Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Rabbi Arthur Waskow founded and directs [The Shalom Center]http://bit.ly/1pkXmOG. Of his 22 books, the newest are a revised edition of Seasons of Our Joy (Jewish Publication Society, 2012) and Freedom Journeys: The Tale of Exodus & Wilderness Across Millennia, co-authored with Rabbi Phyllis Berman (Jewish Lights, 2011). Of his arrests -- of about 22 -- the newest was in 2013 at an interfaith climate action at the White House before Passover & Palm Sunday. See also Waskow, “Jewish Environmental Ethics: Adam and Adamah,” in the Oxford Handbook of Jewish Ethics and Morality (Elliot N. Dorff and Jonathan K. Crane, eds.; Oxford University Press, 2013).

Faith and Practice

How Is This Rosh Hashanah Different from All Other Rosh Hashanahs?

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow

At the religious and spiritual level, 5775 will be a seventh year according to the ancient counting, a Sabbatical Year of Shmita (“release” or “non-attachment”). In such a year, Torah (Leviticus 25) commands that the earth be allowed to rest. This will be the first Sabbatical/Shmita Year since the dispersion and exile of Jews from the land of Israel about 2,000 years ago.

At the political and activist level, we are entering Rosh Hashanah with a major leap in involvement of the American Jewish community in addressing the climate crisis that is bringing global scorching upon the world — unprecedented droughts, floods, famines, with worse to come.

Editor’s Note: This article is part of ZEEK’s series on Jews and climate justice.

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