“Weeds Aren’t Strangers,” Rabbi Elaine Zecher’s Shabbat Sermon/Shabbat Awakenings
Watch the video of Rabbi Elaine Zecher delivering this sermon on August 2, 2024
August 9, 2024 | 5 Av 5784
Tonight, I want to talk about weeds.
Do not confuse them with the word, “weed,” in which I have no interest nor would it be appropriate to entertain such a subject from the bima.
But I digress.
Tonight, I want to talk about weeds: how they are misunderstood and mistreated, and how their contribution to the natural habitat is often missed or misconstrued.
Too often a weed here or a weed there becomes representative of every weed. When it looks different from its surroundings, when it unintentionally appears without invitation, when it uses too much of the resources out of necessity, the weed is rejected and then sometimes everywhere, every weed looks out of place.
The word, weed, is very old and comes from words that mean unwanted, out of place, uncultivated, undesired that sprouts and grows much to our dismay. Weeds interfere with the cultivated and desired plantings in the natural world and compete for resources.
In some places in the world, too many of certain weeds makes a home unsellable. Lenders can refuse to back a mortgage.
What is a weed to do?
All it wants to do is what every other plant gets: the warmth of the sun, the movement from the breeze, access to the rain and dew that brings nourishment, and the accommodation of its presence amidst whatever grows upon this earth.
Amidst the manicured grass where everything looks the same, weeds look different, strange even; hence the definition as described above:
Unwanted, out of place, uncultivated, undesired.
But are they strange? Are they truly different?
Or maybe they are diverse, not alien but rather unfamiliar.
What if we came to know the weeds better by investigating their origins, considering their inherent contribution, taking a better look, rather than plucking or mistreating it?
Where did that patch of blue flowers come from amidst something else that was planted? What is that fragrant scent? Does this weed have helpful properties that may heal or cure? Maybe it could help stabilize unstable dirt patches. Sometimes and oftentimes, what once was considered a weed turns into a valuable contribution to the garden.
Who among us does not have some connection to a plant voluntarily situated somewhere? Called a weed but it becomes something else, even if it was that brief moment of childhood of picking dandelions or blowing the wispy leaves cherished for the joy it brought us.
Perhaps there is so much potential if we only gave weeds a chance. Our treatment of weeds helps us practice a certain human behavior that teaches us to welcome the outsider who really isn’t an outsider at all.
Imagine, if among the 36 times that the Torah speaks of the stranger, we replaced the word stranger with the word, weeds.
Exodus 23:9. You shall not oppress a WEEDstranger, for you know the feelings of the WEEDstranger, having yourselves been WEEDSstrangers in the land of Egypt.
Jews know what it is like to be treated as weeds. Our history has shown that we have been transplanted and then plucked out, pushed out, thrown out.
Lev 19:33. And if a WEEDstranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not wrong IThim.
The widow, the orphan, the stranger are all the most vulnerable of a society. The Torah teaches us this. And that the outsider can be brought in as an insider.
Exodus 22:20. You shall not wrong or oppress a WEEDstranger, for you were WEEDSstrangers in the land of Egypt.
The paradigm of Egypt is one that we carry with us through history and in the many lands we have dwelled. To be accepted and welcomed has brought diversity. It makes for a more healthy landscape in which to thrive.
Genesis 15:13. And God said to Avram, Know surely that thy seed shall be a WEEDSstranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
How long does it take to realize that othering accomplishes very little. No one and no thing should be afflicted.
And the last one:
Leviticus 19:34. But the WEEDSstranger that dwells with you shall be to you as one born among you, and thou shalt love THE WEEDhim as thyself…
Weeds that started out as strangers, that began as an immigrant, sometimes forced by the wind and sometimes intentionally carried from one place to another legally or not have contributed to the biodiversity of which we all benefit. Without weeds, the world is less sustainable and healthy. Diversity sustains nature. Without it, nature collapses. The same is true with immigrants.
I can’t name the plethora of weeds that have made a difference by their presence with their healing properties or other advantages. I don’t garden. Though I was helped by an article in the Times entitled, “Weeds,” by Jennifer Kabat, I know very little about how to grow plants.
But this I do know.
We all need to pay attention to the way language is used by some leaders to denigrate and disparage those who come to our shores and the lands on which we live. These strangers who immigrate here come for the same sun and rain that nourishes all of us. They come for a better life.
They are not unwanted, out of place, uncultivated, or undesired.
They contribute resources rather than dilute. They deserve to be treated with respect and for us to know more about them. We cannot be frightened by twisted, contorted descriptions that say something awful, made up stories which are far from factual. And for sure, we have to figure out illegal immigration.
When JFK wrote the Nation of Immigrants in 1964, he conveyed the crucial idea that those who have come to this country have helped to make America. Who among us is not related to someone who came to these shores and had to make their way? Let us remember to appreciate their journey and what we have inherited.
One last note which I learned from one of my sons who never met anything from the natural world that didn’t delight him. Some of the most beautiful and significant weeds are actually indigenous but were replaced by other plants brought in from elsewhere. That beauty and significance has been here all along if we would only have let that thrive right in our midst. Not everyone is related to someone who came to these shores.
We live in a world of opportunity. With an open and welcoming attitude, we gain so much more whether it is a plant that surprises us by its presence or human beings trying to find a place to plant roots from which to grow and blossom.
- We celebrate Shabbat this week with Qabbalat Shabbat at 6:00 p.m. INSIDE. Register here to join on Zoom.
- The Riverway Project for those in their 20s & 30s will celebrate Shabbat together at the August Riverway Shabbat.
- On Shabbat morning, we gather at 9:00 a.m. in the library for a short Shabbat service and Torah reading followed by a lively discussion of this week’s Torah portion. All levels and abilities are welcomed. Register here to join on Zoom.
- Gather online to say goodbye to Shabbat with a lay-led Havdalah on Zoom at 8:00 p.m.
- See Temple Israel’s webpage for Livesteam options.
I continue to value the many comments you exchange with me through these Shabbat Awakenings. Share with me what you think here. Your email goes directly to me!
Rabbi Elaine Zecher