The Times they are-a changing

I am sitting on a bench, under a changing Autumn tree, waiting for my 6 yr old’s school bus. The shining yellow, oblong leaves are detaching from the branches and coasting down, riding the gentle morning breeze, all around me.

I am reminded of an old Jewish teaching: that just as every autumn leaf’s path down to the earth is directed by the very finger of God, so t00 is every human beings  action guided, by gods self! We are never alone nor unaccompanied.

This autumn has been lengthy and lovely, the trees are vibrant with color with light! It’s an honor to walk on the Earth!

I am driving in a car, up to Vermont. The views are spectacular. The season is peaking. Reds, Yellows, oranges, burgundies, and dark green. I am noticing that autumn has a different feel in Vermont then it does in New York State. And I am thinking that this is because there are so many conifer trees betwixt and between the changing deciduous trees that it really grounds the scene.

Home, I am walking under a deep blue sky, white moving clouds, briskly overhead. Post peak, the autumn leaves are still stunning! This lovely, long season. The changing leaves on trees beyond the trees. On purple mountains- observable, then sung.

Our ancestor Jacob places a stone beneath his head, and sleeps, and dreams that there is a stairway reaching from the earth to heaven, and angels are ascending and descending the stairway, with the presence of G-d at the very top.
He awakes with the words, Manora haMakom hazeh. How awesome is this place!

Well said! My feeling exactly. The earth is a precious home, our mother, a nurturer  and sustainer . Even in Hebrew, one of the words for God is El Shaddai, which could mean the mountains or  breasts.

And this is why I think it is so important for every single one of us to be environmental activists! There is a youth that I saw in a video who spoke truth when he said, ” if you drink the water and breathe the air and eat the food then you must get involved!” This is not a fringe cause any longer. This is about our human stewardship of our Home, our mother, this beautiful blue marble hurtling through space.   Because we all know, you can’t drink oil and you can’t eat money.

The earth needs us now to raise up our voices and to be protectors ( as the natives at standing rock call themselves ) in whatever way that we are, be it armchair activist, or those activists who place their bodies on the front line right now, standing up at Standing Rock in North Dakota! We must take care of the waters- the Mayim Chayyim, The living waters in Hebrew.

And this is honestly the most sacred protest that I have ever be held. I spent years in my life protesting nuclear weapons testing in Nevada working for Greenpeace working in the peace movement protesting, getting arrested etc. Now, I see we had still so much to learn about  nonviolent civil disobedience as the great Martin Luther King says we must do more than not shoot our enemies we must resolve not to hate them! It’s not us versus them, it is for all of us! And the mode for this protest? Prayer.

At this prophetic gathering, many First Nations people are standing together, shoulder to shoulder with all the peoples of the world who want to protect the world at least for the next seven generations!

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And just a quick shout out to Bob Dylan,  winning the Nobel prize in literature. Always been one of my favorite poets, and I’m so glad that your talent and your wisdom can be recognized now in your lifetime and not in Memorial. We owe so much to your Words and your wisdom. Migwich 🎆

 

Living in it

low-flying crow over my southbound car graying praying mantis steps across the threshold of my front door as  I open it from inside we find a perfect wild turkey feather just before the season open and a tiny tall magenta mushroom living under a wet Fallenleaf these are the days for bluejays in the compost pile quick moving clouds in the wind and half moon visible in the noontime sky its shadow autumn clarity slow reaching sun chiding squirrels and transitioning trees we are noticing  The earlier evening and we continue

by, Yiskah Koock