The BiG Story

United Nations Environment Pro-
gram. But as Jews, our interest in
the subject goes back long before
concern for ecology became a
popular topic in this country.
At the beginning of the Torah,
God tells the man and woman He
has created, "Be fruitful and multi-
ply, fill the earth and subdue it, and
rule over the fish of the sea, the bird
of the sky, and every living thing
that moves on the earth."
This might sound as though God
gives humans a warrant to treat the
earth as they wish. But in the same

parsha (Torah por t ion) (Genesis
2:15), the Torah states that God
"took the man and placed him in
the Garden of Eden, to work it and
to guard it."
If the Garden of Eden is the para-
digm of ideal human existence,
then clearly man's mastery of the
earth carries with it responsibiliy.
Ultimately, as the book of Tehilim
(Psalms 24:1) reminds us, "The
earth is the Lord's."
Although some radical environ-
mentalists maintain that humans and
their activities are an intrusion upon
nature, the Torah teaches us that all
of God's creations are part of an
organic whole, brought into being
together within that momentous
week of cosmic birth. "And God
saw all that He had made, and
behold, it was very good" (Genesis
1:31).

This includes humans.
In the Midrash, Bereshit Rabbah
3:9, quotes Rabbi Abbahu's state-
ment that God "created and
destroyed worlds before he made
this." The implication is that our
planet is God's final and best prod-
uct — that this is, indeed, a perfect
world. How, then, do we "work it
and guard it"?
A major cause of concern in the
ecology movement is that of the
unnecessary exploitation of natural
resources. In Judaism, this idea finds
its voice in the rabbinic concept of
bai tashchit, the
prohibition of
wastefulness. This
is derived from a
passage in Parshat
Shoftim (Leviticus
20: 1 9).
Bal tashchit
teaches that the
earth's resources
are to be con-
served and only
that which is nec-
essary may be
used. Just as
humans must
observe Shabbat every seven days
to renew body and soul, so too
does the Torah mandate a rest peri-
od for the soil. In a practice known
as shmita, every seven years the
Jewish people in the Land of Israel
lay aside their agricultural imple-
ments and let the land lie fallow
(Leviticus 25:2-5). Land must not be
overused, and its resources must be
conserved.
Three major Jewish holidays —
the pilgrimage festivals of Pesach
(Passover), Shavuot and Sukkot —
all incorporate agricultural themes
along with their core spiritual mes-
sage. These holidays mandated by
the Torah drive home the notion of
our dependence on the land and
our need to maintain its productivity.
Without the land, our celebration is
only half-fulfilled.
Pollution of the land air and

Resources:

• Contact the Society for the Protection of Nature in
Israel at 28 Arrandale Ave., Great Neck, NY
11024, (212) 398-6750, aspni@aol.com (You can
request a pamphlet describing Israel Nature Trails,
guided tours exploring various areas of the country)
• The Teva Learning Center offers various nature
programs for adults and teens. Contact Teva at 307
Seventh Ave. Suite 900, New York, NY 10001.
• To send a free World Environment Day electronic
greeting card:
http://www1.123greetings.corn/events/environ-

mentday

water is a major concern not only
of modern environmentalists, but
also of the Torah and Halacha (Jew-
ish law).
In Parshat Ki Teitzei (Deuteronomy
23:13-14), God commands the
Jewish people wandering in the
desert to deposit human waste out-
side the camp. From this, the rabbis
derived further laws prohibiting the
disposal of waste and garbage in
places that impact human health

and the growing of crops. In
ancient times, the most common fer-
tilizer was manure. The Talmud, in
Bova Kama 28, forbids the planti-
ng of kitchen gardens and orchards
in and around Jerusalem, out of
concern about the effect of manure
on the local environment.
Whether it was manure or smelly
industrial operations such as tanner-
ies, the ancient rabbis were aware
of the impact that odors have on

