Jewish Earth Day

Rabbi Melanie Aron

Saturday, April 22, 2006

When Jewish children begin their study of Talmud, it is customary to start them with the following passage from Baba Metzi: HaMafkeed eytzel chaveiro, beheimah oh kelim, venignevah oh sheavdah. Something is left in someone's safekeeping, either an animal or an inanimate object, and it is stolen or lost, who is responsible?

The Mishnah then goes through some of the possible situations. After all it is different if I come to you and ask you to watch my pet gerbil while I go out of town, as a favor, then if you have a pet watching business and solicit me to leave my dog with you. It is also different if I left your diamond watch, which you asked me to hold for you, on a park bench accidentally then if I locked it up in the safe at the hotel. Similarly renting a car and paying for its use is different than borrowing a fancy coffee maker from your next door neighbor who is doing you a favor because you are having the boss to dinner.

As one might expect, those who take appropriate precautions pay smaller damages and in a more limited set of circumstances than those who act carelessly or irresponsibly. Some things can happen to anyone and an individual shouldn't be penalized for damages that are extremely hard to prevent, whereas other situations are invitations to disaster. In summary, the one who is most responsible of the four situations outlined in the Mishnah, is the one who borrows something from someone, has full use of it for their own benefit, and does not care for what they have borrowed responsibly.

I mention these laws of the Talmud this morning because today is Earth Day on the secular calendar. In communities around the world, here in San Jose, and even in Los Gatos, events are taking place designed to focus our attention on our care of the environment, of the earth itself and the many species that live upon it. Jewish writings on the care of the earth often focus on our responsibility as stewards of God's creation. We are in that fourth situation, those who are in possession of something that does not belong to them and have use and benefit of that thing.

The rabbis suggest that Torah might have begun with Exodus Chapter 12, with the first exposition of laws and instructions to the Jewish people, but instead it begins with Genesis, to remind us that all that we have in this world is a gift from God. We did not create the world we live in, we regard its coming into existence with awe, and therefore we do not have the right to destroy it.

Jewish tradition teaches the principal of Baal Tashcit, do not destroy. This law originates in the commandment not to chop down fruit trees in times of war, after all the battle is not of the trees choosing and they cannot run away from it. From this original mitzvah, the concept of baal tashchit was expanded to include any kind of wanton destruction including burning oil lamps in wasteful ways or consuming more meat and fine flour than one really needs. Even simple things, like walking along the road and pulling up plants just because one feels like it, are forbidden. It is clear to me what our tradition has to say about the importance of conserving energy and about eating low down the food chain.

Ecological sensibility permeates our tradition. In traditional synagogues, in the middle paragraph of the Shema, the prayer we recite every morning and evening of our lives, we are reminded that our actions are judged by their environmental consequences. In the observance of Shabbat, the most basic of Jewish mitzvoth, we are urged to take one day in seven to be at peace with the natural world,. The laws of Shabbat tell us neither to create nor to destroy, that is to have zero impact on our environment. And in this week's Torah portion, in the laws of kashrut, we are reminded that though we are allowed to make use of the animal kingdom to sustain our lives, that permission is not absolute and there are limitations and restrictions on our use.

In discussing the laws of Kashrut and the strange fire that Nadab and Abihu burned on the altar in this week's torah portion Rabbi Arthur Waskow challenges us:" Is it kosher to destroy great forests, to ignore insulating our homes, synagogues and nursing homes, to be addicted to automobiles, so that we drunkenly pour carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, there to accelerate the heating of our globe? Strange fire, indeed. We can light a blaze to consume the earth or we can make a holy altar of our lives- to light up the spark of God in every human and in every species."