Rosh HaShanah Morning 5775 (Sept. 25, 2014)
LAND. It is all about land.
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| Yoveil (Jubilee) - Shmita/Sabbatical - Shabbat (Sabbath) From: envisioning sabbatical culture // a shmita manifesto by Yigal Deutscher |
LAND. It is all about land.
Israel is central for us as Jews. As our home-land. Of
that I spoke last night.
But the earth is central for us as Humans. This is why
the Torah begins with Creation. That is why today starts the year – the first
day of the 7th month (curious!) – as the day pregnant with
possibility – hayom harat olam.
The Torah is written with land/earth as its central
point. It is the fulcrum point on which everything hinges. Being stewards of
the earth is the very first assignment given in the Torah. Adam is placed in
the garden l’ovdah u’l’shomrah – to
serve and to protect the garden. To serve the earth – not be served by it. And
to protect it – for as the rabbis say in Midrash
kohelet rabbah, “When God created the first human beings, God led them
around the Garden of Eden and said: ‘Look at my works! See how beautiful they
are—how excellent! For your sake I created them all. See to it that you do not
spoil and destroy My world; for if you do, there will be no one else to repair
it.’”
That instruction to serve and protect belongs not only
the doors of our local police force but if tattoos were kosher, I would have
etched on my right hand: To Serve the Earth; on my left hand: To Protect the
Earth. For these tasks ought to be *the* defining points from which we operate
and make decisions. If we are here on this planet for no other reason it is to
serve as caretakers and guardians of God’s garden.
And currently, we are experiencing in our era, what some
have labeled as reverse Creation. We are taking away from and destroying the
planet at ever alarming rates which is literally deconstructing God’s
handiwork.
But there are resolutions. There can be repair and it
starts with this Rosh HaShanah the return to a very old institution – which is
commanded in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy.
(note: this sermon
was done with a Powerpoint presentation and without written text … so if you
are reading this text, you will need to do a little research and imagination on
your own J )
Turn to the texts. (See
Exodus 23, Leviticus 25, Deuteronomy 15)
Let’s do a quick
run through history. (discussed shmita in biblical and rabbinic eras)
Reviewed the life and
impact of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook and discussed his halachic treatise dealing
with shmita, Shabbat HaAretz, which he published for the 1909/10 Shmita.
What
is fascinating about Kook’s book is his introduction, which has just been
translated and published this summer in celebration and preparation for TODAY.
In the introduction, Kook writes a type of midrash/spiritual interpretation to
the whole concept of the Sabbatical Year – Shmita causing us to think beyond
legal constructs that tend to distract rather than add to the sanctity of an
ancient commandment. Julian Sinclair, who did the translation also wrote an
introduction to the Kook’s Introduction. Sinclair enumerates, conveniently 7
key points about Kook’s address which teaches us mightily why this idea of
shmita is so important. (More info on Sinclair's translation and teaching ... page numbers below correspond to Sinclair's introduction.)
Shmita is for the community what Shabbat is for the
individual. Shmita, like Shabbat, is envisaged as a time for us all to step out
of the nonstop scramble of getting and spending and to renew ourselves,
restoring our connection with the unique, divine life that flows in each one of
us. (page 68) What we do (or don’t do) on Shabbat we – as a society – as
individuals need to do every 7 years.
Shmita is an expression of the interconnectedness between
people and land. We all – the land and people – whether we are in Israel or not
– need a chance to reconnect, slow down, not be pushed beyond our inherent
capacity. Once every seven years. Rav Kook says that “the soul of the people
and the land intertwine.” Land matters. It touches us and we can and should
allow ourselves to be touched by it. If we care about ourselves, we must care
for the land. Ahad Ha’Am said that more than Israel has kept Shabbat, Shabbat
has kept Israel. So the same may be said for people and land. More than the
people have guarded the land, the land has provided for the people. It is time
to make the balance between people and land … more balanced.
In the shmita, treat food as food, not as a commodity. Amen!
