Chesed and the Ecology of Love
How does love shape our place in the World? What can the ecology of love teach us about our community, our home, and our connection to Nature?
“What do you suppose would happen if people believed this crazy notion that the earth loved them back?”… Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend and protect and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street into a sacred bond.
- Robin Wall Kimmer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 2013
Judaism, at its heart, seeks to embody love. This is reflected in our prayers – affirming G-d's love for humanity and all of creation, declaring our obligation to love in return. It is found in our commandments to honor our parents, to love our neighbors, to welcome the stranger. It is born in our responsibility to care for the Earth and to be a blessing for all families. We aspire to live ethically with love, care, and devotion, in our engagement with every living face of the Natural World.
But what does this love entail? How does it guide us towards wholeness and justice? To approach these questions, we must revisit the concept of the “ecology of love." This is an idea I came across intuitively, arising as I began to recognize my unique relationship to Judaism – rooted in the particular communities and landscapes in which I grew up. I have a personal and intellectual love for the living world – through my upbringing in reform Judaism and my studies in the ecological sciences, it is intuitive to describe love as central to our relationship to G-d/Nature. These words —G-d, Nature, and love — feel to me fundamentally intertwined. And yet, I am only beginning to understand how Jewish this perspective truly is: G-d is infinite and universal; Nature is limitless and participatory, the shared foundation in which all life has emerged; love is the process which brings us into physical and emotional, intellectual and spiritual relationship with the G-d or Nature. The ecology of love seeks to show how we align and attune ourselves with others, shaping ourselves, others, and the world as we affirm our place here in the natural world.
This week in Jewish Ecology, we will continue to unpack the ecology of love. Through three modes of engagement — a short essay, a podcast, and a poem — I hope to make these ideas accessible. In this short prose article, I will sketch out my personal learning, and the conceptual contours, of the ecology of love. In the podcast that follows, I interview with Zevi Slavin – scholar of intellectual history and Jewish mysticism, and creator of Seekers of Unity – for The Jewish Diasporist podcast. In this discussion, we unpack the essence of Chesed – lovingkindness – and its transformative role in guiding Jewish tradition — with a particular focus on Zevi’s personal history and relationship to his particular branch of Chabad Chassidism. This article concludes with a poem, aiming to express the underlying meaning of the ecology of love.
Love, as I've come to understand, drives us to intertwine ourselves with world, anchoring us beyond our egos and connecting us to our communities and our places on the Earth. Growing up in a reform Jewish community, I learned that Judaism is not merely about adherence to laws, but about participating in a living tradition – engaging in debates, creatively reinterpreting stories and ancient wisdom, and binding ourselves to our values. In my upbringing, Judaism centered community, not strict adherence to Halachah (laws and strictures). I was taught the importance of honest relationships, loving-kindness, and our obligations to others and to our World.
As I began unpacking my understanding of “nature,” I realized that I was raised to understand G-d, nature, and love as possessing the same essential quality: interbeing, collective co-creation. This realization led me to explore the “Ecology of Love,” working to understand the various ways our relationships shape who we become; recognizing love as central to our existence and sense of responsibility. Whether through personal relationships or broader societal impacts, love calls us to act with care and compassion, acknowledging our interconnectedness to all.
The “Ecology of Love: A Transdisciplinary Exploration of Love across Scales” was a seminar I put together and taught at my university in the spring of last year. In this class, I facilitated an exploration of love within the contexts of anthropology – and yet, we moved well beyond the traditional scope of this discipline. In weaving together science and philosophy, this class sought to build up a shared understanding of love, rooted in both spiritual attunement and evolutionary history. Through personal and ecological learning, this class created a space where each participant was able to bring their full presence into the classroom. Together, we explored how love — stretching from the context of romantic and familial relationships, to the love within friendships and community, and all the way to our love of place and to nature as a whole — shapes who we are, who we aspire to be, and how love can inspire a sense of responsibility for the World. This class cultivated a profound sense of personal belonging and through it all, I found a deeper appreciation of what it means to be here: to creatively engage, with love, in all personal relationships, to root ourselves in place, and to inspire a sense of belonging and loving attachment to our place in the living world.
