It’s a Sin: High Holidays 2 5769

Rosh HaShanna is the Yom Hazikaron the day of memories. I think back over the years
and I recall previous holidays. Sometimes pictures come to mind of early experiences which
continue to grow in meaningfulness as the years go by. I would like to share one such experience
with you, one that means a great deal to me, and has given me a perspective on dealing with a
critical issue confronting the world.

It is An Avera
I remember sitting, as a young child at the kitchen table with my mother and father,
Alaihem Hashalom, and my little sister. I remember filling my plate with food, and then after
taking a forkful, pushing it aside. My mother pushed the plate back to me, and said
reproachfully: “Its an averah. Here, finish it.” When I first heard the word Averah I thought that
it meant “wasteful”. It was only much later, after I had begun my Hebrew studies that I learned
that the word Averah means a sin, or a transgression.

Wastefulness is a Sin
For a while, with the know-it all attitude of youth, I suspected my mother of ignorance,
misusing a Hebrew word. As I grew older and learned more about the world in which I lived, I
began to realize that my mother had simply expressed the intuitive wisdom that one of the main
sins of humanity is wastefulness. She was telling me, that with so many hungry people in the
world it was a sin to waste food.

This lesson impressed upon me as a child seemed to become almost irrelevant during
most of my adult life. America had become an affluent society. The good citizen was now
defined as the good customer, whose wants, stimulated by advertising, impelled him to discard
what was still useable and to buy the latest model thereby stimulating production and keeping
America prosperous. You may recall that when America went to war against Iraq, the president
did not ask the American public to sacrifice. He told it to go out and spend money to help the
economy to grow.

There is an old story which by exaggerating makes fun of this trend. It tells about three
women who met at a famous jeweler and discussed how they go about having their precious
gems cleaned.

One said, “I always take it to Cartier’s.” The second said, “If my jewelry needs cleaning I
take it to Tiffany’s.” The third one chimed in, “Take it to be cleaned? When my jewelry gets
dirty, I throw it away.”

Consumption and Pollution
We are a world of consumers, and the world is today dying of consumption, not from the
deadly disease, Tuberculosis, but from over use of our natural resources. China has one of the
most successful economies in the world. It manufactures and exports huge quantities of goods all
over the world. But consider the price it is paying in terms of the health and well being of its
citizens. Remember the reaction to the announcement the Olympics were to be held in Beijing,
one of the most polluted cities on earth. The potential effects of the foul air worried the Olympic
athletes. National teams from the United States, Britain, France and Germany, to name just a
few, sponsored pre-Olympics training in Japan rather than in China. A record-holding Ethiopian
long distance runner pulled out of the marathon because with his asthma he would not be able to
breathe.

In response to the widespread alarm, Chinese officials shut hundreds of factories and coal
burning plants in Beijing and it’s environ. They made businesses stagger their hours of operation
in order to avoid rush hour commutes that generate spikes in pollution.

As soon as the Olympics were over, the city reverted to doing what it did beforehand. The level
of pollution was the same, a growing threat to the health of all residents.

The air here in America is increasingly polluted and dangerous to the health of
Americans. Los Angeles is a prime example. Smog will cover large areas of the city. The elderly
and young children are warned to stay in doors until the smog has lifted. Even, here, in
Minneapolis, ranked as the eighth healthiest city in America, there are days when the air is so
polluted that people are cautioned to limit strenuous activities and those most likely to be
affected are warned not to leave their homes. As the development of manufacturing and the use
of automobiles increases the whole world will be equally affected.

Global Warming
Consider also the impact all this development is having on global warming. This past
year the United Nations issued its report on global warming. According to the United Nations
report changes in the atmosphere, the oceans, the glaciers, and icecaps now show that the world
is warming due to human technological activities. The report confirms that the build up of
greenhouse gases produced mainly from burning gasoline and other fossil fuels will result in
more forest fires, soil erosion, droughts, sea level rise, and the immersion of islands and
shorelines.

Over-consumption is a Sin
For many years I have been uncomfortable, torn between recognizing the wisdom of my
mother’s injunction “its an averah to waste” and the temptations of living in an affluent society.
Today I find myself strongly affirming my mother’s teaching that “It is an Averah”, “a sin”, but
applying it not only to waste, but also to over-consumption. The affluent society with its never
ending flow of goods, and its throwaway living, is the major threat to the continued existence of
the world because its means of production causes both air pollution and global warming.

