The Earth and Human Beings: Read Genesis 1:26-29
Read Genesis 2:15 Read Psalm 24:1 Read Psalm 115:16
God as Ruler and Owner of the World
God never fully relinquishes dominion over the world. In promulgating the laws of the sabbatical year (Leviticus 25:23), God reasserts proprietorship over creation, stating, “The land is mine.” This principle of divine ownership of nature is . . . the basis for several categories of liturgical blessing. According to the Tosefta, “One may not taste anything until having recited a blessing, as it is written ‘The earth is the Eternal's and the fullness thereof’ (Psalm 24:1).
"Anyone who derives benefit from this world without a (prior) blessing is guilty of misappropriating sacred property." The list of blessings based on this concept includes numerous specialized and general blessings recited on comestibles and a host of rules and regulations regarding their application and priorities. (Jonathan Helfand, “The Earth is the Lord’s: Judaism and Environmental Ethics,” in Religion and Environmental Crisis, Eugene Hargrove, ed., University of Georgia Press.)
Whose earth is it anyway?
"The Earth is God's, and the fullness thereof; the settled land, and its inhabitants." (Psalm 24:1)
"The land shall not be sold forever; for the land is Mine; you are strangers and sojourners with me." (Leviticus 25:23)
"God placed the human in the Garden of Eden, l'ovdah (to serve/till) u'l'shomrah (and to guard/tend) it." (Gen. 2:15)
(23) But the land must not be sold beyond reclaim, for the land is Mine; you are but strangers resident with Me.
L'ovdah ul'shomrah: To serve and protect
In Genesis 2:15, the first humans are commanded "to till and to tend" the Earth. This formulation hints at a kinship with the rest of creation that becomes even clearer when we look at the Hebrew more closely. Avad means not only to till, or even to work in a more general sense; it means also, and more powerfully, to serve or to participate in worship of the Divine. Thus, our "tilling" is more properly understood as service to God's Earth, a service that is not only a profound responsibility but a direct and critical part of our connection with and worship of God as well. And shamar, or "tend," means not only to tend, but more commonly, to guard or to watch over. What these meanings have in common is that the shomrim guard property that does not belong to them, but that is entrusted to them. (Daniel Swartz, “Jews, Jewish Texts, and Nature: A Brief History.”)
Bal Taschchit: Do not destroy
The principle of Bal Tashchit (derived from Deuteronomy 20:19) prohibits the needless waste of anything, from food to fuel. Today, in light of the environmental crisis, using disposables, leaving lights on unnecessarily, over-utilisation of air-conditioning, or driving a car when it is not necessary might be considered a violation of the principle of Bal Tashchit. (Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, “Caring for the Cycle of Life.”)
R. Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb: A Philosophy of Jewish Laws and Observances
This prohibition of purposeless destruction of fruit trees around a besieged city is only to be taken as an example of general wastefulness. Under the concept of bal tashhit, the purposeless destruction of anything at all is taken to be forbidden, so that our text becomes the most comprehensive warning to human beings not to misuse the position, which God has given them as master of the world and its matter, by capricious, passionate, or merely thoughtless wasteful destruction of anything on earth. Only for wise use has God laid the world at our feet when God said to humanity, "subdue the world and have dominion over it." (Genesis 1:28)...Destruction does not only mean making something purposely unfit for its designated use; it also means trying to attain a certain aim by making use of more things and more valuable things when fewer and less valuable ones would suffice; or if this aim is not really worth the means expended for its attainment. [For example] kindling something that is still fit for other purposes for the sake of light;...wearing down something more than is necessary;...consuming more than is necessary;.... On the other hand, if destruction is necessary for a higher and more worthy aim, then it ceases to be destruction and itself becomes wise creating. [For example] cutting down a fruit tree which is doing harm to other more valuable plants, [and] burning a vessel when there is a scarcity of wood in order to protect one's weakened self from catching a cold.
"God led Adam around all the trees of the Garden of Eden. And God said to Adam: 'See My works, how good and praiseworthy they are?! And all that I have created, I made for you. [But,] be mindful then that you do not spoil and destroy My world - for if you spoil it, there is no one after you to repair it.'" (Midrash Qohelet Rabbah 7:13; ca. 8th Century C.E.)
Vayikra Rabbah 25:3
Rabbi Yehudah ben Shimon began his discourse with the text, “After Adonai your God shall you walk” (Deuteronomy 12:5). But can a person of flesh and blood walk after the Holy One of Blessing?… But in truth the Holy One, blessed be God, from the very beginning of the creation of the world, was before all else occupied with planting, as is proved by the text, “And God planted a garden in Eden” (Genesis 2:8), and so do you also, when you enter into the land, occupy yourselves first with nothing else but planting; hence it is written, “And when you shall come into the land, you shall plant (Lev. 19:23).”
