Covenant of Commitment


This covenant is designed to enable each of us - individuals, families, households, classes, schools, organizations, synagogues, youth groups and others - to join in a broad-based Jewish community of caring for the earth. By signing this covenant, we are uniting in an effort to increase our awareness, appreciation and responsibility toward the manifold blessings of the earth, and to leave a lighter, and hopefully beneficial footprint, as our legacy for those who come after us.


Sign the Covenant of Commitment

in honor of

Birkat Hahammah 5769

April 8, 2009


"And God made two great lights - the larger light to rule the day and the smaller light to rule the night... and God placed them in the heavens to light up the earth."

(Genesis 1:14-15)

"The sun of righteousness shall shine forth with healing on its wings."
(Malachi 3:20)


The blessing to be recited on April 8, 2009 at sunrise:

ברוך אתה יי אלוקינו מלך העולם עושה מעשה בראשית

Blessed are you, God, the Maker of the wonders of creation.


Preamble to the Covenant

The era of fossil fuels is ending. Alternative energy sources are on the rise. Solar and wind, both fueled by the sun, tidal energy powered by the moon, and countless other sources hardly even imaginable today, hold out great promise of clean, renewable energy tomorrow. Our support can hasten their development, discovery and adoption.

On the eve of this energy revolution, the Jewish community is preparing to celebrate the creation of the sun. Once every 28-years, we mark the return of the sun to the place, time and day of its creation. As we celebrate all of God's majestic creation, we note that the sun provides the light that powers life on earth. The resources of our planet are self-contained, and our world is constantly recycling, reusing, regenerating all that is here. All life depends the Sunlight, the only new physical element introduced afresh each day into the world.


Birkat Hahammah Covenant of Commitment

This Birkat Hahammah, we join forces to show our appreciation for the creation of the sun, and the renewable gift of light that dawns upon us each day. By signing this Covenant of Commitment, I/we pledge to hasten the day of environmental healing, social justice and sustainable living for all.

In doing so, I/we join with thousands of others around the world who seek to live cleaner, healthier, more sustainable, fulfilling lives. By signing, I/we promise to pursue at least one task in any of the three areas of Celebration, Application and Donation that will bring us closer to this goal.

(For each category, we have made suggestions to inspire your imagination. Choose from the ideas listed here or craft your own. Then, share your selections with us. Add your name to the growing roster of signatories, and tell us how you honored this day.)

In recognition of the celebration of Birkat Hahammah and the trust placed in human hands to tend to the world, I promise...






Celebration

(acknowledging our awe and appreciation for this heavenly gift)

On the morning of April 8, 2009, as the sun crosses the horizon, to mark the occasion by reciting a selection of the meditations and prayers found at blessthesun.org along with the blessing above, or otherwise create my own expressions of awe, gratitude and delight.

On the morning of April 8, 2009, to join in the siyyum (celebratory completion of a rabbinic text) at my local synagogue (see Massechet Hahammah on the Resources page of blessthesun.org for a selection of texts to be studied in preparation of the siyyum.)

The month between Purim (night of March 9) and Pesah (the night of April 8) to study selections from Massechet Hahammah

To write about the sun and submit it to blessthesun.org Blessing page.

To take a photo of the sun's work and upload it to the website's gallery section.

To track the rising and setting of the sun (its time, location and inclination) from day to day and Shabbat to Shabbat for a month.

To learn more about the splendor of the sun at (some helpful websites about the sun can be found at blessthesun.org on the Our Sun page.

To read poems about the sun

To create a dayyenu for all that the sun gives us and read/sing it at my Passover seder (and post it on blessthesun.org)

To plant parsley or a sunflower at Tu B'shvat and use it at the Passover seder accompanied by a special meditation of thanks

To create a sundial or noon-mark at my home, school, JCC or congregation.

To devise something of my very own:


Application

(working to create a more sustainable world)

To reduce my household's carbon emissions 10% by next Passover by:

sun-drying my clothes, managing the sunlight in my home to regulate light and heat, spending more time in the same room with other members of the household, reducing my discretionary use of appliances (run dishwasher and washing machine only when full, lower temperature on my hot water heater), installing solar-powered hot water heat, comparing this year's energy use with last year's usage on a month by month basis...

To get a better sense of how much energy various appliances use, visit one of these sites:

Home energy calculator - hes.lbl.gov, eere.energy.gov/consumer/calculators, oksolar.com/technical/consumption.html (tells you how much energy typical home appliances use)

To reduce my driving by 10 miles a week

To sign up to receive occasional updates from one environmental advocacy website (To receive the COEJL legislative action alert, please email info@coejl.org with "subscribe" as the subject.)

To reduce my land-fill-headed waste by 25% (Composting - vegweb.com/composting or composting101.com; recycling unwanted but usable items - freecycle.org; removing yourself from unwanted calatogue mailing lists - catalogchoice.org; stopthejunkmail.com)

To select ten (more) things I can do to limit my energy consumption (a helpful guide is "The Short List: The Most Effective Actions U.S. Households Can Take to Curb Climate Change"), and to set a date by which I can achieve them

To get involved in a local environmental advocacy organization (your state League of Conservation Voters; Sierra Club; local Riverkeeper)

(For resources from JRF's Sustainable Synagogue Initiative see jrf.org/carbon-offset and jrf.org/Sustainable_Synagogue_Resources)

(You can also use this general use carbon calculator)


Donation

(supporting Jewish environmental organizations
and renewable energy initiatives)

to donate monetary resources to one of the organizations listed here

to donate time to a community environmental/energy conservation initiative

to start up "green committee" in your school, synagogue or workplace



In signing this Covenant, I/we join with thousands of others in celebrating the gifts of life and light that God daily bestows upon us through the blessings of creation and the brilliance of the sun.

In signing this Covenant, I/we pledge to do my/our part to live lightly, in harmony, with the cycles and renewing capacity of nature, and to repair the harm we have done to the earth and all the creatures that depend upon it.

In signing this Covenant, I/we pledge to undertake at least one task in any of the three areas of Celebration, Application and Donation throughout the year 5769, the Year of the Sun.

Sign up to learn more about our advocacy efforts

This covenant is a project of a coalition of Jewish environmental organizations celebrating the return of the sun to its original place in the heavens at the precise time and day of its creation.
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