World Environment Day June 5th & Climate Crisis

World Environment Day & Climate Crisis

June 5^th marks World Environment Day. Here in Alberta, we have living evidence of climate crisis. Our conservative government continues to dismiss the evidence and pander to the oil industry. Tonight on the news our premier spoke with “forked tongue,” on the one hand she referred to the fires, while on the other hand, she stated the need to build more pipelines to transport Alberta’s oil. She also continues to discourage alternative energy sources and development. 

Meanwhile our forests started burning already in May, as did those in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. On this evening’s newscast, it was reported that 17,000 people have been evacuated from their communities in Manitoba, 7,000 in Saskatchewan, and 5,000 here in Alberta. Currently, it is not known whether the residents of these evacuated communities will have homes to return to, once the fires are no longer burning. Lately, where we live, the wind keeps blowing almost every day, and often the gusts are up to 50 km per hour (in the recent past, windy days were less frequent). If that is also happening up north where the forest fires are burning, then the fires spread faster, and become out of control sooner. In some cases, firefighters have to retreat, since it is too dangerous for them to remain working to extinguish the fires. So from our premier’s and governments point of view, let the forests burn until they no longer exist, as long as we can continue to keep making lots of money from the oil and gas industry—that’s what really matters. Keep living in climate crisis denial until our biodiversity no longer exists to sustain life for human beings and every other species of God’s creation. 

Another example of the destruction of forest fires here in Alberta is the town of Jasper and surrounding area. We drove through Jasper recently, and here are a couple of pictures I took of that destructive fire.

                          The ruins of the Anglican church, destroyed by the Jasper fire

                                                    The burnt out gas pumps in Jasper

So on World Environment Day, I will try not to drive my vehicle. I will ride my bicycle, and enjoy, appreciate, and give thanks for the beauty of God’s creation. More importantly, I will try to live my life every day, as much as possible, in harmony with the environment. As the old familiar axioms go: “Less is more,” and “live more simply that others (humans and other species) may simply live.”For more information on World Environment Day, which is emphasizing actions to reduce plastic pollution, click here.

What about you, dear readers? How will you celebrate World Environment Day? 

Wordless Wednesday - May 7, 2025

 

                                                        Welcome signs of spring

                                       For Wordless Wednesday

Book Review: Ehyeh: A Kabbalah For Tomorrow

Ehyeh: A Kabbalah For Tomorrow

Author: Arthur Green

Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing, paperback, 192 pages, including Preface, Introduction, Epilogue, and Notes

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

The Author 

At the time of publication, Dr. Arthur Green was Philip W. Lown Professor of Jewish Thought at Brandeis University and dean of the Rabbinical School at Boston’s Hebrew College. Former president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, he is also a rabbi, a historian of Jewish mysticism, and a theologian. He is the author of: These Are the Words: A Vocabulary of Jewish Spiritual Life; Tormented Master: The Life and Spiritual Quest of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav; Seek My Face: A Jewish Mystical Theology; and The Language of Truth: Teaching from the Sefat Emet. He is also co-editor of Your Word Is Fire: The Hasidic Masters on Contemplative Prayer. 

Contents

The volume contains the following: Confession, By Way of a Preface, Introduction: Ehyeh As a Name of God, Part I: Rereading The Old Tradition—consisting of 6 chapters, Part II: Looking Toward Tomorrow—consisting of 6 chapters, Epilogue: To Keep on Learning—Where Do I Go from Here? and Notes. 

Brief Observations 

Rabbi Dr. Arthur Green displays his erudite gifts and skills in this volume. At the time this volume was published, he had studied Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism for 40 years. He is likely one of the most highly respected experts on Jewish mysticism. Yet, he humbly states: “I have not yet come up with any definitive answers” (p. xvi). 

As I read this work, I realized how in-depth Professor Green takes his audience. One of the main reasons he wrote this book was for seekers—both Jewish and non-Jewish, and he states that he still considers himself to be a seeker. He invites them to take their time reading, and engage with him both heart and mind. 

In his introduction, Rabbi Dr. Green begins with the Kabbalah hidden name of God Ehyeh(pronounced eh-yeh), “I shall be.” He suggests that: “The name Y-H-W-H should not be translated “God” or “Lord,” but rather “Is-Was-Will Be” (p. 2). God’s name is more verb than noun. He also explains the kabbalist word keter: “Keter is existence that precedes all definition” (p. 5). 

