon Winkler and Miriam Manon in Magic of the Extraordinary. Gershon Winkler's earlier book, Magic of the Ordinary: Recovering the Shamanic in Judaism is foundational for thinking about Jewish nature connection.

Wonder
3) Wonder or radical amazement is the chief characteristic of the religious man’s attitude toward history and nature. One attitude is alien to his spirit: taking things for granted…As civilization advances, the sense of wonder declines. Such decline is an alarming symptom of our state of mind. Mankind will not perish for want of information; but only for want of appreciation. The beginning of our happiness lies in the understanding that life without wonder is not worth living. What we lack is not a will to believe but a will to wonder.

Awareness of the divine begins with wonder. It is the result of what man does with his higher incomprehension. The greatest hindrance to such awareness is our adjustment to conventional notions, to mental clichés...

Every evening we recite: ‘He creates light and makes the dark.’ Twice a day we say: ‘He is One.’ What is the meaning of such repetition? A scientific theory, once it is announced and accepted, does not have to be repeated twice a day. The insights of wonder must be constantly kept alive. Since there is a need for daily wonder, there is a need for daily worship.
-Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism, pp. 45-48.

4) One of Heschel’s main attempts in getting to you, in a sense, is his own sense of “radical amazement” — to be aware of so many different things: “Did you notice the trees?” Well, Heschel was in love with trees. You’re walking in Riverside Park: “Don’t forget the trees,” you know, “don’t forget the river.” You have to react.
-Rabbi Morton Leifman (Vice President Emeritus, JTS)

Non-separateness, or, "It's all God."
5) On the verse: “the entire Earth is filled with the Divine Presence/m’lo kol ha’aretz kavodo.” (Isaiah 6:3, Kedusha prayer) Divine kavod (Presence) should be understood in the sense of a “garment (levush).” I.e. the Blessed Name, as it were, is enclothed (m’luvash) even in all materiality/physicality (gashmiyut). And that is [the meaning of] m’lo kol ha’aretz kavodo – even materiality is the garment of God.
-Sefer Baal Shem Tov, Bereishit #15, originally from Lekutim Yekarim, my translation.

6) Another commonly used “garmenting” metaphor for the relationship of God and creation: like a snail whose garment is an inseparable part of it (k’hadin kamtza d’levushei minei u’vei).
-See Sefer Baal Shem Tov p. 46; text is originally from Bereishit Rabbah.

The Divine Snail, with thanks to ChatGPT