Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"Shmita is set in the Bible: 'The seventh year shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath unto the LORD; thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.'

[...]

"One message from the United Nations report is that we are past the time when individual actions -- my compost, your Tesla, Ed Begley's house -- will make a difference.

[...]

"And that's where shmita comes in. It isn't up to each of us to save the land -- shmita wasn't an individual choice. It was a task mandated for the entire society; the regulations were clear, wrapped in 'thou shalts' and enforced from on high: 'Now if, after all that, you do not hearken to me,' warns Leviticus 26, 'I will continue to discipline you, sevenfold, for your sins.... Your land will not give-forth its yield, the trees of the land will not give-forth their fruit.'

[...]

"Judaism, of course, knows from personal responsibility. Indeed, the prime directive of the New Year is atonement, making good with each person you have wronged so that you can make good with God.

"And yet the lesson of shmita makes it clear that when it comes to caring for the Earth, we must act together. Only common action can prevent a tragedy of the commons."

-- Rob Eshman, "Op-Ed: This Rosh Hashanah, give Earth a sabbatical", Los Angeles Times, 2021-09-05

[Today is the second day of Rosh Hashana, the Feast of the Nativity of Mary, and the anniversary of Star Trek>'s debut on CBS (1966). I know I have friends celebrating each of those, or some combination of them.]