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Dear Members of Temple Israel,

In the coming days you will receive information about continuing your annual commitment to Temple Israel of Boston. Let me thank you now for the thought and attention you will give to reaffirming this fundamental financial support for your Jewish home. Our collective membership commitment is Temple Israel’s most important source of operating income, and I am grateful for the generosity with which every household approaches this contribution. We remain the Jewish hub of the hub solely through your involvement and fiscal support.

Operating our congregation requires an enormous amount of resources and planning. The rise in security threats and incidents targeting Jewish people and institutions before and since October 7 has created challenges that we struggle with daily. The protective measures we have taken to provide a safe space to pray, learn, and gather come with significant financial costs.

This year we have adapted our security measures to address our new reality, and we will continue to be proactive and adjust our approaches accordingly in coordination with various security partners across our community. To help address these rising security costs, Temple Israel leaders, including the Board of Trustees, are asking that all of our members consider contributing an additional 5% of membership dues to Temple Israel. This contribution will be an essential resource for our ongoing safety and security work in the year ahead.

At the same time, we recognize that many of our members are experiencing rising costs in their own lives. In light of this, we have made the conscious decision not to raise dues rates this next year and to have the security contribution be optional for all households. When you receive your membership continuation packet, you will see the security contribution included on the membership renewal form.

For the year that is coming to a close in June, we are fortunate that so many of our members have prioritized philanthropic giving to Temple Israel this past year helping to defray additional security costs. We are humbled that a generous donor has offered a match challenge up to $30,000 for gifts given through the end of next month. Thank you for helping us unlock this match, and the essential budget relief it will provide, with a gift in any amount to the Friends Annual Fund before the end of June.

On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I am grateful for your commitment, engagement, and many contributions to this extraordinary community. We look forward to being together at the Annual Gathering on June 6 where we can celebrate the life and vitality of the congregation. All of our leaders look forward to connecting with you soon.

With appreciation,

Jessica Greenfield
Temple Israel President

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More than a week ago, on December 5, the Sisterhood held the first Chanukah Mothers and Daughters Religious Service and Luncheon, which was also the first Temple Israel service ever led entirely by women. As part of that Saturday morning service, nine young girls performed a Chanukah ceremony in which they each represented one candle “light” and explicated its meaning: truth, mercy, holiness, justice, love, Torah, patience, God, and courage. Pleased, Rabbi Gittelsohn invited them to repeat their presentation on the television show. The episode concludes with “a candle lighting ceremony in our temple… such as you might have witnessed in almost any Jewish home around the world.” The prayers, and other holiday songs, including Mi Y’malel, Al Hanissim, Haneiros Halalu, and Rock of Ages, are sung by the Temple Israel Quartet, led by Temple Israel Music Director Herbert Fromm.

As the Sisterhood reported to the Board of Trustees on December 20th, the show was “a thrilling experience for the children, and many viewers…called to say that they were impressed with the beauty of that ceremony, and with the entire program presented by our rabbi.”

This, and more than 400 other audio recordings of services, sermons, and events from 1934-1979, have recently been digitized by the Temple Israel Archives as part of a Recordings at Risk grant project sponsored by the Council on Library and Information Resources. When the project is complete, free streaming access to these recordings will be available.

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Not too long ago, and not too far away, there was a small kingdom.

The kingdom was once regarded as one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Not because of the landscape, but because of the way people treated one another.

In this kingdom, if a friend needed something from a friend, someone always stepped forward to help—without even being asked! If a neighbor needed something from a neighbor, someone would respond cheerfully and graciously without ever asking for anything in return. If a stranger needed something, people came forward to help with hospitality, generosity, and kindness.

But things started to change in the kingdom, it’s hard to say exactly when or why, but you could see that people started to treat one another differently.

In the market place there were hungry farmers whose crops had not grown due to drought.

They pleaded the successful merchants for food!

“I have plenty of food, I’m sorry but that’s not my problem” said the owner of the fruit stand as he chomped on an apple.

At the well, the people from the river banks approached, complaining that the water from the river had become tainted, and they had nothing to drink.

“We have plenty of water here” said a woman drawing up her bucket

“I’m sorry, but that’s not my problem”.

The kingdom was turning into major trouble, society started to shut down as people continued to be greedy and cruel to one another. And the people did not recognize being a part of the problem, in part because no one seemed to remember how things used to be.

