{"id":88663,"date":"2021-02-11T12:11:45","date_gmt":"2021-02-11T10:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=88663"},"modified":"2021-02-11T12:11:45","modified_gmt":"2021-02-11T10:11:45","slug":"mishpatim-we-all-live-downstream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/mishpatim-we-all-live-downstream\/","title":{"rendered":"Mishpatim: We All Live Downstream"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"88663","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":88667,"related_cahpter":"1135","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"A shift from stranger to neighbor is the necessary prerequisite for a commitment to pursue environmental justice","content":"

\u201cWe all live downstream.\u201d Those words, spoken by a member of a first nation community in the haunting film,\u00a0The Condor and the Eagle<\/em>, capture a simple truth we are too ready to forget. None of us will escape the consequences of the climate crisis. But some of us have already borne far more than their share of its tragic consequences, including severe illness and death. The film focuses on Indigenous peoples from Northern Alberta to the forests of Ecuador. Unforgettable activists bear witness to unequally borne and horrifying environmental injustice.<\/p>\n

The verses in\u00a0Mishpatim\u00a0<\/em>strengthen a resolve to heed their call and stand in solidarity with our Indigenous neighbors.<\/p>\n

\n

And you shall not\u00a0maltreat<\/em>\u00a0nor\u00a0oppress\u00a0<\/em>the stranger for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. All widows and orphans you shall not afflict. If you do afflict them\u00a0so that they yell out to me I will surely hear their cries<\/em>. (Exodus 22:20-22<\/a>\u00a0 – author\u2019s translation)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Meaning often emerges from a closer look at language. Two words in verse 20 are found elsewhere in the Torah, illustrating its persistent demand to protect and dignify others, a demand that extends to a commitment to environmental justice.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaltreat,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0appears again in\u00a0Leviticus 19:33<\/a>: \u201cwhen a stranger dwells with you in your land you shall not\u00a0maltreat\u00a0<\/em>him.\u201d\u00a0Leviticus 25:14<\/a>\u00a0announces: \u201cWhen you sell property to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor\u2019s hand, neither shall\u00a0maltreat<\/em>\u00a0the other.\u201d Leviticus 25:17 repeats it for emphasis: \u201cA person shall not\u00a0maltreat\u00a0<\/em>their neighbor but fear your God for I am YHWH your God.\u201d \u00a0Leviticus 25 has transformed the stranger of Exodus 22 and Leviticus 19 into one\u2019s neighbor. That shift from stranger to neighbor is the necessary prerequisite for a commitment to pursue environmental justice. Today maltreatment includes the ruthless exploitation of our neighbors\u2019 land and health by the fossil fuel industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cOppress<\/em>,\u201d another verb in 22:20, along with the phrase in v. 22 \u201cI will hear their cries,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0also appear in\u00a0Exodus 3:9<\/a>. God has heard the cry of the children of Israel due to the oppression of the Egyptians. The allusion warns Israelites not to behave like Egyptians but treat the vulnerable as they themselves expect to be treated. If not, God will surely hear of it as in the past and act accordingly.<\/p>\n

The demand of Exodus 22:20 not to oppress a stranger is repeated in\u00a0Exodus 23:9<\/a>, this time assuming that the Israelites surely know the feelings of strangers since they too have been oppressed. The Torah believes that empathy can be commanded! Only then does\u00a0Shmita<\/em>\u00a0makes its first appearance in\u00a0Torah\u00a0<\/em>in 23:10-11, the very next verses. The land must lie fallow in the 7th<\/sup>\u00a0year, the year of\u00a0Shmita,\u00a0<\/em>so that the needy may eat of it.<\/p>\n

The emphasis in\u00a0Mishpatim\u00a0<\/em>on the stranger, widow, orphan, and in 23:11, the needy as the reason to observe Shmita<\/em>, calls on us to stand in solidarity with our Indigenous neighbors who remain vulnerable to the maltreatment, oppression, and exploitation of their lands. They know, much better than the rest of us, that we all live downstream.<\/p>\n

The next shmita year begins next Rosh Hashanah 2021, almost a year from now. We have time to prepare. As we move through 5781 we invite you to join us in preparation for the upcoming shmita year \u2013 a sabbatical year for the Earth but also for ourselves, our communities, and our world. Each week we will share thoughts on how the weekly parsha can help guide our thinking around shmita themes of work and rest, wealth and debt, responsible land use, fair labor practices, private and public property ownership, and physical and spiritual revitalization.<\/p>\n

Join us for the journey.<\/p>\n

See here for more information on the Hazon Shmita project, and its blogs.<\/a><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":81608,"id":81608,"title":"shmita","filename":"shmita.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/bereishit-the-sabbatical-paradigm\/shmita\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"shmita","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":81605,"date":"2020-10-15 14:26:00","modified":"2021-02-01 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