Erev Rosh Hashanah Sermon; By Rabbi Denise L. Eger

Shana Tovah umetukah---A Sweet and Happy New Year to you all.
THESIS: The earth’s environmental woes are not only environmental disasters it is symptomatic of a deep spiritual crisis.

Tonight as we begin our Rosh Hashanah celebration we reflect on our stories. This year we want to take a deeper look at the story of our lives and our journeys. The High Holy Days come to help us shape our story and rebalance our moral compasses. Our stories are both particular and universal at the same time. We each have unique parts of our own story while there are common themes that are shared by many of us.
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are two aspects of our story. Rosh Hashanah begins with the universal and through the Ten Days of Repentance and Yom Kippur we weave our tale from universal to particular to the universal impact of our individual story. For the message of these days is that we matter. Our lives matter. Our actions and our words matter. And that we can in the end have an impact on our world and our lives. Hopefully over the course of these High Holy Days your story will be shared and written and rewritten with deeper meaning, greater clarity of purpose and God willing, additional chapters!
In truth however, our story begins to unfold even before our first breath on this planet. On Rosh Hashanah we celebrate the inter connection of all life through our life. We celebrate the unfolding story of our universe and our links to it. We celebrate the glory of our world and we meditate upon ways in which to heal it. We strive to use these holy days of reflection as we enter a new year—5768, to bring our world and our individual lives into balance and harmony with nature, God and our people everywhere. Rosh Hashanah comes to help us renew our being and through our music and our prayers and meditations we seek to make our souls and the world more complete.
Jewish tradition teaches that Rosh Hashanah is Yom Harat Olam—the day the world was conceived and born. In the very mind of God—on this day, the world was thought of and brought to fruition. “Let there be light and there was light (Genesis 1:3).”
The holy light of creation came forth to fill the entire universe and today on this night—of Rosh Hashanah we try to recapture that holy light of creation so that we can renew, refresh and partner with God in the ongoing work of creation. We can help write the story of our world.
It is no secret that our world, our planet needs renewing and refreshing. Our world needs all of us to remember our responsibilities to the earth. Global warming and environmental damage continue to wreck havoc upon our planet. Carbon emissions and greenhouse gases eat away at the protective layers of atmosphere that helps to sustain our globe. Our glaciers are melting, sea levels rise, while weather patterns change so drastically that drought comes to once water rich areas and monster storms destroy towns, villages and cities be it hurricanes, tornadoes or monsoons. The number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes has almost doubled in the last 30 years. Malaria which used to be a disease of low elevations and the jungle, has spread to higher altitudes in places like the Colombian Andes, 7,000 feet above sea level as well as the Kenyan Mountains. At least 279 species of plants and animals are already responding to global warming, moving closer to the poles. (www.realclimate.org)
And we Americans are only 5% of the world’s population, but we consume more than a third of the earth’s resources. We Americans create half of the world’s hazardous waste. And we Americans produce 45% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions that lead to global warming. Our gluttony, our mass consumption threatens the Garden of Eden that is our world. As we try to fill the spiritual void in ourselves through material things we are destroying life as we know it on this our Garden Planet.
On Rosh Hashanah our story must include a consciousness and awareness that we must return to our task that God gave us in the opening days of creation. We human beings were created to tend the garden; to care for it; to nurture it; The Torah says that God put the first human into the Garden of Eden l’avdah u’lshomrah (Gen 2:15). L’avdah - to work it, to use it, to enjoy it. And l’shomrah - to protect it, guard it, keep it for the next generations. In that beautiful garden, God gave us an enormous amount of power and an enormous amount of responsibility. According to the Midrash (Kohelet Rabba 7:13), on that first Rosh Hashanah, God led the human around the Garden of Eden and said, “Look at all of my works. See how beautiful they are, how excellent. See to it that you do not spoil or destroy My world - for if you do, there will be no one to repair it after you.”
But especially since the rise of the industrial age, we tenders of the garden have despoiled our global home. Our insatiable thirsts and consumption of goods, of fossil fuels and in truth the drive to build more and sustain less is literally eating away at our planet. Even as we try to fill the voids in our lives with things, we are emptying our planet of the very resources that help to sustain it!