One day a Fisherman returned to the kingdom after many years away at sea. He was stunned to see the change in the people, and devastated by the impact it had on the land.

But he had a plan to get things back on course.

He set to work turning his fishing boat into a yacht. New sails, new paint, it was beautiful.

People would come down to the docks to see him work, and asked

“Hey, Fisherman,” they’d say, “when you’re done, will you take us for a ride on your yacht?”

“Sure!” he said. “Everyone will be invited!”

When the day came, people flooded on to the Fisherman’s yacht to go for a ride.

It was a splendid, clear day. The sun shone warmly, and the sea was calm.

Fisherman guided his yacht away from the coast.  He dropped anchor and invited everyone to enjoy themselves. His guests brought out their picnic baskets and fishing poles, and everyone had a wonderful day. Late in the afternoon the wind picked up, and waves rocked the boat.

“Fisherman, can we head home now?” his guests asked.

“Sure,” said Fisherman. “There’s just one thing I need to do.” He opened his toolbox and brought out a large hand drill. He walked to the exact center of the boat, positioned the drill on the hull, and began to drill.

“Say Fisherman,” people asked, “what are you doing?

“I’m drilling a hole.”

“But why are you drilling a hole?”

“Why? Because it’s a nice day for drilling holes!” he responded nonchalantly.

“But, Fisherman, if you drill a hole in the boat, water will rush in, the boat will sink, and we’ll all drown!” they said.

As he continued drilling, the passengers began to beg: “Fisherman, please! Please, stop! You must stop!”

“None. It’s my boat. It’s my drill. And I’m going to drill this hole.”

The fruit seller from the market pleaded “Please, Fisherman, please,”

“We don’t want to drown. We don’t want to get eaten by fish. Please, Fisherman! Please!”

When the people began to cry, Fisherman at last stopped drilling.

A hush came over the crowd. Fisherman looked up. “You don’t want the boat to sink? You don’t want to drown?” Fisherman echoed the prince’s pleas. Then Fisherman slowly repeated the terrible words that had ruined the kingdom: “Well, I’m sorry, but it’s not my problem!”

The woman from the well cried desperately, “What do you mean it’s not your problem? Anyone can see that if I have a problem, you have a problem. And if you have a problem, I have a problem. If anyone has a problem, then everyone has a problem—because we’re all on the same boat!”

The Fisherman stopped, and repeated the words slowly: “If I have a problem, you have a problem. And if you have a problem, I have a problem. If anyone has a problem, then everyone has a problem—because we’re all in the same boat!

A great “Ohhhhhh” of understanding filled the boat. The people realized what the Fisherman was teaching them.
The Fisherman smiled. “Now we can go home!” He pulled the drill up out of the hull, turned the boat around, and sailed safely back to the harbor.

The people who got off that boat were changed. Never, ever again would friend turn to friend or neighbor turn to neighbor or anyone turn to a stranger and say those terrible words. Instead, whenever a friend needed help from a friend or a neighbor needed a hand from a neighbor or a stranger needed some kindness, he or she would hear, “Please, let me help you. Because if you have a problem, I have a problem. And if I have a problem, you have a problem. If anyone has a problem, then everyone has a problem.

Tonight, at the start of Yom Kippur. We think a lot about how our actions impact the people around us. And even though we have had to keep our distance lately, nobody lives in a bubble.

So tonight, tomorrow, and for the rest of this year – I hope you think about this kingdom, and how the people went from being selfish to realizing that they were all connected. Our actions and the words we speak matter a great deal. And sometimes our most important words and actions are apologies for the holes we’ve already drilled. May this be a good year, a sweet year, and a year of looking out for one another. We’re all in the same boat.

Shana Tovah

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Build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their fruit.
Get married and have children. Ensure your children marry and have
offspring. Multiply there, do not decrease.
And seek the welfare of the city where [God has] exiled you and pray to
the Eternal on its behalf; for in its prosperity you shall prosper.(iii)

Not every crisis empowers. We are well advised to face up to the fact that the situation is bad, and it’s
likely to get worse. But…there is no period of history devoid of the potential for learning and growth.(iv)

…this is the fast I desire: To unlock fetters of wickedness…To let the
oppressed go free… It is to share your bread with the hungry, And to take
the wretched poor into your home; When you see the naked, to clothe
[them], And not to ignore your own kin. (vi)

Then shall your light burst through like the dawn. And your healing spring up quickly…And you shall be called Repairer of the breach, restorer of pathways for living.(vii)

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Shana Tovah and Shabbat Shalom,

It is really an honor and privilege to be standing here with you today. Though circumstances have kept us physically distanced, my heart reaches out to your heart, and we are connected on a deeper, more sacred level as we acknowledge our challenges and work through them together. This year has been unstable for us all in many ways, but our tradition has ways to help us recenter and return to the holy space we aspire to.

