Happy Birthday, Earth

Rabbi Joel Fleekop

Erev Rosh HaShanah - Wednesday, September 12, 2007

It may be a little hard to tell because of the lack of balloons and decorations. And because there are no cupcakes or ice cream. And even though we have been singing, no one has yet blown out the candles. But, today is a birthday celebration.

According to Jewish tradition, today the world is 5768 years young. Like me you may be a bit suspicious that a few years, maybe a couple billion, have been trimmed off that age, but there is no questioning, according to Judaism, that today, Rosh Hashanah, is the world’s birthday.

In the Talmud, in Masechet Rosh Hashanah, Rabbi Eliezer teaches that the first day of Tishri is the anniversary of the beginning of creation. And tomorrow morning, as we read from the machzor, our special High Holy Day prayer book, we will declare hayom harat olam this is the day of the world’s birth.

So on behalf of our host, the planet, I’d like to welcome everyone to the earth’s birthday party. Your attendance makes today extra special, and the earth wants you to know that your presence is all the gift that is necessary.

But still a lot of us feel guilty coming empty handed. And our mother’s certainly wouldn’t approve. So I’d like to suggest that we each get the earth a card and a gift to mark this special birthday celebration.

As you know, getting a birthday card is easy. You can pick one up just about anywhere, a card shop, a book store, the supermarket. You can even get a card off the internet or make one on your computer. For me at least, finding a birthday card was never difficult. But deciding what to write inside, that is a different story.

When I was child, a lot of the students in my school would invite the entire class to their birthday party. With the arrival of each invitation, my mom would buy a gift, wrap it, and then go to the pile of birthday cards she kept in the closet. She would then hand the card to me and ask me to personalize it by writing a few words.

This should have been easy. After all I spent a good part of every day in the same room with the birthday boy or girl. But sometimes it was really hard, nearly impossible. Staring at the blank card, I realized that beyond their names I knew almost nothing about some of my classmates.

Sadly, I fear that if we were to sit down today to write out a birthday card to the earth a lot of us would similarly struggle. Even though we spend all day, everyday on the earth, some of us would have almost nothing to say.

Living in a wired and now wireless age, we may have 1400 friends on facebook, 45 hours of Law and Order on our TIVOs, and know exactly how many hits our name gets on Google. But we no longer know when the flowers bloom, the butterflies migrate, and the birds begin courting.

This is especially true of our children. Richard Louv, author of “Last Child in the Woods” argues that “Within the space of a few decades, the way children understand and experience nature has changed radically. Today, kids are aware of the global threats to the environment—but their physical contact, their intimacy with nature is fading.” This estrangement from nature is coming at a great cost to their physical, cognitive and emotional development -- a phenomenon Louv calls “Nature Deficit Disorder.”

But it is not too late for us and our children to become acquainted with nature. To find something to write in the earth’s birthday card.

Rabbi David Wolpe writes that, in his final years the renowned Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch one day announced to his students that he was going to Switzerland to climb in the Alps. “Why?” they asked in astonishment. “Because when I come face-to-face with God,” mused Hirsh, “I know the Creator of the Universe will look down on me and say, ‘So Shimshon, did you see my Alps?’ ”

As the great rabbi imagined, God might one day ask us if we saw the artistry of creation. But the questions we can anticipate won’t be about a mountain range across the globe, but rather the natural wonders in our own backyard. The Creator of the Universe might ask us if we spent enough time gazing at the falls of Yosemite, or the thousand shades of blue that fill Lake Tahoe, or if we noticed the way mountains and ocean become one at Big Sur.

Seeing these world-renown sites are sure to inspire, but so too can the state parks around the corner and perhaps, even our own backyards.

In his work Hovot Ha-levavot, Duties of the Heart, the eleventh century Spanish philosopher, Rabbi Bachya Ibn Pakuda, teaches, “you should try to understand both the smallest and greatest of God’s creatures. . . we are obligated to observe them thoroughly;”

One way to appreciate the details of nature is to begin a Soul-O practice.

In a Soul-O practice one designates a spot in the wilderness, or anywhere outside and quiet, and stays there for a period of time. Rabbi Comins, founder of Torah Trek, explains,

“In a Soul-O site, there is no switching to another channel for more entertainment by hiking on until another vista comes into view, . . . Instead we are invited to explore the awesome mystery of the things that we are usually moving too fast to see: a cocoon on the underside of a twig, the pattern of a leaf, the difference between two blades of grass.”

Whether by visiting Northern California’s natural wonders or creating Soul-O sites in our yard, we can overcome our estrangement with nature -- We can find a few words to write in the earth’s birthday card.

But with a plan for the card, we still need to get the earth a birthday present. Fortunately for us, the media’s recent concern for global warming has filled the newspapers with more gift suggestions than a Toy’s R Us ad in December.

There are calls for us to reduce our carbon foot print by purchasing more efficient appliances and by improving our homes’ insulation. We are also encouraged to carpool, drive cars that get better gas mileage, and cut down on our driving by combining errands. Other suggestions to help the planet include eating less meat and thus lowering the demand for methane producing cows, and as the New York times suggested this past January, wearing more polyester as in the long run it is more earth friendly than cotton.

