The Stewardship Paradigm in the Torah Portion of Bereishit/Genesis
Thoughts on the impact of our generation’s actions on G-d’s Earth that we leave to our children & grandchildren.
Compiled by Michael W. Miller, from Jewcology website.
Rosh Hashanah commemorates G-d’s creation of the world. The “Ten Days of Repentance” from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur is a period to evaluate our deeds and to do teshuvah (repentance) for cases where we have missed the mark. Hence, the upcoming weeks provide an excellent time to consider the state of the planet’s environment (ecology) and what we might do to make sure that the world is on a sustainable path for the next generation. The condition of the environment directly impacts Public Health.
In the fall, we read Bereshit. When G-d created the world, He was able to say, “It is tov meod (very good).” (Genesis 1:31) Everything was in harmony as G-d had planned, the waters were clean, and the air was pure. The Midrash says that G-d showed Adam around the Garden of Eden and said, “Look at my works! See how beautiful they are” how excellent! For your sake I created them all. See to it that you do not spoil and destroy my world; for if you do, there will be no one else to repair it.” (Midrash Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:28)
What must G-d think when the rain’ He provided to nourish our crops is often acid rain containing toxic chemicals, due to the many chemicals emitted into the air by industries and automobiles; when the abundance of species of plants and animals G-d created are becoming extinct at such an alarming rate in tropical rain forests and other threatened habitats; when the abundant fertile soil G-d provided is quickly being depleted and eroded;” when surface and groundwater are contaminated with industrial and agricultural pollution; “when the climatic conditions that G-d designed to meet our needs are threatened by global warming? This is what our children and grandchildren will inherit.”
“Ingrained in the process of creation and central to the life of every Jew is a weekly reminder that our dominion of earth must be l’shem Shamayim- in the name of Heaven. The choice is ours. If we continue to live as though G-d had only commanded us to subdue the earth, we must be prepared for our children to inherit a seriously degraded planet, with the future of human civilization put into question. If we see our role as masters of the earth as a unique opportunity to truly serve and care for the planet, its creatures and its resources, then we can reclaim our status as stewards of the world, and raise our new generations in an environment much closer to that of Eden”. (Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D. is a Professor Emeritus of the College of Staten Island.)
Today’s environmental threats that endanger the health and safety of our children and grandchildren:
* When we consider the threats to our land, water, and air due to pesticides and other chemical pollutants, resource scarcities, acid rain, deforestation, desertification, threats to our climate, etc., we can easily enumerate ten modern “plagues.”
* The Egyptians were subjected to one plague at a time, while the modern plagues threaten us simultaneously.
* The Israelites in Goshen were spared most of the Biblical plagues, while every person on earth is imperiled by the modern plagues.
* Instead of an ancient Pharaoh’s heart being hardened, our hearts and the hearts of our political leaders today seem to have been hardened by the greed, materialism, and waste that are at the root of current environmental threats.
* God provided the Biblical plagues to free the Israelites, while today we must apply God’s teachings in order to save ourselves, relatives and our precious but imperiled planet.”
Israel’s safety is always on our mind. Will a sustainable Israel be available for our children and grandchildren? Israel is affected by climate change and already suffering from one of the worst droughts in its history, with below average rainfall in each of the past five years, and the Kinneret, a major water source, at dangerously low levels.
Israeli climate experts are concerned with additional climate threats, each and all of which would heighten political tensions and suffering in and around Israel: (1) a rise in temperature causing many severe heat waves; (2) a significant increase in the Mediterranean Sea level, which would threaten the narrow coastal strip of land which contains most of Israel’s population and infrastructure; and (3) a significant decrease in rainfall, estimated at 20-30%, which would disrupt agricultural production and worsen the chronic water scarcity problem in Israel and the region. Making matters even worse, much of that rainfall would come in severe storms that would cause major flooding.
Fortunately, there are many Jewish teachings that can be applied to shift the earth to a sustainable path. Briefly, these include:
* Our mandate to be shomrei adamah (guardians of the earth), based on the admonition that we should “work the earth and guard it” (Genesis 2:15);
* The prohibition of bal tashchit, that we should not waste or unnecessarily destroy anything of value (Deuteronomy 20:19. 20);
* Teaching our children that,” The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” (Psalms 24:1), and that the assigned role of the Jewish people is to enhance the world as “partners of G-d in the work of creation.” (Shabbat 10a);
* The ecological lessons related to the Shabbat, sabbatical, and jubilee cycles.