The symbols and imagery of the High Holy Days help us ascend to a higher spiritual plane than we normally tread during the year. The shofar stirs our souls, the honey brightens our senses, and the special melodies of our prayers elevate us to the threshold of an audience with Avinu Malkeinu, our most personal and powerful God.

On Rosh Hashanah, the gates open. That image of the open gate, the access to the the Divine – to God’s sacred dwelling amongst us and within us.

The open gate presents opportunity, for something greater, something better than in years past. There is certainly work to be done to get there, but the gate is open.

We stand at the open gates of the New Year full of hope and optimism.

We enter the New Year with visions of what tomorrow can look like

With dreams of what the world can be.

But – what happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore—

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over—

like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?[i]

This summer, Langston Hughes’ question was answered with a bang. This summer has been a tipping point for many, a time to say enough is enough. A time to shine new light on the many places where darkness persists in this nation. The awakened reckoning across this country could be traced back to the brutal murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmoud Arbery – but that is far from the end of the list. There’s a house on my drive home from Temple Israel – on Paul Gore Street in Jamaica Plain, maybe you’ve seen it. Out front is a chalkboard framed with the words “Remember Their Names” and every day, every day I drive by, there is a new name listed of a murdered Black man or woman. I’m not sure when this vigil was started, but I am deeply disturbed by the knowledge that there is no shortage of names to add to it.

Stephon Clarke

Aura Rosser

Bothan Jean

Philando Castile

Atatiana Jefferson

Freddie Gray

Eric Garner

Tamir Rice

And countless other names of somebody’s daughter or son, or mother or father

The biblical Job pleads with his companions to witness his pain and suffering:

Face me and be appalled, clap your hand over your mouth. Listen carefully to what I say; let this be your comfort[ii] Like many, I have tried my best to bear witness. By using my ears and eyes more than my mouth.

When George Floyd gasping for air calls for his dead mother, he is crying Avinu to his loving parent and caregiver – the source of support that should be there to make everything alright. Floyd’s cry to Malkeinu – mercy from the sovereign, the upholder of law, is horrifically denied, as his plea for Derek Chauvin to get off of his neck is ignored.

Face this reality and be appalled. Let your outrage lead to action.

Listen carefully, and let this be your comfort. Listen and read and understand that this moment in history is not a flashbulb that materialized out of nowhere. The acts of violence we see today are modern day lynchings. This tree which bears strange fruit[iii] has deep deep roots.

Rapper Yasiin Bey rhymed:

Why did one straw break the camel’s back? Here’s the secret:

The million other straws underneath it.[iv]

Let us return to our gates. When I imagine those gates opening or closing, I have always imagined myself alone on a blank page. No environmental factors to consider,
the ability and decision to cross through or stay back being all mine. But that’s not accurate is it? That does not reflect the world we live in. After all a gate has been put up for the sole purpose of letting people in, or keeping people out. Gates open or close, depending on who is trying to get in, when, and why and how. And to that end, someone has the job of deciding who gets to get in, when, and why and how. The Gatekeeper. The Gatekeeper is a power player, determining the fate of those who wish to enter and to access the treasures on the other side.  The Gatekeeper uses power to control the threshold, and it take many forms:

• Physical or Militarized Power
• Wealth
• Political and Systemic Power

Our national history has been poisoned by the corruption and ill-will of power hungry gatekeepers.Redlining, Standardized Testing, Voter Suppression, Mass Incarceration[v]

Crippling the Stability, Advancement, Representation of oppressed groups.

A complex spiderweb of control and restraint.

In each of our lives, we have all been at the mercy of a gatekeeper. In some ratio, we have felt the joy of admission and the sting of rejection. The sweetness of inclusion and the bitter taste of exclusion. To be at the mercy of a gatekeeper is to be humbled, to be vulnerable, and oftentimes forced to take desperate measures.