"And do you think you will live another seventy years and eat the fruit of this tree?"
Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer (Warsaw edition) chapter 34:
Six voices go from one end of the world to the other and the sound is not audible… When a fruit-bearing tree is cut down the voice cries out from one end of the world to the other, and its sound is not audible... When the soul departs from the body the voice goes out from one end of the world to the other, and its sound is not audible....
Precautionary Principle
The Bible instructs us to cautiously and prudently err in favor of protecting human life and health — a value that supersedes any but devotion to God. . . . There are many threats to human life that are neither certain nor immanent. . . . The Bible provides some instruction for such a case. Deuteronomy 22:8 tells us that, “When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet [a fence] for your roof, so that you do not bring blood-guilt on your house if anyone should fall from it. Rabbi Moses Maimonides, perhaps the greatest Jewish sage, taught that we must take action to protect others from any object of potential danger, by which it is likely that a person could be fatally injured, including building a fence on an unprotected roof. In the Mishneh Torah, his great commentary on the Bible, he wrote that a person (not just the owner) must remove a possible danger that could cause fatal harm to another, even, in the case of the parapet, when the danger is not imminent or certain. (Testimony to Congress by Mark X. Jacobs on behalf of COEJL, Feb. 10, 2000.)
(1) INTELLIGENT persons are much perplexed when they inquire into the purpose of the Creation. I will now show how absurd this question is....
.....I consider therefore the following opinion as most correct according to the teaching of the Bible, and best in accordance with the results of philosophy; namely, that the Universe does not exist for man's sake, but that each being exists for its own sake, and not because of some other thing. Thus we believe in the Creation, and yet need not inquire what purpose is served by each species of the existing things, because we assume that God created all parts of the Universe by His will; some for their own sake, and some for the sake of other beings, that include their own purpose in themselves. In the same manner as it was the will of God that man should exist, so it was His will that the heavens with their stars should exist, that there should be angels, and each of these beings is itself the purpose of its own existence.
"Even those creatures you deem superfluous in the world – like flies, fleas, and gnats -- nevertheless have their allotted task in the scheme of Creation (seder bereishit)" (Midrash Exodus Rabbah 10:1)
"It should not be believed that all beings exist for the sake of humanity's existence ... [rather,] all the other beings, too, have been intended for their own sakes... " (Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed III:13; 12th Century, Egypt)
Midrash Tanchuma, Noach 6,
"And God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the animals that were with him..." (Genesis 8:1). Midrash: If a person traveling by ship encounters a great storm, he will throw his possessions and livestock overboard in order to save the passengers. He does not have the same degree of compassion for his animals and possessions as he does for other human beings. However, the Holy One, blessed be God, has compassion for animals just as God has compassion for humans. As it states, "God's mercy is upon all God's works" (Psalms 145:9). [Thus, the verse places God's "remembrance" of the beasts and animals on the same plane as God's remembrance of Noah].
“Love of the Creator, and love of that which God has created, are finally one and the same,” Martin Buber.
Energy policy must also be equitable and just, as the Torah commands, "Justice, justice shall you pursue" (Deuteronomy 16:20). The countries most responsible for climate change should be those most responsible for finding a solution to the problem. Judaism also underscores the moral imperative of protecting the poor and vulnerable: "When one loves righteousness and justice, the earth is full of the loving-kindness of the Eternal" (Psalms 33:5). Indeed, poor nations are likely to bear the brunt of the negative impacts associated with climate change. (Religious Action Centre RAC.org
"One is forbidden from gaining a livelihood at the expense of another's health." (R Isaac b. Sheshet, Resp. 196, 14thC)
Prayer for Nature ( Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav)
Grant me the ability to be alone; may it be my custom to go outdoors each day among the trees and grass - among all growing things and there may I be alone, and enter into prayer, to talk with the One to whom I belong. May I express there everything in my heart, and may all the foliage of the field - all grasses, trees, and plants - awake at my coming, to send the powers of their life into the words of my prayer so that my prayer and speech are made whole through the life and spirit of all growing things, which are made as one by their transcendent Source. May I then pour out the words of my heart before your Presence like water, O God, and lift up my hands to You in worship, on my behalf, and that of my children!
A Kavanah for Fair Trade Chocolate and Coffee, Rabbi David Baum