We are at the one-week countdown to Pesach. There are cabinets to be cleaned, matzah balls to be made and consideration to be given to our Seder this year. But more than the cleaning and cooking, I’m thinking about Mitrayim/Egypt. We all watched in awe this year as modern day Egyptians rose up against their Pharaoh to free themselves from his rule. Like the ancient Israelites, the modern day Egyptians ultimately had to be the agents of their own freedom.

While we, thankfully, live in a great democracy, there are many ways we are not free. As Pesach approaches, I’m thinking about ways in my life that I constrict my own freedom. The name Mitrayim means “narrow place”. It was the narrow birth canal through which the Israelites had to pass to be born into freedom. My yoga teacher, Rabbi Myriam Klotz, shed new light on this word for me. She pointed out that if we remove the center of the Hebrew word Mitzrayim, the “tzr” (which means narrow), we are left with the word “mayim”, which means water. Water is the clear, buoyant fluid that carries us, moves us and sustains us. Once we remove the narrow places from our lives, we are left with the liberating sensation of floating.

As we prepare for Pesach, let’s think about what’s confining and constraining us. What relationships are keeping us in a narrow place? Are we a prisoner to our iphone or blackberry? Are we staying where we are because it’s comfortable/safe or because it’s life affirming?

Moreover, if we parse the word “mayim” (water) further, we create the words “ma im?” – which translate as “what if?” Once we remove the narrow place from Mitzrayim, we are left with infinite possibilities….what if? This is the opportunity to reflect on the life we are leading and imagine the life we wish to lead. What if? What if anything was possible?

As we examine our homes for those morsels of hametz, let us examine our souls as well. Pesach affords us the chance to liberate ourselves from that which is holding us back and become champions of our own lives.

Pesach is known as Z’man Simchateynu – the Season of our Joy. May each of you rejoice in the infinite possibilities of being alive and find new ways to bring freedom to yourself and others this Passover.

Just yesterday, January 1st, we celebrated a new year, 2011.  In the Jewish calendar, we actually have 4 new years mentioned in the Mishnah.  One of them, the new year for the trees, otherwise known as Tu B’Shvat (Shevat 15), is celebrated this month on January 20th.  It’s customary to plant trees to celebrate and eat dried fruits and nuts, especially figs, dates, raisins and carobs.  In the Middle Ages, the mystics created a ritual around this called a Tu B’Shvat Seder in which the fruits and nuts took on symbolic meaning.  The purpose of the order in which special foods are eaten is to bring us closer to spiritual perfection.

The concept of how we eat bringing us closer to perfection, or making us holier, is very much part of our tradition.  The rules of keeping kosher are meant to teach us discipline and purity, two values which bring us closer to God.  As modern Jews, there are many ways to eat beyond the traditional rules of kashrut that may help to sanctify our lives.  This Tu B’Shvat, let’s consider how we eat.  How far does our food travel from farm to fork?  What pesticides were used?  How were the laborers who picked and processed the food treated?  Is the food nourishing and healthful?

Our organic and local Jewish food collective, Yaroq, is inviting new participants to the collective this January.  If you are interested, please contact Sharon@tbsmb.org for more information.  We are members of a national Jewish collective organized by Hazon.  To learn more about Jews and eating, visit hazon.org or the Jew and the Carrot. And if you’d like to get your hands dirty planting this Tu B’Shvat, try putting some parsley seeds into the ground.  They should be ready just in time for your Passover Seder!  Happy birthday to the trees!

Last year, when we first started Yaroq, our bi-weekly deliveries of organic, locally grown produce, people would stop by the Temple Beth Sholom courtyard, see the gorgeous produce – the purple carrots(!) and pink grapefruits and deep green swiss chard –  and ask if they could buy some fruit or veggies.  But we didn’t start Yaroq because we wanted to be a grocery store, where someone could just stop by and get what they need.  We started Yaroq because we wanted to do much more than that.

Our first goal in forming an agricultural collective, is to restore the relationship Jews traditionally have had to the land.  Traditionally, almost every Jewish holiday has a strong connection to agriculture and the Earth.  The Talmud tells a story about a miracle man and mischief-maker named Honi.  One day Honi was walking down a road when he saw an old man planting a carob tree.  Honi asked the old man how many years it would take for the carob tree to bear fruit.  The man replied:  “About 70 years.”  “Silly old man,” Honi responded.  “Do you really think you’ll live another 70 years to see its fruit?!”  To which the old man replied, “I found the world planted with carob trees.  As my ancestors planted for me, so I will plant for my descendants.”

We want to restore a Jewish sense of responsibility toward stewardship of the Earth.  The production and distribution of agriculture has radically changed since the days of Honi.  We have become so far removed from the cycle of growing and harvesting that we are desensitized to the impact it is making on our environment.  Currently, nearly 20% of our national energy consumption comes from growing, transporting and storing our food.  The average meal travels 1500 miles from farm to fork!  The majority of food we receive through Yaroq comes from local farmers.  By supporting our local farmers and purchasing only organic produce, we are significantly cutting down on the greenhouse gasses produced by transportation, refrigeration and petroleum based fertilizers.  Most of the produce we receive is picked on a Wednesday and delivered to our Temple courtyard on Thursday!

Another goal for Yaroq is to build community.  We want to bring together a group of like minded people who share a concern for the environment and healthful eating.  We want to create relationships where people share ideas about nutrition, the environment and delicious recipes.  We do this in many ways.  Friendships are formed over fruits and veggies as host families sort and package the produce.  We learn from each other at Shabbat dinners where each family can share a favorite vegetarian recipe.  There will be at least one cooking class where new skills are acquired.  Hopefully we will also have the opportunity to visit one of the farms from which we receive produce.  And of course we have a Facebook group, where people can exchange information, recipes and ideas.

If you missed the opportunity to enroll in the first half of our season, please let us know you are interested in participating in the second half (starting in February).

A synagogue is not a grocery store.  But we are a source for sustainable living, sharing ideas, Jewish learning and forming community.  Please join us in Yaroq if you’re looking for even more than fresh and delicious produce.

by Rabbi Gayle Pomerantz. founding director

This is my first Miami summer with a dog.  It’s hot when I walk him at 7:00 am, and it’s hot when I walk him at 7:00 pm.  It’s just hot.  But the heat isn’t all bad.  It forces me to slow down from my usual frenetic fast paced day of appointments, work, calls, carpools, e-mails, cooking and more, and pause, stretch and breathe.

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Rabbi Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of Israel, once said:  One should make the old new, and the new holy.  This is the task of anyone who is hosting or participating in a Passover Seder.  Our charge is to tell (haggadah) the story of our ancestors liberation as though we ourselves were once slaves.

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