Freedom from the Pharaoh of fossil fuels
With the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt long gone, what does 'freedom from Pharaoh' mean in my own life and our community's life?
With Pesach now upon us, we are feeling the all-encompassing nature of this festival. The food, the guests, the fold-out chairs, the deep clean.
For many this chag also means powerful discussion around the seder table, inspired by the longstanding themes of Pesach: freedom, slavery, peoplehood, survival, the past, the future.
In that vein, a big question I and many others will be asking around the seder table tonight is: With the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt long gone, what does ‘freedom from Pharaoh’ mean in my own life and our community’s life?
The magic of Jewish survival and thriving is found in our capacity to answer that question well. It lies in our ability to have old wisdom inform new challenges, as a guide and a North Star.
In that vein, the Haggadah directly implores us: “See yourself as though you, personally, came out of Egypt,” a direct invitation to material experience and action.
So this year, the Jewish Climate Network is inviting one action from each of us, by taking the ‘Pesach Pledge’. This project provides community members with an opportunity to commit to a single action, before next Pesach, that will reduce our collective reliance on fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) – the root cause of accelerating extreme weather events the world over. The commitment is to yourself, nothing more.
Together with the pledge, community members receive a practical resource that supports them to implement their commitment, as well as a downloadable document to foster discussion and action at the seder table.
But you may be asking: What does this pledge have to do with Pesach?
The story of Pesach is linked by two consecutive Pharaohs: one who was accommodating to the Israelites, followed by one who enslaved them – the “new King who rose over Egypt”. The history of fossil fuels is much the same. What once served us, now enslaves us. Fossil fuels enabled the progress of the Industrial Revolution and have provided us with huge amounts of energy that has driven economic growth and raised living standards for centuries. For a long time we have been the Josephs in a favourable empire.
But dependency on fossil fuels has now caused unprecedented rising emissions that accelerate fires, floods, storms and drought. So-called ‘one-in-100-year’ natural disasters now happen regularly. And not in a faraway place or time, but here and now. How many times, for example, can the Victorian Jewish community repeat its generous donation of $3.2 million to help rebuild the East Gippsland and Upper Murray communities after being ravaged by megafires in 2019/20? How many more consecutive mega-floods can the people of Lismore in NSW survive?
Freedom from our Pharaoh means a future free of these (and much worse) realities; a future of ‘natural’ disasters happening on natural timescales and in natural intensities.
And freedom from the Pharaoh of fossil fuels does not simply mean giving things up. It means a wide range of improvements to our lives. For example, moving away from our petrol-based vehicles to electric vehicles, e-bikes and e-scooters, leads to cleaner air and better health, quieter streets and, if you charge up on solar panels, free travel. For this action, our Pesach Pledge takes inspiration from Nachshon ben Aminadav. While the Israelites were trapped between the Red Sea and the Egyptian army, Nachshon walked first into the surf. As the waters reached his head, his bravery triggered the miracle of the splitting of the sea. Nachshon here represents forward movement for a better future, and inspires us to choose electric transport for a healthy future.
We’ve also created pledges and resources in other key areas from which we need to free ourselves from this Pharaoh: Finances, Energy and Home. Each of these pledges are linked to inspiring characters from the Pesach story: Miriam, Aaron and Batya.
I’m excited to see hundreds of community members committing to a tangible, high-impact climate action over the coming year. The combined emissions reductions of these actions are significant. They demonstrate what true freedom looks like from the Pharaoh of our age, ensuring that future generations have safe, healthy and connected seders to enjoy.
I know that when my now 10-month-old daughter grows up and asks: “What actions did you take when you knew we had very little time left?”, these Pesach Pledges are the actions I want to be proud of.
May we all arrive at a seder in the near future where the most robust debate is not about climate change action, but rather: What page are we on? And whose Haggadah are we following here?
Joel Lazar is CEO of the Jewish Climate Network.
Take the Pesach Pledge and get your action resources and seder discussion document at pesachpledge.com.au.
This project is proudly supported by the Erdi Foundation.
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