A Higher Forum: Rabbi combines religion, environmental beliefs

By RABBI BETH JANUS
Special to the Sentinel

I was ordained as a rabbi a year ago and moved to Santa Cruz from New York City. The question I am constantly asked is, why Santa Cruz?

One of my greatest passions is the outdoors. I love hiking, camping, roller-blading, biking. Like many people who move to Santa Cruz, I was attracted here because of the incredible beauty.

I am amazed and hope to always be amazed at how stunning the redwoods are, the beaches, the wildflowers in the spring, and the weather.

Another one of my great passions is, of course, Judaism. Early in my Jewish studies, I began to combine my love for Judaism with my love for the environment — and found they had much to say to each other.

Judaism recognized early on the complexities of living on the planet. While it is good to say that human beings should protect the environment, just being alive does damage to the planet. We all need to use natural resources for our safety and comfort.

So our holy text, the Torah, tells us that we are to use the planet to our benefit, while also telling us that we are obligated to protect the planet.

We are constantly reminded that the earth belongs to G-d. Our tradition understands the tension between living on earth and being good stewards of the earth. Unfortunately we in America have forgotten our responsibility.

But in modern times, religious folks, including Jews, have not always been environmental leaders. So another reason I chose Santa Cruz is that I knew that I would meet like-minded people. I chose to work specifically at Temple Beth El because I knew that the temple took its job as a "steward of the earth" seriously.

When our building went up in 1989, we looked for ways to build that were more environmentally responsible, such as using skylights to decrease our dependence on electricity.

We have an active "greening" committee that researches ways for us to be better environmentally.

While practicing Judaism is occasionally at odds with being an environmentalist, for the most part, being an observant Jew encourages my environmental sensibility.

Each year we have three holidays (Sukkot, Passover and Shavuot) that are connected with the harvests. Because most of us are no longer farmers, these holidays can help connect us to the land.

We just celebrated Sukkot, the fall harvest holiday. During this week we moved out of our houses and into a temporary "booth," which we built on our lawns.

Eating and sleeping outside, we are reminded to be less focused on material goods and more focused on the natural world. We remember, away from our warm and "safe" homes, that life is fragile and precious.

The Jewish environmental movement is taking our ancient traditions and adding modern ethical principles. For instance, in Judaism we have laws regarding the food that we consume and special blessings that we say before and after we eat. This teaches us to be conscious of what we put in our bodies; eating has the potential to be sacred.

Jews have taken these traditional laws of kashrut and added environmental awareness. Was this fruit sprayed with pesticides that harmed the farm workers and will harm my body? Is this packaging necessary or recyclable?

Adhering to environmental food ethics is called eco-kashrut. There is a national group called the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life that brings together Jewish environmentalists. And we have a local chapter here in Santa Cruz.

As a new rabbi in town, I am trying to bring more Jewish environmental awareness to the temple community and the Santa Cruz community. I try to teach our kids and our adults to be conscious, and I always welcome any suggestions on how to improve on what we are doing.

Next weekend I am excited to lead our second annual "Eco-Shabbat." Instead of having a traditional Shabbat (sabbath) service at the temple, we will hike together, eat lunch, learn about the connections between Judaism and the natural world, and have a creative Shabbat service.

We will meet on Saturday, Oct. 19. at 10 a.m. at the entrance to Nisene Marks Park. I welcome anyone to meet us there who has a love of Judaism and the environment.

Bring water and a picnic lunch. If you have any questions about environmental issues, call me at 479-3444 or e-mail me at bjan@sbcglobal.net.

Beth Janus is the assistant rabbi at Temple Beth El in Aptos.