There are several branches of the Jewish community who excel in acts of kindness, charity, and learning. However, they are generally in denial about climate change and other environmental threats and are increasingly supporting politicians who promote the removal of regulations (toxic chemicals, air, pesticides and waste water discharge) that protect the Public Health,. This action benefits highly profitable corporations, at the added health care costs for thousands of Americans. While these Jews generally know far more about Judaism than less religious and secular Jews, they are far less involved in applying Jewish values.
In 2016 the federal Environmental Protection Agency published a study comparing (ten years #37) the cost to industry for implementing Environmental regulations and the benefits in Public Health and industrial savings. The savings ($175- 678 Billion) far exceeded cost ($43.2 -50.9).
“As co-workers with G-d, charged with the task of being a light unto the nations and accomplishing tikkun olam (healing and restoring the earth), it is essential that FJMC take an active role in applying our eternal, sacred values in struggles to reduce climate change, pollution and the waste of natural resources. Based on the central Jewish mandates to work with G-d in preserving the earth, we must work with others for significant changes in society’s economic and production systems, values, and life-styles. So at the start of a new year, we should seek to reduce our environmental impact and convince our representatives at all levels of government to support and enforce the EPA regulations that protect public health and G-d’s Earth. The fate of humanity, our children and grandchildren and G-d’s precious earth are at stake, and if we fail to act properly and in time, there may be “no one after us to set it right.” Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D. is a Professor Emeritus of the College of Satan Island; Author of “Who Stole my Religion”
Material from Jewcology and FJMC web sites
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Bereishit Chapter 1 and 2 are the Jewish roots of environmentalism. The honor and glory that crowns the human race is possession of the earth, which is granted as the culmination of God’s creative work: “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.”(Genesis 1:28) This notion is fortified in Psalm 115: “The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth God has given to humanity.” While the creation narrative clearly establishes God as Master of the Universe, it is the human being who is appointed master of the earth. A literal interpretation suggests a world in which people cut down forests, slaughter animals and dump waste into the seas at their leisure, much like we see in our world today.
Genesis chapter 1 is balanced by the narrative of Genesis chapter 2, which features a second Creation narrative that focuses on humans and their place in the Garden of Eden. The first person is set in the Garden “to work it and take care of it.” The two Hebrew verbs used here are significant. The first– le’ovdah—literally means “to serve it.” (Genesis 2:15) The human being is thus both master and servant of nature. The second—leshomrah–means “to guard it.” Humans the guardian must exercise vigilance while protecting, and are personally liable for losses that occur through negligence. We do not own nature–“The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” (Plasm 24:1) We are its stewards on behalf of God, who created and owns everything. The Men of FJMC ignore this Stewardship at their peril and the peril of their children and grandchildren.
Source; Canfei Nesharim, Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Sacks, Retired Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth
The mandate in Genesis 1 to exercise dominion is, therefore, not technical, but moral: humanity would control, within our means, the use of nature towards the service of God. Further, this mandate is limited by the requirement to serve and guard as seen in Genesis 2. The famous story of Genesis 2-3— the eating of the forbidden fruit and Adam and Eve’s subsequent exile from Eden—supports this point. Not everything is permitted. There are limits to how we interact with the earth. The Torah has commandments regarding how to sow crops, how to collect eggs and how to preserve trees in a time of war, just to name a few. When we do not treat creation according to God’s Will, disaster can follow. We see this today as more and more cities sit under a cloud of smog and as mercury advisories are issued over large sectors of our fishing waters. Deforestation of the rainforests, largely a result of humanity’s growing demand for timber and beef, has brought on irrevocable destruction of plant and animal species. We can no longer ignore the massive negative impact that our global industrial society is having on the ecosystems of the earth. Our unbounded use of fossil fuels to fuel our energy-intensive lifestyles is causing global climate change. An international consensus of scientists predicts more intense and destructive storms, floods, and droughts resulting from these human-induced changes in the atmosphere. If we do not take action now, we risk the very survival of civilization as we know it.
The Midrash says that God showed Adam around the Garden of Eden and said, “Look at my works! See how beautiful they are — how excellent! For your sake I created them all. See to it that you do not spoil and destroy My world; for if you do, there will be no one else to repair it.” Creation has its own dignity as God’s masterpiece, and though we have the mandate to use it, we have none to destroy or despoil it.
