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Microsoft Word – Kedoshim 2021.docx

Kedoshim and Earth Day 25th day of the Counting of the omer Netzach within Netzach.

Kedoshim t’hyu, ki kadosh, ani, Adonai Elohechim. Holy you shall be, for I, Yah, your G!d am holy!

Double parashah this week, and Rabbi Mira spoke of Acharei mot, so I will speak about Kedoshim . In this amazing parashah, G!d tells us to act toward the earth and one another in holy ways. The reason: B/c the creator of life and love, and this wondrous planet is holy! Here is all of Torah, standing on one foot, says the great Hillel: love your near one as yourself, the rest is commentary. And important to see on this earth day, Netzah shb’netzach where we learn again, there is an important connection between our moral behavior and the land. There is karma, there are consequences for our actions and those consequences are played out via the land..

19:29 Do not profane your daughter, using chilul – the same word used a few verses earlier as a as something not to do toward G!D and make her a harlot, and don’t prostitute the land, or the earth will be filled with depravity

First of all, how could a parent do such a thing? Well it seems that in poverty, you could hire your children out as indentured servants, or marry a daughter off for the bride price. Rashi explains that Torah here speaks of one who gives his unmarried daughter away as an illegitimate concubinage. This marrying off of young girls still goes on. I have supported an organization called unchained at last, started by activist Freidy Reiss, survivor of an arranged, forced marriage to an abusive spouse, lobbying for ending child marriage in this country. Gov Murphy signed into law in NJ 2018! New York permits 17-year-olds to marry with court approval

But what do we make of the second half of the verse, and don’t prostitute the earth, or the earth will be filled with depravity. Rashi explains: If you do this to your daughter the soil will become faithless to you in the distribution of its fruits, producing them in other places and not in your land. But perhaps it’s resonance of feminine: Honor your daughter as you honor Shechinah, the feminine indwelling presence of G!d in the land. We prayed twice this morning – m’lo kol ha- artetz k’vodo – the whole earth is filled with G!d’s glory. Shechinah is often understood as inhabiting the beauty and bounty of the earth which nourishes us. Uninhibited as always, Zohar explains that the fertile valleyof Hizon/vision between two mountains are the breasts of Shechina, nourishing the children of israel in the valley between! And El Shaddai means G!d of breasts. I love this image of G!d nursing and nourishing us.

And yet we prostitute the earth. We have destroyed the great forests of the planet in the name of profit. Read the Pulitzer Winner The Overstory by Richard Powers, breathtakingly beautiful and heartbreaking. We are still doing it in the great Amazon, (where the richness of the land is in the forest canopy, burned up into smoke a double whammy toward climate change, chillul/profaning Shechinah) And we pollute the earth, suburban gardens pouring far more pesticides per acre even than farms in ignorance and in homage to the god of green lawns, poisoning the butterflies, birds, bees, fireflies, the groundwater, and our netzach, our ability to remain alive on this planet.

Today’s symbol for Netzach she’bnetzach is the redwood tree, Redwoods have been around for about 240 million years, 300 feet or more, Officially, the oldest living coast redwood is at least 2,200 years old, but foresters believe some coast redwoods may be much older.
They are carbon soakers, climate change heroes, Redwoods live so long because they are extremely resistant to insects, fire and rot.

Be holy, for the love of our daughters and sons through whom we endure, so we can endure on this land G!d has gifted us. Earth Day is a reminder that we are connected to all living creatures, that we only endure together loving one another and the other creatures of this planet earth.

Be like a tree
Eytz chayim hee
Who will remain after you to repair this wondrous world?

NPS