🎤Kol-🐥Hayyah🐘 - קוֹל־חַיָּ֖ה
Miqqeitz 5779: Eliran Sobel (Program Associate for Shamayim V'Aretz)
Shabbat Shalom Shamayim V'Aretz.
As a student, the past few weeks and the coming weeks mark the final exam season in the semester. This time of year is not just stressful for students, but anyone who knows the stress of leaving something until the last minute, whether it's forgetting a Hanukkah gift for your relatives, cramming for a final exam, or any other task during the holiday season.
This week's Parashah, Parashat Miqqeitz, begins with Pharaoh having two strange dreams. In the first, seven handsome cows and seven ugly cows are by the Nile, and the ugly cows eat the handsome ones. And similarly, in the second dream, seven thin ears of grain swallow up seven healthy ears of grain. Pharaoh is disturbed by this, and with the help of the butler who Pharaoh promoted in last week's Parashah, he calls in Joseph to help interpret them, and this interpretation is what leads Joseph to greatness and becoming Egypt's second in command.
But, what did Joseph do so right in his interpretation that he was able to rise from his lowest point, from being in prison? He was able to correctly see the signs of famine in that was coming to Egypt. He explains the dream as follows: "Immediately ahead are seven years of great abundance in all the land of Egypt. After them will come seven years of famine, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. As the land is ravaged by famine. No trace of the abundance will be left in the land because of the famine thereafter, for it will be very severe" (Genesis 41:29-31, adapted from NJPS translation). During the first seven years, instead of purely feasting on the good crop, Joseph, "collected produce in very large quantity, like the sands of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured" (Genesis 41:49, NJPS translation). That way, after the seven years of plenty were over, and the seven years of famine began, there was still enough food in Egypt to last them through the famine. Joseph made sure to look at the data, in his case, Pharaoh's divinely-given dreams, and plan and prepare to make sure that there was enough food.
Today, we must also look at the data, and plan accordingly. Climate change is an issue that can affect every person on the globe, and our eating habits have a huge impact on this issue. Recently, leading scientists from the United Nations warned that, "there are just a dozen years in which to keep global warming under 1.5C, beyond which even half a degree will significantly worsen the risks of drought, floods and extreme heat" (Carrington). And, new research published in the journal Nature suggested that rich nations such as the United States would need to drastically reduce its beef consumption by 90% and reduce dairy consumption by 60%, as well as dramatically increase the consumption of legumes (Carrington). This new research, plus the research from 2006 suggesting that animal agriculture produces more greenhouse gases than all transportation combined (FAO), should signal to us that moving to a more plant-based diet is the right way forward.
This week is also Shabbat Hanukkah. There is a debate in the Talmud between the Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai as to how to properly light he Hanukkah candles. Beit Shammai suggests lighting all eight candles on the first night of Hanukkah, and then removing a candle each night, whereas Beit Hillel suggests lighting one candle on the first night of Hanukkah, and not surprisingly, we end up following Beit Hillel (Shabbat 21a). What is each of their reasoning, though? Beit Shammai suggests going down with each day, since it represents the number of bulls given on the holiday of Sukkot as animal sacrifice when the Temple was standing. Beit Hillel's reasoning is that it is because we always go up in holiness, not down (Shabbat 21a), therefore, we should be increasing the light. That we follow Beit Hillel is a beautiful message that we should not focus on the animal sacrifice, but we should rather focus on bringing more light into the world.
Wishing you a well-planned Shabbat of light that only gets brighter.
Shabbat Shalom.
---
Babylonian Talmud. Shabbat 21a. The William Davidson Talmud, Sefaria. https://www.sefaria.org/Shabbat.21a?lang=bi
Carrington, Damian. "Huge reduction in meat-eating ‘essential’ to avoid climate breakdown." The Guardian, Guardian News and Media Limited, 10 October 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/10/huge-reduction-in-meat-eating-essential-to-avoid-climate-breakdown.
Food and Agriculture Organization. "Livestock's Long Shadow." United Nations, 2006, http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.HTM.
