Dear TBZ community:
Many years ago, I watched the movie Noah, starring Russell Crowe and Emma Watson. As you might imagine from the title, it tells the story of God’s decision to destroy the world with a flood because of the moral shortcomings of the people of that generation, except for Noah and his family. God tells Noah to build an ark and to bring his family and a pair of each animal species into the ark – twosie twosies– as the song goes. Being familiar with the story of Noah and the flood from the Torah, and through children's books for so many years, I was surprised by how much the movie moved me.
In the movie, I was struck by the representation of evil and the potential for evil in humanity. The principal moral shortcoming highlighted in the movie is the way in which the people were harming Mother Nature. Noah, unlike others around him, cares deeply about the environment and teaches his children to respect all living things – including animals, which he doesn’t eat, and to be mindful of not wasting or destroying anything. While Noah speaks the language of stewardship, the “bad guys” in the movie are all about subduing and conquering the earth. This is, of course, a reading of our Torah story that speaks very much to our own reality and the widespread human obliviousness to our harmful treatment of the earth, and it points out so vividly the horrendous impact of our behavior on the environment.
In the movie, we meet a Noah who believes that there is no future for humankind. He believes that God only wants Justice, not the continuity of humanity. It is through his family, his wife, his adopted daughter and his granddaughters that he comes to understand that both God and humankind must balance Justice with Compassion, that God is giving humankind a second chance to do better – to make the right moral choices. By the end of the movie, he has come to see this potential. He feels love and gives the future generation their birthright, telling them to be fruitful and multiply and take this second chance to build a better world -- a world without hatred, a world without destruction. Ham, one of the sons, when walking away, says to his brother’s wife, Ila “maybe we’ll learn to be kind.”
The year we have started, 5782, is a Shmita year. Commonly translated as the ‘Sabbatical Year,’ shmita literally means ‘release.’ The origin of this concept is in the Torah. This is the final year of a shared calendar cycle, when land is left fallow, debts are forgiven, and a host of other agricultural and economic adjustments are made to ensure the maintenance of an equitable, just, and healthy society. On Rosh Hashanah I spoke about this and invited us to consider the ways that each of us, individually and collectively, can engage in Shmita practices (You can read my Sermon titled: “Radical Rest: Applying the Ancient Practice of Shmita to Our Lives and the Modern World” here or watch it here).
As we read the story of Noah and the flood this week, I invite us one more time to think about practices of Shmita this year and especially focusing on our stewardship and the urgent work towards facing climate change. Every year I realize how much in our effort to make this story kid friendly, we often forget that the story of Noah is a story of tragedy and pain and hopelessness for humanity with, perhaps a tint of hope. Perhaps this bit of hope is what we can hang onto as we move forward this year.
In Genesis 8, verses 8-9 we read:
וַיְשַׁלַּ֥ח אֶת־הַיּוֹנָ֖ה מֵאִתּ֑וֹ לִרְאוֹת֙ הֲקַ֣לּוּ הַמַּ֔יִם מֵעַ֖ל פְּנֵ֥י הָֽאֲדָמָֽה
Then he sent out the dove to see whether the waters had decreased from the surface of the ground.
וְלֹֽא־מָצְאָה֩ הַיּוֹנָ֨ה מָנ֜וֹחַ לְכַף־רַגְלָ֗הּ וַתָּ֤שׇׁב אֵלָיו֙ אֶל־הַתֵּבָ֔ה כִּי־מַ֖יִם עַל־פְּנֵ֣י כׇל־הָאָ֑רֶץ וַיִּשְׁלַ֤ח יָדוֹ֙ וַיִּקָּחֶ֔הָ וַיָּבֵ֥א אֹתָ֛הּ אֵלָ֖יו אֶל־הַתֵּבָֽה
But the dove could not find a resting place for its foot, and returned to him to the ark, for there was water over all the earth. So putting out his hand, he took it into the ark with him.
