Lighting Toward the World to Come

There is a teaching I learned as Tisha B’Av approached...

On the Shabbat before the fast, as we light our candles and welcome peace into our homes,

we are invited to envision and pray for the world to come.

Not just Olam HaBa as a distant idea, but the world we long to help build.

A world repaired. A world restored.

And meditate on this as we light and admire the flames of the Shabbat candles.

A huge part of my life is exploring connection—not only the connection within ourselves and with one another in community, but also our relationship with our natural world.

Co-founding the White Rock South Surrey Climate Corps and serving as the Jewish representative with Semiahmoo Interfaith Earthkeepers has only deepened that conviction. Together, we work to protect the incredible ecosystems that surround us and inspire our community to care for them with joy and intention.

As Tisha B’Av approaches, I find myself wondering... if I could pray for the world to come, what would I actually be praying for?

These are the four prayers I found myself carrying as I lit on Friday:

1. May We Help the Earth Heal Itself

May we protect the old-growth forests that still stand.

May we restore wetlands, grasslands, rivers, peatlands, mangroves, and coastlines that have been damaged.

May Indigenous communities and local stewards be trusted and supported to care for the lands they know so well.

May we stop rewarding the destruction of nature and begin investing in its restoration.

Nature already knows how to heal. May we have the wisdom to work with it instead of against it.

2. May We Grow Food That Regenerates the Land

May we support farmers who rebuild healthy soil.

May we invest in regenerative agriculture—cover cropping, composting, crop diversity, agroforestry, and farming practices that leave the land healthier than we found it.

May every agricultural policy ask not only, How much can we produce? but also, What kind of Earth are we leaving behind?

May we become good ancestors, leaving the land richer for those who come after us.

3. May We Build a Cleaner Future

May we rapidly transition to clean sources of energy.

May we build communities where walking, cycling, and public transit are easy choices.

May we design homes, cities, and products that use fewer resources, create less waste, and are built to last.

May our innovation reflect not only what we can build, but what we choose to protect.

4. May We Measure What Truly Matters

May a nation’s success be measured by more than its GDP.

May we also ask:

• How healthy are our forests?

  
  

• How clean are our rivers?

  
  

• Are biodiversity and wildlife returning?

  
  

• Are our soils becoming richer each year?

  
  

• Do our children have clean air, thriving communities, and reasons for hope?

May we create measures of prosperity that reflect the health of both people and planet, remembering that what we choose to measure shapes what we choose to build.

As I lit my Shabbat candles before Tisha B’Av this year,

these were the prayers that came to my mind.

Every act of repair begins with someone willing to imagine a different future.

Perhaps this is one small way we participate in tikkun olam. Not only repairing our relationships with one another, but renewing our relationship with creation itself.

May we have the courage to envision that world.

And then, little by little, to build it.

Shavua tov