Kavanot for Ritual Events During Week 1

Second Night Seder
Counting the first day of the Omer happens at the second night Passover seder. This is a good time to ask, are we free? Even as slaves, many Israelites had a difficult time giving up the civilized surroundings of Egypt for an indefinite sojourn in the desert. Can we check in with ourselves to see whether we are bound to our far more comfortable way of life? The president remarked that our country is addicted to oil. Americans use fossil fuel energy at about 6 times the average rate of the rest of the world. Would it be enough (Dayenu) for us to live with less?

Erev Shabbat service
The Asher Bidvaro prayer gives thanks for "the day and its tasks, and the night and its rest." Try to imagine an Earth with a much shorter or longer day/night cycle, and you realize how perfect the Creator's gift of day and night is. Today, burning fossil fuels, which hold trapped energy from ancient days of sunshine, we often power our way to a triumph over nature's limitations, including the rhythm of night and day. This is part of who we are as modern human beings. Yet in an age when the exhalations from fossil fuels threaten a climate crisis, we should learn to use energy with intention and awareness, never taking it for granted.

Havdalah With a Twist (see outing)

Resources

Books and Other Non-Internet

Ellen Bernstein, The Splendor of Creation, p. 1-13

Organization Web Sites

Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL) - resources on 2006 Hanukkah compact fluorescent campaign

NeoHasid.Org Stop the Flood campaign

Jewish Reconstructionist Federation - Climate Change Initiative

Other Web Materials