ON October 12, I will turn 88 years old. I plan to undertake an act of nonviolent civil disobedience, among hundreds of others from a broad rage of  faith communities, at the Whote House in a call to the President to use all his legitimate power to address the climate crisis far more vigorously.

I see my being able at 88 to take part in this action as a joyful birthday present from the Breath of Life --- YyyyHhhhWwwwHhhh –- to me, making the Sheh-hekianu prayer real: – Blessed is the Interbreathing Spirit of the world world Who has filled me with life and carried me in the Wind of change to reach this moment.

And from me, the protest will be a healing birthday gift to our wounded Earth.

Clergy Civil Disobedience

(Here I am quoting from an invitation to this action by Rabbi Elliott Tepperman, president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association.)

 We as people of faith are being invited to support People Vs. Fossil Fuels, an Indigenous-led coalition of frontline communities working to stop the climate catastrophe now. Please join me and many other rabbis and faith-committed people on October 12 in Washington DC as over 100 clergy and many supporters sit down in front of the White House and risk arrest as part of a week of action demanding President Biden use his executive power to stop all federal approvals for fossil fuel projects. 

To participate you need to come to training in DC Monday evening 10/11. They are planning for the arrests to result in a $50 fine and release that day, likely with outdoor processing. Biden’s team has already shown a strong desire to avoid the story of clergy arrest and strong evidence that this action will move the needle.

This action is the first on a national scale for organizers who have been fighting fossil fuel projects like pipelines all over the country. They are coming together in recognition that victory over any one project is insufficient. To reach safety, we need to stop them all. Sign up here with our partners at GreenFaith..  The GreenFaith clergy working group meets the next two Tuesdays at 11 AM via Zoom. Sign up!

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Some thoughts I want to add:

We face a great moment of deep decion. When such moments came in Torah, we hear calls for the entire people to be present. At Sinai and for the Sukkot after the Sabbatical/ Shmita Year and when the exiles in Babylon returned, we hear that everyone must assemble.

There could be no deeper decision than whether to  burn all Earth  and wreck human civilization or to move into an era of Eco/ Social Justice. We should be making every effort to involve and hear our fullest community when we vote.

Yet some of our elected representatives are trying not to “move Heaven and Earth” but to thwart Heaven and choke Earth so as to hold power in the old way. To them that means alliances of the minority of Americans who want to subjugate and ravage Earth for their own profit with those who want to subjugate women, GLBTQ people, Muslims and perhaps Jews, Spanish-speaking refugees and immigrants, Indigenous people, and the Black community.

To defeat this cabal who want to govern by fear, violence, and exclusion, we must not only unite against them, but for and in a world that governs through love. That governs hrough the mind-set of ecology  -- in which every species, every culture, every person is willing to celebrate its/ her/ his/ their/ our uniqueness and fit our differences together like a jigsaw puzzle into the Great Name, the Interbreath of Life, the Holy One.

 Shalom, salaam, paz, peace, namaste! -- Arthur

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