Tu B'Shevat: The Most Important Day Of The Year
Pop quiz? What is the most important day of the year? That answer depends on who you are.
If you're Rudy, it's obviously 9uilliani day. If you're a devout Christian, you know that even though it looks like Christmas, Easter Sunday is the big one. Most people also seem to think that the big Jewish holiday is Chanukhah (lolcano!!!1!!11), but, in reality, there's more or less a Jewish holiday for every 5 minutes of the day. The Judaism 101 answer, of course, is Yom Kippur.
If you're a kid it might be your birthday or Christmas (oink, little consumerist piglet!), or if you're a homo-repressed flag waiving Nazi, it might be the 4th of July, or any other day with an excuse to blow shit up.
But I have an entirely different answer, and it has to do with the times we live in. If this was 1861 or 1961, I would say our national spirit needs to think more about Passover; and any time during the Cold War, any holiday of any religion reflecting on peace would be appropriate.
But now, I would submit the most important holiday is one most people have never heard of. Colloquially "Jewish Arbor Day," Tu B'Shevat (15th of the month Shevat), which occurs this year on January 22, is a holiday that is embodied by the teaching that humans must "be careful though, that you don't ruin or destroy the world, for if you ruin it there is no one who will repair it after you."
It is a day to remember our connection with and our dependency on the Earth. It's a time for reflecting on humanity's place on earth, and be humbled by it. If you're like me and you don't believe in the Man In The Sky(r), and nature is what's holy to you, this is the day.
Tu B'Shevat even has a seder, or a ritual order, like Passover, where you get drunk on wine and eat a bunch of fruits and nuts. It's the perfect holiday for anyone who lives near US-101.
The seder I have concludes with a reflection of 10 human plagues:
(1) Climate Change
(2) Deforestation
(3) Water Pollution
(4) Lead Poisoning
(5) Habitat Destruction
(6) Mountaintop Removal
(7) Radiation Poisoning/Nuclear Waste
(8) Factory Farming
(9) Overfishing
(10) Acid Rain
Maybe I've been on too many different prescription drugs over the last year, and too many drugs my whole life, but there is something criminal about destroying the planet, which teh Chrishtuns thinks is fine since this world sux0rz and they are going to heaven.
Judaism, on the other hand, tells us that we're here to repair the world; not exploit it, and that if there's going to be a "heaven" or a "messianic age" that we have to build it first, and repairing the earth is the way.
Earth Day is fine, but it's seen as a relic of the 60s. Tu B'Shevat is a chance to connect spiritually with the Earth (bordering on wiccan in its ways) that can appeal to broad swathes of people, who find themselves alienated by our clepto-consumerist captialism--and the fact that this comes right after Christmas makes it the perfect time.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Jewish Arbor Day
My husband says:
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7 comments:
This is a great post.
The only part I would implore to anyone reading is please, please, please...don't lump all Christians together. As with all other religions, indeed human groups, the voices and beliefs of few are not representative of all.
Hmmmm, first politics, now religion...this could get interesting!
OK, correction:
Not all "Christians" believe that the world to come is more important. There is a significant interfaith movement advocating for the environment.
But I would press you to deny that the current loathing for this world does not have its flames fanned by the Christian view of the afterlife.
Oh --- have you heard the news?
Apparently Bill and Hillary Clinton are big racists who hate black people. (Similarly, I don't believe Obama is a sexist or a homophobe.)
My God. Democrats, are we really going to political-correct ourselves into a division that reelects the GOP? It sounds like a Rush Limbaugh caricature coming true.
Sorry, Lara. We're getting divorced. I need a Canadian woman, stat. MANDY!!!!!!
Om Nemah Shevaya
I am speechless. All I know is that I met Gurumayi Chidvilasananda in the late 80's and I realized that there is more than enough. If we choose to view and act from scarcity, then we get all sorts of negativity. If we act from abundance then there will be enough.
And, yes, Tonya, it's too easy to lump all Christians together. I am sometimes guilty of that myself.
So, I am not speechless after all.
I apologize--I did not mean to lump Christians together. That is, of course, ridiculous. But it's important to recognize also a distinction between the people and the religion.
Just because some or many Christians don't behave in a certain way doesn't mean that Christianity doesn't have beliefs or tenets, and some of those beliefs and tenets have consequences.
Contempt for the earth goes back as far as the Gospel of John and St. Augustine's City of God. Even if some or many don't accept that orthodoxy, it's still orthodoxy, and, I believe not repudiated by Catholics, Orthodox, or any mainline denomination.
All right folks. I was just trying to say that much of what is labeld "Christianity" is the church corporate. Even going way back -- to what was included and excluded from Scripture. I have made it my own personal agenda to challenge my fellow Christians to remember that what many believe is the absolute word God has been heavily influenced by the church...at most times in history wholly controled by wealthy, powerful men who wanted to keep things that way.
And, I submit, this is completely contrary to theology of the very one the religion is named for....
Thanks for the great dialog!
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