This is ’’Pathways of Teshuvah, Part 1 - Identifying the Separation: Judaism's land-return.’’ This recording is part 1 of 3-part discussion with breakthrough academic, Dr. Pesach Chananiah, and youth mentor / gardener / war veteran, Mr. Marcus Kar, on reconnecting to Nature for sacred communion and emotional wellbeing. In this segment, host Chris Searles shares a synopsis of Dr. Chananiah’s primary points on the impacts of the Exiles on Judaism’s disconnection from Nature, and Mr. Kar relates his own experience, seeking to be a vessel for positive change.

About Our Guests

• Dr. Pesach Chananiah (author) is a Jewish ecopsychologist, educator, and community organizer working in interfaith and environmental spaces. He writes about the psychological impact of disconnection from land, through a Jewish lens, and explores modes of healing through embodied spiritual practice in the natural world. Read his paper, Pathways of Teshuvah, on AllCreation.org.
• Marcus Kar (special guest) is a decorated veteran and a native of “North” Minneapolis, a predominantly African-descent (African-American) community struggling to overcome racism, economic poverty, and other forms of America’s institutional biases. Marcus is program director at Youth Farm, North Minneapolis, “a multi-faceted youth development organization growing food and young leaders, healthy bodies and minds, positive identity, neighborhood connections, community opportunities, and healthy relationships.”

PROGRAM

0:00 Welcome & Intro

2:30 Part I: Identifying the Separation from Nature: Judaism’s land-return

2:50 Temples were metaphors for homelands

3:30 Exiles were environmentally-harsh (from the Fertile Crescent to the barren desert)

4:25 Dr. Chananiah

4:50 Professional disclaimers, backstory, search for identity, field work

7:15 Teshuvah: ’’to return’’

8:45 Mr. Kar

9:35 Self-acceptance, identity, feelings

11:30 Being a vessel, not an expert, for positive change

12:10 The Separation from Nature

12:30 Benstein quote

13:00 Rev. Korngold quote

13:00 Dr. Chananiah: quick chronologies of the Exile

13:15 the Temple

15:00 from Rites to Teachings

16:15 Laws > Connection (to the lands, other life, and Earth)

17:30 Rabbi Nachman’s hitbodedut

19:00 The Divine IN Nature?

20:00 Dr. Chananiah: on “Diveykut“ and hugging, wrapping & “cleaving“ to the Divine

21:00 Nomads’ literal connections:

e.g. Abraham goes to the teacher tree

e.g. Moses and the Burning Bush

23:00 Could I, a modern person, also experience Divinity in the wilderness?

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#Teshuvah

#hitbodedut

#diveykut

#lechlecha