Collective Responsibilities do Bring Collective Rewards

There are parts of the prayer book that we say with such frequency that we may not really take the opportunity to stop and think about their meaning.  Today, we’re going to look at the Shema, but focus on the 2^nd paragraph.  Why the 2^nd paragraph?  It is found in today’s parsha, Eikev. 

The first paragraph of the Shema is written in the singular form.  The passage is addressed to the listener alone.  It speaks about your heart “l’vavcha” and your soul “naf’sh’cha”.  Take a look at the 2^nd part of the shema which is found in Chapter 11:13.  It uses the same words, heart and soul, but it uses them in the plural.  “Livavchem” your heart and “naf’sh’chem” your soul.  Instead of addressing the individual listener, the 2^nd paragraph of the Shema is addressed to the entire people of Israel.  They are told that if they truly listen to G-d’s commandments, then G-d will provide them with “m’tar artz’chem b’eeto yoreh u malkosh”  the rain of your land in its time, the early rain and the late rain.  Notice that it doesn’t say rain for your land.  The sages interpreted this to mean that the rains had already been designated for the land and were not a promise of a new reward.  The early rain refers to the rain that falls on the dry land after the seeds have been sown.  The late rain is the fertilizing rain prior to the harvest, falling upon the ears of grain and its stalks.

In Israel those two periods of rain were very significant, and still are.  Rain only falls for 6 months out of the year, providing sustenance for the entire year.  For an agricultural society living within this framework, having the rains at their appointed times meant feast or famine, basically life or death.  They understood without a doubt that if G-d provided the rains, the nation would be able to bring in its grain, wine, and oil.  Interestingly enough, we symbolically place those three items on our Shabbat table each week.  Grain is represented by the challah for hamotzi, wine is used for Kiddush, and oil is represented by the candles we light to usher in the Shabbat.

Let’s go back to the prayer, “I shall provide grass in your field for your animal and you shall eat and you will be satisfied.  Grass in one’s field is not just about providing food for one’s animal but ultimately about providing food for one’s self. Think about periods of drought we are familiar with in places like Africa, animals die because there isn’t grass to eat and the humans lose their food sources.

The Reform movement excluded this paragraph of the Shema from its liturgy because it understood it literally.  It felt that rain is not a direct reward for following G-d’s commandments.  I’d like to suggest that this paragraph could be looked at from another perspective one that I think speaks to our modern sensibilities.  Our actions within the physical world can effect the climate.  We know that abuse of our eco-system can lead to crop failure and famine.  The Torah specifically outlines our responsibilities to nature, not as a way of worshipping nature, but as a way of showing adherence to G-d’s laws.   We are not to destroy nature even though we have been given “dominion over it.”  Our job is to preserve what has been given to us as a gift.   If we don’t wage war by destroying the fruit and nut trees, if we act as if every resource that sustains us comes from G-d rather than from our own selves, we will also recognize that human abuse of the environment which destroys those resources must be reversed.  What would happen if we all lived in a way to promote the health of our planet?  Would the rains come at their due time?  Can we influence through our collective behaviors the effects we have on our environment? As we talk about climate change within our own generation, we are told about the effects our collective carbon imprint has on the Earth.  We understand that we can wreak havoc upon the natural world in ways that will affect the quality of life for humankind.  Perhaps the Torah in its own way, was saying to us, that if we do not think of ourselves as G-d, if we do not follow false gods of profit and power, then we can avoid setting the traps that will lead to outright disaster.  If we listen to the Torah and take our cues from it and from the Talmud which directly legislated environmental laws, then we will find ourselves in a position of being able to continue to eat and be satisfied, and then ultimately to bless G-d for these blessings.