Change of Direction
Judaism seems to have anticipated this problem. The Rabbis of the Talmud (Kohelet
Rabba 7:20) teach that the Holy One gave Adam and Eve a tour of the Garden of Eden, leading
them around the trees, and said to them, “See how beautiful and clean everything is. Everything
that I created is my gift to you, the first human beings. Be careful not to desolate or destroy my
gift to you, she-im kilkalta ain mi she-yitaken aharekha “for if you make a mess, here is no one
else to clean it up”.

Then God commands man that it is his responsibility to l’avda u-l’shamra “to till the soil
and to take care of it”. The second verb is the key. Our responsibility is to be Shomrim guardians
of the earth. Judaism teaches that we are Shutafim b’maaseh brayshit God’s partners in the work
of Creation. God created the earth; now it is our responsibility to take care of it”.
Yogi Berra, the quotable Yankee catcher supposedly once said, “If we don’t change
direction, we’re liable to wind up where we are going”. The question that we now have to
struggle with, as a country and as a global community, is “Do we have the will to turn aside from
out present course and find a better, safer and healthier way to the future?”

Former Vice President Al Gore summed up the situation in which American society finds
itself. He said “we’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in
ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that’s got to change.” He then challenged the nation to
derive all of its electricity from renewable and other carbon-free sources within 10 years.
As citizens of America, we face the challenge this year of choosing who will govern us in
the next four years and will set the direction that our nation will take in the years ahead. I hope
that one of the basic criteria on which we will base our vote will be: “who will turn us from our
present course and lead us to a better, safer and healthier way to the future?”

However the challenge is not only to society to find alternative energy sources to replace
oil, but to each of us to do our part, by conserving energy and resources, in modern terminology,
to reduce our individual carbon footprint.

It’s a Mitzva
Here too my mother taught me well. In many a context she said to me, “It’s a Mitzvah.”
“It’s a mitzvah to save. It’s a mitzvah to share. It’s a mitzvah to give Tzedakah to help others, it’s
a mitzvah to be a good citizen. Originally I thought a mitzvah meant a good deed. Later I learnt
that a mitzvah meant a commandment, God’s commandment, which every Jew should obey.
Today I realized that Jewish folk wisdom had penetrated to the heart of the matter. It affirmed
that God had commanded us to be good, responsible human beings. Thus, deeds that were
appropriate and helpful were to be considered mitzvot carrying out God’s command.

A Mitzvah to save
It would seem to be a mitzvah for parents to teach their children, by example, that it is an
averah to waste food. That it is averah to replace objects that are still usable with objects whose
main advantage is that they are new. That it is an averah to leave the lights on when they leave a
room. That it is a Mitzvah to give Tzedakah to food shelves to help people suffering because of
the weakened economy. That it is a Mitzvah to use energy efficient light bulbs. That it is a
Mitzvah to drive fuel efficient cars, that it is a mitzvah to conserve gas by using cars sparingly,
walking or biking where practical, and carpooling to school or work.

I would like to see Beth El become the Schule with the pool, with carpools of people
coming from the same neighborhood to attend programs and classes, to davegn at services, to
bring children to services. It would be a double mitzvah, if parents who bring children to Shabbat
services would not drop them off and return to pick them up, but would save a trip, by staying at
Shabbat services.

Pooling to Schule, to work, and to other activities not only saves fuel, it helps brings
people together, it can help make new friends, and can strengthen old relationships. One of the
less talked about negative consequences of the age of affluence is that it resulted in unlimited
individualism, for there was enough for everybody to do his own thing. The incoming age of
conservation means that people will have to cooperate in their utilization of natural resources.
What are We Teaching?

I began this sermon by reminiscing about my mother, of blessed memory. As I worked on
the sermon I began to realize how great and lasting her influence was on me. The simple basic
truths I learnt from her “It is an Averah to waste”, “It’s a Mitzvah to do good”, are still my guide
in life. I find myself applying them to the new challenges and tasks that I face each day.
I would recommend that on this Yom haZikaron day of remembering, that you take a few
minutes, and in the silence of your souls, think back and make your own list of the truths your
parents taught you. And then ask: “What memories, what values, what stories, will my children
have of me? What will they remember when they reminisce about me. What will they say, are
the truths that I taught them?” Will they say, among other things, that I taught them, by word and
deed to deal with the greatest danger confronting the future of the world, by inspiring them to
lessen their carbon footprint? Amen