Ellen Bernstein

Home About Ellen Shomrei Adamah Speaking & Teaching Consulting Reviews Splendor of Creation Ecology & the Jewish Spirit Let the Earth Teach You Torah Introduction Contents Endorsements Sample Chapter Purchase Shomrei Adamah Archives Zeek Religion-Online Big Green Jewish Ellen's "Great Idea!" Contact Ellen

Let the Earth Teach You Torah

Table of Contents     Introduction     Endorsements     Sample Chapter     Purchase

Introduction

When the natural world is traumatized by the tears in the web of life, when the links within societal and cultural systems are severed, things fall apart.

In the Jewish idiom, this brokenness is referred to as shvirat ha keylim. shattering of the vessel. In the beginning the world was one whole vessel. Then the vessel shattered into millions of pieces. It is our task I'taken (to fix) the vessel. This book is part of such a tikkun (an act of fixing). It is an attempt to bring a sense of beauty to the study of the natural world and Jewish texts. It is the product of a dream in which science, religion, ethics, politics and history are bound up into one, just as all the creatures and elements are bound up into one. It is an effort to make a whole of parts that have too long been separated.

This book is also a personal repair. I began my own tikkun in high school: my inner life was nourished with the wisdom of the spiritual traditions; I was immersed in the study of the relations of the Ashuelot River ecosystem; and I lived in what I thought
was the most beautiful spot on earth. Dan began his tikkun with Shabbat walks with his father, Rabbi Arnold Fink in the woods near Washington, D.C. (Dan is number 12
in a continuous line of rabbis!). The journey from there, like all journeys, was difficult and long, replete with side trails, wrong turns, dead ends. Whenever we chose the easy way rather than our hearts' way, we were deterred in the journey, thrown off course for years at a time. With the guidance of our teachers and friends and nurtured by the wild places: the Appalachian Trail, the Colorado and Klamath Rivers. the Wissahickon River valley, we have understood some and mended some. Now with gratitude, we are passing on what we have learned about nature and about Judaism to you.

We are also passing our learning on to those who have blamed western religions for the environmental crisis, arguing that Genesis 1:26 gives humans a mandate to control nature. We believe that such an analysis is misguided.

It is not Genesis that is at fault. Genesis does not tell us what to do. Rather, it describes the human condition, the human tendency toward arrogance. When we use our gifts of power and mastery intelligently, when we apply them in the right amount and temper them with humility, we have the capacity to make the world a better place. When we exploit our gifts, when we act as if the world exists only for our personal gain, when we build Towers of Babel to science and technology, we are destroying our home and the possibilities for our future. Genesis presents us with the paradox of being human: the ability to master and the need for restraint. It is up to each one of us to resolve this tension within ourselves.

At the heart of the environmental crisis is a skewed relationship between humans and the material world. And at the heart of Judaism are teachings on how to live in the material world. The essence of Jewish teachings is a principle called mikadesh hol, making the secular sacred. It is a principle that invites us to look at the material world, really see it and then transform it. We are guided in this process by our obligation to say brachot, praising God for the most ordinary events of daily life, and through the laws of kashrut (kosher) which transform the basic necessity of eating into a sacrament. We are even encouraged to make an abstract concept like time holy by setting aside one day a week to honor God and creation.

Ultimately, everything is sacred. It is a question, then, of seeing, and acting out of respect, humility and love for God and all creation. As is implicit in the title and message of this book: Let the Earth Teach You Torah. Let your reverence for it guide you in all your ways.

Ellen Bernstein

Founder, Director
Shomrei Adamah

Mt. Airy
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

June 29, 1992
28 Sivan, 5752