This week we celebrated Environment Week at Heschel in anticipation of our Tu Bisvhat celebration on Monday \u2013 and this week\u2019s parshah contains in important environmental message: Parshat Beshalach, recounts the departure of Bnai Israel from Mitzrayim.\u00a0 Our middah — “take only what you need,” is based on the moment when Bnai Israel received manna as their first taste of freedom. \u00a0The people of Israel were instructed to collect only as much of the heavenly food as they could eat, no more and no less.\u00a0\u00a0 Anyone who took more than required found that the left-over rotted.\u00a0 The experience was a lesson in faith that it wasn’t necessary to hoard; that there is enough to go around.\u00a0 At Heschel, we celebrate Tu Bisvhat by conducting a beautiful Tu Bisvhat Seder that celebrates the seasons, the Seven Species of Eretz Israel, diverse symbolic fruits, and the new year of the trees.\u00a0 We also see Tu Bisvhat as an opportunity to reinforce our commitment to Environmental Stewardship and our responsibility to ensure a healthy ecology for generations to come.\u00a0 We learn that we have the right to take from the earth what we need to live and be satisfied.\u00a0 We are not required by Judaism to be ascetics.\u00a0 At the same time, we are obligated to preserve the world in good condition for our children, grandchildren and future generations.\u00a0 This means we need to check our impulses to take more than what we need. \u00a0A well known Talmudic tale teaches about the character Choni Hameagel, who once saw an elderly person planting a carob tree.\u00a0 Choni asked the person, “Why do you plant a carob tree that will only give fruit in 70 years long after you are gone?”\u00a0 The person replied, “When I arrived in this world, I found carob trees that my ancestors planted.\u00a0 I want my children to find them after I am gone.”<\/p>\n
This Shabbat may we all contemplate the value of trees and the self-discipline of taking “only what we need,” so that we can leave behind sustainable earth for future generations.<\/p>\n
Shabbat Shalom and Chag Tu Bishvat Sameach,<\/p>\n
Moreh Greg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This week we celebrated Environment Week at Heschel in anticipation of our Tu Bisvhat celebration on Monday \u2013 and this week\u2019s parshah contains in important environmental message: Parshat Beshalach, recounts …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":6202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n