I want to thank you for beginning the conversation about Tu B'Shvat - I hope to continue the discussion by focusing on the use of land in the Torah and by posing a few questions that I have been pondering. I look forward to reading your thoughts:
we learn in the Torah the following:
For Adonai, your God, brings you to a good land, a land with streams of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and grape vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and date honey, a land where you shall eat bread without scarceness, you shall lack nothing there; a land whose stones are made of iron and from whose mountains you will mine bronze, when you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless God from the good land which has been given to you. - Deut. 8: 7-10
1. Is it possible today to achieve the type of feelings of completeness related to food and the land portrayed in this passage?
2. Every choice we make about what we eat and the resources we use has an impact on the "good land." How should we balance environmental factors with other needs and desires as we make these decisions?
3. Where do you personally feel a tension between your own lifestyle and its impact on the world?
4. What are the blessings that you will offer this year?
Blessings for a meaningful Tu B'shvat
Rabbi Oren
The place a I feel a tension between my lifestyle and the impact on the world is when I throw away food scraps that I KNOW can be composted. A friend of mine gave me a flyer with information about free trainings and resources the city offers to teach you about how to compost and gives you a compost bin to use! I KNOW how simple it is and how wasteful it is not to compost. This year I will do it - I will set up a compost bin in my home and at my work--which happens to be a school where I have the opportunity to teach young people that recycling isn't the only way to help our earth.
ReplyDelete