In this week’s episode we study a text from Leviticus about the laws of the Sabbatical year, ie. Shmita. The section describes a special connection between the land and the divine, which points to a spiritual orientation of treating the land as an autonomous entity deserving of rest and respect. The text also talks about the anxiety of the sixth year; articulating the uncertainty of reorienting our economic and agricultural practices. Avi, our guest, also talks about the LA fires, and how a natural disaster can wake us up to the realization that nature is an independent force that needs to be respected. Follow along with the source sheet here: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/615585

In this week’s special Passover episode of Honi’s Circle we study a text from the Haggadah about the original move of Jacob and his family to Egypt. We have a saying “We were refugees too” because Jewish history is filled with a series of persecutions and expulsions, but what if we go back to our very first immigration as a family (ie. the family of Jacob) moving from the land of Canaan to Egypt because famine was “heavy in the land.”? Having as part of our identity a people formed by climate refuge seeking can help instill empathy and move us to action for the millions being caused to move by the climate making their homelands unlivable. Follow along with the source sheet here: www.sefaria.org/sheets/550019

In this week’s episode we study a text from the Shulchan Aruch about ways to bring joy for a holiday, which includes meat and wine, toasted nuts and grains, and new clothes. We talk about the joy of getting new things, and how, often in our modern society, we buy so many new things that the joy diminishes. Some ideas we discuss are saving the joy of something special and new to coincide with a special event or a holiday and buying used clothes which can contain the extra joy of wearing something historical, unique, and the story of its previous wearer. Follow along here: www.sefaria.org/sheets/609796 .