Doikayt — yiddish for hereness — affirms our belonging to place, wherever we are. The ecology of love roots us through doikayt. Art by Wendy Elisheva Somerson, created for Aurora Levins Morales’s book of poetry, Rimonim. Permission for use granted by Aurora Levins Morales.
As I navigate the social roles and obligations I embody as an ecologist, an educator, and a participant in various communities, I understand that every action leaves a lasting impact. Lovingkindness is an imperative — it can be brought into all aspects of life — but only if we learn to engage with others with our whole being. Love teaches us to look beyond our narrow preconceptions, guiding us to honor the irreducible difference of each person — each soul — that infinitely enriches our community. Lovingkindness guides us to unify our actions and our values, leading us towards ever more compassion for ourselves, for each other, and for the living world in which we dwell.
Unity Through Chesed
If you would prefer to engage this content in its video form, you can access video recording through Seeker’s of Unity, or through any of the links on the timestamps below
Podcast time stamps:
00:00: Introduction
02:14 Zevi’s family history in Jewish Diaspora
08:40 Chasidism’s contribution to Jewish Spirituality
15:07 How Zevi’s Chasidism informs Seekers of Unity
21:51 The Relationship between Chesed, Chasidism and NeoChasidism
29:42 Reflections on being a Diasporic Jew
44:51 The Role of Community in Zevi’s Spiritual Work and Life
52:28 Why are Chasidic Communities Hierarchical?
1:07:24 A Seekers Response to Crisis
1:17:45 Closing words
Living and Loving
We desire affirmation and attachment,
We long for connection and care.
Aimless without them,
We confuse ourselves for gods.
Chesed – Lovingkindness – pulls us into the World
Out of our illusions of perfection and selfish freedom.
To love is to care
So much we cannot turn away,
To care is to be bound
By all that we strive for.
The World as a whole
Nature or G-d
Loves us
More than we know.
And we are called to respond.
As selves without reason
Or families
Without fear,
We become who we are
Through what we hold dear
In finding community,
A home without walls;
We find us together,
Strangers,
Friends.
Whoever calls out.
We find ourselves turning
Towards justice not hate,
Our responsibilities abound,
We choose it,
Our fate.
Dispersed across the World,
A legacy of our past.
Never lost but unfurled,
Sharing all that was doled
out with each other.
An ecology of love
Arising within,
Transcending our selves,
Tossed out by the wind.
Our home grows where we are.
Our neighbors become kin.
Our legacy is all strewn,
But here we are:
Not dim.
A light to the nations,
A blessing to the World.
We aspire towards wholeness,
A home: we belong here.
Transplanted in exile.
Diaspora: our home.
We grow roots beneath us,
Right here.
Not alone.
The ecology of love reminds us that who we are — in our beauty and our trauma, in our grief and in our compassion — is grounded in the values and activities, relationships, and places we affirm as essential to who we are. Jewish laws and scripture, holidays and customs each help us strive towards recognizing our place in the extensive community that is our home – the Earth. And yet, if we fail to engage with our whole being — physically, emotionally, and intellectually connecting with the natural world; guiding us towards spiritual wholeness — we lose sight of our true intentions. Through love and compassion, unyielding attention, and the endless striving towards attunement with our living place in the World, we move ourselves towards the ever-greater fulfillment of our deepest intentions. We continue to rediscover the infinite responsibility we carry towards every life: our life is entangled with all others. All life involves death. The responsibility we carry is profoundly human: how can we honor those who made our lives possible? How can we make our life a blessing for the World?
Thank you for reading Jewish Ecology. This blog aims to build a participatory dialogue in which important ideas at the intersection of Judaism and ecology can help us root ourselves in the World. This blog is not just for Jews; I aim for these articles to be accessible and impactful for anyone that is interested in building up an understanding of the role that spirituality, philosophy, and/or ethics play in bringing about a more peaceful, ecological, and sustainable future for all People and the World.