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| Judaism and Ecology
"The Torah is a commentary on the world and the world is a commentary on the Torah." |
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"if you have a sapling in your hand, and someone should say to you that the Messiah has come, stay and complete the planting, and then go to greet the Messiah." Avot de rabbi Natan 31b |
based on the design by Shir-Yaakov Feinstein Feit
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| While most students of Torah understand that G-d demands respect for his creation, and sets requirements for such. There has, however, been little emphasis on showing such humility within the religious movement. There are numerous tractates in the Torah and it's commentary insisting that the Earth is a gift from G-d. The following quotations support the necessity of cherishing all of G-d's creations. | |
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[Jonah had placed himself to] the east of the city. He made himself a booth there, and sat under it in the shade until he would see what would occur in the city. Then Hashem, G-d, designated a kikayon,* which rose up above Jonah to form a shade over his head to relieve him from his discomfort. And Jonah rejoiced greatly over the kikayon. Book of Jonah
*The kikayon in this sense is more sturdy than the hut which had protected him, since the latter withers in the sun, but the kikayon draws nourishment and moisture, from the Earth. Metzudos (Rashi identifies it as a plant containing many leaves, which provides shade.)
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The commentary to the book of Jonah explains that natural elements, created by G-d, represent a higher degree of perfection. Just as no human being could create a biological life form, no object created by human beings can equal G-d's work in it's wonders. |
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“Mah rabu ma’asechah, Hashem, kulam b’chachma asisa, mala ha’aretz kinyanechah….." “How numerous are your works, Hashem, all of them You made in wisdom. The earth is filled with your creations.” Tehillim 104:24
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| The first step in preservation of the bountiful Earth, is to develop a feeling of amazement towards the harmony with which each aspect of creation exists. Once true awareness of the natural world is developed, it inspires an even greater sense of awe towards Hashem. | |
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"...Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it; have dominion over...every living thing...." Genesis 1:28
G-d takes the newly created human,"... and placed him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate it and to guard it." Genesis 2:15
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik suggests, . . . that the two verses represent two aspects of the nature of human beings which are in a constant state of tension. In Rabbi Soloveitchik's approach, there resides the awareness that there is unavoidable dynamic tension between the capacity to exercise control over nature and the duty to act toward nature with a sense of fiduciary responsibility. Joseph B. Soloveitchik "The Lonely Man of Faith," Tradition 7:2, Summer 1965, pp. 10-16
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Mankind is not given unrestricted freedom to change the land at whim. Jewish Law has set numerous restrictions in order to impress upon Humanity that G-d is the only true owner of the Earth. |
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“for the land is Mine; for you are sojourners and residents with Me. In the entire land of your ancestral heritage you shall provide redemption for the land.” Leviticus 25:23 |
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Selected Text from Rabbi Nachman of Breslov |
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Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, Likutei
Moharan, section 17,
p.160-1. Rabbi Nachman, a descendant of the Ba`al Shem Tov, the founder Hasidism, taught in the late 1700's through the beginning of the 1800's in the Ukraine. He was known for his practice of praying in the field, which he called "hit'bod'dut," the realization of aloneness for the sake of coming closer to G-d. Nachman, in the tradition of Jewish mysticism, believed that G-d's presence is manifest at all levels of creation. This teaching is central principle of the Kabbalah, on which Hasidism is based: "Layt atar panui minayh There is no place empty of Him." (Zohar III:225a, Raya Mehemna) For Nachman, meditation and prayer helped to reveal this divine aspect in all things. He taught, for example, that when one prayed in a field, the grasses themselves added their song to one's prayer.
The tsadik/righteous person seeks and searches to reveal the willing/intentions of G-d. For in every thing there is the will of the blessed name: so it is in the whole of creation, and so in the details of creation, since the blessed name desired that each thing would be thus, with this form, with this power, and with this nature. So it is with all the creatures in the world, silent [domaym], sprouting [tsomayach], living/moving [chai] and speaking [m'dubar] -- in all of them there are a great many differences without number, between each one and its companion. And so it is with every single individual within itself -- in each there are many differences in the particular details, i.e. between every limb, and so forth -- with the grasses and trees and the rest of the particulars of creation. In all of them there are great differences in their forms and in their powers and behaviors. And all of it was the result of the Creator's will, blessed be His name, for he desired that this one would be like so and that one so. And the righteous person searches out the wills behind each of them, and clarifies and manifests them by relating them to the realization of beauty that manifests itself in [the people] Israel in general and in the details [of each individual Jew]. For in every single individual of Israel there is a specific realization of beauty
Nachman asserts that Israel's diversity (or, we may also interpret, human diversity) is given meaning in the context of the diversity of species and creatures. If this is true, what implications does the protection of biological diversity have for the survival of human diversity? Conversely, how does the protection of diverse human cultures enhance our ability to protect biological diversity?
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