Planting Trees for Future Generations

A few weeks ago one of the directors of Michigan BBYO (B'nai Brith Youth Organization) contacted me. She explained that as part of an upcoming retreat, the Jewish teens in BBYO were interested in planting trees near their BBYO Bittker Retreat Center and then dedicating each tree in a ceremony. She had heard that I used to lead such activities for Camp Tamarack in Ortonville, Michigan and asked if I would share my resources. Of course, I sent her my files from several years of these tree planting ceremonies and told her how meaningful they were. 

A week later I was asked to contribute a piece for "The People & The Book" section of the Jerusalem Report magazine that drew inspiration from the Torah portion Kedoshim. Knowing that mitzvot (commandments) for planting trees are given in this parashah, I began writing about my own tree planting experiences, discussing those ceremonies at Camp Tamarack. What follows is my contribution to the Jerusalem Report:

Trees for Grandchildren

The joy of planting for future generations

If I had to guess the first time I ever planted a tree, it was likely as a young preschool child on the playground behind Adat Shalom synagogue in Farmington Hills, Michigan. I don’t really recall planting that tree, but I know that it was an annual tradition for the little five-year-olds at the shul’s nursery school in the early 1980s.

The next time I was supposed to plant a tree was at a tree planting ceremony outside of Jerusalem during a teen tour following my graduation from high school. However, rather than actually planting trees, we instead donated money for trees to be planted on our behalf the following year since that year was a shmita year, meaning the soil of Israel was being left fallow in a seven-year cycle.

Hillary Clinton and Passover

After Passover in the year 2000 I remember driving back from New Jersey to Manhattan after teaching a Hebrew School class. My classmate, Faith Friedman, was sitting next to me in the car telling me about how a fellow rabbinical school student had just had Hillary and Chelsea Clinton at his family's Passover seder. I listened intently to this second-hand story that David Fine had told Faith.

I couldn't believe what a great story this was. To have the First Lady and Chelsea Clinton sit at your family's Seder and participate must have made for a very impressive evening. President Bill Clinton didn't attend the Fine Family seder because he was meeting with Yasser Arafat at the time.

A few years ago I was in Berlin on a trip with fellow Conservative Rabbis and Rabbi David Fine was one of the participants. On the first night in Berlin, David offered to give me a guided walking tour of the city. After a two-hour walk he asked if I had any questions. I said, "Yes, tell me about that time the Clintons came to your parents' home for the Pesach seder."

Conservative Rabbis Are Missing an Opportunity with Kitniyot Ruling

Passover hasn't even begun, and I'm already frustrated with so much talk about food. Well, this year it's not hametz that is at the root of so many debates in the Jewish community, but rather kitniyot. Kitniyot is the Hebrew term for non-hametz food products like corn, rice, beans, and legumes, such as soybeans, peas, lentils, and peanuts that Ashkenazi Jews traditionally have not eaten on Passover for the past 700 years.

The Conservative Movement, of which I affiliate, announced a major change this past fall with regard to the permissibility of consuming kitniyot on Passover. Throughout the holiday, we are forbidden from eating (or even possessing) the five grains designated as hametz -- wheat, barley, spelt, oats, and rye. While Sephardic Jews have always eaten kitniyot, Ashkenazic Jews have regarded them in the category of forbidden Passover foods for a few reasons that don't make sense anymore. The recent teshuvah (responsum) approved by the Conservative Movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards really isn't as monumental as it sounds, because in 1989 Conservative Rabbi David Golinkin, in Israel, essentially overturned the ban on kitniyot with his own teshuvah.

The Conservative Movement of Judaism has approved eating kitniyot (legumes) on Passover.

While there has been so much debate over the past several weeks on the issue of eating kitniyot, that is actually not my concern. With the crazy political nature of the kosher certification world, I'm actually cautious about expressing my own opinion on the kitniyot debate as it would have significant ramifications for the kosher certification agency I founded eight years ago. My concern is not whether we should be eating rice cakes with peanut butter and corn tortillas with refried beans on Pesach (Passover). My focus is on the nature of these debates taking place this spring in Conservative synagogues throughout North America.