In “1 Kabbalah Old and New,” Professor Green states the meaning of the word kabbalah, “the received.” Traditions received from previous generations. 

In “2 There Is Only One,” Rabbi Dr. Green addresses The One and the many, emphasizing the oneness of all that exists: “Kabbalah teaches that there is a secret unity of all Being, hidden within the multiplicity and diversity of life as we experience it” (p. 20). It was God’s love that created everyone and everything.

In “3 Torah: Creation’s Truth Revealed,” Professor Green refers to a primordial Torah, Torah revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai, and a new Torah created from life experiences.

In “4 Sefirot: The One and the Ten,” Rabbi Dr. Green explains the Ten Sefirot, with the aid of diagrams. He also includes “A Guided Meditation.” 

Throughout this volume, Professor Green explains a variety of Hebrew words and letters, and their significance. In one section he includes “A Meditation On God’s Name,” (p. 82f). 

In “7 Seeking a Path,” Rabbi Dr. Green states that: “Mystics share with other religious people an intense awareness of Divine Presence and a constant readiness to respond to that presence in both prayer and action” (p. 96). In this chapter, he also includes: “These Are the Things a Person Should Do to Live by Them,” (p. 102f) listing 14 things to practice one’s faith.

In “8 Great Chain of Being: Kabbalah for an Environmental Age,” the author acknowledges the tragic state of creation and humankind, stating: “The changes needed in collective human behavior in order to save us from self-destruction are stupendous” (p. 118). 

In “10 What about Evil?” Professor Green includes a discussion on the biblical stories of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel, as well as the Holocaust, and the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. He believes that: “To be a Jew is to think about evil. The fact that we have so long been its victims does not mean that we are never its perpetrators” (p. 138). 

In “11 The Life of Prayer,” Rabbi Dr. Green identifies two traditional categories of prayer—spontaneous and liturgical. He also explains a diagram of “The Kabbalistic ‘Amidah” (pp. 160-165). 

In “12 Community: Where Shekhinah Dwells,” the author points out that the 613 commandments are rooted in the original 10 commandments. He also underscores the importance of creativity in order to teach Torah: “The mystical tradition has always been especially open to innovative, sometimes even wildly radical new readings of Torah” (p. 174). 

In “Epilogue: To Keep on Learning—Where Do I Go from Here?” Professor Green mentions several scholars, and recommends some their works. He starts with two of his teacher’s works, Abraham Joshua Heschel: God in Search of Man, and The Sabbath. He also recommends that it is better to learn Hebrew and read sources in that language, than to rely on English translations—something is lost in translation. 

This volume will be very beneficial to both Jewish and Christian scholars, students, and clergy interested in Kabbalah. As a Christian reviewer, I especially appreciated, and was reminded of parallels in Christianity, of the list of 14 things on pp. 102-105.

Weekend in Black & White - March 7, 2025

 

Unfortunately the weather is too warm now for cross-country skiing. However, I keep hoping for more snow, maybe next week. 

                       For Weekend in Black & White

Brief Review: Instrument of Thy Peace

Instrument of Thy Peace – Revised Edition

Author: Alan Paton

Publisher: The Seabury Press, paperback, 124 pages

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

The Author 

Alan Paton was a South African Anglican layperson, author, teacher, and anti-apartheid social justice advocate. 

Brief Observations 

In his Preface, Paton begins with the following sentence: “This book is written for sinners, and by one of them” (p. 7). In addition to sinners—that includes, of course, everyone—he states: “I wrote also for those who are inclined to melancholy, for those who are inclined to withdraw rather than to participate...[rather than] the building of a more just order of society” (p. 7). 

Paton wrote this volume, of his 21 meditations based on Francis of Assisi’s classic prayer, during the time when his wife of 39 years, Dorrie, was dying of emphysema. He believed: “I was given help to write it” (p. 8). 

Each of the 21 meditations begins with a quotation often from Francis’s prayer or one or more biblical passages. However meditation 17 begins with four quotations from newspapers focussing on the 1967 black riots in several USA cities. In most of the meditations there are other quotations from a wide variety of people and sources, including: excerpts from The Little Flowers Of St Francis Of Assisi, John Bunyan, William Temple, Alexander Paterson, Dag Hammarskjold, Paul Tillich, Ralph Hodgson, Lancelot Andrews, Julian of Norwich, the “Desiderata” by Max Ehrmann, The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky, Reinhold Niebuhr, and several others. The meditations often end with a prayer by Paton, wherein he concludes with these or similar words: “And help me this coming day to do some work of peace for Thee” (p. 53).

