Hello and welcome to the first issue newsletter by the Shmita Project Northwest!
Whether you have partnered with us from the start of the Shmita year or are connected with members of our community through various connections and events, welcome! Shmita Project Northwest is a collaboration of communities, rooted both within and outside of the Jewish faith, working to bring Shmita values to life in the our region.
With an eye on both short and long term change, we are building a future that is rooted in an understanding that our lives are inextricably intertwined with the living Earth. Shmita asks us to re-examine our relationship with the land and with one another. This examination requires us to form a new relationship with the land, basic resources such as food, as well as with debt, and to then challenge the conditions that give rise to intergenerational poverty.
While challenging systems long held injustice systems is the goal, we must first educate ourselves on what any of this means. Shmita Project Northwest’s first project has been to ensure that everyone is aware that we are currently experiencing a Shmita year, and what that means in modern times and in our region. Next, we are inviting each person to draw Shmita values into their own lives and communities, with the resources available. And finally, we want our project to span the upcoming six years between this Shmita year and the next by getting together, challenging ourselves to dream big, work together, and bring about transformational social change.
We look forward to getting to know you, and staying in touch this year and in the years ahead!
Chag Sameach,
Deirdre Gabbay
Partner Spotlight
The Shmita Project NW inspired our congregation Bet Chaverim to celebrate Tu B’shvat this year with a deeply spiritual seder with a focus on preserving our planet.
Although we decided to do it virtually, it was an intimate time of sharing the wonders of the soil as well as partaking of the seven holy foods of the Land of Israel.
We are grateful to HaShem for this year of release (sh’mita) which provides respite for our beloved planet and those who tend it.
Thank you for your inspiration,
Rabbi Jim Mirel
Don’t forget to take a look at our website, join our Facebook group, and like our page.
We are a partnership-based organization and we want to feature you and your organization on our website and in our upcoming newsletters. Please send us your achievements and programming so we can share it with the community! Reach out to Melani at MelaniBaker@BethShalomSeattle.org with your news and calendar items.
Text Study
This text and the accompanying questions are from Hazon’s Shmita Sourcebook.
The seventh year serves to rectify the social ills and inequalities that accumulate in society over the years. When poorer segments of society borrow from the wealthy, they feel beholden to the affluent elite. “The debtor is a servant of the lender” (Proverbs 22:7). This form of subservience can corrupt even honest individuals in their dealings with the rich and powerful. The Sabbatical year comes to correct his situation of inequality and societal rifts, by removing a major source of power of the elite: debts owed to them.
– Rav Kook (early 20th century), adapted by Rabbi Chanan Morrison
Questions:
- Do you see Shmita as a societal reset, setting right ‘societal ills’ and inequalities as Rav Kood describes?
- Do you agree with Rav Kook’s statement that debt has become ‘a major source of power for the elite’? If so, who are the elite? Do you feel empowered/disempowered as a lender/borrower?
- How might this relate to a teaching from the Rambam that lending is the highest form of charity, because, if done correctly, it truly empowers the borrower (Mishne Torah, Seder Zera’im, Gifts to the Poor, 10.7)?
News
Congregation Beth Shalom is the First Greening Congregation Synagogue!
Congregation Beth Shalom is now a member of Earth Ministry/Washington Interfaith Power & Light’s Greening Congregations program, making history as the first synagogue to do so in the organization’s history! With climate change and ecological degradation being the greatest existential risk of our time and the human and natural tragedies that accompany them, Beth Shalom is in the process of evolving their congregation’s priorities and actions in order to more deeply connect with and care for Earth. You can view their 2022 Annual Plan here and gain insight to what their past greening activities included here.
Earth Ministry/WAIPL’s Greening Congregation program is a flexible strategy for engaging faith communities in environmental action that is the first of its kind in the nation. The program fosters environmental awareness that leads to real action that allows you to utilize the unique gifts and passions of your faith community to build a successful greening campaign and connect with other faith communities across the state! If you have any questions about the program, please contact Keah Calluccie at keah@earthministry.org.
Tu BiShvat and Tree Pruning, January 2022
It was wonderful to see our different partners come together on January 23 for a Tu BiShvat Celebration and Tree Pruning for Shmita cohosted by Congregation Beth Shalom and City Fruit. We engaged in a Shmita ritual, gathering in-season produce to donate to North Helpline food bank, and cared for apple trees at Jose Rizal Park in Beacon Hill – all in service of local food justice. City Fruit is a non-profit that works to care for Seattle’s urban fruit trees and orchards. They show people how to care for fruit trees, how to harvest and preserve the fruit, and they encourage the sharing of surplus fruit with others in the community.
