Joyful Compassionate Abundance
This project is a subset of my Bible/Torah-related posts. I started this project as I searched for insights on food, “animal rights,” agriculture and ecology. I called it “Torah Ecology” because that described nicely how I thought my project would unfold.
Ecology is the “study of interactions among organisms and their environment.” It is a study, therefore, of relationships, and one thing I was pretty sure I’d find as I studied the text is that Torah is a study of relationships.
What kind of relationships? Torah draws out the relationships between four entities: G-d, humans, non-human animals, and the land. I wanted to look at relationships between and within those categories, Torah ecology.
Early on, my interest focused more on the human-nonhuman animal relationship described in the Torah. My study stalled for a significant period of time for a variety of reasons, only one related to the study itself.
I’m trying to begin again. Beginning is the operative word. I’m not sure where this might go right now.
PART I: The Joseph Story, Exile & Return, Promise to Fulfillment The rest of Genesis is the story of Joseph with the exception of one apparent interruption in the narrative with the story of Judah and Tamar. Before I take a look
Part I: Speciesism I’ve spent most of the last year focused on the broader Torah story, its worldview as I understand it through my study. This worldview is expressed primarily through a human lens and involves the relationship of human beings with
In Toledot, we saw Jacob engaging in adaptive behaviors, the result of a “quiet man, dwelling in tents” growing up with a brother like Esau, favored by his father, strong, active, a hunter. Jacob’s tendency to strategize and plan, even resort to
Toledot is “the story of Isaac, son of Abraham.” (Gen. 25:19) — yet it turns out to be the story of Esau and Jacob, even Rebekah, moving the story forward, while Isaac, old and blind, sits helplessly in his tent. After taking
In the biblical narrative, Chayei Sarah is a bridge between the story of Abraham and Sarah and the story of Isaac and Rebekah. The story begins with Abraham purchasing the Cave of Machpelah in Hittite territory so he can bury his wife,
Listening for the Sounds in Silence Seven stories illuminate the character and path of Abraham…but five of the seven carry kernels of silence, words unspoken, sounds not recorded. What meanings can we retrieve, buried in the silence? Seven stories, five with silent
Lech Lecha tells the story of Abram becoming Abraham. That story includes many tantalizing “historical” and “biographical” details, details that show us how the Torah wants us to understand the character of Abraham and the meaning of his transition. Until now, the
“Justice, justice you shall pursue, that you may live, and inherit the land which the LORD your God gives you.” (צֶדֶק צֶדֶק, תִּרְדֹּף–לְמַעַן תִּחְיֶה וְיָרַשְׁתָּ אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ) – Deut. 16:20 Religions begin with looking at the world and seeing
IMAGINING THE TORAH, A STORY OF RELATIONSHIP The Torah tells us a story, imagining a world and inviting us to join in imagining. Our ability to imagine, to create fiction and persuade others to believe it, says Yuval Noah Harari in Sapiens,
“Much have I learned from my teachers, more from my colleagues, but most from my students.” – Rav Hanina ( Talmud: Taanit, 7a) I finished teaching a class at McHenry County Community College this past week called “Conscious Choices: Thinking About Food.”