It has been a hot, dry summer so far. Water levels are low, lawns are brown and crispy. While we are fortunate to live in a place with plentiful access to water, we have all likely noticed that rain has been scarce these last six to eight weeks.
In this week’s Torah portion, Eikev, we read the source text of the 2nd paragraph of the Shema prayer. God promises to grant rain in the right season as a reward for obeying the commandments and, conversely, to withhold rain when the people disobey God’s wishes.
Reading this ancient text–written when people’s understanding of climate and science were minimal (and where belief truly was that a lack of rain was a punishment from the deity) through the modern lens of climate change-influenced drought, floods and heat, is powerful. While we likely do not believe that our warming and shifting climate is a result of not following in God’s ways, we should be prompted to think about how our actions of consumption are impacting the natural world in which we live and hope to thrive.
As a parent to three children under age 12, I am worried about the physical world that they will inherit. We might be past the point of no return on returning our climate to how it was decades ago. As we work to adapt to our new circumstances, we should consider the ‘reward’ and ‘punishment’ of our own actions and decisions on the physical environment and climate. After all, God gave us the natural world not only to rule over it, but to care for it too.
