Dear Editor,

2020 is coming to a close—a year of staggering political debacles further catalyzing human and ecological catastrophes. Convenience-culture has kick-started a new geologic age. Transnational corporations and consumer-driven societies have launched this Anthropocene Era. Our kakistocracy (a system of government which is run by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous citizens) is the script for many SNL episodes, while Black Friday and Cyber-Monday feed our consumer-addicted frenzy.

Yet, many of us refuse to buy into the illusion that our actions do not directly impact others. Instead, many of us celebrate a kind of Declaration of Interdependence. Traditionally, Hanukkah has been taught as a symbol of overcoming persecution and overwhelming odds, of the underdog persevering and overthrowing tyranny. The lesson of Hanukkah that I am suggesting we consider for 2020-and-beyond is to collectively and individually take responsibility for our consumer habits in order to hold accountable Agribusiness, Big Pharma, the Fossil Fuel Industry. We 99% are not victims of the 1%. I suggest that we refocus on our own agency and how it impacts our global interdependency. The story of Hanukkah tells us that when we act together, a seemingly powerless, small group of people can actually overcome seemingly intractable adversities. By placing our illuminated menorahs on windowsills to be seen by all, we demonstrate how living our individual ethics can be used to heal the earth from our self-induced global climate crisis. How can we model for ourselves, our children, our communities what it means to live an ethical socially, ecologically-conscious daily life? I suggest that commitment would honor our history of the Hanukkah miracle.

In spite of our addiction to entitlement, many of us do take a stand on behalf of the underdog. This value is rooted in Jewish scripture where it speaks repeatedly about the obligation to support the widow, orphan, and stranger that live among us. One example of such empathy is the Endangered Species Act (ESA). As a society, this law commits us to defend every constituent of the complex, interconnected web of life. Despite the ESA being a manifestation of humanity’s best traits, it is imperiled in this divisive political climate. How can we collectively uphold this commitment to sacred activism—a Declaration of Interdependence?

One relational perspective is how cultural extinction of ethnic minorities and extinction of animals go hand-in-hand. For example, just as Jews have been vilified cross-culturally over the centuries, bats, too, have been scapegoated and stigmatized. Just as humans have targeted the bat as a pariah in the animal kingdom, as a Sephardic Arab-Jew, I too have experienced the phenomenon of being a social outcast, and feel a deep affinity for this stereotyped little furry creature. Bats have been misunderstood, feared, and persecuted, yet we depend on them as pollinators of avocados, bananas, mangoes, figs, cashews, almonds, agave (the $9 million tequila industry), etc., for their rich fertilizing guano (bat-poop—Colorado’s marijuana industry relies on it), and insect control of crops (bats protect coffee plantations, strawberry and rice fields, walnuts, cotton). Bats, like Colorado’s Townsend Big-Eared Bat, and thousands of other threatened and critically endangered animals across the world, suffer from habitat-loss, convenience-culture, and disease. In order to challenge uninformed mythologies, we must consider how diseases like the white-nose syndrome (www.whitenosesyndrome.org) plaguing bats throughout the U.S., directly affects each one of us. This is the biggest wildlife catastrophe in 100 years.

I hope that by making connections between marginalized peoples and threatened animals, citizen-activists will generate empathy that inspires action. Hanukkah teaches us that we are not victims; we are not at the whim of corporate tyrannies; those most vulnerable can be empowered if we acknowledge how we are all interconnected. The ESA, a federal commitment that has saved 99% of the species it has protected, demonstrates that we all exist in relation to a greater whole.

On behalf of the Endangered Species Act and bat enthusiasts everywhere,

Cara Judea Alhadeff, PhD
Nederland