For the next year, we will be studying covenant. Our first teacher will be Ari Kravis, our next Bar Mitzvah:

“A covenant is a promise or an agreement. My Torah portion is about Noah’s Ark and the promise of G-d to Noah. G-d wants us to keep G-d happy. If we keep god happy then we will hope that god will supply us with what we need to survive. Also we need to keep God happy because G-d controls if the sun and water are in balance and if they are not we could die. So god made a covenant between god and the people and gave us the rainbow as a sign of that covenant. That sign is a reminder of the balance between rain and sun, good and bad. G-d reminds us of that covenant in my haftarah. G-d promises a covenant of friendship and peace. At first, we didn’t really understand how friendship is related to peace. The Torah uses the word shalom—peace, but our translation says friendship. So G-d says He gave us a covenant of His peace or His friendship. Then I figured out that without friends you would be lonely and not have peace. Another thing I learned. Noah had put all the animals on the boat and all the people and animals today come from that ark. So what we all need to learn is that the earth today is the ark—protecting all the animals on it. We have a responsibility then, just like Noah, to care for the earth and all the animals on it. Otherwise, like in Noah’s day, everything could die.

What my Torah portion is saying is that we have to protect the animals that live on this earth.”

What Ari just taught us is two new things. That peace comes when you make friends—and are not lonely. That’s part of covenant. And that today, the whole world is the Ark and we have an obligation to protect it and the animals that live on it. Thank you, Ari, for your teaching. For your new midrash.

“G-d has created a new day. Silver and green and gold. Live that the sunset may find me. Worthy G-d’s gifts to hold.”

These are the words of an old Girl Scout grace. For the start of a new day. In that world, at dawn. Based on the very beginning of Genesis, there was evening and there was morning. The day of the One. We, Jews therefore mark the start of a new day at sunset. That is why tonight is Erev Rosh Hashanah, the evening of Rosh Hashanah. The beginning of a new day—and a new year.

L’shanah tovah! Happy New Year! Happy New Day!

Tonight is 5779. The birthday of the world. Happy Birthday World! And what a glorious world it is. Have you ever sat on a porch in the early morning, listening to the birds? Or watched a sunset over Lake Michigan? Or looked up at the stars? Or smelled the rain during a summer thunderstorm? Or walked through a primeval forest with a stand of 500 year old beech trees and watched the dappled sunlight through changing leaves? Then you may have experienced this glorious creation—and felt awe. We call this ten day period in Hebrew Yamim Noraim—the Days of Awe, because there is some fear and trembling with the shift in years. Our lives hang in the balance.

For the next year we are going to talk about covenant. What is a covenant? What does it mean to be in a covenantal relationship?

In Hebrew the word is brit. We know it from bringing a child into the covenant, when we welcome a boy into Judaism with a brit milah, a bris. And as Ari just explained it is an agreement or a promise.

Covenants are typically made between a ruler and (his) servants.

G-d, the King, makes such covenants with us. The first covenant was with Noah…G-d gave us the symbol of the rainbow, the sign that G-d would never destroy the world again—at least by flood. According to G-d, then, it is our job to take care of that world.

“When God created the first human beings, God led them around the Garden of Eden and said: ‘Look at my works! See how beautiful they are– how excellent! For your sake I created them all. See to it that you do not spoil and destroy My world; for if you do, there will be no one else to repair it.’” (Kohelet Rabbah( Ecclesiastes) 7:13)

Noah was a righteous man in his generation. There are seven laws that the rabbis deduce, the Seven Noahide Laws, those very basic things that without them you cannot have a just society. The very basic things you need to be a good person. A mensch.

As part of our exploration of covenant this year, the Hebrew School is using the book, A Kid’s Mensch Handbook, A Step by Step Guide to a Lifetime of Jewish Values. Scott Blumenthal argues on the very first page that our actions matter. That if you throw a rock into a pond, a lake, an ocean, there is a ripple effect. Maimonides, centuries earlier make a similar argument…that our individual actions can tip the scale (citation!)

