Divrei Torah and Teachings
The previous generations mastered the keys to unlock all the gates of the worlds above. But the time has come to smash the locks!
Tikkun Olam: 15+ centuries of teachings on "Repairing the World"
Discover amazing texts, along with irrefutable proof that the social justice interpretation of Tikkun Olam goes back centuries.All the Torah verses about protecting the stranger
Get all the verses in Tanakh about the stranger and refugee in a single doc – first created to support the fight for #DACA.
Text study: "Jesters of the King"
Midrash and Kabbalah in Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah
Waking Up the Chamets!
A strange rule about Chamets can teach us some profound lessons.Yachats: Sharing the Broken Piece
At Yachats we split the middle matsah, inviting the stranger to share a fragment of broken matsah that wouldn't be even enough for one.Yedid Nefesh
Learn about the structure of Yedid Nefesh and what it means! Listen to Emilia Cataldo's Yedid Nefesh in 3/4 time (think fast waltz) that interweaves two voices in harmony.Genesis-Shmitah Covenant
Why do we have a covenant? A comparative study of Genesis and Shmitah gives us an answer.Kashroots: Noah, Leviticus, and an Eco-History of the Kosher Laws
"Every religion is shaped by a place and teaches how to live in that place. I’ve always believed that keeping kosher was not just a way of creating Jewish identity, but also a way to create a society attuned to the land..."Breaking Open the Abyss – on Tisha B'Av and the Gulf
When King David disturbs the foundation stone of the world, the waters of the t'hom, the abyss, rise up through the breach King David has made, threatening to destroy the worldThe Ultimate Text Crunching Sheet for Tu Bish'vat
Study, for many days or for one seder, some of the great Jewish and Kabbalistic texts on fruit, trees and the earth.Dominion
Dominion in the Bible is not the anti-environmental concept that both environmentalists and anthropocentrists would imagine...Blessing from the first published Tu Bish'vat Seder
From the 16/17th century seder manual, P'ri Eits Hadar, based on the Kabbalah of the four worlds. The original seder calls on us to bring blessing to all creation.Shechitah notes
"This one that didn’t sin was slaughtered..."Eco-Torah on Sukkot
Teachings about Sukkot exploring the symbolism of the lulav species, the meaning of the Hoshanot prayers, the Tishrei cycle, the rules about s'khakh, and the waving of the lulav, in the light of ecology and the climate crisis.Hayom Harat Olam: Rosh Hashanah and Our Planet
A unique reading of the words we say when we hear the shofar on Rosh Hashanah.Clouds, Yom Kippur, and Climate Change: In the Balance
Are our environmental "sins" are like an 'av, a thick cloud that will storm us, or like an 'anan, a cloud that ultimately will pass on?Who says, I will sin and then atone...
One who says, I will sin and I will return, I will sin and I will returnthere is not enough in his hand to do t'shuvah...
Ramak: "Love your fellow species like yourself"
Moshe Cordovero on the need to extend human ethical principles to animals and other lviing creatures.God's "body"
Heikhalot Rabbati on seeing the cosmos as the body of God.The Torah's Only "Inalienable Right": for the Land
Reb Duvid's Tikkun article on the intersection of human rights and ecology. How can human rights become part of ecology? "Human Rights and Ecology" breaks new theological ground, and includes a section on the Bedouin.Liberation and the Land
"An Earth Covenant Perspective on Human Rights" taught at the first Rabbis for Human Rights Conference in NYC.Vashti is Shekhinah
The Izhbitzer rebbe on Vashti the queen.Longer meditations on Pri Etz Hadar
Imagine a Jewish practice which has the purpose of restoring all the species and creatures, and all the sparks they contain, to the fullness of blessing.Chanukah v. Purim: Awakening from Above
The dreidel v. the grogger.The Existential Dreidel
Rebbe Nachman's explanation for why we spin the Dreidel. Those letters on the Dreidel mean something completely different than you thought. Mind-blowing...Redemption In Darkness
Some reflections on the meaning of Chanukah.Rambam and the Earth
Maimonides' Guide is the foundation for any Jewish ecotheology.from The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature