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To Glean: Leviticus

3/6/2021

I have been thinking, again, of the connection of Poetry and Nature and how both are anti-toxins when i feel poisoned by abusive power and political outrages. I have an associative mind that keeps making connections, associations, leaps, memories, visions, values...which is really what both poetry and nature allow me to do--to imagine, to move in and out, to inner and outside world, to breathe. That is the good news. The bad news is that when i follow the thread of my mind it goes on and on and only sometimes completes a circle, returning “home,” completing some journey of the mind, and resting.
This particular journey was a search for a word i couldn’t access. I thought of excavating, conserving, composting, gathering, scavenging, grazing...all saying something, I thought, relevant to our environment, to earth, to not wasting, to conserving, but not right for what i thought i was doing, which was really following the threads of my mind, a bit like my dog following his nose. The word i wanted was not listed as any synonym to any of the above. But then it came, as a leap and insight: the word “glean.” Thus the focus of this blog on the process of gleaning--and the history of the word.
The dictionary definition was “ to collect gradually, bit by bit” and “to gather slowly and laboriously bit by bit” and “to obtain information, to gather, learn, asking questions to try to find out.” Exactly my process. And the history: “to gather (leftover grain or other produce after a harvest), the conditions of farm workers in the l890’s made gleaning essential.” Feeling a bit like my dog Scruffy following his scent, I followed where i was led-- to the Bible, Leviticus, part of which i now quote (along with my own personal commentary, thoughts and connections in parenthesis).
Gleaning (Leviticus 19:9-10)
“Although ancient methods of harvesting were not as efficient as today, yet Leviticus 19:9 instructs the Israelites to make them even less so. (This goes back to my wanting to redefine growth, progress, efficiency, cost using another way of seeing.) First they were to leave the margins of their grain fields unharvested. The width of this margin appears to be up to the owner to decide. (Do not plow or till the whole field; allow some areas to lie fallow or to have cover crops.) Second, they were not to pick up whatever produce fell to the ground. This would apply when a harvester grasped a bundle of stalks and cut them with a sickle, as well as when grapes fell from a cluster just cut from the fine. Third, they were to harvest their vineyards just once, presumably taking only the ripe grapes so as to leave the later ripening ones for their poor and the immigrants living among them. These two categories of people--the poor and resident foreigners--were unified by their lack of owning land and thus were dependent on their manual labor for food. Laws benefiting the poor were common in the ancient Near East, but only the regulations of Israel extended this treatment to the resident foreigner. This was yet another way that God’s people were to be distinct from the surrounding nations. Other texts specify the widow and the orphan as members of this category.(What’s interesting is the consciousness of inclusion and exclusion, then and now.) WE might classify gleaning as an expression of compassion or justice, but according to Leviticus , allowing others to glean on our property is the fruit of holiness. We do it because God says so. This highlights the distinction between charity and gleaning. In charity people voluntarily give to others who are in need. This is a good and noble thing to do, but it is not what Leviticus is talking about. Gleaning is a process in which landowners have an obligation to provide poor and marginalized people access to the means of production (the land) and to work it themselves. Unlike charity, it does not depend on the
generosity of landowners. In this sense it is more like a tax than a charitable contribution. (I think of Tax the Rich, the Warren,Jayapal, Boyle ultra millionaire tax on fortunes --over $50 million which would bring in at least 3 trillion in revenue over 10 years ). Also, unlike charity it was not given to the poor as a transfer payment. Through gleaning, the poor earned their living the same way as the landowners did, by working the fields with their own labors--(the dignity and worth of labor). It was simply a command that everyone had a right to access the means of provision created by God...(Exactly, everyone should have a right to access the means of provision). The gleaning systems in Leviticus places an obligation (an obligation!) on the owners of productive assets to ensure that marginalized people have the opportunity to work for a living.”
This is where my gleaning of a word led me--to not just an ancient text but to questions of fairness and justice, especially for the marginalized...It also led me to see, again, that efficiency, productivity, profit is a poor model for sharing the earth and that gleaning is a way to create “zero waste.” And it led me to our Glens Falls Community Garden. Enid--the creator and organizer of the garden--knew of Leviticus when she explained why she created perimeter beds around the garden plot so that people could partake of the bounty. And when there were unused beds, a few people worked those beds and created a “Victory Garden,” growing crops for Family Services, 150 pounds of vegetables feeding those who need fresh food and vegetables.
And this is what it means to follow one’s thoughts: to models of sharing, building of community, and an understanding of ways of being, seeing, and partaking of the bounties of our earth.

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March 06th, 2021

To Glean: Leviticus

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Categories:
Connections
Language/women
Language/climate
Wandering

March 06th, 2021

To Glean: Leviticus

Author

Archives

Categories:ConnectionsLanguage/womenLanguage/climateWandering

Categories:
Connections
Language/women
Language/climate
Wandering