In Yalkut Me’am Lo’ez a widely studied commentary on the Tanach written in Ladino initiated by Rabbi Yaakov Culi in 1730, and translated to English by Rabbi Ariyeh Kaplan, we learn about these psukim (verses):
“Seven days after he had sent out the raven. Noah sent out the dove. He did not send it on any mission; he only wanted to see if there was a place for it to land outside, and so to determine whether or not the water had subsided. If it found a place to alight, it would not return. Although the mountaintops were already uncovered, birds such as the dove only light on trees. Since the wooded areas were still covered with water, the dove returned to the ark, and Noah returned it to its compartment. Rather than sending the dove immediately after the raven refused to perform its mission, Noah waited seven days. This was because the dove is a useful creature, and Noah did not want to endanger it…” (Yalkut Me’am Lo’ez to Genesis 8:8,9).
The number seven becomes meaningful in this story, in the same way that Shmita is guided by seven. The number seven is a big number in our Jewish tradition. And the cycle of seven is at the center of our life. Shabbat is the seventh day. God stopped on the seventh day and rested after creating the world, and we are commanded to stop and follow God’s example. Shabbat is an opportunity to imagine the world that could be, because if we don't imagine the world that could be, how can we work for that world to become a reality?
Our tradition tells us that besides a weekly cycle of seven, there is an annual cycle of seven, -- every seven years we are called to take a year with a similar purpose of Shabbat. On a Shmita year our tradition tells us that debts are to be forgiven, agricultural lands to lie fallow, private land holdings to become open to the commons, and staples such as food storage and perennial harvests to be freely redistributed and accessible to all. As Noah waited seven days to send the dove, I am thinking of this image also as an image of Shmita. The mission of the dove, to see if there was a place for it to land outside, and so to determine whether or not the water had subsided. When the dove came back, Noah waited another seven days.
The image of each of us being the dove on a mission this Shmita year is one that I am compelled to think about. Yes, Shmita is about resting and re-setting and it is also about re-connecting, and landing. As the dove looks for the trees to land on, we ought to find the places we can connect to the earth and to God’s creation.
It is my invitation for all of us to take this mission seriously this year. Here a few opportunities to do this at TBZ:
First, I want to invite you all to join Rabbi Natan Margalit for our first “Kiddush Talk'' in person next Shabbat October 16, after services (No kiddush will be served due to Covid health guidelines, but you may bring your own food to eat before the talk outside or in the tent and then come inside for the talk). Rabbi Natan Margalit will be introducing the Shmita year and a class that will be offered this fall. (Title of the class: Shmitta 5782: A Year of Release, Healing and Balance w/ Rabbi Dr. Natan Margalit, through Hebrew College Open Circle, Cosponsored by TBZ Dates: Oct. 28, Nov. 4,18: Dec. 2, 9,16, 2021). We would like to encourage members of TBZ that are ready to engage in the work of Climate change and environmental awareness and justice to take this class, so we can build energy around this and do the work necessary. To sign up please go here. And for more information, please contact Rav Tiferet.
We are excited to restart and re-constitute and re-empower our climate change action group under the umbrella of our Tikkun Olam work. If you would like to get involved please let the chairs of Tikkun Olam steering committee know, Fran Adams, Julia Freedson and Carol Kamin by emailing tikkunolam@tbzbrookline.org.
I also want to encourage you to join me for the Hazon Seal Summit (on Zoom) on October 21. I will be participating in a panel discussion titled: How to Use Jewish Environmental Inspiration to Create Change. TBZ will register as a participating congregation and we will send information to all of you. Stay tuned!
The story of Noah, is a story of tragedy, but also of hope and possibility. We live in times when the tragedy of climate change and environmental destruction is not just an idea, but it has to be at the forefront of our awareness and work. Perhaps we get to learn from Noah’s story -- not only not to lose hope but also to understand that as the dove, we have a mission to accomplish, it might not happen easily and right away, but we can not stop until we land and find the tree.
May this Shabbat bring renewal and blessings to all of you and your loved ones.
May we find strength, courage, and patience, and open our hearts with generosity.
May all those who are ill find healing.
May we have a joyful and restful Shabbat!
Shabbat Shalom,