In meditation 3, based on Francis’s petition: “Where there is hatred, let me sow love,” Paton provides readers with his commitment to social justice: “To be the instrument of God’s peace is not to confine oneself to the field of personal relationships, but to concern oneself also with the problems of human society, hunger, poverty, injustice, cruelty, exploitation, war” (p. 20). At the end of this meditation Paton prays this prayer, which highlights his faith, and complements his commitment to social justice, and how he was inspired and motivated by Francis’s petition: “Take all hate from my heart, O God, and teach me how to take it from the hearts of others. Open my eyes and show me what things in our society make it easy for hatred to flourish and hard for us to conquer it. Then help me to try to change these things. And so open my eyes and my ears that I may this coming day be able to do some work of peace for Thee” (p. 22). 

Some of the meditations also contain contemporary anecdotes and insights born out of Paton’s own life experiences. For example, a friend of his who was overanxious could have been thankful for the blessings in her life, rather than being preoccupied with what might happen to her. 

In a couple of meditations, Paton is very honest with his readers concerning the “sinner” part of himself. He admitted that he struggled with and fell short of Jesus’s teaching to love one’s enemies. When someone pointed out to him that as a Christian he could be more joyful, he admitted that there was more room in his life to grow more joyful. 

Although some of the illustrations and contexts may be dated, others, even if dated, are as relative and instructive today as they were in Alan Paton’s day. This is a devotional classic that readers may wish to read periodically to discover insights and inspiration. 

Book Review: Just A Mother

Just A Mother

Author: Roy Jacobsen, Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw

Publisher: Biblioasis, paperback, 318 pages, including Glossary

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

The Author 

Roy Jacobsen was born in Oslo, his family was from northern Norway. He has written over 15 novels, and is a Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature member. In addition to this novel, Jacobsen has written 3 other Ingrid Barrøy Novels. The Unseen, the first one about Ingrid and her family, was a phenomenal bestseller in Norway and was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize and the International Dublin Literary Award, selected as an Indie Next pick in North America, and named a New York Times New and Noteworthy book. The Kirkus-starred and critically acclaimed White Shadow, the second Barrøy novel, was published in North America by Biblioasis in 2021 and followed by Eyes of the Rigel in 2022. 

Brief Observations

It is sometime after World War II. Ingrid, the protagonist, who is referred to as “just a mother,” (p. 310), the novel’s title, is a member of the Barrøy family, and as a young woman she inherited from her parents, Hans and Maria, Barrøy Island in northern Norway. Ingrid had given birth to her daughter Kaja. The father of Kaja, Alexander, a Russian P.O.W. had been rescued from the wreck of the Rigel. Ingrid also raised Felix and Suzanne after the death of their parents, Zezenia and Oskar Tommesen. In addition to these children, Ingrid also took in a girl named Nelvy who died young, and Mathias—also referred to as Mattis—son of Olavia Storm and a German officer, Ottmar Ehrlich. After the disappearance/abandonment of Olavia, and the death at sea of her husband, Johannes Hartvigsen, who was twice her age, Ingrid, with the assistance of Pastor Samuel Malmberget, eventually adopted Mathias.

Pastor Samuel studied in Germany, expounds on Luther’s Bible, and likes to show up for surprise visits of his parishioners. Regarding himself as shy, he and Anna Karina Storm marry.

Barbro is Ingrid’s aunt, sister to her father Hans. She is the mother of an adult son, Lars, named after a Swedish worker on the island who may be his father. Barbro lives with Ingrid, offers hospitality to visitors, helps out with chores, and sings in the church choir. 

The novel goes on at length to describe the isolated way of life on Barrøy Island, relying on boats to bring in supplies, mail, etc., no electricity, struggling to eke out a living with gardens, fishing, animals, and collecting eider down.

Mariann Vollheim was another lover of Alexander, after Ingrid. She is married to Olav, and lives in Trondheim with her daughter called Little Ingrid. Ingrid Barrøy and Mariann communicate with each other via letters, and have somewhat of a complex and conflicted relationship. However Mariann arranges for Kaja and Mathias to attend school in Trondheim. Mariann inherited an estate, and was a teacher at the Trondheim Cathedral School. 