The Midrash says that God showed Adam around the Garden of Eden and said, “Look at my works! See how beautiful they are — how excellent! For your sake I created them all. See to it that you do not spoil and destroy My world; for if you do, there will be no one else to repair it.” Creation has its own dignity as God’s masterpiece, and though we have the mandate to use it, we have none to destroy or despoil it. Rabbi Hirsch says that Shabbat was given to humanity “in order that he should not grow overweening in his dominion” of God’s creation. On the Day of Rest, “he must, as it were, return the borrowed world to its Divine Owner in order to realize that it is but lent to him.” Ingrained in the process of creation and central to the life of every Jew is a weekly reminder that our dominion of earth must be l’shem Shamayim- in the name of Heaven. The choice is ours. If we continue to live as though God had only commanded us to subdue the earth, we must be prepared for our children to inherit a seriously degraded planet, with the future of human civilization put into question. If we see our role as masters of the earth as a unique opportunity to truly serve and care for the planet, its creatures and its resources, then we can reclaim our status as stewards of the world, and raise our new generations in an environment much closer to that of Eden.
1a. To get started with your commitment to learn and act on our Torah responsibility about the environment, Men’s Club members calculate their ecological footprint, that is, how many acres of bioproductive space are devoted to supporting their lifestyle. This can be done at http://www.rprogress.org/ecological_footprint/about_ecological_footprint.htm
1b. After they complete the quiz, click the “Take Action” link to consider ways of living more sustainably and with less of an ecological footprint at home and in the shul.
2. Combine Torah debate with a family activity. Beth Torah Men’s Club invited young people from the congregation to visit Oleta State Park for a fun day of outdoor kayaking. Our congregational Rabbi Mario Rojzman challenged us to bring some meaningful learning into the program; thus our kayaking outing became “The Torah Walk.” We included two environmental learning sessions – one study session from the Torah created a Berishit debate – click here – and the other taught us about our natural surroundings. We added food and kayaking fun for a well-rounded Shomrei Ha’aretz program. Beth Torah, North Miami Beach, FL. Ed Margolis, edslinenow@aol.com
As we approach Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we read the Torah portion called Nitzavim, which includes the verse, “Life and death I set before you, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, in order that you and your seed will live!” (Deut. 30:19) The climate and ecology of the earth is changing. Israel is in the cross hairs. Will your club stand up?
Hayom harat olam.” “Today,” the day of Rosh Hashanah, we birth new intentions and conceive new possibilities. Today is our day, today we are alive on this planet, as we say in the liturgy, “All of you alive today / Chayim kulchem hayom.” Today our choices will gestate the future, for our children, and for the children of every species upon the Earth. The climate and ecology of the earth is changing. The United Nations Comprehensive Agreement on Climate Change has been signed by the major governments on every continent, including the USA, Canada and Israel. The citizens and governments must cooperate to make an impact.
Shomrei Ha’Aretz – Stewards of the Land And the Psalms say: “Hayom im b’kolo tishma’u.” “Today, if you will listen to the Voice.” Let us listen to all the voices crying out, the voice of the Earth, and the voices of every creature, and hear in them the divine Voice. |
Yet for many Jews, climate change is still not seen as a “Jewish issue”. The decimation of life on our planet is as fundamentally important to Jews and Judaism as any explicitly Jewish issue. And the possible extent of impoverishment, disaster, and famine that could be brought on by climate change must be a Jewish issue if justice is a Jewish issue. But in case that simple logic doesn’t work for you, let’s be absolutely clear about what the specific Jewish implications might be.
According to a Ben Gurion University study, if we enter an era of what scientists consider extreme climate change – meaning an increase in average global temperature of more than 2 degrees – the Negev desert will expand northward all the way into Lebanon. Almost all of the agriculturally productive lowlands – could be gone. On top of that, Tel Aviv will be under water due to rising sea levels. If that’s not an existential threat to Israel than nothing is.
Will your FJMC Men’s Club step up and sponsor programs and activities that reduce your congregation’s impact on Climate and Ecology? Will you educate your elected official?
References: FJMC Shomrei Ha’Aretz web pages, www.Coejl.org/resources/rosh-hashana, www.CanfeiNesharim.org, www.Hazon.org, www.Jewcology.org
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