Both say that your actions matter. It is like the starfish story that I often retell:

A grandfather and his granddaughter are walking on the beach. Every so often she picks up a starfish and throws it out into the water. He stops her and says, “Why are you doing that? You can’t possible save them all.”

She bends down, picks up another starfish and throws it into the sea, “It makes a difference to this one.” Her grandfather then joins her, hurling starfish back into the sea. (Adapted from the Star Thrower by Loren C. Eiseley)

Her actions matter. That’s how it is with many of our actions. It takes all of us to save the starfish. That’s part of being in the covenant.

Think globally, act locally. The roots of this sermon were indeed very local.

One Friday afternoon, walking through the newly revamped Elgin Farmer’s Market, preparing for Shabbat, I ran into Robin Migalla at the Shared Harvest booth. She does a lot of environmental awareness in Elgin. She challenged me, “What are you going to do about the pope’s summit on the climate? It’s September 8^th.” I knew nothing about this event. “Nothing,” I replied. “It’s Shabbat.” Then I began to think. “Why couldn’t we do something for Rosh Hashanah. After all, it is the birthday of the world.

It turns out there are several events this week about protecting the environment. The first, held over the weekend was Rise for Climate ahead of the Global Climate Action Summit which is taking place in San Francisco later this week. The pope did in fact call for the support of citizens’ pressure groups worldwide.” 

http://globalclimateactionsummit.org/

Surprisingly to me, there were very few of the usual national Jewish groups signing on to these events. And even after asking on one of my online rabbinic groups, it is not clear why, except that some saw a conflict with Rosh Hashanah.

I come by this commitment naturally. One might even joke genetically. The first time I was aware of the environment and our responsibility as human beings was 1970. My father wasn’t happy with a Weekly Reader article about the ozone layer. I was in 4^th grade—and mortified when he came to visit my teacher. However, he took the Evanston Public Schools to task. And won. Together with his professor from Washington University in Saint Louis, Barry Commoner, he then went on to be one of the founders of Earth Day. https://www.earthday.org/about/the-history-of-earth-day/ His actions made a difference.

Today, we say, is the birthday of the world. I believe it is possible to, even necessary to hold our knowledge of science and our knowledge of the Bible together at the same time. For my father, that was a problem. For some fundamentalists of many religions that is also a problem. For me, not so much. But that is a sermon for another time.

Before the world was created, G-d alone existed. There are many midrashim, stories about the story, that describe how G-d created the world. How G-d asks the angels to participate. How G-d chooses the letter “bet” to begin creating with which is the story I told Friday night. And one from Midrash Tehilim on the Book of Psalms, that says that G-d got really, really frustrated with His creation and created and destroyed the world 974 times before G-d had it just right. G-d changed the world back into tohu v’vohu, chaos, emptiness and void. Over and over again, G-d kept trying to get it perfect. I imagine G-d like a little kid playing with blocks, building up a tower and then smashing it down. Or maybe like building a sand castle and having it washed away by the waves. One after another, G-d created a thousand worlds that preceded this one. All of them were then swept away in the blink of an eye. When G-d was finally satisfied, G-d said, “For behold! I am creating a new heaven and new earth.” (Isaiah 65:17).

The rabbis debate whether it was 974 worlds or a thousand worlds. The Zohar even wonders whether G-d actually built those other worlds or just thought about building them. It doesn’t really matter.

It doesn’t really matter how many worlds there were or will be. It doesn’t really matter whether those first worlds were in error. Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berdicheve insisted that “everything that G-d created exists forever and never ceases to be.” That sounds a little like the first law of thermodynamics, that matter is never created or destroyed. That’s still relevant.

What matters our actions to be caretakers of this earth. Of G-d’s creation. In Deuteronomy we learn that when we siege a city, because sadly war is sometimes still necessary, we cannot cut down the fruit trees. (Deuteronomy 20).