But we have also been Gatekeepers. Each one of us has been the decision maker, the guard at the door deciding who is in and who is out.

We need look no further than this congregation.

For all that 5780 was and was not, it was surely a year where Temple Israel committed to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Antiracism.

And the work is far from done – as Rabbi Zecher shared last Yom Kippur:

“This isn’t a program or an initiative – there is no due date or checklist to finalize
Our goal is a culture shift – we continue to strive and re-evaluate, constantly searching for new areas of improvement and new opportunities to heal.”

We have read together, we have studied together. We have learned with educator and thought leader Yavilah McCoy, about how to recognize our biases and how they impact those around us. We have heard stories from congregants of color who have been wounded by microaggressions. Stories of painful comments made in our very building which doubt someone’s belonging in this community, or question their status as Jews.

Sometimes veiled as perceived pleasantries, but sharp as a razor’s edge. Let us not deny or avoid these transgressions, let us learn from them. We all carry the responsibility to repair wounds within our own community. As we continue to work to combat racism, bigotry, and hatred within our synagogue walls and beyond.

We are witness to the power of gatekeepers, we know the inequalities which breed

but we envision and work towards a world where we all can open doors instead of slamming them shut. Perhaps with an opportunity to offer, or support of someone’s enterprise. Perhaps with a simple word of kindness, and the attitude that our house is a house of prayer for all peoples.[vi]

We wrestle. We wrestle like our patriarch Jacob. The night before confronting his wronged and embittered brother, Jacob wrestles. But with who or what does he wrestles? In the middle of the night, in this liminal space, the ambiguous language in Genesis allows us to interpret. Did Jacob wrestle with another man? Did he wrestle with an angel of God? Or did he wrestle with himself?[vii] Today, we wrestle with all three – we wrestle with our interactions with others, we wrestle theologically in the face of suffering, and most importantly – we wrestle with ourselves.

This last element is the hardest challenge. Taking the honest look at our thoughts and taking responsibility for actions or inactions which have led to pain and suffering.

Though the challenge is great, there are ways forward. Every year, members of our Temple Israel community work to create 10 Days 10 Ways, a journey through the Days of Awe through the lens of antiracism. This year, we ask the question, “Who will you be in 5781?”. This year’s 10 Days features powerfully honest and thought-provoking personal stories from within our community which highlight both the pains of our missteps and the commitments to change tomorrow. Join us, as we strive together towards an antiracist future on our website or on facebook, and I do hope that you will join us tonight as members of our 10 Days team lead a Havdalah service as we use the theme of separation to put down outmoded thinking about how we are in this world, and pick up new perspectives and a spark of action.[viii]

As dawn breaks and darkness lifts, Jacob’s wrestling match reaches its end. In acknowledgement of his struggle, Jacob’s name is changed to Yisrael. We learn in Talmud that a name change accompanied the well-known trio of teshuvah, tefilah, and tzedakah as a way to negate the harsh decrees of this season.[ix] The name change marked a declaration by a person, that I am committed to a new identity moving forward. This is a time to consider how we refer to ourselves and ask “what do you want to be called in 5781?” Let us stop referring to ourselves by what we are not, and reframe to the positive of what we are. Remember, it is our actions which define us.

So Leave behind “not a racist”, and enter this year as “antiracist”

Leave behind “innocent bystander”, and enter this year as “an activist”

Leave behind “not the problem”, and enter this year as “part of the solution”

This year has been so hard – for the reasons we all know, and for the reasons which impact each individually. But within the darkness there are glimmers of light. When Dr. King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial 12 years after Langston Hughes penned Harlem, he looked out on to a landscape full of dreams deferred.But he offered the world a new dream, a dream of promise, a dream of action, a dream of faith.“With this faith” he prophesied “we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.”

We still witness dreams deferred,

We must wrestle with that reality daily

We acknowledge our roles in the narrative – whatever they may be

And we press forward, together

To end, we turn to our clarion call of Rosh Hashanah, the shofar. We hear the shofar blast and we are moved to shake off our slumber. This Shofar blast, Zichronot, deals with remembering.

We remember names, we remember stories, we remember who we have been. We hold these memories in our hearts to remind us of our sacred purpose. The wail of the shofar stirs within us discomfort and angst, may it inspire us to action. The call of the shofar offers opportunity and hope, let us not lose faith in our ability to change the world.

We open some gates and we tear others down.
We tell a new story, and we dream a new dream.

