Ḥoni's Circle

In this week’s episode we study texts from Devarim, Vayikra, and the Talmud tractate Yoma. We have a far-ranging discussion including talking about the figure of the Satan in Judaism, and how it can be seen as internalized cultural messages telling us to stall on fighting climate change, how some chukkim (ie. laws that we can’t understand the reason for) such as Shatnez (prohibition against mixing...

In this week’s episode we look at the story of Joseph’s interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams and the subsequent plan to prepare for coming famine (ie. climate disaster) and how the plan was carried out. We discuss how the regime in Egypt was an authoritarian one, in which only one person needed to be convinced for large-scale action to take place, but that some strategies from Joseph could also be u...

In this week’s episode we look at a text from the end of the book of Job (and Rashi’s commentary on it) about the power that G-d holds over the weather. We discuss the idea of divine punishment for sins, and how, while there are clear articulations of this concept in our sacred texts, we have a tradition, as seen in Job, of acknowledging that humans are not able to understand the ways of the divin...

In this week’s episode we look at text from Midrash Tanchuma on Exodus 19:16, which describes all the fiery wonders that accompanied the giving of the Torah. The midrash goes on to also recount many watery wonders done by G-d to show divine power, including inundating a third of the surrounding lands by the Mediterranean sea. We discuss the paradox that we do not have control over the weather, but...

In this week’s episode we look at text from the Mishna and Gemara of Bava Batra, an ancient text regulating air pollution. We discuss how, to uphold our deepest values, we have to set up structures that enforce them. We further discuss how a growing and more spread out population creates sacrifice zones, which even as we reduce pollution from electricity generation, many polluting industries will...

In this week’s episode we look at Ramban’s comment on Genesis 8:11 asking where the olive branch that the dove was carrying came from and how vegetation regenerated after the flood. While we feel that, living in the era of climate change, we are living in unprecedented times, Judaism has stories of drastic and sudden changes to the world, and traditions around how humans responded with ingenuity....

In this week’s episode we look at the Sefer Hachinuch’s comment on the commandment not to destroy fruit trees during a siege. The text presents one of the mitzvot foundational to the Jewish environmental movement, Bal Tashchit, the prohibition against wasting, which has been used to talk about sustainability and resource extraction. We also look at the concept of someone being a “Hasid Mitzvah” or...

In this week’s episode we look at Parashat Vayerah to read the story of Ishmael and Hagar’s exile and near-death in the wilderness. We see Hagar so overwhelmed by her own despair that she cannot be near her dying child, then the angel comes to reassure her that they are not meant to die, and she subsequently sees a well of water. Relating this story to climate despair, we see that if we persist in...

In this week’s episode we discuss a section from Bava Metzia that tells the story of an affliction that punished Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi because he ignored the suffering of a calf going to the slaughter. We talk about how this passage can inspire us to be more compassionate and aware of both the animals we encounter, but also become more conscious about the animal products we consume. We also talk abo...

We are putting out this episode on the tail-end of Sukkot and wrapping up our 5785 High Holiday season by looking at the phrase "sukkat shelomecha" or "sukkah of peace" taken from the Hashkiveinu prayer recited in the evening. We discuss how the metaphor of a sukkah of peace can be seen in opposite ways, one that the environment surrounding the sukkah must be peaceful, safe, and stable to have a s...

In preparation for Yom Kippur, arriving at the end of the week this episode is coming out, we read the first chapter of the book of Jonah, which is traditionally read on Yom Kippur afternoon. We discuss how Jonah’s sleeping through the raging storm can be viewed through the lens of a depressed mind, unable to see how change is possible, and thus giving up, and how a similar mindstate can also be c...

To start preparing for Rosh Hashana, a week from when we are putting this episode out, we revisit the creation of the world (since traditionally the world was created on Rosh Hashana) as well as other New Year's themes of humility and the need to contemplate the consequences of actions before taking them. We discuss a text from Mashechet Sanhedrin asking why humans were created last, even after th...

In this week’s episode we talk about a text from Bereshit Rabah that discusses a quote from the creation story “dominate over the fish of the sea”. We discuss how the text sets up this idea that the one who is created in G-d’s image will dominate while those not created in G-d’s image will fall. While this can be a troubling idea because of the exploitation of the natural world’s resources and a d...

