Yosef Israel Abramowitz, Jerusalem & Arava

Of Copenhagen, Hanukkah & The Ring

I wear on my right hand an ancient Maccabean-era bronze coin embedded into a ring. On the side facing down, on my skin, is the image of an ancient flask of oil—appropriate for the Maccabees and this holiday of Hanukkah. But the upside is quite extraordinary. It is a round point surrounded by lines going out from the center to the edges. It is the sun.

This Hanukkah a majority of the leaders of the countries on the planet are gathering in Copenhagen to forge a climate control pact and save humanity. Israel has sent a delegation of 80 leaders, who are quite nervous that the Jewish state will be called to task for having the darkest record on renewable energy in the industrial world.
Even though 60% of the country is sunny desert.

Those of us who see the light on renewables should be inspired not only by the potential of Copenhagen, but by the Maccabean ring. The oil, once representing time-based hope, has morphed into the danger of our present carbon-based economy. Yet, quite mystically, the ancient Israelite coin has a flip-side, representing ever-lasting hope by depicting the sun. This Hanukkah let's hope that the Jewish state takes the bold steps necessary be the first nation to transform from a carbon-based to a solar-based economy.

Yosef Israel Abramowitz serves as President of the Arava Power Company, blogs at Peoplehood.org and is a member of Kol Dor.