“The shmita principle challenges us to return to a more natural and immediate
relationship to the food we eat – for example, by eating more food rather than food-like products
manufactured from dozens of artificially synthesized ingredients.” (Page 73)
Can you imagine how terrible that we live in an era when we talk about the
industrialization of food? We must think about what is kadosh (holy) to eat
given that fact that the regular working of the land is now forbidden. And so
much the more so given the fact that we have despoiled, devastated, and abused
the land. What is kosher as food should have
far less to do with the rabbinic supervision than with the morality of
the process by which that food was created.
Shmita as a year of human health. With Shmita and its
inherent easier lifestyle – the regular imbalance of lifestyles that try to be
over productive, which lead to dis-ease … will reverse living conditions to
improve health. 100 years ago, Rav Kook pointed out that ceaseless activity is
bad for us and that “the rest and renewal that shmita offers can promote
healthy living.” (page 74) We are slowly killing ourselves – let alone the
earth – by constantly trying to over produce and demand constant product from
ourselves. Shmita forces us to stop and assess and ask: what matters? Not
product. Not produce. But process. Ease. Allowance.
Shmita and Jubilee are interconnected rhythms and
structures. 7 cycles of 7 leads to a year of Jubilee. The cumulative effect
will lead to total freedom. Complete liberty. Because time is linear…shmita is
leading somewhere. To ultimate freedom, ultimate release, and ultimate joy.
Jubilee. It’s not a coincidence that the word JUBILIATION has to do with you
and our ultimate happiness.
Jubilee is a year of truth and reconciliation. Jubilee
restores everyone to their original dignity. Julian Sinclair writes: “One
wonders whether he (Kook) foresaw the failures for revolutionary movements that
treated economic emancipation as sufficient goals and ended up merely switching
out the ruling class while perpetuating oppression and cruelty.” (page 77) In
our own country – we gave political rights without considering the
socieo-economic realities of 1865 or the 1960s. Jubilee restores one’s dignity.
Jubilee balances the playing field for everyone. Shmita is a foretaste of that
every seven years. And – if you keep your eyes on shmita, you are constantly
either coming off the year or building up towards it, meaning that truth and
reconciliation with and within your community and the land is constant.
Jubilee as a universal principle. Zev Jabotinsky – one of
the great Revisionist Zionists of the 1930s wrote that Jubilee was brilliant
for its avoidance of “both the suffocating control of socialism and the obscene
inequalities of unbridled capitalism.” (page 79) What is freedom?
RELEASE. RECOGNIZING OUR COMMON HUMANITY AND CONNECTION
WITH THE PLACE FROM WHICH WE WERE ALL BORN: GOD’S GARDEN.
Drawing on this whole concept of release, Yigal
Deutscher, who is a leading teacher of Shmita as a universal concept, has
created something called the 7 Seeds Project www.7seedsproject.org to which I turn now for us to
think, as non-farmers, and Jews or non-Jews, how to take the ideas in Shmita
and apply to our lives here right now in this new year.
7 styles of release. 7 ideas of release. 7 rubrics in
which to CHANGE our lives for the better by letting go, releasing, and opening
up …
It starts with property.
Release your resources from private control and ownership. We do not own the
land ANYWAY based on the line from Leviticus 25:23, “because the land is mine
and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers.” We have confused
developing land with building things on it. Land is land. It need not be
developed or even worked to do what it is supposed to do: which is just be land
and sit. Release land and allow it to be. And celebrate community within that
land. Most of us have no town squares near our homes. But maybe your front lawn
or a vacant lot near your home could be a common space for neighbors to gather
and meet and share stories and sacred time together. We have built mansions to
ourselves and take up huge plots of land for one, two…maybe if we are big
family: six or seven people. Do we need all that space. Open it up for communal
gatherings, gardens, meals.
Release money.
Release from commodification and accumulation. Forgive debt (the true root and
heart of shmita). If you took one day a week – hmmm…how about Shabbat …. To not
buy. Anything. To not spend money. And then take the concept more broadly and
stop accumulating. Teach freely. Share skills. Invest in social benefit and not
in personal gain. How much do we need? We all have accumulated so much STUFF
that we are drowning in it. Let it go. Can you release people from their debts
– either debts owed to you or debts you can help them pay off? How will that
change your and their quality of life?