From that we learn the principle of bal taschit. This is what Chabad said bal taschit:

The Torah teaches us that we are not to cut down fruit trees in wartime. Yet the rabbis in the Babylonian Talmud (c. 200–500 CE) understand verse 19 (above) to be a general principle beyond war and The Torah forbids the destruction of edible fruit trees. They employ a common form of rabbinic interpretation, making a logical inference from a more stringent to a less stringent case. If Jews must not cut down fruit trees in the extreme case of a war of conquest, when destruction is the norm, how much the more so does this apply to normal life. (https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1892179/jewish/Judaism-and-Environmentalism-Bal-Tashchit.htm)

Our actions still matter today.

Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, famous for his care of orphaned children in the Warsaw ghetto identifies the creation and destruction of the prior worlds with the Shattering of the Vessels. He explains that God made the present universe out of those broken vessels. The story of the shattering of the vessels and the gathering of the sparks together is the underpinnings of what we call tikkun olam, repair of the world. “The Shattering of the Vessels and Gathering the Sparks,” p. 122.

The story is that when G-d made the world, G-d made it full of light. The light was so bright that G-d created a vessel to hold the light. But the divine light was too strong for the vessel and it shattered into pieces. These bits and holy sparks scattered into the world. Our job as humans is to find the holy sparks through prayer and action and put the pieces of broken vessels, our broken world. In doing so, we act as partners with God in the work of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world). That’s how we are partners, caretakers with G-d in protecting creation. That’s how our actions matter.

 According to one of the midrashim about creation, Sefer ha-Zikranot 1:1 is that this world couldn’t come into being until G-d created repentance, t’shuvah, T’shuvah, therefore is the key element that made our world possible. Tomorrow we will talk more about keys. For now, what is important to know if that repentance is one of the keys to the covenant. One of the tools we need to be menschen, mensches, good people. Doing acts of teshuvah matter, it is what keeps our world alive.

This summer many of you went to our beautiful national parks. I saw pictures of Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons and Mount Rushmore, of the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument, of Sleeping Bear Dunes and the Indiana Lakeshores. I saw pictures of the Smokey Mountains—and smoke filled skies out west. That smoke made it all the way to our skies here in Chicagoland. It is part of the ripple effect. Actions that happen elsewhere effect our world right here.

We want those beautiful places to be here for our children and grandchildren. It is part of our legacy. It is part of their inheritance. The Talmud tells a similar story:

“One day, Honi the Circle Maker was walking on the road and saw a man planting a carob tree. Honi asked the man, “How long will it take for this tree to bear fruit?” The man replied, “Seventy years.” Honi then asked the man, “And do you think you will live another seventy years and eat the fruit of this tree?”

The man answered, “Perhaps not. However, when I was born into this world, I found many carob trees planted by my father and grandfather. Just as they planted trees for me, I am planting trees for my children and grandchildren so they will be able to eat the fruit of these trees.” (Ta’anit 23a retold by Peninah Schram)

My message today is that our actions matter. There are things that we can do, right here at CKI, right in your own homes. Be careful how you use water. Recycle. Give up your plastic straws and water bottles. Turn off lights. Drive less. Drive smarter. For each of you, there is a hand-out at the back of 10 Ways You Can Help the Planet: The Ripple Effect. There is also a piece of beach glass—those broken bottles that have been tumbled by the lake making them beautiful—to remind you that your actions matter and that we have an obligation to put those pieces of glass back together again.

The Talmud teaches us that whoever destroys a single life, it is considered as if he or she destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life of Israel, it is considered as if the entire world is saved. (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5; Yerushalmi Talmud 4:9, Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 37a.)

This gives us another Jewish principle of pekuach nefesh. It is possible to break almost any mitzvah, any commandment in order to save a life. One way we can do that at CKI is Mandy’s upcoming blood drive as her Bat Mizvah project. A way to honor the legacy of her grandfather, it is truly a way to save lives. Our actions count! 3 lives for every pint of blood donated.

