During the Days of Awe
This Monday many of us will be surrounded by food, friends, and family to party like its 5769. Rosh Hashanah means there will be plenty of Shofar blowing, apples dipping, and families celebrating. Come Wednesday though, the thoughts and remains of Rosh Hashanah will be put away, and we will be focusing on the feasts and fasts of Yom Kippur. The days in between are a blur of High Holiday madness, but it is on these Days of Awe, Yamim Noraim, that we should take the time God has given us to acknowledge how we can make this next year as sustainable and sweet as the local honey we had on our organic apples. It is time to repent for our sins:
During this period God is judging us so that that our name can be put in either the good book or the bad book. One way to get in the good book is to cast away your 
sins, Tashlikh, by throwing pieces of bread into a flowing body of water. Like many aspects of Jewish environmentalism, this is a long standing tradition that has evolved into a new way of interpreting religious teachings and the environment. As you throw sins into the water, think about how precious (and awesome) God’s creation of water is to humanity. What can you do this year, which will help to preserve the less than 1% of water that is for human consumption? What environmental sins have you committed in the past that you can be extra conscious of during these 10 days and everyday thereafter? Sinning is no longer only about harming others; it is about harming the beauty of Creation. As we envision God writing our names in a book, let us see a book made of 100% post consumer recycled paper and written on with soy ink.
May your new year be sweet and sustainable. !L’shanah tovah!
