8 Jewish Practices to Help Mitigate Humanity’s Impact During the Anthropocene
1). Who is happy that tomorrow is Friday? TGIF! For Jews, it’s TGIS: Thank G-d it’s Shabbos (Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, runs from just before sunset Friday to an hour after sundown on Saturday). Some say, even more than the Jews keep the Sabbath, the Sabbath has kept the Jews. Just as Hashem (The Name) rested on the seventh day (Breishis/Genesis 2:1-3) so should we and our animals rest on the 7th day (Shemos/Exodus 8-11 – Remember the Sabbath day…). The land rests in the 7th year (Vayikra/Leviticus 25:5 – “…it shall be a year of rest for the land.” & 50th year (7 times 7 plus 1 – Vayikra 25:11 – “It shall be a Jubilee Year for you – this 50th year – you shall not sow…). Sabbaths for the land are only practiced in a limited way in Israel. Shabbat for people continues to be practiced worldwide. Current adaptations for Sabbath observance include no driving (thus the emphasis on walkability in Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods), no shopping and turning off computers & cell phones. It’s a time to eat together, celebrate time together, and remember why we are here…work 24/6, not 24/7! (NB: I see old stories, like this one about earth’s creation in six days, as metaphors from which we can learn. Of course, we now know that our earth is billions, not days, old. Even so, our sages say, if you believe all these stories, you’re a fool! But if you believe none of them, you’re also a fool!)
2). We were put in gan (the garden of) eden to work (l’avdah) and to guard (u-l’shamra) it (Breishis/Genesis 2:15). The Hebrew word avodah means work and also service. We are here to serve the world, not to consume it. To conserve, protect, respect – we are stewards of the earth, not here just for our own needs, but for all species. Adam = Humanity, Adamah = Earth. The suffix “ah” when added to a word in Hebrew makes it feminine. Feminine principles encourage us to nurture & protect life. The original Adam was both male and female, later split into Adam and Chava (Eve). Chava is considered the Mother of all Life. We are here to protect life: to do so we must learn to live within the carrying capacity of the earth.
3). Tza’ar ba’alei chayim – ethical treatment of animals (Shmos/Exodus 23:5 – unburden the load of a donkey of even someone you don’t like – Mishnei Torah, Hilkot Rotzeah, 13:1 it’s a mitzvah (commandment) to do this for a friend and Kesef Mishneh, Hilkot Rotzeah 13:9 extends this even for an enemy). This law is extrapolated to not harm any species. Paraphrasing Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki – 1040-1120, Troyes, France) our main Torah commentator who said that meat should be difficult to obtain for it involves taking a life, so meat consumption, if/when it’s done at all, should be carried out carefully and with the utmost respect. Of course, the best way to reduce pain to animals is not to eat them. Many local Jews who want to observe kosher laws don’t eat meat because this is easier (don’t have to separate meat and milk – see # 6), less expensive (kosher meat gets shipped, frozen, a great distance) and more compassionate.
4). Ba’al Tashchit – do not destroy (Devarim/Deuteronomy 20:19 – interpretation of military instructions not to destroy fruit trees when you besiege a city) becomes justification for recycling, reusing, not wasting. Sefer Hasidim, a medieval text, asserts that righteous people grieve when even a mustard seed is wasted. In current times, this is reflected in a movement known as eco kashrut – combining biblical ethics with ecological principles – moving from meat based to plant based diets to reduce our impact on the earth.
5). Sending away the mother bird (Devarim/Deuteronomy 22:6-7) – preserve species by not taking the breeding adult when gathering her eggs. This also teaches compassion for other species and respect for the parent/child relationship. How much more so should we respect and care for each other?
6). Do not boil a kid (baby goat) in its mother’s milk (Devarim/Deuteronomy 14:21 & Shemos/Exodus 23:19, 34:19) Though we don’t know for sure why this law exists (it’s known as a chok, a law which defies logic), there are many possible reasons for it. The ones that fit our theme best are to show compassion to other species (even though the meat you eat may have nothing to do with the milk you drink, you are taking extra care when you consume it by not cooking an offspring in the life giving milk that nurtured it) and also to respect the parent-child relationship.
7). Green belts, Bamidbar/Numbers 35: 2-5, designated 2000 cubits (1 cubit is 45 cm – 2000 is 135,000 cm = 1350 m = 1.4 km), in all directions around a Levite city of which the inner thousand would be left undeveloped & beautiful, the outer for agriculture (fields for animals and vineyards). Though not practiced now as far as I know, it offers a wonderful way to bring nature into our cities, making urban environments that welcome nature and provide opportunities for reflection as well as dwelling places for more species. A way to integrate green space into urban design using a continuous space that encourages movement for land based species instead of the isolated islands that individual parks create.
8). Green burial – “…you shall bury him on that day…” (Devarim/Deuteronomy 21:23 – If this is was originally concerning a criminal who has taken a life, how much more so for a person who gives life). All our ancestors buried their loved ones (Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the Cave of Machpelah, Ishmael and Yitzhak overcame sibling rivalry to bury their father, Abraham, in that same cave; Yitzhak’s wife, Rebecca’s, nurse, Devorah, was buried under an Ilan (oak tree); Joseph requested that his bones be carried up out of Egypt and buried in Eretz – the land of – Israel). A burial place becomes the soul’s connection to the planet as well as a place for loved ones to connect. Jewish (and Muslim) burial is a non-invasive, non-aggressive method without embalming. Uses only a plain pine casket without metal in it (in Jerusalem only a shroud is used) so everything can quickly return to nourish the soil – from dust we came, to dust we return. Same as a green burial except for the gravestone. Contrast this to the fuel equivalent of a 500 mile car trip to cremate a body, 400 kg of CO2 released per body burned & BC laws prohibiting crematoriums from being too close to a city due to toxic fumes (heavy metals & other toxic substances bioaccumulated over a lifetime get released during cremation). OK if it’s your cultural practice, but not if you’re looking for a green alternative.
To end on a less somber, more hopeful note…
“If you believe that you can damage, then believe that you can fix…
If you believe that you can harm, then believe that you can heal…”
~ Rebbe Nachman of Breslav (1772-1810) who also encouraged us not to despair
Choose life! It’s a mitzvah (commandment)! If you can choose to live more fully within the carrying capacity of our Earth, you provide a beautiful role model for the rest of us to follow!