——————————–

[i] “Harlem” by Langston Hughes

[ii] Job 21:2-5

[iii] “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holliday

[iv] “Mathematics” Yasiin Baye (formerly Mos Def)

[v] How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

[vi] Isaiah 56:7

[vii] Genesis 32:25-30

[viii] 10 Days 10 Ways 5780 & 5781

[ix] BT Rosh Hashanah 16b

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I’ve been thinking a lot about trees this summer as I have watched a stream of people make their way into the woods that abut our family’s home. With the crises of Covid containing us in boxes on Zoom or the rooms of our own homes, these dense woods have beckoned and welcomed us, surrounding us with sounds, smells, and sights that have been a balm for our souls.

There is a name for the healing effects of this activity. Shinrin Yoku is Japanese for forest bathing. It’s a 40 minute walk in the woods shown to reduce daily stress and, more poignantly in these days, technostress. Forest bathing has a long history in many traditions.

Our own Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav, an 18th century Hasidic master, wrote:

May it be my custom to go outdoors each day
Among the trees and grass,
Among all growing things…
To enter into prayer
There may I express all that is in my heart
Talking to You, the one to whom I belong.

There is the story of a child who liked to wander in the woods. Concerned about the possibility of danger, the parent asked, “Why do you walk each day in the woods?” The child answered. “I go there to find God.” The parent replied gently. “I am glad you are searching for God, but, my child, don’t you know that God is the same everywhere?” To that the child responded. “Yes, God may be the same but I’m not.”

Jewish tradition(i) lifts up the significance of trees and advises that if you have a sapling and you hear that the Messiah is coming, first plant the sapling and then welcome the Messiah.

Jews may have been the first tree huggers. We speak of the Torah as the tree of life and say, “It is a tree of life to those hold onto it tightly.” That is another way of saying, hugging!

The Midrash(ii) teaches, “If not for the trees, human life could not exist.”

Our Torah(iii) conveys a curious and interesting message:

When in your war against a city you have to besiege it a long time in order to capture it, you must not destroy its trees, wielding the ax against them….Are trees of the field human כִּ֤י הָֽאָדָם֙ עֵ֣ץ הַשָּׂדֶ֔ה to withdraw before you into the besieged city?

What does this idea mean כִּ֤י הָֽאָדָם֙ עֵ֣ץ הַשָּׂדֶ֔ה Are trees of the field human?

The phrase in modern Hebrew is often used as an adage: “for as a human, so the tree of the field”. How we regard one is connected to how we treat the other. In the Biblical context, it is a question that already has an answer. Trees can’t retreat from a battlefield. They are vulnerable
to the violence of war and there is an obligation to protect them. (I will come back to this.)

Commentators such as Rashi and Ibn Ezraiv acknowledged the comparison as a way to equate a tree with a human and noted that the life of humans depends on trees in the field. The Hebrew suggests an additional and deeper meaning. כִּ֤י הָֽאָדָם֙ עֵ֣ץ הַשָּׂדֶ֔ה Could a tree possess qualities that might inform the way we live our lives as humans and help us reach the core of what we seek during these days of reflection?

In his book The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben coined the term the “wood wide web” to describe that which exists beneath the ground and reaches up toward the heavens. This “web” has its own civilization and means of communication. It has an intricate and powerful relational network through root systems and fungus which causes forests to survive and thrive.

One tree begets another and brings on the next generation.
Trees birth other trees.
They nurture others, sending nutrients to ensure the vitality of other trees.
They help when others are in distress and even alert each other to danger.
They take care of their own, the ones they seed.
They cooperate instead of compete.
They form an interconnected system for their survival. That’s “the wood wide web.”

Consider the significance of this conduct, for it suggests that trees actually exemplify traits which parallel our best selves. We applaud these characteristics in human behavior. When we take care of one another, help each other to thrive, protect one another we work to protect the
future. Isn’t this what we seek of ourselves on these High Holy Days?

Can these observations of trees inspire our own behavior?

We have watched in horror as climate change has ravaged the Redwoods and Sequoias igniting them in flames. Many of us have seen theses colossal living structures. Many of us have stood beneath them and been humbled by the way they reach toward the sky. But the so many of these trees stand tall not because of deep root systems. In fact, their roots are superficial. The trees’ immense height is precarious and yet they are solidly embedded in the ground. How can that be?

