I share a prayer I delivered today at the State Capitol, and thoughts on why Earth Day can bring together Israelis and Palestinians, united in their love - and their grief - for their scorched land.
Thank you for sharing this with us, Rabbi Hammerman. It calls to mind (again) the words of Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677): "G*d is not He who is, but That which is." Like this whole universe and (possibly) those we have not yet been capable of exploring (multi-universe theory of quantum mechanics 🧐). And the perfection of nature not just reflects this principle in the greatness of that field of sunflowers or those migratory birds. It´s also in each and every one of us. What a lesson back then in that Garden which G*d tried to teach us!
This a lot to absorb, and it's almost midnight here. I will dig into it tomorrow, but just wanted to thank you for this. One can see at a glance that there is beauty and love and sorrow and optimism in these words. So nice to see such an impressive group of people who truly care. May we SOON course-correct (I'll refrain from saying my dark thoughts on that; don't want to spoil this beautiful day) and get back to responsible stewardship of our lands and our peoples. Thank you for all you do, Rabbi.
Good morning Rabbi, ah the miracles of nature. The picture of the sunflowers immediately reminded me of a friend that I used to take to his medical appointments. From my house to his it was about 15 miles and then another 15 miles to his doctor's office. The road we took was a rural highway with mostly farmland.
My favorite time was when we went by the golden sunflowers that were in full bloom. I was so surprised as they were so short! I had only seen the very tall sunflowers with huge heads before that. Have to admit it made me sad to see them slowly die and see the beautiful heads bow and turn brown. Then they were harvested and only bare ground remained.
Last year, at my house, there was a carpet of dark green leaves of some type of wildflower; but, no flowers. I didn't care, I enjoyed looking at them. This spring they came again; but, only sparsely. I was somewhat disappointed.
Then nature performed a miracle. LOL These strange looking long stems began growing. Being curious to see what they were I left them alone. I am so glad that I did. They covered the whole 100 feet or so about 4' wide area in front of my fence that faces the road. They bloomed with thousands of tiny flowers -- just beautiful weeds that I can't find a picture of. Yesterday morning there must have been a hundred honey bees and flies, that are similar in looks to bees, all over them.
I have no idea where the seeds came from. I've lived here over 30 years and never seen them before, let alone covering all the area that they did. Best part is that the chickens don't like them! or they certainly wouldn't have survived.
Our earth is made up of pieces of land and if we take care of it by not bombing it, poisoning it, etc., it will renew itself indefinitely.
" Give us the strength and courage to care for our earth, to love it, and through our love for our world, to love one another as well." So true.
Thank you for sharing this with us, Rabbi Hammerman. It calls to mind (again) the words of Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677): "G*d is not He who is, but That which is." Like this whole universe and (possibly) those we have not yet been capable of exploring (multi-universe theory of quantum mechanics 🧐). And the perfection of nature not just reflects this principle in the greatness of that field of sunflowers or those migratory birds. It´s also in each and every one of us. What a lesson back then in that Garden which G*d tried to teach us!
This a lot to absorb, and it's almost midnight here. I will dig into it tomorrow, but just wanted to thank you for this. One can see at a glance that there is beauty and love and sorrow and optimism in these words. So nice to see such an impressive group of people who truly care. May we SOON course-correct (I'll refrain from saying my dark thoughts on that; don't want to spoil this beautiful day) and get back to responsible stewardship of our lands and our peoples. Thank you for all you do, Rabbi.
Thank you Rabbi for your Earth Day message that helps me focus on a path forward. My daughter reminds me, "Every day is Earth Day." May it be so.
Good morning Rabbi, ah the miracles of nature. The picture of the sunflowers immediately reminded me of a friend that I used to take to his medical appointments. From my house to his it was about 15 miles and then another 15 miles to his doctor's office. The road we took was a rural highway with mostly farmland.
My favorite time was when we went by the golden sunflowers that were in full bloom. I was so surprised as they were so short! I had only seen the very tall sunflowers with huge heads before that. Have to admit it made me sad to see them slowly die and see the beautiful heads bow and turn brown. Then they were harvested and only bare ground remained.
Last year, at my house, there was a carpet of dark green leaves of some type of wildflower; but, no flowers. I didn't care, I enjoyed looking at them. This spring they came again; but, only sparsely. I was somewhat disappointed.
Then nature performed a miracle. LOL These strange looking long stems began growing. Being curious to see what they were I left them alone. I am so glad that I did. They covered the whole 100 feet or so about 4' wide area in front of my fence that faces the road. They bloomed with thousands of tiny flowers -- just beautiful weeds that I can't find a picture of. Yesterday morning there must have been a hundred honey bees and flies, that are similar in looks to bees, all over them.
I have no idea where the seeds came from. I've lived here over 30 years and never seen them before, let alone covering all the area that they did. Best part is that the chickens don't like them! or they certainly wouldn't have survived.
Our earth is made up of pieces of land and if we take care of it by not bombing it, poisoning it, etc., it will renew itself indefinitely.
" Give us the strength and courage to care for our earth, to love it, and through our love for our world, to love one another as well." So true.