Major corporations and in particular certain oil companies would try to have us believe that global warming isn’t real. At times our own government has been slow to embrace the idea that global warming is a real and dangerous phenomenon. But what is certain is that our Jewish tradition has much to say about how to live ethically in the world and how to treat the gifts of the gardens of our Earth.
The Midrash in Genesis Rabba teaches us by this story:

The earth, the rain, and human beings are all equal in importance. Each word has three letters in Hebrew : earth (eretz), rain (matar), humans (adam).
Without the earth, there is no rain;
without the rain, the earth cannot endure;
and without both the earth and the rain, humans cannot live.
(Midrash Genesis Rabba 13, 3).
Our Rabbis and Sages understood that the interconnection of the earth and the flow of the Divine rain and supernal wisdom are necessary for we human to endure and live.
Many of you have made significant changes in the ways in which you live. Some of you now drive hybrid or alternative fuel cars. Others of us have changed light bulbs in our homes to reduce the carbon emissions and our carbon footprints. We try to recycle our glass and plastic. Stop buying and using Styrofoam cups, plates and packing materials. Plant more drought resistant vegetation in your garden. In your bulletin I have included several suggestions that you can easily do to help in the process of greening your lives and making changes that will help our world stem the tide of ecological disaster.
Our synagogue is involved in an active greening process. We have changed much of the lighting to CFL bulbs, we have installed a low water urinal in the men’s room and we are increasing our vigilance to reduce the synagogue’s carbon footprint. These are important hands on tasks we are called to do and must do. I encourage you to make this Rosh Hashanah an opportunity to change the way you live in a real way and make some of these kinds of changes. If we all try to make a series of changes in our lifestyle, mindful of the first commandments in the Garden of Eden, we can recapture and fulfill our mitzvah of caring for our earth. In truth however, there is more –something deeper.
Tonight on Rosh Hashanah I want to suggest to you that taking steps to green your life is more than marketing and more than slogans. Greening our lives and caring for our earth goes deeper than hybrid cars, and changing light bulbs. It goes to the very nature of these High Holy Days. For our environmental crisis is more than just an “Inconvenient Truth.” It is a deep spiritual crisis. It is a crisis of faith. It is a crisis within us that is reflected in the world around us an in our environment.
Rosh Hashanah has come to remind us and teach us of the fundamentals of a spiritual life—a life that teaches us to appreciate the Garden of our Earth and to guard it and protect it. Rosh Hashanah comes to help us make teshuvah—to turn our lives around and in so doing turn around the fate of the whole world.
The ancient wisdom of the Zohar, the primary book of the Kabbalah teaches this story: (Zohar 1:67a, Matt edition p. 394)
“He founded it upon seas and established it upon rivers” (Pslams 24:2) thus says the Psalmist. Seven pillars upon which She stands. They fill Her, She is filled by them. How? When the virtuous abound in the world, this earth yields fruit and is filled with all. When the wicked abound in the world, it is written; “Waters vanish from the sea; a river dries up and is parched.” (Job 14:11).
Even the mystics understood the spiritual crisis of the planet. When we live a holy, spiritual life, a life free of sin, the world is a vibrant garden. But when we sin, when we are filled with a sense that we are the ultimate arbiters of life itself, we destroy our world and eat away at its vibrancy. We cannot continue to commit such idolatry that continually keeps the imbalance in our lives. Rosh Hashanah reminds us that God is our partner in life. God created us, formed us and gave us our life. This High Holy Day Season is ours to rebalance and re-align the very core of our existence. This Season of Repentance is to help us rid our spirits of sin, change our ways, and renew our commitments. These High Holy Days have come to wake us up and remind us to live a life seeking out the holy, the blessings and reflecting the holy light of those blessing into the world around us. The shofar will sound to help remind you of your responsibilities.
The Alexander Rebbe writes that a state of sin creates a barrier through which the shefa, the Divine flow of blessing cannot pass. When we do teshuvah, repentance, we fix this state of separation. These High Holy Days by our prayers, our teshuvah, help us restore the Divine flow of holiness and blessing. Rosh Hashanah reminds us that without this flow, without this Divine Shefa coming forth, the Garden of Eden, our planet, will wither. For this Divine flow is understood as the liquid that waters the Garden and all of humanity.
