A Soulful Journey

"One may not turn a field into a yard, nor a yard into a field, nor a yard into a city, nor a city into a yard." -Talmud Arachin 33b As long ago as 2,000 years the rabbis were concerned that able land needed to be protected.  What does this say about our time and our responsibility to protect our  environment?

Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi used to tell this story of an encounter he had with Brother Rufus, a Native American medicine man. Reb Zalman and Brother Rufus were attending a conference of psychologists and mystics; the psychologists were studying the mystics. As Reb Zalman was explaining the Jewish festival of Sukkot, which occurs at the fall equinox, and the holiday of Passover, which comes at the spring equinox, Brother Rufus lit up! “Oh,” he said, “in the fall you teach your children the shelter survival and in the spring you teach them the food survival.” Rabbi Bonnie Koppell

“Justice, justice you shall pursue, that you may thrive to occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” –Deuteronomy. 16:20

“Any person who does own land is not a man.” - Yevamot 63a This is a very odd statement.  Yet, it reveals a great truth: we define ourselves by what we have instead of who we are.

Benjamin Netanyahu told this story: Two farmers were arguing about the boundary line between the properties. One claimed a certain area of land belonged to him and the other said it was his. They could not agree. So they went to the rabbi.   The rabbi listened to them and then got down on his hands and knees and put his ear to the ground.  They asked, “Rabbi, what are you doing?”   He said, “You could not agree on which of you owned the land so I thought I would ask the land who it belongs to." They asked, “What did the land say?” The rabbi told them, “I heard the land laughing and saying, “Those foolish human beings.  They fight over which one of them I belong to.  The truth is, I do not belong to either of them.  The belong to me." We are not going to live forever, so why waste our years fighting over who owns what?

"The Holy Land was not holy while it belonged to the Perizites and Jebusites, and any land in which Israel should and its soul again would also be a Holy Land." -Israel Zangwill, The False Romantic

“I will restore the fortunes of my people in Israel; they shall rebuild deserted cities and live in them, they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, make gardens and eat the fruit. Once more I shall plant them on their own soil, And they shall never again be uprooted from the soil I have given them. It is the word of the Lord your God.” –Amos 9:14-15

On vacation with his family, Dr. Edwin Land’s small daughter complained that she could not see the picture her father just snapped.  Within one hour, Land had the solution in his head, which eventually became the Polaroid Land camera.

A developer wanted to buy a farmer’s field to put up condominiums.   “What will you pay?” asked the farmer. The developer said, “We want to do the right thing.   We will pay you what the field is worth.” The farmer replied, “I’ll be darned if I’ll sell it for that!” Would this conversation ever take place if people acted with integrity?   Spoke the truth?   If not, perhaps we have a head-start on living the best life possible.