As the calendar ticks through the month of Shevat this year, both Tu B’Shevat and Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday happen to fall on the very same day. It is the nature of the relationship between the Hebrew and secular calendars that this is actually a relatively rare occurrence! But, the confluence of Judaism’s day for nature, and America’s day to remember ongoing challenges of civil rights, provides us the opportunity to explore the notion of climate justice. This term raises to consciousness the idea that climate change will have a disparate effect on people of different socio-economic, geopolitical, geographic, and racial characteristics. Depending on who you are and where you live, your experience of climate change can be very different. Throughout the prophetic works of the Hebrew Bible, the Israelites and Jews are called upon to be acutely aware of the impacts of poverty on basic human needs. The Torah tells [...]

In Jewish tradition there are major and minor holidays. Yom Kippur: truly our major holiday. Chanukkah: a minor holiday, though try telling that to a child! Once, Sukkot was simply called “The Festival” because it was the most important holiday of all. Over centuries and centuries of religious development, the relative importance of our holidays shifted based on historical events (the end of Jerusalem Temple focused Judaism) and theology. Shavuot, for example, is less widely observed among most Reform Jews. Perhaps a holiday whose time has come for revisioning is Tu B’Shevat (15th of the month of Shevat—January 17th this year). Called Rosh Hashanah l’illyanot (ראש השנה לאילנות), or the New Year for Trees by the ancient rabbis, it marked the counting of the years of a fruit tree’s life to indicate when the tithing of its fruits would be obligated. At that time, a gift of gratitude was made [...]

Sometimes, lost in the retelling of the Exodus, is the way that nature plays a role in securing Israelite freedom. Part of the story’s power is that known natural phenomena are constrained by God to act to subdue the Egyptians. What is even more astounding is that Pharaoh’s magicians are actually able to reverse or replicate the first several plagues. It is only as the battle between God and Pharaoh heats up that the Israelite God shows a superior ability to command all of nature. As we enter the month of Shevat—where the environmental holiday of Tu B’Shevat is situated (more on that tomorrow)—it is fitting to recognize that long-burning desire to bend nature to human will and the needs reflected in the Exodus story. We shouldn’t underestimate our own power in this generation. So much of human existence is reflective of our power to resist the forces of nature [...]