SUKKOT:

Sukkot and Ecology: Food for Healthy People and a Healthy Planet

TEXT STUDY FOR YOUR SUKKOT TABLE

You shall celebrate the festival of ingathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labors of the field. Exodus 23:16

One generation goes and another generation comes, but the earth abides forever. Ecclesiastes 1:4 (Ecclesiastes is traditionally read during Sukkot)

Consider the work of God: for who can make straight that which has been made crooked? Ecclesiastes 7:13

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! Take care not to spoil or destroy My world, for if you do, there will be no one to repair it after you. Midrash Rabbah, commentary on Ecclesiastes 7:13 (above)

What do these texts teach us about our relationship to the earth? Our role in nature? What is their connection to the harvest and Sukkot? How do we view these texts in light of what we know about ecology and the environment?

Following is an "ecological kavannah" which can be read before eating organically grown food.

For the sake of the earth, for the sake of generations to come, and for the sake of all the waters and creatures and plants,

For the sake of all who are hungry, for the sake of thankfulness, and for the sake of our own souls,

May we have the wisdom and courage to protect and restore, and not diminish, the integrity of creation.

May we always open our hearts and our hands to share the bounty of the Earth with all who are in need.