Miqqeitz 5779: Eliran Sobel (Program Associate for Shamayim V'Aretz)
Shabbat Shalom Shamayim V'Aretz.
As a student, the past few weeks and the coming weeks mark the final exam season in the semester. This time of year is not just stressful for students, but anyone who knows the stress of leaving something until the last minute, whether it's forgetting a Hanukkah gift for your relatives, cramming for a final exam, or any other task during the holiday season.
This week's Parashah, Parashat Miqqeitz, begins with Pharaoh having two strange dreams. In the first, seven handsome cows and seven ugly cows are by the Nile, and the ugly cows eat the handsome ones. And similarly, in the second dream, seven thin ears of grain swallow up seven healthy ears of grain. Pharaoh is disturbed by this, and with the help of the butler who Pharaoh promoted in last week's Parashah, he calls in Joseph to help interpret them, and this interpretation is what leads Joseph to greatness and becoming Egypt's second in command.
But, what did Joseph do so right in his interpretation that he was able to rise from his lowest point, from being in prison? He was able to correctly see the signs of famine in that was coming to Egypt. He explains the dream as follows: "Immediately ahead are seven years of great abundance in all the land of Egypt. After them will come seven years of famine, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. As the land is ravaged by famine. No trace of the abundance will be left in the land because of the famine thereafter, for it will be very severe" (Genesis 41:29-31, adapted from NJPS translation). During the first seven years, instead of purely feasting on the good crop, Joseph, "collected produce in very large quantity, like the sands of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured" (Genesis 41:49, NJPS translation). That way, after the seven years of plenty were over, and the seven years of famine began, there was still enough food in Egypt to last them through the famine. Joseph made sure to look at the data, in his case, Pharaoh's divinely-given dreams, and plan and prepare to make sure that there was enough food.
Today, we must also look at the data, and plan accordingly. Climate change is an issue that can affect every person on the globe, and our eating habits have a huge impact on this issue. Recently, leading scientists from the United Nations warned that, "there are just a dozen years in which to keep global warming under 1.5C, beyond which even half a degree will significantly worsen the risks of drought, floods and extreme heat" (Carrington). And, new research published in the journal Nature suggested that rich nations such as the United States would need to drastically reduce its beef consumption by 90% and reduce dairy consumption by 60%, as well as dramatically increase the consumption of legumes (Carrington). This new research, plus the research from 2006 suggesting that animal agriculture produces more greenhouse gases than all transportation combined (FAO), should signal to us that moving to a more plant-based diet is the right way forward.
This week is also Shabbat Hanukkah. There is a debate in the Talmud between the Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai as to how to properly light he Hanukkah candles. Beit Shammai suggests lighting all eight candles on the first night of Hanukkah, and then removing a candle each night, whereas Beit Hillel suggests lighting one candle on the first night of Hanukkah, and not surprisingly, we end up following Beit Hillel (Shabbat 21a). What is each of their reasoning, though? Beit Shammai suggests going down with each day, since it represents the number of bulls given on the holiday of Sukkot as animal sacrifice when the Temple was standing. Beit Hillel's reasoning is that it is because we always go up in holiness, not down (Shabbat 21a), therefore, we should be increasing the light. That we follow Beit Hillel is a beautiful message that we should not focus on the animal sacrifice, but we should rather focus on bringing more light into the world.
Wishing you a well-planned Shabbat of light that only gets brighter.
Shabbat Shalom.
---
Babylonian Talmud. Shabbat 21a. The William Davidson Talmud, Sefaria. https://www.sefaria.org/Shabbat.21a?lang=bi
Carrington, Damian. "Huge reduction in meat-eating ‘essential’ to avoid climate breakdown." The Guardian, Guardian News and Media Limited, 10 October 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/10/huge-reduction-in-meat-eating-essential-to-avoid-climate-breakdown.
Food and Agriculture Organization. "Livestock's Long Shadow." United Nations, 2006, http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.HTM.