There is a lengthy process of selling local properties in order to build a new school. Ingrid employs stalling tactics to try and get as much money as possible for the Johannes Hartvigsen property, the proceeds of which would be given to Mathias. 

The men of the community travel to Lofoten to fish during the winter months. However one year that changes, and Barrøy is never the same again. 

The novel highlights, among other things: the importance of and tension within community relationships, childhood curiosity, traditional rural island and modern urban life, individual and collective identity in relation to the environment, psychological and theological issues such as guilt, shame, grief, anger, doubt, faith, sin, and the absence or presence of God in the lives and deaths of humans. 

I’m not certain if the author or publisher chose the title for this novel. However, given the complexity of human beings, Ingrid is certainly more than “just a mother.” She is a niece, a mentor and community leader, a gardener, a farmer, a neighbour and friend, from a faith perspective a child of God, and so on. 

The novel leaves this reviewer wondering if Roy Jacobsen will publish a fifth Ingrid Barrøy Novel, since the ending leaves readers curious about the future of a number of characters, including Ingrid.

Book Review: A New Name: Septology VI-VII

A New Name: Septology VI-VII

Author: Jon Fosse, Translated from the Norwegian by Damion Searls

Publisher: Transit Books, paperback, 197 pages

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

The Author 

Jon Fosse, was born on the west coast of Norway and is the recipient of countless prestigious prizes, both in his native Norway and abroad—including the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature. Since his 1983 fiction debut, Raudt, svart [Red, Black], Fosse has written prose, poetry, essays, short stories, children’s books, and over forty plays, with more than a thousand productions performed and translations into fifty languages. A New Name is the final volume in Septology, his latest prose work, published in three volumes by Transit Books.

Brief Observations 

This novel—which, at times seems like poetic-prose—is written in what I would categorize as a non-traditional, minimalistic genre. Fosse employs long paragraphs throughout the novel—it begins with about a 3 page paragraph, and ends with around a 4 page paragraph—he only uses commas and question marks, and does not use periods or quotation marks. If you look in a dictionary, you will not find the word “Septology.” I take it to mean Fosse’s exploration of the meaning and mystery of human life. Asle and Asle are doppelgängers, possibly Gura and Gura might be too. The novel abounds with repetitive words, phrases, thoughts, memories, etc. One of Fosse’s favourite repetitions involves the main protagonist, Asle, looking out the window at the Sygne Sea. 

The novel takes place in western Norway. Asle and Asle are both artists. Åsleik is a farmer-fisher, friend and neighbour of Asle. The two of them prepare for their boat trip, and eventually travel over to Åsleik’s sister’s place to celebrate Christmas Eve. Åsleik comes across as somewhat superstitious and a misogynist in that he thinks suitcases and women bring bad luck while travelling in a boat.

The one Asle was married and divorced twice, his first wife was Liv, and second wife was Siv, who also was an artist. The other Asle eventually marries Ales, and both of them are artists. They both attend and later drop out of art school. Asle drops out because he and his teacher realize that he is such an accomplished painter that there is no more he can learn from his teacher. Ales drops out because she wants to study icons and paint them. Ales is a devout Catholic, and Asle converts to Catholicism. Throughout the novel, the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostles’ Creed, the Ave Maria, the shorter Gloria, and the Salve Regina are prayed by Asle in Latin. Asle is influenced by the mystic Meister Eckhart. 

Beyer runs the Bjørgvin art gallery, and eagerly displays Asle’s paintings, thinks they are brilliant works of art, and sells them to customers. Asle thinks his paintings are prayers, confession and penance, and so is all good art and poetry. 

The novel moves back and forth to various times, places and events in the life of the characters. Asle rambles on in a variety of directions—reminiscing, thinking, questioning, remembering, hoping about the meaning of art, poetry, music, the existence and nature of God, life, death, grief, free-will, suffering, and on one occasion states: “but there’s one thing I’m sure of and that’s the greater the despair and suffering is, the closer God is” (p. 61). 

From my humble point of view, this novel gets rather tedious with countless repetitions of words and phrases, and its seemingly fragmented nature, going off in so many different directions without coherent connections, that it makes it difficult to piece together and make sense of a lot of the content. Two-and-one-half out of five stars.