Hurricanes & Yirat Shamayim

When you live in Florida, as I do, hurricanes are a fact of life.  They say it's the price we pay to live in Paradise.  However, experiencing two major hurricanes (Helene & Milton) in as many weeks might cause one to question that premise.  The power of these storms is truly indescribable, as evidenced by the hundreds of thousands of people they have impacted.  For many, it will likely take years to fully recover.

There is a concept in Judaism known as יראת שמים (Yirat Shamayim) or "fear of Heaven."  It can also be translated as "reverence for Heaven."   In both cases, Shamayim is understood as God.  It is a basic spiritual quality in traditional Judaism. 

The root of Yirat (יראת) is ר.א.ה., which means "to see."  The idea is that God sees all, and thus since everything we do is seen by God, we should behave in such a way as to instill reverence (or fear) in us for the Divine.

One of the beauties of Judaism and the Hebrew language is that we don't read our texts simply on their literal level. Our tradition teaches that our sacred texts can be read on multiple levels. For thousands of years, the word Shamayim has been translated as "Heaven." In modern Hebrew, it also means "Sky."  If we break down the word, however, we see a ש (Shin) followed by the word מים (Mayim), which means "Water." The Kabbalah teaches that even the shape of the letters can teach us lessons. I find it interesting and perhaps an indication of a deeper understanding of the word Shamayim, that if you look at the Shin (ש), you'll see it is made up of 3 prongs connected together.  Water is the only substance on Earth that exists naturally in all three states: liquid, gas, and solid.  And it is these three states (or lack thereof) that are responsible for the vast majority of natural disasters (hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, and droughts) that we are facing with unheard-of intensity.  With this understanding, perhaps we should begin to see a new approach to Yirat Shamayim, climate change, and water in general.  

The aquatic environment is a finely balanced ecosystem, and the Ocean is the largest carbon sink on the planet.  There is no question that humans are pumping too much carbon into the atmosphere, which ends up in the Ocean, leading to warmer water and stronger hurricanes.  However, we can no longer focus only on reducing carbon emissions without seriously addressing how we reduce the Ocean's natural ability to absorb carbon.  

We can't remove trillions of fish from the Ocean every year and not expect that to have an impact.  We can't kill 80-100 million sharks every year (the apex ocean predator) and not expect that to have an impact.  We can't kill 300,000 whales and dolphins every year through ship strikes and entanglements and not expect that to have an impact.  We can't keep dumping 11 million tons of plastic into the Ocean every year and not expect that to have an impact.  We can't keep destroying mangroves to build condos and hotels on the waterfront and not expect that to have an impact.

We need a new approach to water in all its forms:  יראת ש-מים (Yirat Shamayim) — an approach based on reverence.  As the physical force that makes life on planet Earth possible, we should treat water with the reverence it deserves.  Every living being is made up mostly of water.  It is what unites all humanity; indeed, it is what unites all Creation.

If humans view water, and everything in it, as nothing more than resources to exploit and use to our own benefit, we do so at our own peril.  Storms will get stronger.  Droughts will get worse. Food will be more scarce.  It's time for us to stop viewing water as a resource but rather as THE Source.