Another important way to make our actions count this year is by voting. Whatever political party you are supporting. Whoever your favorite candidate is. As my friend and colleague Rabbi Joel Moshbacher said to his congregation before the New York primary—and then picked up nationally by the Reform Movement:

“Voting is about optimism and hope, about envisioning a world more whole and committing to enact that vision, and about seeing ourselves as partners with G-d in the going work of creation,”

Part of the message of Rosh Hashanah is clear. Our actions matter. Our actions are like rocks that we throw into the pond, creating ripples. The ripple effect. Maimonides, the great rabbi and philosopher, challenged us to imagine that even a single action could “tip the balance, our own balance and the balance of the entire world.” In short, our actions matter. As we reflect about our actions this past year and think about our actions in the year to come, know that each of us has the power to tip the scale to the good.

After services, during Apples and Honey Fest, please feel free to take a copy of 10 Things You Can Do to Help the Environment and a beach of beach glass to remind you all year of the ripple effect. Your actions matter. L’shanah Tovah.

Additional Sources:

Genesis Rabbah 3:7, 9:2, 28:4, 33:3; Exodus Rabbah 1:2, 30:3; B. Hagigah 13b; Midrash

Tehillim 90:13; Midrash Aleph Bet 5:5; Eliyahu Rabbah 2:9; Zohar 1:24, 1:154a, 1:262b,

3:135a-135b, Idra Rabbah; Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 3; Sefer ha-’Iyyun Ms. Hebrew

University 8330; Zohar Hadash; Sefer ha-Zikhronot 1:1; Rashi on Shabbat 88b; No’am

Elimelekh, Bo 36b; Kedushat Levi; Or ha-Hayim 1:12; Esh Kadosh; Otzrot Rabbi Yitzhav

Yitzhak Eizik Haver, p.1.

Studies:

The Holy Fire: The Teachings of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the Rebbe of the

Warsaw Ghetto by Nehemia Polen.

http://www.umsl.edu/~schwartzh/samplemyths_2.htm

10 Ways You Can Help the Planet: The Ripple Effect

1. Use less water. Turn off the water while you are brushing your teeth. Fix the leaky toilet or sink. You can save 200 gallons a day. Or try a low flush toilet like they have at the Morton Arboretum. Install a rain barrel as we will here to water the community garden.. Try tap water—or filtered water rather than all the plastic bottles. Wash your clothes in cold water.
2. Leave your car at home. If you can stay off the road just two days a week you can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 15,90 pounds per year according to the EPA. So combine your errands. It will save gas and time.
3. Walk or ride your bike to work. Do what Pastor Katie from Highland Avenue Church of the Brethren does. Bike. All over town. Great for health as you burn some calories. If you can’t walk or ride (or run)—try mass transit or carpooling. One of the great things about Elgin is the Metra—quick and easy way to get into Chicago and now the Pace Bus over at Jane Addams. Also the series of bike trails. Try the one along the river.
4. It reduces pollution just by remembering to put the bottle or can in the recycling bin. Here at CKI we have single stream recycling—and we have bins in the office and the kitchen.
5. We used to have compost here at CKI. It would be great to start up again as a way to feed our community garden and keep additional “trash” out of our landfill.
6. Look up. The lights above you are now LEDs, using on average 2/3rds less energy. Our newest appliances at CKI are Energy Star rated. Energy Star estimates that since December 2013 it has helped families and businesses save $295 billion on utility bills and prevented more that 2.3 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions from being released in the past two decades. My dream is to one day have a solar ner tamid, our Eternal Light. My teacher Rabbi Everett Gendler, installed and dedicated the first solar ner tamid in 1978 at Temple Emanuel of the Merrimack Valley. The sun is eternal—or at least we think. This is an important symbolic act—because our actions matter.
7. Make your home—and CKI—more energy efficient. It saves money. Clean your air filter. Get a programmable thermostat—as CKI has already done. Reduce the temperature when you are sleeping.
8. Maintain your car. Underinflated tires decrease fuel economy and increase air pollution. And underinflation increases tire wear, so you will save money—on gas and new tires. While you are at it:
9. Drive smarter. Drive slower. Save more gas. Save more money.
10. Turn off lights when you are not in the room and unplug appliances when you are not using them.

https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/save-earth-top-ten1.htm