Fresh Updates from RAC

Aside from receiving the Torah, Shavuot is also a grain harvest. In the age of booming urban sprawl, processed foods and industrial sized sodas, it is easy to forget that many of the important philosophies on tzedakah and sustainability are rooted (pun intended) in agricultural rituals. When harvesting a field, we are taught to leave whatever falls to the ground and the corners of our fields for the poor and the stranger (Leviticus 19:9-11). Even in our times of plenty, the fruits of our labor should be shared with those who are less fortunate. This tradition, while perhaps removed from the realities of 21^st century life, should remind us that as we take in the rewards our hard work has produced we should also give to those who are less fortunate. Money may not grow on trees, rendering the “leave the corners” command a little murkier to follow, but we should still make the effort to live by the spirit of our teachings.

Generosity in our harvesting and planting should not end with the sharing of the corners of a field. Every seven years, during the shmita year, we must allow our fields to rest. They are given a year without being used to produce food. Just as we are commanded to take the seventh day to rest, we must also allow our fields to rest and recuperate as well. As we celebrate this Shavuot, let us reflect on what it means to harvest in this era and how we can give back to our communities and our world.

Image courtesy of David Angel.

Gridlock in Congress has been the topic of many articles, blog posts, angry rants and headaches for a long time. Setting aside the many legislative issues that are hotly debated and brought to a halt for one reason or another, the confirmation process for judicial and Administration nominees has shown less movement than a pond of stagnant water. On Thursday a group of senators marched out of the Environment and Public Works committee hearing, effectively blocking the nomination of Gina McCarthy to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The McCarthy example is just that—an example. For the past several congresses under the leadership of both parties, the confirmation process for many important positions in the judicial and administrative branches of government has been unbelievably slow.  There are currently 82 vacant positions for federal judges. According to a CRS report, non-controversial circuit court nominees take, on average, 227 days to be confirmed after they are nominated. Under the Reagan Administration the average wait time was 64.5 days. While the wait time has been growing steadily since 1981, the fact that almost 64% of nominees now wait for over 200 days for confirmation now, when only 5% waited that long in the ‘80s, spells out just how unreasonably slow the confirmation process has been.

Jewish tradition teaches the necessity of fair, just and impartial courts. In Exodus 18:21, for example, Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, advises him to choose capable, trustworthy and law abiding members of society as judges. We are also taught of the ethical obligation to oppose unjust persons and unfair judgments; judges should neither “favor the poor nor show deference to the rich” (Leviticus 19:15). The importance of justice is, thus, a key part of Jewish tradition. When nominees to our courts and other key government positions are unreasonably held up, it can cause significant repercussions for the effectiveness of our public institutions; in truth, justice delayed is justice denied.

Image Courtesy of Times Higher Education (THE).

Despite the name’s implied simplicity, the Farm Bill is a collection of a wide range of polices. By cobbling together policy priorities for rural, urban and even suburban constituencies into a single piece of legislation, legislators can more readily build support for a bill that may otherwise lack appeal to Members of Congress who represent constituencies unaffected by specific provisions. Some of the polices folded into this behemoth of a bill are conservation initiatives.

The Farm Bill provides $4 billion a year in federal funding for land trusts and other conservation initiatives, making it the single largest source of such funds. In fact, the 2008 bill included over $23 billion in funds that directly or indirectly helped with wildlife habitat and water preservation and restoration. While it is easy to look at the bill’s name and assume that agricultural land is the primary focus of the bill, the reality is that all types of lands – public and private – have applicable provisions somewhere in the bill.

The nature of these various programs, combined of course with poverty reduction programs like SNAP, make this a piece of legislation that is steeped in Jewish tradition. Genesis calls on us to “till and guard” the earth (Genesis 2:15). The Farm Bill is about preserving (guarding) the earth as well as funding and establishing programs for farming (tilling). This commandment and, of course, our obligation to help the most vulnerable members of our society require us to support key provisions of the Farm Bill and work toward its expedited passage.

Image courtesy of USDA.

This excerpt is taken from a new post in the Jewish Energy Guide created by the Coalition for the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL). Rabbi David Seidenberg uses his website, Neohasid.org, to teach eco-Torah, including the environmental implications of Rainbow Day. He discusses the covenant God made with Noah, and how we should reflect more often on the rainbow covenant and our role in sustaining the environment.

Excerpt: Rainbow Day, which falls on the 42nd day of the counting of the omer, and the day after Yom Yerushalayim — Jerusalem Day — is a time to celebrate the diversity of life on Earth, and to remember our role in God’s covenant. It is a time to remember that the first covenant was not with human beings but with all living things, and it’s a chance to reflect on the deep spiritual and religious meaning of diversity, creation and our role as part of Creation and partners with God. This is a special time in human civilization when we need to reflect on the rainbow covenant and our place in sustaining a world where sowing and reaping, cold and hot, summer and winter will not stop.

Click here to read to the full post.