Rav Avraham Kook, the first chief rabbi of Israel in the days before statehood, spoke of our attitude to the world as the songs we sing. (Orot Hakodesh II:444) “There are many levels of song. Some sing the song of the Soul. Within their own soul, they discover everything, their complete spiritual fulfillment. Others sing the Song of the Nation. They leave the restricted circle of the individual souls and with sublime love cleave to Knesset Israel (the Jewish People). They sing her songs, feel her pains, delight in her hopes and contemplate her past and her future. Others allow their souls to expand beyond the people Israel. They sing the Song of Humanity, reveling in the grandeur of humankind, the illustriousness of God’s divine image. They aspire towards humanity’s ultimate goal and yearn for its sublime fulfillment. From this source of life they draw inspiration for their universal thoughts and analyses, aspirations and visions. And some reach even higher in the expanse, until they unite with all of existence, with all creature and all worlds, with all of them, they sing the Song of the Universe.
Rav Kook taught that when all four songs come together - the song of self, Jewish people, humanity, and the whole earth - then it’s the song of God. Today on the birthday of all creation, we aspire to sing the song of the Universe and to unite ourselves with our world, our planet and one another. We are to create anew our whole selves and our whole world. We are to help heal this earth by healing the spiritual divide in us and making teshuvah—repentance for the messy situations we have managed to fall into.
A midrash: On Rosh Hashanah, the vitality of the world is connected with it’s Source. A Chasid once came to his rabbi in tears. “I feel so paralyzed. I’ve tried so hard to repair the world and it does no good – it’s just hopeless. The world is still filled with sin.” The rabbi very patiently embraced the man and explained: “Have hope. Before you change the world, you must start with yourself. And after you’ve repaired yourself, repair your community. And after your community, repair your nation. Know that then you will have begun to repair the world.
Tonight our task is clear---if we are to reverse the course of our global destruction, if we are to reverse the course of our spiritual weakness, we must use these High Holy Days to bring the Divine power, blessing and love back into the world and receive it in love. We must change our own attitudes and open our hearts and souls to the holiness that flows from the Divine light and the Divine Wisdom.
“God, from the very beginning of creation, was occupied before all else with planting … and first of all the Eternal God planted a Garden in Eden. Therefore occupy yourselves first and foremost with planting” teaches Leviticus Rabbah 25:3.
On this New Year—we too must plant---plant the seeds of renewal for our world and for our selves and tend the Garden of the spirit—both in our daily lives and year round.
The summer Richard graduated from college he rewarded himself with a trip to Europe. Armed with a journal, a backpack and a camera, he explored the rural villages of the countryside.
One day on a hike from one village to the next, he passed through a stretch of barren land. There he encountered an old man who carried a spade in his hand a sac of acorns on his back. Every few feet he stopped and dug a small hole in which he deposited an acorn. Richard and the man exchanged pleasantries and began a brief dialogue. “How many will you plant?” Richard asked.
“As many as will grow,” said the villager. “I will leave this world a little better than it was left for me.”
Years later, Richard retraced the footsteps of his earlier journey. This time, he brought along his own son who had just graduated from high school. They hiked to all the mountain villages that Richard had visited as a young man. He was amazed to discover how much the landscape had changed between the two villages where he had encountered the old man.
The once barren land was now heavily forested. Richard pulled out a photo of the old man in the empty field and showed it to his son. “Twenty five years ago none of these trees were here.”
“Wow!” his son cried, “all this grew from a few acorns?”
“No”, Richard corrected, “All of this grew because one person cared.”
(Adapted from “The Sower’s Seeds, Brian Cavanaugh Paulist Press”)
Just as one man cared enough to plant acorns along the way for a new generation, this High Holy Days we are challenged to plant both in our selves and the world around the opportunity for changing the world. We are challenged to heal the spiritual malaise that has made us cold and callous to the life of the spirit. We are challenged by this global crisis to examine the crisis of faith and spirit that lingers in us. And we are challenged to grow the character trait of compassion for ourselves and for our planet through the caring acts we engage in.
Hayom Harat Haolam: On this day the world is born. This day all creatures stand before You, whether as children or as servants. As we are Your children, show us a parent’s compassion. As we are Your servants, we look to You for compassion: shed the holy light of your judgment upon us, O holy and awesome God.” (Liturgy) And grant us a New Year of healing, a New Year of forgiveness and a New Year of life for ourselves, those we love and indeed life for our whole world.