Kveller

Jewish Tradition Celebrates The Rhythm Of Nature. What Happens When It’s Thrown Off Balance?

By Hannah S. Pressman This article originally appeared on Kveller.

(tdubphoto/Getty Images)

Every houseplant I’ve ever been responsible for could attest, from beyond the grave, that I don’t exactly have a green thumb. So, it was interesting to move out to Seattle over a decade ago and be thrown into the Pacific Northwest gardening scene. People out here take their horticulture, like their outerwear, very seriously. Raised veggie beds dot the sidewalks, and many houses sport carefully tended flowers, lavender and rosemary mixed with mountain-chic rock clusters. The former gardening correspondent for the local news is popular enough to go by one name, like Shakira.

Though I felt at odds with this gardening culture when I first arrived here, over the past few years I have gradually taken more of an interest in the art of tending a garden. I’ve also realized that taking time to weed and water can provide a lovely break from the nuttiness of life with three kids. In the spring we upped our sustainability game by planting lettuce, chard, broccoli and berries in raised beds in our backyard. (I freely admit that this required some professional help – I’m even worse at building than I am at growing things!)

As our area slowly emerged from the monotony and strain of pandemic-induced lockdowns, our home garden began to thrive. The kids each contribute to the workload: My 12-year-old mists the raised beds, my 9-year-old digs up weeds, and my toddler totes her pink watering can over to the fuchsia and lavender.

My favorite “pet” outside, though, was growing here long before we moved in: a beautiful midsize Japanese maple. Its base is covered with soft green moss, its branches are the perfect height for kids to hang from, and its leaves change from bright green to vibrant red-orange as the seasons go by. I take pictures of this maple all year round, in every variety of sunlight.

That’s why I was especially dismayed last week when, after three consecutive days of temperatures over 100 degrees in the Pacific Northwest, I saw visibly scorched, crumpled leaves all over the maple. Two days later, once the cool marine air moved in and returned Seattle to the overcast mid-60s and 70s days we’re used to, I saw something even worse: hundreds of healthylooking green leaves carpeting the ground. Clearly the stress of the Heat Dome, as experts called this extreme weather event, caused a swath of the maple’s leaves to fall off prematurely.

This isn’t supposed to happen, I thought. Something is wrong with our planet.

Just as with the West Coast wildfires that kept us shut inside last summer, the Heat Dome can be directly linked to climate change. Just as with the wildfires and smoke plumes, I had to explain to my kids why this was happening, and I felt ashamed. Just as before, I am now incredibly angry and scared that this new reality — tarnished air quality, sweltering days, warming oceans, unlivable conditions for flora and fauna and humans — is now the reality of the planet that our children, and our children’s children, will inherit.

Judaism offers us so many chances to celebrate the rhythms of the natural world: trees on Tu b’Shevat; spring greens on Passover; fall harvests and outdoor living on Sukkot. But what does our tradition offer when the rhythms of the natural world are knocked askew? We have blessings for seeing large and small wonders of nature, lightning and rivers, animals and trees — even a special blessing for seeing a rain-

See RHYTHM on Page 41

Amy Misko for District A

21st Century Solutions for OUR 21st Century Problems!

• END ALL EMERGENCY DICTATES ON DAY 1. • UPHOLD OUR RIGHT OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. • Never again will ANYONE close OUR places of worship, OUR businesses, or

OUR schools. • ALL taxes collected in District A must be spent in District A! • SAFETY: WE need to invest and hire new o cers for OUR NOPD. We need a modern police force, attracting recruits from all over the US with great competitive salaries, relocation bonuses, educational bene ts, and state of the art training. We need to invest in EMT and the NOFD, too. • CORRUPTION: Audit the City Planning Dept. Fire the guilty and reward the honest and trustworthy. • SPEED CAMERAS: Remove ALL speed cameras and abolish ALL outstanding tickets. • Lower ALL city taxes: especially Hotel Taxes, Car Rental Taxes, Sales and remove city payroll taxes. Stop punishing the workers and employers. • End State and City-sanctioned utility monopolies. Encourage competition and o er citizens the choice for providers of trash, water, electric, gas, cable, internet, & phone. • Roll back OUR property taxes to 2017. District A has su ered huge, unconstitutional, and arbitrary property tax hikes, every year of the current administration. We have been denied due process. • All city-owed judgments must be paid including Fire ghters and Unconstitutional

Speeding Tickets • WE get justice and OUR money back, nally.

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