Rabbi Hannah Greenstein

Dear Beth Israel Friends and Families,

Although we celebrated the beginning of Israel’s spring back in January (Tu B’Shevat), this month we enjoy the beginning of our spring, as snow gives way to rain, trees blossom, and flowers bloom. What more appropriate way to appreciate the beauty and bounty of our earth than celebrating Earth Day, a secular holiday falling on April 22^nd. On Earth Day, we appreciate our planet and resolve to reduce our impact on the earth’s limited resources. 

Earth Day and conservationism may be credited to modern sensibilities, but, in fact, the idea of protecting the earth is an inherent part of Judaism.  In the second account of creation (Genesis 2:15), God places Adam in the Garden of Eden, telling him to work and guard it. From the first story in the Torah, humans are set up to be “shomrei adamah,” guardians of the earth.

As society develops and warfare is inevitable, God tells the Israelites in Deuteronomy 20:19-20 that when they wage war against a city, they should destroy only trees that are necessary for siege works. This concept is developed throughout Jewish legal codes to mean that we should not be wasteful of the earth’s resources in any way.

The Bible is also concerned with over-development of the Earth’s resources. In Leviticus 25:4, God declares every 7^th year a “shmittah” year, where no crops will be sown or grown. In Numbers 35:2-5, God tells the Israelites that there should be open space in every city.  The Talmud rules against raising goats and sheep in the land of Israel because their grazing spoils the Land (Babylonian Talmud, Baba Kama, 79b).

Jewish wisdom also understands that in order to appreciate God’s creation, one must be surrounded by it. For example, the prophet Isaiah (5:8) says “Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field so that no one but you can dwell in the land, and the Mishnah forbids living in a city that does not have a garden or greenery (Kiddushin 4:12).

One may even consider Shabbat, a day where we refrain from working, driving, and using electricity, to be an environmentalist tradition. In fact, if everyone on the planet celebrated a Shabbat one out of every seven days, environmental degradation would only be a fraction of what it is today.

Becoming a shomer adamah, an environmental conservationist, is part of being Jewish. Reducing our carbon footprint increases our engagement with Jewish tradition.  This year we celebrate the 40^th anniversary of Earth Day and as we know, 40 being as auspicious number in Jewish tradition. According to the Maharal (Judah Loew ben Bezalel of 16^th century Prague), 40 can raise someone’s spiritual state. There were 40 days and nights of flood for Noah, a mikvah, or ritual bath, must be 40 measurements of water, and the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years on the way to Israel. On this 40^th anniversary of Earth Day, let us resolve to take one step towards conserving the environment, one step towards appreciating the blessing of this world, and one step towards raising our own spiritual state of the spiritual state of this planet. 

Many blessings,
Rabbi Hannah Greenstein