The answer is remarkable. The roots of these gargantuan trees are so intertwined that they actually hold each other up. One stands tall because they are part of a vast system that physically links one to the other. A web of interconnectedness.

The trees have been busy modeling for humans for millennia. The forests can’t thrive without their root systems working in concert with one another, nurturing, nourishing, supporting, communicating with and protecting each other. The trees prosper together or the entire forest
fails. The ancients knew. They had to because their existence depended on it.

It is time to return to this basic principle of nature. The health of the trees, the forests, the oceans, the land, the air we share and our own bodies are tied together in a vast network rooted in the interdependence of us all.

But, we must think of the earth and its trees as part of our own bodies’ eco systems as well.

Survival of the fittest is not the only evolutional theory. The paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould posited the idea of “punctuated equilibrium”, holding that the entire species-over hundreds of centuries or longer -must find a way to survive together! Individual fate is bound up with the
dependence and cooperation of the entire species. Humanity’s endurance and the survival of the natural world depend on the same idea.

Climate change has the potential to destroy much more than we can fathom and we must do everything we can to alter the trajectory we are on. Days turning to night is not an abstract idea any longer as the west coast fires have shown. If we care about our own health and accept our interdependence on each other and with the natural world, we must be vigilant and proactive to protect one another, the trees and all of nature that surrounds us. We must all continually examine how we can care for the world, its vulnerable climate and be responsive to the needs of our fragile planet.

The Talmud(v) teaches that to save a life is to save the world. We cannot separate the health of our planet from the health of humanity. The pandemic has magnified our concern for the health of our bodies. We have had to decide what we would and wouldn’t do. We have adapted to wearing masks, maintaining physical distancing and endlessly washing our hands. We have changed our behaviors so that we would not put ourselves and those we love at risk.

We have also rallied around one another to ensure and strengthen our interconnectivity. The way people have gathered to support and lift one another up again and again is heartwarming and soul nurturing. Some Temple Israel monthly study groups changed to meet weekly instead of monthly to support even one member of the group facing an illness or difficult diagnosis while others did so to overcome isolation and loneliness brought about by these times. Our own TI Cares has made deliveries of honey jars to those who have lost a loved one in the past year. Check in phone calls from our members to those they may not known previously have transformed a friendly call into a friendship.

Interdependence impacts us all.

With one another and the earth.

Our lesson from the pandemic is not just an invitation to spend more time forest bathing and reflecting on how to become our best selves; it is a summons that our health and the future of the next generations rely on our actions today.

When Honi from the Talmudvi was asked while planting a carob tree why he would do such a thing since he would not be alive when it bore fruit, he responded as we all can. Trees were here when we came into the world, therefore for the good of one another, each of us must guarantee that they are here to provide in all the ways they do for those who come after us.

We enter this High Holy Day season on high alert ever mindful of what is happening around us. Our human and global ecosystems are facing enormous challenges. On this day of Rosh Hashanah, we celebrate Hayom Harat olam–On this day, the world was conceived. On this day,
all begins anew. The earth sings to us that everything is possible.

Let’s go ahead and engage in Shinrin Yoku, bathed in the embrace of the wood wide web to help us deal with the complexities of the world in this moment even as we work on ourselves. As we do, let our awareness of the crucial presence of trees on this planet earth grow even stronger.

Today, I do speak for the trees, but it is not only to save the trees, it is to save ourselves. As we confront the twin crises of our bodies’ health from Covid and our planet’s vitality, let us recognize how profoundly our wellbeing is dependent on the resolve and success of interconnectedness. May we come together even as we are apart to nourish and protect each other as the great trees have taught us. For the future of the whole world depends on us sustaining each other so that we all thrive well into the future.

So may it be. Amen

(i) Avot DeRabbi Natan 31b
(ii) Midrash Sifre 20:19
(iii) Deuteronomy 29: 19-20
(iv) Rashi and Ibn Ezra on Deuteronomy 29: 19-20
(v) Sanhedrin 37a
(vi) Ta’anit 23a

Some of the other resources that helped me think about the ideas in this sermon:
Falter, Bill McKibben
I and Thou, Martin Buber (his use of the tree and our relationship to it)
“In Praise of the Earth” poem by John O’Donohue
The Future We Choose, Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac
The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben
The Overstory, Richard Powers
“When Equity Means Shade” The Boston Globe 8.24.20

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