Jews and the Environment

By Shira Novack
KOC Assistant Editor
Binghamton University

This semester I just finished taking ecology, so it is safe to say that I know a little bit about the environment and the impact that people have on it. Practically everything that humans do impacts the environment. For many of us, as we create and then sustain our lifestyles, we inadvertently destroy parts of the earth.

My ecology professor taught that there are numerous small ways we can help the earth. In Judaism, these types of actions fall under the category of tikkun olam, or repairing the world. Trying to limit our personal waste by turning off the lights when we leave a room or not letting the water run too long are forms of tikkun olam. Being environmentally conscious is a part of our religion.

We have holidays such as Tu Bishevat, which is observed this month, and celebrates the birthday of the trees. I guess one could call it the Jewish equivalent of Earth Day. Besides having Tu Bishevat seders, a custom associated with this holiday is for people to donate money for a tree to be planted in Israel. Tu Bishevat is not the only time that people contribute to the planting of trees in Israel; donations can also be made in honor of or in memory of a person or an event. It is very interesting that we choose to remember by giving back to the earth. I do not know why people decide to do this; I am sure if I asked I would get a variety of answers. Perhaps at some level we know that the earth itself is much more permanent than we are and planting a tree into the earth will last long after the event has passed or the person has died. Or maybe we want to see the earth bloom, giving as much joy as the person or event did.

Jewish law has been environmentally conscious with regard to the treatment of the earth since the Torah was written. In Leviticus, God wants Moses to tell the Israelites, "Six years you may plow your field and six years you may prune your vineyards and gather in the yield. But in the seventh year the land shall have a Sabbath of complete rest, a sabbath of the LORD: you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. You shall not reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your untrimmed vines; it shall be a year of complete rest for the land." (Leviticus 25:3-5). God is making sure that the people will not abuse the land that has been given to them. When the soil is tilled continually, it saps the nutrients from the ground, making it no longer capable of sustaining life. The most famous example of this in more contemporary times is the Dustbowl of the 1930s. At that time, huge dust storms started in the Great Plains from a combination of drought and over-farming in the region. By God giving the sabbatical year to the Jewish people, God was ensuring that such a disaster would never occur; the earth would be given a chance to replenish itself from all that the people took.

When I was much younger, I remember hearing in Hebrew School of when Jewish settlers started to return to Palestine and how they came to a barren land filled with desert. These early settlers worked hard planting and caring for the land, and turned it into the scouts’ vision of Israel, "The land that we traversed and scouted is an exceedingly good land [...] a land that flows with milk and honey," (Numbers 14:7-8). Maybe if we all try and help the earth in small ways, together we can improve the entire world, just as these settlers cultivated the Holy Land and encouraged the desert to bloom.

[Posted 1/15/10]