North Carolina Interfaith Power and Light article
TEMPLE BETH HA TEPHILA
Preserving Our Planet

Social Action has always been one of the hallmarks of the Reform Jewish Movement. In February, 2006, Union for Reform Judaism, representing 1.5 million Reform Jews in more than 920 congregations across the United States and Canada, launched “Just Congregations,” a program with a new methodology for congregational advocacy with potential for broader impact. The model, developed by Congregation-Based Community Organizing (CBCO), fosters relationships among and between members of diverse religious congregations. Over the past three years, the process has yielded many success stories of congregations and their members winning local battles for quality education, health care access, living wages, and other issues of social and economic justice.

Following the model of Just Congregations, the Social Justice Committee of Temple Beth Ha Tephila engaged in an extensive congregational assessment to develop a Social Justice focus that would involve many groups and individuals. Concern, thoughtful insights, and surprising expertise on the topic of the environment emerged as a common and repeated theme in our interviews with fellow congregants.

Coupled with our Rabbi’s knowledge and passion for environmental justice and a decision to green our existing House of Worship and build a new and “green” Religious school building, a comprehensive two-year project was formed. As action plans of 4 sub-committees (Energy, Recycling, Transportation, and Agriculture) evolve, “Preserving Our Planet” promises to make a contribution toward reducing green house gasses and repairing and sustaining the planet.

For Jews, the environmental crisis is a religious challenge. Many mitzvoth, or commandments, found in the Bible and the Talmud (the rabbis interpretations of text and guidance on ethical matters) instruct us to protect what the Jewish tradition views as “God’s creation”– the totality of the physical world in which we live.

In Genesis Adam and Eve are commanded to serve and protect the Garden of Eden. The tenants of “Tikun Olum”, or repairing our world, include our responsibility to protect the environment – to partner with God in protecting creation - to leave our earth a little better than we found it.
Judaism stresses that we are not to waste or unnecessarily destroy anything of value. Judaism asserts that a wise person considers the long-range consequences of any behavior - we must plan for future generations.
We must reaffirm and bequeath the tradition we have inherited. We cannot accept the escalating threat to our air, water, food, and energy sources, nor can we ignore the Social Justice aspects of the environmental crisis. Climate change affects human health and livelihood; people of lower economic means pay a larger proportion of their income on energy and may be forced to make unviable choices between the cost of heating a home in the winter and needed food or medicines.

Where we are despoiling our air, land, and water, it is our sacred duty as Jews to safeguard humanity’s home by taking action to reverse such degradation, alleviate the pain and suffering that it causes, and work toward a sustainable world for future generations.

On Friday, April 10, our Sabbath worship service, “Eco-Shabbot”, was a dedication to the environment in prayer. Following the lighting of the Sabbath Candles was this original prayer:

As our eyes take in the beauty of the Sabbath lights we are reminded of how precious are the energy sources of our planet Earth. The sun gives us life – the source for most of the energy on earth - the power source for plants, the cause of flows of atmosphere and of water, warmth that makes life possible. As the air flickers these Sabbath flames we are reminded of the power of the wind and its promise to be harnessed and developed as a sustainable energy source.

We dedicate ourselves as Jews to be partners with God in all of creation, to treat all life as a precious gift, to take care of the earth, not waste or harm it. Environmental justice and the driving message of T’kun Olum demands that we increase our awareness about what is happening to our earth, and that we turn our attention daily to what we can do to literally decrease greenhouse gas emissions, that we leave this planet in a better state than we found it.
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Imagine if we, as a community, devoted time to learning how to assess our home, workplace, and Temple life to better understand how directly or indirectly our habits and activities might be harming the planet and contributing to climate change. Imagine our community’s cumulative effect through a conscious effort to conserve energy. Imagine a world passed on to our children and their children – a world where they can prosper in health and happiness, delighting in the beauty of all living things, clean air, water, food, and bountiful sustainable energy. May it be so.

Amen.

Idelle Packer, member,
Social Justice Committee,
Temple Beth Ha Tephila,
Asheville, NC