I don’t just mean the fluidity of our bodies, the smooth way that we have of using the natural world and then forgetting to call it the morning after. “I care for you, baby, and I’m sorry…”
I walked into a grocery store yesterday – holy culture shock! I had forgotten there are people who don’t just pull potatoes from the ground. People who buy them, shipped in from the West Coast to the east, sprayed with Spinosad pesticides. A glossy magazine. A cashier. Paper or plastic. Experiences I haven’t had in months.
I’ve been busy waking up at 5:30 in the morning to pray: Thank you, God, for the chance to live in a healthy relationship with the land. Thank you, God, for the chance to work in the field and apprentice myself to expert farmers, pickle-makers, and animal-handlers. Thank you, God, for all there is to learn. For example:
Did you know that the antidote to poison ivy grows right next to it? Neither did I. Did you know that when a wasp stings you, a nearby plant provides instant soothing relief, no fancy creams needed? Neither did I. That nature’s cough syrup grows by the side of the road? News for me too. And since we colonized and enslaved and overran the First Americans, and then drove, paved, and poured concrete over the rest of the natural world, who is left to teach us about all of these things?
We Jews used to, in fact, live in intimate connection with the land. And the Adamah program, located at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in northwest Connecticut, has begunthe process of healing for me, of reconnection to the land.
Through Adamah, I’ve actually experienced the commandment of peyah, leaving a section of my field for the pooer. Instead of just reading about a distant and abstract mitzvah, I have truly left fallow the corner of my field, growing vegetables in a shape not quite square, thereby acknowledging the divine mystery and untamed wild even in cultivated land. I’ve gained a deep understanding of core Jewish values regarding honoring the works of creation, not destroying trees, and not wasting. And I’m deepening my Jewish practice through the rhythms of the natural world, living by the moon by night and the sun by day, feeling the cycle of seasons.
Do you know what I used to do with my body fluids? I used to put them into our drinking water, just like you might. Gross, right? I’ve finally found a supportive community to teach me about composting my body waste and turning it into rich, fertile soil. I’ve found a community that encourages me to love the earth and thet teaches me how that love can last longer than a one-night stand.
I love you, earth, and I promise I’ll call you tomorrow.
