Sacred Gift –
by Rabbi Dr Charles H Middleburgh
The genesis of a sermon can come at any time, in any circumstances,
but the writing itself is usually predictable, at home or the
office in front of the computer. What makes this sermon more
unusual than most is that its genesis was many thousands of
miles away in the Kingdom of Nepal, and it was largely written,
by hand, in the departure lounge of Calcutta International Airport,
quite the most soul-destroyingly awful airport it has ever been
my misfortune to pass through.
Between 9th and 24th November I was in Nepal, for most of
that time attending the Worldwide Fund for Nature’s annual
conference. This year WWF’s annual get together was shared
with the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC); and the
reason for this is that they had come together in Nepal to celebrate
the joint Sacred Gifts for a Living Planet project. This project,
launched many months ago, invited religious groups worldwide
to create an environmental and/or conservation project to offer
as a Sacred Gift. Several hundred projects were offered, but
only 26 were accepted – and I was in Nepal at the invitation
of WWF because one of the 26 was the ULPS’s Environmental
Audit.
As projects go, ours might have appeared to be quite mundane,
even pedestrian, especially when compared to some of the others.
How, one might ask, could an environmental audit of synagogues
compare with the Shinto order’s dedication of a massive
2,500 year old Japanese forest, or a river purification project
in British Columbia, or a massive energy reduction programme
by the Episcopalian Church in California.
Yet… you’d be surprised! The environmental audit
that I created and Monique Blake Blake typed in the Montagu
Centre was praised, lauded even, by the most senior figures
in WWF International, and by the Duke of Edinburgh, WWF’s
Emeritus President.
Already our template has been taken up by the American Reform
and Conservative movements in their 2,500 congregations nationwide,
and during the course of the conference representatives of other
major religious bodies in America, Indonesia and Mexico asked
me for copies of the audit so that they could adapt and use
in their own communities.
All too often in the past we have lamented the ULPS as an
organisation playing ‘catch up’ in Anglo-Jewry,
or being marginalized(and misrepresented) by the conservative
establishment here; yet now, two years short of its Centenary,
Liberal Judaism is a major player in a key international arena,
receiving international recognition and praise for the first
time in its history.
And in addition, we are way out in front of every other section
of the British Jewish community. Now I must be honest and tell
you that this makes me very proud, and happy, and I hope it
has a similar effect on you.
This project also marks a major move by the ULPS into the
field of religion and environmentalism, which I heard many times
in Nepal was going to be a key partnership for the future.
The story of Jacob and Esau, from which Jacob always emerges
with an (in my opinion undeservedly) enhanced reputation is
our major preoccupation over the next few weeks in the Torah.
Jacob the smooth man, the dweller in tents, symbol of the
urban Jew, and Esau his brother, a son of the soil, a man in
touch with the natural world, representative of a connection
with the land that was all but eradicated from the Jewish consciousness
by centuries of enforced urbanisation. The tale of the brothers
is a paradigm for many things and a source of almost unlimited
interpretation.
In the context of the conference from which I have just returned,
however, it is the parting of the ways between Jacob and Esau
that is the most powerful symbol. Because when Jacob turned
his back on Esau, the urban Jew, the Jew of the yeshiva and
the world of the mind turned his back on the natural world in
all its richness and diversity and set a pattern for disconnection
from that world which we are only now beginning significantly
to redress.
There have, of course, always been Jews aware of and committed
to the land and its creatures. The seam of proto-environmentalism
in Jewish – particularly rabbinic – literature is
deep and rich. But in general, until very recently, we Jews
have had other priorities and the issues of conservation and
the environment barely registered.
What I learned in Nepal is that I am not the
only person of faith who believes that the world’s religions
have a crucial role to play in these fields in the 21st century;
what was even more inspiring to discover was that the hard-bitten
professionals of WWF believe it too.
By wide agreement, encompassing scientists,
field experts and global planners, it has to be with the faiths,
not separate from them, that the next quantum leap in environmental
awareness and action takes place. And the responsibility that
rests on our shoulders is huge.
The purpose of our environmental audit was multi-layered.
First, of course, we wanted all the ULPS’s congregations
to think hard about the way they operated in all of the audit’s
key areas. Second, we wanted synagogue Councils to consider
their audit findings and take constructive steps forward with
regard to energy reduction, recycling, ethical investments,
making their space animal, bird and insect friendly, and more
besides. Third, we wanted all of this to take root in each synagogue
so that that these actions became part of the collective ethos
and culture of the community. And fourth, and by far the most
important of all, we wanted each congregation’s environmental
auditor to promote carrying out of scaled down versions of the
audit in the homes of their member families.
By this means the message of the vital importance of environmental
awareness and action will reach not just the ULPS’s 31
communities but thousands of families throughout the British
Isles.
It is purely coincidental that my first congregational visit
after my return from Nepal should be to Birmingham: though maybe
it is another example of the mysterious workings of God! For
this congregation, under the influence of its proactive and
irrepressible environmental auditor David Harrison, was the
first to have a green page in its monthly bulletin, and the
first to express in print that the scope for environmental action
could go way beyond the set piece of the audit itself.
So I look forward to receiving David’s report of the
Birmingham audit’s findings in due course, and learning
how they will be activated when your new synagogue is built.
The crowning moment – in more ways than one –
of the Sacred Gifts conference, came on the Wednesday afternoon
in Bhaktapur, third city of the Kathmandu Valley. In its ancient
Durbar Square, in front of the King and Queen of Nepal, and
Prince Phillip, before an audience of three thousand in the
square itself and millions throughout the world watching on
television, the Sacred Gifts donors participated in a multi-faith
service and received certificates from the Prince in recognition
of their gift. When I ascended the stage to receive the certificate
for our environmental audit and heard Mark Tully, the voice
of the BBC in India for many years and the events master of
ceremonies, describe ‘The Union of Liberal and Progressive
Synagogues of Great Britain, Ireland and Luxembourg’s
Sacred Gift’ I felt deeply moved, and thrilled, at the
same time. Had you been with me I am sure you would have experienced
similar emotions. It was also my great honour to end the entire
event with a recitation of Psalm 8 in Hebrew from this specially
published liturgy. It was an incredible moment that will live
in my memory for the rest of my life.
In the dark of a Kathmandu evening I spoke the
Psalmist’s ancient and timeless words; words redolent
with meaning for every age and every generation, acknowledging
our relationship to God, God’s world and God’s
non-human creatures. And I can think of no better way to end
this sermon after my return from Nepal than with those same
words, first in English, and then in Hebrew:
Amen
Rabbi Dr Middleburgh was the Executive Director
of the Union of Liberal & Progressive Synagogues when
this sermon was given on Shabbat Toldot 2 December 2000 at
Birmingham Progressive Synagogue
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