And who by fire, who by water
Who in the sunshine, who in the night time
Who by high ordeal, who by common trial
Who in your merry merry month of May
Who by very slow decay
And who shall I say is calling[1]?

Who by fire? Just look at the town of Lahina, burnt to a crisp, with over 100 dead on Maui, the most dead ever from a wildfire in our country. See the wildfire smoke coming from British Columbia pummeling much of the northern United States for days on end. Who by water? Look at Hilary dumping more rain on California and Arizona in 1 day than typically falls in a year, the fishing communities destroyed, and cars turned into boats in Florida’s Big Bend, and the devastation wrought by the flooding in New England and in Greece, as well as Libya, where an estimated 5,000 are dead and 10,000 are missing.  Let’s not forget the earthquake which killed almost 3,000 people in Morocco earlier this month.

Look at the rising temperatures on land and by the sea, the warmest summer on record, with Phoenix having 31 consecutive days over 110 degrees, El Paso having 44 consecutive days over 100 degrees, and we see the evidence of an inconvenient truth.

I’ve spent a lot of time speaking about mindfulness, the importance of focusing on the here-and-now. However, at times one must take steps for future generations. There’s a famous story about Honi HaMaagel (the circle drawer) who saw an old man planting carob trees. “Fool!” he said to him. “Who are you planting those trees for?” The man replied, “Just as my grandparents planted carob trees for me, so too will I plant them for my grandchildren.”[2]

We need to think about what we are doing to plant the seeds for generations yet to come. I implore us to take the steps collectively to make a difference. Where we cannot we will have to adapt as best we can.

There is one brief story I want to share about response to a natural disaster. Benny Reinicke of Maui, was in standstill traffic with many, going towards the water to escape the wildfire. He was going to run into the water when all of a sudden he saw an 88 year old woman and her daughter struggling to walk with the smoke. He got out of his car and helped guide them towards the water. Reinicke found a spot away from the electric poles and trees and hunkered down alongside them, along with a person with disabilities and a person who was struggling to breathe. They held onto one another for 8 hours before being saved by firemen. At a time when his life was at great risk, Reinicke stepped forward and saved others.

         I do not have answers as to how to stop Who By Fire and Who By Water. There are certainly more qualified environmental protectors than me. However, I believe 100% that when natural disasters strike, as unfortunately they will continue to do, we will band together to support each other and truly be a community of caring and a congregational family – when a Ben Reineke moment comes for us.

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[1] Leonard Cohen Who By Fire

[2] Adapted from Babylonian Talmud Taanit 23a