What if, on this new year’s
day of tithing animals,
we take an honest accounting
of our human arrogance,
remembering that when our Temple stood
we humbly acknowledged our debts
to the more-than-human world–
that humans were created, the midrash teaches,
dead last, so that we never imagine ourselves
more important than a mosquito?
day of tithing animals,
we take an honest accounting
of our human arrogance,
remembering that when our Temple stood
we humbly acknowledged our debts
to the more-than-human world–
that humans were created, the midrash teaches,
dead last, so that we never imagine ourselves
more important than a mosquito?
What if, beginning with the first day of Elul,
we become new moons emerging from darkness,
awakening from our casual cruelties
to confess our sins of endless consumption:
breeding for accessorizing,
condemning wild creatures to captivity,
discarding old and ill companion and servant animals
farming animals without regard to suffering,
killing for sport?
we become new moons emerging from darkness,
awakening from our casual cruelties
to confess our sins of endless consumption:
breeding for accessorizing,
condemning wild creatures to captivity,
discarding old and ill companion and servant animals
farming animals without regard to suffering,
killing for sport?
What if we read our Torah with open eyes
and see that its truths are written
on the skins of our fellow creatures,
that we listen to the call of the shofar
announcing the day that is pregnant with eternity
with horns we have taken from the heads of animals,
imagining them created for our use?
and see that its truths are written
on the skins of our fellow creatures,
that we listen to the call of the shofar
announcing the day that is pregnant with eternity
with horns we have taken from the heads of animals,
imagining them created for our use?
What if we repent sincerely for
tsa’ar baalei ḥayyim
–the suffering of living creatures–
that we have created throughout our generations,
our comfortable self-absorption,
our failure to care for our fellow creatures
our indifference, lust and pride,
resolving to atone for harms
that cannot be undone by words ?
