Pharaohs of the Environment
We are the Pharaohs of the environment,
And we live in the time of the current plagues
A kavvanah for the Marror
Blood, frogs, vermin, …, goes the catalogue of the plagues of Egypt.
Polluted earth, water and air, — goes our catalogue —, Ozone holes, Acid rain, Argon gas, meltdown, genetic flaws, dead rivers and lakes, dying oceans and extinct species.
We are the Egypt; and we are the Pharaohs whose hearts have been hardened and who refuse to let our Mother, the Earth, heal.
We must shout a Dayyenu — Enough – No More! to that — and begin to act.
I feel ashamed as I look at the seder plate, its signs of life, the egg, the green, the salt water of the seas. It all tastes bitter, and the Charoseth does not sweeten it enough.
As we are fastidious about the laws of Pessah, we must become fastidious about what is helpful to Earth, and like Chametz on Pessach, we must avoid what destroys her.
Chad Gadya‘s domino effect is no longer funny. The Angel of Death is at the penultimate end.
We must redeem it with two Zuzzim we must move-zuz from our present way to a new and eco-redeeming way.
by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (Pessach 5749 / 1989)