Here
is my album of photos from Sunday’s People’s Climate March. I can’t recall anything I’ve ever attended
that brought people of so many different backgrounds together for a common
cause. I was marching with the faith
communities, and they were all there – including pagans, spiritual seekers and
atheists. There were many indigenous
groups represented as well. Jews were
there in large numbers too and I was proud to be among the many who sounded
shofars as church bells rang out the alarm. As the faith groups waited for our
turn to enter the march, there was an interfaith musical gathering, in which Peter
Yarrow gave an entirely new meaning to the song, “Where Have All the Flowers
Gone?” We used to focus on the final
verse, the one about the soldiers. Now
there is not need to go beyond the first verse. And in fact, a Muslim speaker later picked
up on that. It’s not just the flowers
that have gone – untold numbers of species have been eliminated. Where have all the fish gone? The bees?
Here are some
videos of the interfaith service that preceded the march including Yarrow’s
song and some spirited singing led by Neshama Carlebach.
It remains
to be seen whether this march can move the needle of inaction as world leaders
gather this week and then again at a summit in Paris next year. But at the very least, we at TBE know that we
are doing our part in assuming a leadership position on this crucial issue.
Kashrut
This is one mitzvah that has been near and dear to me – and not
just because I proclaimed the era of the Kosher Oreo as a benchmark in American
Jewish identity.
Here are the “How
tos” and the “Whats.” With its roots in the Bible, the system
of defining which foods are kosher was developed by the rabbis of late
antiquity. Its application to changing realities has been the work of
subsequent generations, including our own.
So what of
the “whys”? Why Kosher? Louis
Jacobs writes, “Unlike the ethical and moral precepts of Judaism, the
dietary laws seem to defy human reasoning. Why should it matter to
religion what a man eats and, if it does matter, why are these particular items
of food singled out as forbidden?” Maimonides believes it was a matter of good
health. Nachmanides sees it is
beneficial t the soul rather than the body.
The Torah sees these laws through the prism of holiness.
From my
perspective, the “whys” boil down to identity, spiritual discipline, ethics and
social connection. Kashrut preserves
Jewish identity as a contact point for Jews across the globe and across the
ages. Culture, after all, is transmitted though the stomach. Tastes and smells are deeply embedded in our
childhood memories. Kashrut enables us
to eat ethically and not indiscriminately, focusing on the sanctity of life and
the pain of the animal. It turns eating
from a basic biological instinct to a sacred activity.
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