Prepare for MLK Day with Shmita Project NW, January 2022
On January 13 2022, members of the Shmita Project Northwest community came together to study Shmita texts from Torah alongside the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. This exploration highlighted the connection with Tu BiShvat and Martin Luther King Jr. Day as we used text study to understand both holidays, honor Shmita Project Northwest’s commitment to racial, social, environmental, economic justice, as well as get march signs ready for the the Seattle MLK Coalition’s MLK Rally & March that happened on January 17!
“The Call of Shmita in Our Time” by Deirdre Gabbay
Published in AllCreation.org, December 2021
AllCreation.org published a piece on the call of Shmita in our time by Shmita Project Northwest leader Deirdre Gabbay. She beautifully articulates a vision of holding on by letting go through the paradox of Shmita. Click here to read the article and reflect on her near-term, medium-term, and maximalist vision of bringing Shmita to life.
Events
Passover/Earth Day Forest Restoration
Saturday, April 23, 2-4 pm
Angle Lake Park
On April 23rd 2-4pm, join the Temple de Hirsch Sinai community at Angle Lake Park in Seatac for forest restoration. We will remove invasive species and prepare the ground for future planting. What better way to celebrate Earth Day than to get your hands dirty with some earth?! As Passover comes to end, we will also consider the holiday’s deep environmental roots. Those who attend will have the chance to win sustainable, earth-friendly home products in a raffle!
Join us! RSVP here: https://seatac.greencitypartnerships.org/event/41/
Questions? Send an email to Carla Merkow carlamerkow@gmail.com
Earth Ministry/WAIPL’s Earth Day Workshop with Sphere Solar Energy
Tuesday, April 26, 7-8 pm
Zoom
For our Earth Day gathering this year, Earth Ministry/WAIPL is happy to be welcoming Sphere Solar Energy, a statewide solar installation company that we will be partnering with on a new solar referral program for congregations and households. Join us on Zoom Tuesday, April 26 at 7pm PT for Sphere Solar’s “Solar 101” presentation that provides information on solar energy and why Washington is a perfect place to go solar. Perhaps you make it a goal for your synagogue to go solar before the next Shmita year! Learn more and register here.
Volunteer at UW Farm
Friday, April 29th, 1:00-4:00pm
Center for Urban Horticulture
Put your values to work at the UW Farm! The UW Farm is an organic, student-led urban farm that not only supplies great-quality vegetables to the UW food service, but to food banks and a CSA as well. By supplying hyperlocal food and building skills in its staff, students, and volunteers, the UW Urban Farm is contributing to food justice at the most hands-on level.
Join the Dayenu Circle of Kavana and Congregation Beth Shalom for a few hours of volunteering, followed by an outdoor candle lighting and potluck Shabbat get-together. Due to farm volunteering rules, please: sign up beforehand, be on time, and be vaccinated. Please, no walk-ups for the farm volunteering component. If you can’t make it to the farm, though, join us afterwards starting at 4:45pm. We will meet under the pine trees by the greenhouses.
Before attending the farm volunteer event, please sign up at https://bit.ly/UWFarmVol, and remember to bring proof of vaccination.
“The Alaska Suite” A Benefit for Green Buildings Now
Sunday, 15 May, 3pm PT
Seattle First Baptist Church, 1111 Harvard Ave, Seattle, WA
Nelda Swiggett’s, “The Alaska Suite: a story of loss, beauty and hope”, is a touching and inspiring multimedia jazz work that depicts how the climate crisis is unfolding in Alaska and leaves audiences inspired to take action. The 90-minute performance features jazz, images, poetry, spoken word and audience participation. One listener called the work “part love song, part sad ballad to Alaska, and part battle cry to reclaim the health of our planet.”
All proceeds benefit Green Buildings Now, a grassroots initiative promoting social justice and climate resilience by working with frontline community leaders to remove fossil fuels from buildings in a just way. The Shmita Project NW and Earth Ministry/WAIPL are both co-sponsoring this event.Tickets on sale now at bit.ly/aksuite
Action
Share Your Shmita Pledge!
Sharing our intentions with one another can be a powerful way to create accountability and community around bringing Shmita to life. Perhaps you made a Shmita pledge in the fall that you’ve been practicing, or maybe it’s time to bring it back forward? Or it’s not too late to make a pledge for the remainder of the year! Use the Shmita Project Northwest’s Shmita pledge card to document your intention and post it in your home, workplace, congregation, or on social media. We encourage you to share it on the Shmita Project NW Facebook group too!
Photo shared with permission from Karey Kessler
The Shmita Project Northwest is a project of Congregation Beth Shalom, Seattle and Earth Ministry/Washington Interfaith Power & Light