Some of these suggestions can be accomplished without much effort while others require us to give up some of the conveniences we are accustomed to. But even if we make radical changes, we will not be the first group of Jews to do so for the sake of the environment.

Arthur Waskow writes,

The rabbis of the Talmud proclaimed that no one should herd ‘small livestock’ that is goats and sheep – in the land of Israel. Why? Because they destroy trees and grass. The rabbis say this even though they know perfectly well that our forebears were shepherds and goat herders.

Why do they make such an amazing departure from tradition? Because their experience, and their science, have taught them something new. Their deep sense that our relationship with the earth is sacred causes them to oppose what was normal for the early Torah period.

So too, our experience, our science, especially that of global warming, and our sense that the earth is sacred, demand that we stop accepting what was done in the past and start looking toward the future. This is the gift that the earth deserves; this is the gift that the earth needs.

Locally Congregation Shir Hadash is already on its way. Five years ago we installed solar panels on the roof of the school building and recently we created a green committee. This committee will be exploring ways we can make Shir Hadash more environmentally friendly, for example by cutting down on our use of paper, both in mailings and in the kitchen. And as is often the case, our youth our leading the way, with members of a Hebrew High class selling compact fluorescent bulbs at last year’s Purim carnival.

Our efforts are part of a of a growing movement with Los Angeles’ Green Sanctuary program and the national Interfaith Power and Light encouraging churches, synagogues, and mosques to look at ways they can reduce their carbon foot print. By becoming more eco-friendly, houses of worship are not only saving money on their electric bills, they are living their religious values.

Shmirat HaTeva, the protection of nature is among Judaism’s most ancient and central maxims. Genesis 2:15 states, “Vayekach Adonai Eloheim et Ha-adam va-ya-ne cha-hu vgan eden l’av’da ul’sham-rah --The Eternal God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden, to till it and tend it.” As the Torah progresses, this general injunction is translated into specific commandments.

Deuteronomy 20:19-20 warns against destroying fruit trees, even in a time of war. From this commandment developed the Jewish value of Bal Taschit, of not being wasteful. The Rabbis of the Talmud embraced this teaching and, 1500 years before global warming captured the world’s attention, warned against using fuel inefficiently and being wasteful with material goods.

Similarly, Leviticus 25:2-5 shares with us the guidelines for Shnat Shmitah, the shmitah year. During shmitah, which happens every seventh year, the Torah teaches the earth is entitled to a Shabbat, to a period of rest. 5768, the year we begin tonight, is a Shmitah year. Let us honor the earth’s well deserved year of Shabbat rest and give the gift of living in a sustainable way.

Rediscovering the beauty of nature and making our lives more environmentally friendly will require time, commitment, and sacrifice. But our labors will not be without reward. For the efforts we make to offer a birthday card and gift to the earth, we will receive much in return, a giant bag of party-favors if you will.

We will benefit financially as many environmentally friendly products are also cost effective. Plus, a hike in the woods is a lot more affordable than a trip to the movies or the mall.

We will also gain politically. Ending American dependence on imported oil will liberate U.S. foreign policy. Additionally, becoming a catalyst rather than impediment in the fight against global warming will improve the world’s perception of the United States.

Along with the financial and political gains, there will be cognitive and developmental rewards for us and our children. Scientists at the University of Illinois’s Human-Environment research laboratory have found that children who spend time in nature have improved concentration, larger imaginations, and greater access to positive adult interaction. They also noted that green settings help relieve symptoms of ADHD in both boys and girls.

And finally, and perhaps most precious, there will be a spiritual reward.

In his work “God in Search of Man,” Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel writes

The meaning of awe is to realize that life takes place under wide horizons, horizons that range beyond the span of an individual life or even the life of a nation, a generation, or an era. Awe enables us to perceive in the world intimations of the divine, to sense in small things the beginning of infinite significance, to sense the ultimate in the common and the simple; to feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal.

“Heschel teaches that the path to God is through awe,” and as Rabbi Comins writes, “nature is the most reliable gateway.” That was certainly the experience of the 9th graders I spent time with this summer at Camp Newman.

One evening, as part of our service, I asked the campers to share when during the summer they had felt God’s presence. Some mentioned Shabbat services and havdalah, both of which are very special at camp. But most of the answers had to do with nature. They talked about experiencing God under the giant trees, while watching the sun set behind the mountains, and in the million of dazzling stars they slept beneath during the overnight.

The campers are not alone in finding a special connection with God through nature. So too did Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, one of Judaism’s great mystics. It was his custom to pray.

Master of the Universe, grant me the ability to be alone; may it be my custom to go outdoors each day among the trees and grass – among all growing things – and there may I be alone, and enter into prayer, to talk with the One to whom I belong. May I express there everything in my heart, and may all the foliage of the field – all grasses, trees and plants – awake at my coming, to send the powers of their life into the words of my prayer so that my prayer and speech are made whole through the life and spirit of all growing things.”

Like Rabbi Nachman, if we give ourselves the chance to awe and wonder at God’s creations, if we connect ourselves and our future to that of all creation, we will transcend the profane and experience the holy.

Today marks the 5768 birthday of the world. As God’s stewards of the planet, let us do our part to make this a year of good health and blessing for the earth. And may our work to connect with and protect the planet bring blessings into our lives as well.

Happy Birthday Earth and Shanah Tovah.