Pre-shabbat action

Make climate action a regular habit, and connect that action to your Jewish values and practices.

Pre-shabbat action of the week

Shabbat Shalom! After a week of troubling events around the country, empower yourself by taking action before settling into Shabbat.

There’s news on the NY HEAT front! Sponsors in the Assembly and Senate have introduced a new version of the bill called the Customer Savings and Reliability Act (S8241/A8889); it’s designed to be a compromise that meets the concerns expressed by reluctant Assemblymembers. (Read Renewable Heat Now’s statement about the bill.) While it’s not everything we want, it’s a significant step in the right direction and has a much better chance of passing, so we’re going to throw all our weight behind getting this done in the last few days of the legislative session, starting with calling our Assemblymembers and Speaker Carl Heastie using the easy call tool here. After you call, you’ll be able to follow up with an easy email as well.

Idea to Ponder:

This week I would like to turn our attention to the haftorah for B’halotecha, taken from Zecharia. Its penultimate verse is recognizable, particularly at Chanukah, “…Not through might and not through power but through my Spirit….” (3:6). This phrase has resounded through generations to remind us that our efforts are based on a tradition that among other things, cares about the earth. For God having generated the world with the divine spirit, we, too were created B’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God. Therefore we also contain this Spirit.

Zecharia’s words inform us that there is an ineffable power within and outside each human propelling us to work for a healthy environment regardless of the odds against us. It is up to us to harness and direct this power, even in the face of disappointment and defeat. We are not the first nor will we be the last to use our hearts and minds rather than arms to fight for a common good. Continue to fight the good fight!