In this week’s episode we talk about a text from Bereshit Rabah that discusses the trees conversing with each other and with human beings, and then humans talking with each other and praying about the land and the temple. We talk about how now we know that trees do communicate with each other, but that there has always been an idea that nature is trying to communicate to us, and how this can lead...

In this week’s episode we discuss the section in Bamidbar about the spies who were sent by Moshe to observe the land of Canaan before the Israelites go in to inhabit it. We talk about how the report they bring back emphasizes both the impossibly large fruit but also the seeming impossible task of confronting the giants who live there, and how the negative narrative proves the much stronger message...

In this week’s episode we discuss a verse from Genesis (and Friday night Kiddush) and commentary on it from Bereshit Rabbah which asks the question of why the extra word of “La’asot” sometimes translated as “(that G-d) had done” is included in the verse. Bereshit Rabbah states that everything G-d created in the six days of creation still “requires some action.“ We discuss how humans now have a nev...

In this week’s episode of Honi’s Circle we study a verse from Leviticus (19:19) about not interbreeding cattle, mixing seed in a field, and not mixing textiles and Ramban's deeper read of this verse as being about not diminishing creation by trying to be a Creator oneself. This verse brings up mixed feelings about Halacha's role in hampering Jews from engaging in vital work of ecological farming o...

In this week’s episode of Honi’s Circle we study a text from Vayikra Rabbah, that features a parable told by R’ Shimon bar Yochai about a sailor drilling a hole in a boat, and being challenged by his friends. The parable goes to show the effect that our actions have on the whole community. We discuss what can contribute to self- and environment-sabotaging behaviors, and how we might better persuad...

In this week’s episode of Honi’s Circle we study texts from Likutei Moharan and Kohelet Rabbah that speak about how, when we feel ownership over creation, we are called to protect it, educate ourselves about it, and improve its condition. We talk about one way of improving the environment, which is aligning our diets to reduce our ecological impact, including exploring a plant-based diet, and/or e...

In this week’s episode of Honi’s Circle we study a text from tractate Taanit, in which Rav Nachman asks for a blessing from Rav Yitzchak, and Rav Yitzchak blesses him by saying he should be like a tree, which is close to perfect. However, the one thing the tree can use good wishes for is that the its offspring should be like it. We discuss the myriad climate benefits of planting trees, as well as...

In this week’s special Passover episode of Honi’s Circle we study a text from the Haggadah about the original move of Jacob and his family to Egypt. We have a saying “We were refugees too” because Jewish history is filled with a series of persecutions and expulsions, but what if we go back to our very first immigration as a family (ie. the family of Jacob) moving from the land of Canaan to Egypt b...

In this week’s episode of Honi’s Circle we study a text from tractate Taanit, in which Rabbi Berekhya says that in the book of Hoshea the Jews asked for a divine relationship akin to rain, and G-d retorts that what they actually want is one like dew. We use this text as a way of looking at how a fear of imperfection and unintended consequences can paralyze us in inaction, but that the way that G-d...

In this week’s episode of Honi’s Circle we study a text from Tractate Taanit, that offers great praise of rain by comparing it to Torah and the resurrection of the dead. We see this text as a religious mandate for us to be very concerned with what is going on in the world (including climate change) and not just our mission of connecting with the divine via spiritual imagination. In equal measure w...

In this week’s episode of Ḥoni’s Circle we study the blessing for rain in its original form in Tractate Taanit, as well as how it is found in the Shulchan Arukh, and commented on by Ashkenazi halachic authorities the Mishnah Berurah and the Rema. We talk about how this blessing can be a powerful cultivator for gratitude for “each and every drop” of rain. We also explore how our place and relations...

In this week’s episode of Ḥoni’s Circle we study the first half of Psalm 24. We find this psalm, recited when bringing the Torah back to the ark on non-shabbat days, to be full of messages pertinent to the climate cause, from the acknowledgement that all the Earth belongs to the divine, to its referral to the interplay between land and water, to it’s reference to a “wild heart.” We end by discussi...