For all of the sci-fi-loving Jews out there, happy Star Wars Day! It may seem odd that a Jewish blog would produce a post for this secular (ok, cult) holiday, but the reality is that the names, story lines and even vocabulary of the “Star Wars” universe have important connections to Judaism and to its teachings. Recall C3PO’s dissatisfaction as he proclaims, “We seem to be made to suffer. That’s our lot in life.” Apparently this protocol droid fluent in over 6 million forms of communication is most comfortable conversing in Jewish guilt.

For those of you who have not taken a few hours to immerse yourself in the universe of Star Wars, let me give you a brief synopsis. The two trilogies follow Anakin Skywalker’s life from a young child to Jedi Knight and keeper of the peace to Sith Lord bent on Galactic domination. The heart of the story line is the struggle of good vs. evil. In Episodes I, II and III we witness the internal struggle between Anakin’s noble aspirations to be a keeper of the peace within the republic, a Jedi Knight, and his own desires and ambitions. The latter eventually wins out, and Anakin leads an army of storm troopers, loosely based on the storm troopers of Nazi Germany, on a tirade to replace the republic with a dictatorship. The culmination of this effort is the virtual annihilation of the Jedi Order. In Episodes IV, V and VI, a scrappy coalition of resistance fighters led by Anakin’s son, Luke, seek to overthrow the newly established empire and resurrect the republic. In the final chapter, Luke becomes the only surviving Jedi and is, presumably, the founder of a new Jedi Order.

The term “Jedi,” some have argued, is based on the German word “Jude” meaning Jew. The Jedi are portrayed as being somewhere between UN peacekeepers and monks dedicated to achieving a greater intellectual and spiritual understanding of the universe. In essence, Jedi Knights are the embodiment of Jewish philosophy; they study and work to achieve universal peace and prosperity and stand up to fight for the little guy. Indeed, as the Galactic Storm Troopers destroy the Jedi’s temple and massacre its residents, you can even see parallels to our people’s storied history as the quintessential victims of persecution.

Moreover, when the wise Jedi Master Yoda, a 900 year old Jedi with a bald head and a propensity to talk about the antics of youth and lament how old he feels welcomes a stranger, Luke Skywalker, into his home, he may not be serving matzah-ball soup, but it is not hard to imagine that he could. In fact Yoda’s name is close to the Hebrew root “yeda,” which translates to “knowing.” It is not hard to imagine him telling tails of days gone by around the Jedi Council table. Does that describe any Jewish grandfathers you know? If you need further proof, the name of the mentor of both Anakin and Luke Skywalker, Obi Wan Kenobi, bares a striking resemblance to the Hebrew “k’nah vi,” which translates to “like a prophet.” Obi Wan undergoes a transformation into some kind of non-corporeal being gently exerting influence on events as they unfold. Sounds profit-esque to me.

As Star Wars Day falls on Shabbat this year, there are even more important themes to reflect on. In both our “real” world and in the Star Wars universe, the rise of evil is and was facilitated by the indignation and inaction of those who are not directly affected.

We should all strive to be like Yoda. We want to live to a ripe old age, accumulate knowledge, achieve great wisdom and stand up and fight evil and hatred when it stares us right in the face.

Shabbat Shalom and may the force be with you!

Welcome the stranger, care for the sick, just don’t do both! No, the last part is not part of Jewish tradition, but it is part of the new immigration reform proposal. While the new Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill includes a number of laudable improvements like creating a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers and other undocumented immigrants, it also excludes them from social services like healthcare.

Read more…

Did you know that 65% of Jews think that U.S. culture is in a better place than it was in the 1950’s? And who says that Jews are cynical!

This morning’s session with Dr. Robert Jones, founding CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), guided participants of the Consultation on Conscience through the cold, hard numbers that help to guide U.S. public policy. We learned about the dramatic shifts in public opinion around marriage equality, the degree to which diversifying voting coalitions (along both religious and ethnic lines) will set the stage for national politics in the next decade, and how we should be phrasing our campaigns for comprehensive immigration reform to most effectively build successful coalitions.

Read more…

Ok. So, we hear talk all the time about energy and renewable energy and how much energy we consume and changing our energy sources. Most of us have some relatively basic understanding of how energy and electricity work, which is to say we get that it has to be “made” somewhere and then transported to us. Some of us might even understand that there are differences between fuel types and that utility companies oversee the whole apparatus, but let’s be honest, it’s a complicated system that can, and does, take years to dissect and understand. Energy is a complex topic that is heavily rooted in science.

Finding a simple explanation for how the electricity industry works in the U.S. is like looking for a needle in a haystack. There are words, phrases, acronyms and jargon that are just not easily accessible to us average non-scientists. So, when you stumble onto a simple, yet complete, layman’s explanation of the whole thing, it is worth sharing with the world. If you have ever wondered what, where, when, how or WTF about the energy sector in the United States, it is well worth taking a look this presentation or written outline of the U.S. energy industry.

It is simple, easy to understand, and reasonably comprehensive about what energy generation in the U.S. is all about. Think of it as an opportunity to learn something new. What is more Jewish than study?

Image Courtesy of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA).