Fwd: Reb Arthur's teachings on Noach - for this coming shabbat

[David Seidenberg]

Rabbi Arthur Waskow died this past week, at the age of 92. Last week on
zoom, in a very touching event celebrating Reb Arthur's two new books
and his legacy, we heard that Reb Arthur has over 30 books, and over
20 arrests for civil disobedience. For so many folks, Reb Arthur was a
modern-day prophet, standing in the breach created by this modern
techno-coroporate world that is destroying the planet.

Since this shabbat is Shabbat Noach, I hope many folks will honor Reb
Arthur by sharing some of his teachings about the Rainbow covenant and
Noach. Here are four resources you can draw on:

1) The Rainbow Day curriculum, with 38 activities and teachings
related to the Rainbow covenant, includes Reb Arthur's teaching (#8)
on the flood of fire, copied below. The celebration of Rainbow Day,
the 27th of the second month, was an idea proposed by Reb Arthur in
1981.
http://neohasid.org/pdf/RainbowDay-curriculum-6.2.pdf

2) The Parables of Flood, Ark, Rainbow: Celebrating Shabbat Noach, on
Interreligious Eco-Justice Network
https://www.irejn.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Noah-Ark-Rainbow-Rabbi-Arthur-Waskow.pdf

3) The Rainbow Haftarah by Rabbi Arthur Waskow, translated into Hebrew
by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (1993), on opensiddur:
https://opensiddur.org/readings-and-sourcetexts/mekorot/non-canonical/exoteric/modern/the-rainbow-haftarah-by-arthur-waskow-translated-by-zalman-schachter-shalomi/

4) The Shalom Center resources -- the Shalom Center website seems to
be getting an upgrade. The links I could find that work begin
"legacy4now.theshalomcenter", and the link I could generate for Noach
material was:
https://legacy4now.theshalomcenter.org/treasury/68

David Seidenberg

P.S. Below this teaching I've added some words about my own connection
to Reb Arthur, may his memory be a source of blessing and strength and
wisdom.
___________

Teaching from Reb Arthur in the Rainbow curriculum:

Flood, Ark, Rainbow: Beyond Disaster into Hope – A Modern Midrash (R.
Arthur Waskow)

Did the gift of the Rainbow after the Flood mean that the danger is
now over and done? Long ago, the Rabbis told of Abraham watching the
fires that destroyed Sodom and Gomorra. “But, God,” said Abraham, “You
promised never again to destroy the world through such a Flood. Surely
You did not mean to rule out only a Flood of water? Surely You did not
mean that You might send a Flood of Fire?”

And God was silent. Or as the Southern Black song puts it, “God gave
Noah the Rainbow Sign: No more water. The fire next time!”

Reb Arthur’s commentary: Today we are responsible to make sure that
the scorching of our planet by over-burning fossil fuels does not
bring upon us both a Flood of water as our ice floes melt, raising sea
levels on every coast, and a Flood of fire as heat sparks droughts and
forces many species into death. Suppose we see actions that cause
major ecological damage–even the economic competitions often called
“trade wars”–not as war at all but as falling into the category of
Flood? (Editor’s note: The war/competition metaphor reflects the
thinking of Sodom: “what's mine is mine and what's yours is yours.”
See Avot 5:13) That might change our ethical outlook in dealing with
such actions. For example, those who say we must make more automobiles
that fill the air with carbon dioxide to keep ahead of others who are
selling automobiles, are thinking in the metaphor of economic war, not
that of Flood. In a flood, any act that pours out yet more destruction
is an attack on the planet as a whole, not on a competitive nation or
corporation. If we can change our language, we might change our
future.

From Godwrestling -- Round 2 (Jewish Lights, 1996), by Rabbi Arthur
Waskow, pp. 234-237.
_____________________

What I shared about Reb Arthur on social media:

Rabbi Arthur Waskow z"l was one of my most important teachers.
Everyone among my friends already knows about his visionary and
prophetic activism and Torah teachings. Among many important
accomplishments, his book Seasons of Our Joy was the catalyst that
transformed our interpretation of the Jewish holidays to focus on
agriculture and ecology. Before that, the common and vastly wrong
understanding was that the Torah *replaced* the agriculture meaning
with historical interpretations (e.g. primitive Sukkot was about fruit
harvest and rain prayers, but the Torah transformed that holiday into
a commemoration of the Israelites' wanderings in the desert).
Arthur came to teach at Dartmouth when I was a freshman, on
Jewish/Torah responses to nukes (this was the year before Seasons of
Our Joy was published). His teaching inspired me that summer to start
a research project on Jewish responses to hunger, focusing on the
Shmitah year and the Jubilee year. That summer I also met him again at
the very first Jewish environmental conference (where I was the baby
of the group), and then in the fall, I brought Arthur to teach at my
very classically Reform home synagogue in South Jersey.
Arthur's work and example have never stopped being a model for me. I
can honestly say that Arthur's work set me on my life's path.
The picture is from a DC rally against the Keystone XL pipeline 13
years ago. On the right is Arthur's son David, one of my very best
friends, and Phyllis is in the tightly-drawn hood. May we all find
comfort.

PPS. I know that donations to The Shalom Center would be a welcome
way to honor Arthur's extraordinary life. Another way would be to
donate to the New Israel Fund.