Not Idol Worship: Environmental Conservation Must Be Part of the Jewish World of Faith

Article Summary

From a halachic green passport for Shabbat leaflets, all the way to new halachic burial methods, out of deep faith that the cooperation of the public faithful to halacha in conserving God’s world is essential – it is best that we accept upon ourselves to join the effort. Essay for Tu BiShvat.

Tu BiShvat, the new year of the trees, is a halachic day with much significance in the domain of Israel-focused mitzvot.

In a non-agricultural society such as ours, we are constantly searching for ways to fill this day with broader significance that we can relate to. One of these ways is the connection between this day and the worldwide need to promote sustainability, and this is a call for us to join this movement as well.

We do not require a specific event in order to demand of ourselves to do what is right in order to save the world, without entering into large discussions about the severity of the situation or terrible proposals for change.

It is best for us if we begin to decrease our use of things that have a direct effect on our lives and impact the great responsibility that we have been given by the Master of the World to conserve the world: “You have made him master over Your handiwork, laying the world at his feet” (Tehillim 8:7).

Nowadays, we are not dealing with abstract ideas and the focused conservation that exists in the halachot of baal tashchit. Slowly it is becoming clear to us that we are dealing with genuine pikuach nefesh – millions of people who are already impacted by climate change, world-changing immigration, etc. Thus, the obligation to act comes from the great weight that halacha grants to saving lives, and some of the conservation topics nowadays involve genuine lifesaving. Even if we verify only 50% of the various warnings of scientists – we find ourselves dealing with a genuine threat to life.

Out of deep faith that the cooperation of the public faithful to halacha in conserving God’s world is essential, and how it will even contribute to the strengthening of this responsibility – it is best that we accept upon ourselves to join the effort. 

How so? There are so many things that we can do. An example of this is the vast circulation of Shabbat leaflets, for if the publishers strictly enforced the principles of the halachot of geniza in light of the halachic ‘green passport’ for leaflets, leading to the ability to recycle the paper – we would contribute to a greater conservation effort of Israel’s land, decreasing pollution, and practically strengthening the respect for holy works compared to the standards of geniza today.

If during the various kiddushim there would be considerably less use of disposable silverware – we would contribute some amount to prevention of the destruction of the world through plastic, that nowadays directly seeps into our drinking water, and there are those who claim that it even penetrates through breastmilk.

If we lessen the noise pollution at weddings; if we continue to promote other halachic burial methods that lessen the damage to the Land of Israel and the environment; if we conserve energy at various religious institutions, and many more examples – we will create two positive things: the first is minor – we will slightly contribute to the prevention of damage that we directly suffer from, conserve natural resources, lessen pollution and improve God’s world.

The second is granting religious and faithful depth to worldwide actions in this domain. There is great strength to the spiritual and faithful world, for it brings the religious obligation to support the world into the equation. This addition has the strength to prevent turning conservation into the new “idol worship” without relating to the benefit of these worldwide proposals, while pushing forward that which is proper to do because of the fact that our lives depend on it.

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