The torah of laudato si, and jubilee

​Shortly after the passing of the most remarkable Pope Francis, and the ascension of a Chicagoan-and-Philadelphian as Pope Leo XIV, the great encyclical Laudato Si turned ten.  Its universal message is only more vital and more needed as it enters its second decade.
 
Just as the Holy One is Echad (One, Unified, Singular), so is there a profound underlying unity among all humans, who are all created in that Divine image.  With divisive voices temporarily ascendant, we might too easily miss the extent of our commonalities across lines of difference, including those of faith.  But a side-by-side comparison of Laudato Si with Jewish mekorot / texts shows just how similar we are – and how much we may gain from opening up to each other’s complementary wisdom.  
 
(When the encyclical was fresh, Rabbi Daniel Swartz and I each assembled numerous examples; those source-sheets, with snippets of Laudato Si and of similar Torah, are still suitable for study and reflection -- including at Shavuot, or the upcoming Yamim Noraim.  Download them here:) 

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(And see also the previous blogpost, about COEJL's multifaith work, which near the end highlights the amazing "Synagogue and Ecclesia in Our Time" statue, and the power of this pluralistic era that it sets in stone -- an era in which we all, confirmed in our own faith traditions, sit as equals with others, and grow from exposure to and sharing of one another's spiritual riches.) 

​Our friends at Catholic Climate Covenant, the Laudato Si’ Movement, and elsewhere have been amplifying that effervescent encyclical ever since.  Massive efforts to encourage the creation of concrete action plans are unfolding, with great resources available to all through the Laudato’ Si Action Platform.  An inspiring example is the Diocese of Lexington, in eastern Kentucky’s coal country, which has gotten every one of its 59 parishes to fill out and pursue their own plan!  With our help the Adamah.org-led Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition, which similarly supports synagogues and other Jewish institutions in developing individual Climate Action Plans, can claim ever more similar success stories.
 
The late Pope Francis also decreed our present year, 2025, as a Jubilee – framed, consonant with the original every-fiftieth yovel / jubilee outlined in Leviticus 25, as an occasion to proclaim debt relief for poorer nations and peoples.  The multi-faith coalition advancing this work, going back to 2000 and earlier, has long had outsize leadership from Catholic communities, with a strong showing of Jews as well.
 
That work continues with the important efforts of the Jubilee USA Network, and of Caritas.org’s “Turn Debt Into Hope” campaign.  As part of it, I was honored to share last week about tzmitut, from Lev. 25:23, how the land must never be sold or delt with “beyond reclaim” – and the parallel with the human experience of crushing cycles of debt from which there can be no escape, which is precisely the Bible’s point in connecting the extra sabbatical year (for the land’s own rest, though in Deut. 15 the shmita/shvi’it/7th year also includes debt remission) with the societal and economic “hard reset” of the fiftieth year.  Here are we, colleagues of multiple faiths, lifting up the papal declaration which follows, with its insightful inclusion of ‘ecological debt’: 
 

16. Echoing the age-old message of the prophets, the Jubilee reminds us that the goods of the earth are not destined for a privileged few, but for everyone. The rich must be generous and not avert their eyes from the faces of their brothers and sisters in need…  Another heartfelt appeal that I would make in light of the coming Jubilee is directed to the more affluent nations. I ask that they acknowledge the gravity of so many of their past decisions and determine to forgive the debts of countries that will never be able to repay them. More than a question of generosity, this is a matter of justice. It is made all the more serious today by a new form of injustice which we increasingly recognize, namely, that “a true ‘ecological debt’ exists, particularly between the global North and South, connected to commercial imbalances with effects on the environment and the disproportionate use of natural resources by certain countries over long periods of time”. [9] As sacred Scripture teaches, the earth is the Lord’s and all of us dwell in it as “aliens and tenants” ( Lev 25:23). If we really wish to prepare a path to peace in our world, let us commit ourselves to remedying the remote causes of injustice, settling unjust and unpayable debts, and feeding the hungry.”

May we of various faith traditions continue to join together, to learn with and from each other, and to take collective action consonant with the urgency of the moment.  In that spirit, I’ll conclude with these few lines from A Prayer For The 10th Anniversary Of Laudato Si', as shared by Catholic Climate Covenant:

"Help us God, to confront the consequences of our neglect and abuse of creation; to radically change our ways, and live in peace with each other and creation.    Fill us with your strength to be protectors and redeemers of the vulnerable, and of all creation."

Amen!
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