Hanukkah brings with it again this year three crucial teachings
about healing our Mother Earth from the ravages of global
scorching
- The Green Menorah, a Tree of Light that is a fusion of human craft and Earth's growth. On this Shabbat we read the Prophetic passage from Zechariah that emplaces the Temple Menorah as part of a tiny forest of olive trees that give forth their oil straight into the Menorah.
We breathe in what these Trees of Light breathe out; they
breathe in what we breathe out. We take new inner strength by
breathing in the God Who breathes all life, by opening our
eyes to the Source of all Light in this wintry season of our
dark foreboding.
We realize that Hanukkah teaches: We humans are not lords of the
Earth, but part of the Earth. These trees feed us as we feed
them. Read a little further to see how we at The
Shalom Center are ourselves doing this, with your
help.
- The tradition of resistance to Imperial Antiochus and his
Empire's desecration of the Temple -- a resistance crystallized in
the teaching by Zechariah: "Not by might and not by
power, but by My Spirit [b'ruchi-- or, "by My breath," "by
My wind!"]. We take new inner strength to resist the Empires of our
day -- Big Carbon -- that today are burning,
despoiling, desecrating the Holy Temple of all cultures and all
creatures: Earth. We take new inner strength not only to resist
harm but to heal and grow the sprouts for our own Trees of
Light.
- The legend that one day's worth of olive oil
lasted for eight days --a teaching that we ourselves
can minimize our use of oil and coal and unnatural gas; can through
conservation and the sustainable use of sun and wind reshape our
country and the world; can shave off seven-eighths of the
fossil-fuel burning that is scorching earth and killing thousands
in droughts and hurricanes, typhoons
and
floods.
This year, the first night of Hanukkah comes this very evening, November 27. We are taught not only to light the Hanukkah menorah, but to publicize the miracle, to turn our individual actions outward for the rest of the world to see and to be inspired.
So we invite you to join, this Hanukkah, in The Shalom Center's Green Menorah Commitment for taking action --- personal, communal, and political -- to heal the earth from the global climate crisis.
We ourselves are committed to take an active part in
healing the Earth. In the wake of the disastrous typhoon in the
Philippines, far worse because of global scorching, we created a
Climate Disaster Relief Fund -- half for immediate relief and half
for preventive action. Details are at the end of this letter.
We ask you to give part of your Hanukkah giving not
only as a gift to The Shalom Center's work, but much more as a
healing gift to those who are suffering already and those who will
be suffering even more, if the scorching of our Mother Earth gets
even worse. To help in that healing, please click
here: https://
That is our own Green Menorah commitment. We ask you -- after lighting your menorah each evening -- to dedicate yourself to making the changes in your life that will allow our limited sources of energy to last for as long as they're needed, and with minimal impact on our climate.
Day 1: This year, when the first day of Hanukkah is also Thanksgiving Day in the USA, begin the meal of harvest with these words:
We thank you, Holy One, Who makes of one Breath, one
Harvest,
All the
life-forms of our Earth, Your
Earth;
Who breathes into
us the wisdom to know that our mouths connect us
With all
life:
That as we breathe
in and out,
We share our breath, Your
breath,
With each other
and with all of life;
That as we share this food,
We are sharing from Your
Harvest,
Being fed by
all Your life-forms.
We
thank You, Holy One, Who breathes into
us
The wisdom to shape
our breath into
words;
The wisdom to
shape our words as we speak
together
At this table,
our table, Your
table,
So that our
speaking aims toward fuller
wisdom;
Who breathes
into us the wisdom
To
share our food with all who need
it,
And to choose what
we eat so that it nourishes all
life
Upon our planet,
Your planet. [And let us say, Ameyn]
Day 2: Congregation, Hillel, JCC, retirement home, etc: Urge your congregation or community building to do an energy/insulation audit. Urge switching to wind-powered rather than coal-powered electricity. Call your utility company to learn how.
Day 3. (which this year is Shabbat). Your Automobile: If possible, choose today or one other day every week to not use your car at all. Every day, lessen driving: use public transit, bike, walk. Shop on-line. Cluster errands. Carpool. Don't idle engine beyond 20 seconds.
Day 4. Your network of friends, Twitter
buddies, Facebookers, and the members of civic or professional
groups you belong to: If you have friends like newspaper editors,
labor union or professional association leaders, real-estate
developers, architects, bankers, etc. urge them to strengthen the
green factor in all their decisions and
Day 5: Home and workplace: On Monday
morning, call your electric-power utility to switch to
wind-powered electricity. (For each home, 100%
wind-power reduces CO2 emissions the same as not driving 20,000
miles in one year.) Urge the top officials of your workplace
to arrange an energy audit and switch to
wind-powered
Day 6: Town/City: Write a letter to your Mayor or City Councilperson, urging them to require greening of buildings through persuasion of businesses, ordinances, tax policy, and executive orders. Creating change is often easier on the local level!
Day 7: State: Urge state legislators to reduce subsidies for highways, increase them for mass transit. In states (like Pennsylvania and NY) where high-profit oil/ gas companies are fracking Oil Shale deposits, demand a moratorium until we can get full information on what poisonous chemicals are being poured into the water table and our drinking water.
Day 8: National: Some Senators and Congressmembers are
seeking to cripple EPA (Environmental Protection Agency),
mostly to protect Big Coal. Oppose them! Urge your Congressmember
and Senators to strengthen EPA to regulate CO2
emissions from coal-burning plants, autos, oil refineries, etc. --
for the sake of our planet's climate, and to lessen asthma
outbreaks among our
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