Release food.
Release your diet from cultivated foods. Massively pre-packaged, shipped 10,000
miles to get into your refrigerator, too many ingredients with words you cannot
pronounce just cannot be good for you or the earth. Let it go. Eat local. Like
in your backyard local. Consider gardening with permaculture as your focus and
not ornamental beauty.
Release farming.
Release your soils from cultivation. Okay. Most of us are not farmers but we
can support farmers. And for those who are practicing no-till farming and
permaculture design – they deserve our support. And for our own homes, consider
not spraying your lawns or treating with harmful chemicals this year.
The next three are really interesting. Because it’s not
about the land or money and the combination of the two. It’s about you. And me.
Release your body.
Allow. Give yourself time for self-care, self-love and personal rejuvenation.
We suffer so much by the burdens we place on these bodies that are the sacred
temples to our souls. We cannot abuse them the way we do with what we put in
them, on them, around them. We cannot abuse them by forcing them to stay awake
too much. We cannot abuse them. They need pleasure and rest, comfort and
release. If you feed your creativity and let your soul breathe, allowing your
passions and dreams – your bliss – to fully engage in this world … shmita will
not be a once every 7-year experience but a way of living.
Because that is the goal we are working toward … where
shmita is the norm and non-release, that which bottles us up, is the tragedy
and terror, the reality to avoid.
Release emotions.
Release from judgment and scarcity, expectations and worry. Open up to this.
Space. Sacred space – be it in this sanctuary or the sanctuary of Pilot
Mountain or Hanging Rock, woods behind your home or a labyrinth at a nearby
museum. Lean into mystery and spirit. Don’t restrict yourself by the judging
yourself or worse: letting others judge you. Release into the expanse of this
universe which is ready to receive you.
Release I.
Yourself. Release yourself from feeling isolated and/or in a state of constant
competition. Put yourself into the infinity loop of love and life, of learning
and exploring, growing and imagining. Enter into collaborations and realize
that we are co-creators of this world. Relationships are sacred spaces in which
we can meet God. We can make God manifest in this world at that nexus of the
two circles of the infinity loop. We can be ourselves and maintain our
self-ness but when we pull into collaboration and co-creation – at that
cross-over point…we will find God, godliness, and the very LifeForce and Spirit
that made the land which deserves our attention and release.
Yigal Deutscher, who wrote this
guide about imagining shmita, with whom I’ve had the good fortune to study,
writes: “Ultimately, Shmita is a transition from perceived scarcity to revealed
abundance, from the isolated self to activated community networks, from a
paradigm of fear towards a paradigm of trust. This is an invitation to begin
reconnecting the threads that have been broken, reweaving the relational webs,
the pathways between us; creating a cultural tapestry of shared stories,
visions, and care. Because as much as this journey begins with you, your dream,
and your choices, it is a journey that depends entirely on community, on
walking together, as a living social ecology, in mutual support, in beautiful
humility, with courageous faith, to enter again into the rhythm of this cycle,
welcoming and honoring the total mystery that awaits.”
“The reimagination of the Shmita Cycle will be a
groundswell, a spring bursting forth from the earth and flowing freely, a
movement carried by a positive, bottom-up, solution-based momentum. This flow
begins at home, with family, with neighbors, at the most local, grassroots
level. The shift ahead comes from within us, expressed as community efforts, on
our streets, in our synagogues, in our schools, in our community commons. Such
a reclamation relies on the courage to ask challenging questions and locally
act upon them by creating the change we want to live. And this journey
continues through pulsing communal mycelia networks and webs of relationships,
on the ripples of open sharing and collective empowerment, on the blossoming of
education, justice, celebration, creativity, healing and hope.”
It is for us to be just creative, chutzpadik,
adventurous, open enough to change ourselves and to change our world. Shmita is
an age-old command, whose brilliance is in its hopefulness that the world can
be sustained by the Adams and Eves of every generation who will adhere to God’s
instruction to serve and protect the earth – which is the source of life. If we
nourish the earth, she will nourish us. Let us give the Earth the best birthday
present possible this year by resting and releasing, allowing, refinding, and
replenishing.
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