Repairing the World

Good morning.

In the Jewish calendar, today is the seventeenth of the month of Sivan. By tradition, it was on this day that Noah’s Ark rested on Mount Ararat, a massif now in eastern Turkey. The event is recorded in Genesis chapter 8, and marks the turning point in the flood narrative. Until that moment, humanity’s survival was in doubt: God ordered the torrential rains as punishment for the moral corruption that had consumed the world. The safe landing was our second chance, and we needed to seize the opportunity to restore stability to the world.
Judaism holds dear the concept of Tikkun Olam, or “repairing the world”. It’s a powerful ethical framework for ecological responsibility and sustainability. The world, both in Noah’s time and now, may have been broken, but wasn’t beyond repair. We need to recognise the fragility of life, and that constant vigilance, informed by moral human action, is required on a daily basis, to ensure that catastrophic events don’t recur.
Humans are resilient, inventive, and protective by nature. Surely we have the skill and will to protect our environment, so that we’ll never again have need to engage in desparate measures, as did Noah, to preserve life.
God of heaven above and earth below, we pray that you may grant us the strength and courage to bring healing to our precious world. Grant us the wisdom and restraint to protect our only home, which you created and called good. Guide us to protect it not only for ourselves, but also for the generations to come, that they too may rejoice in its beauty and wonder. AMEN.