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Divrei
Rabbi Jerry
Rabbi
Jerry Seidler
TempleSinai
Reconstructing "A Light Among the Nations" One Bulb at a Time
During Rosh Hashanah I talked about returning to Godliness (teshuvah) and the process of character building. One of the traditional Jewish ethical values (middot) I mentioned was that of frugality (kimutz). I noted that,
"As stewards of creation, we should consume respectfully and not wantonly. The glory of God fills the earth, so we should share its bounty, neither seeking to hoard any of it, nor to be gluttonous. If we surrender to our desires for accumulating things or using them up, we only complicate our lives needlessly, and in the end we will be dissatisfied. ‘The witnessing of God is correct, making the simple to become wise’." (Psalm 19:8).
In this regard, I am thrilled that the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation is a sponsor and coalition member of a nationwide Jewish community Climate Change Campaign that,
"will engage the Jewish community in education, advocacy, and concrete action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This modern day commemoration of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, will most importantly bring the issue of global climate change front and center in Jewish public life.
A significant part of the campaign will include helping congregations, Jewish institutions and individuals purchase and install 'energy-efficient', 'cost-effective' compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs during the week of Hanukkah 2006, as part of moving the Jewish community and the country forward in its understanding and support of energy conservation. Our message is as easy as changing a light bulb: If you could conserve energy and help stop global warming in one simple step, wouldn't you? CFLs use 75% less energy than incandescent light bulbs. This means less production of greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, and toxic waste. If every U.S. household replaced one bulb with a CFL, it would have the same impact as removing one million cars from the road." (JRF Tikkun Olam Committee).
I call on everyone here in our Temple Sinai synagogue to join me, our Reconstructionist Jewish Movement, and many others in our national Jewish community to take this relatively simple step in changing how we consume energy. No doubt there are at least some places where we can use CFLs in our homes without much trouble, and I encourage as many of us as possible to make the extra effort to convert to CFLs even when additional investment of time and materials would be required. Furthermore, I will work with our congregational leaders not only to see how we can switch some of our Temple's lights to CFLs, but also to explore how we can be more environmentally friendly in general.
Being frugal does not mean being cheap. It means being responsible and respectful in our consumption practices. Let us join the values of frugality and environmentalism to make our world a little brighter. Then we truly can be a light among the nations, literally.
Blessings,
Rabbi
Jerry
Rabbi
Jerry H. Seidler
(716) 834-0708
www.jrf.org/templesinai
Updated:
Sunday, October 29, 2006
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