AUGUST 17 • 2023 | 55
The
Limits
of Grief
SUSTAINABILITY
In the case of bal tashchit, however, there
is an obvious fit with much else in Jewish
law and thought. The Torah is concerned
with what we would nowadays call “sus-
tainability.” This is particularly true of the
three commands ordaining periodic rest:
the Sabbath, the Sabbatical year and the
Jubilee year.
On the Sabbath, all agricultural work is
forbidden, “so that your ox and your don-
key may rest.” (Ex. 23:12) It sets a limit to
our intervention in nature and the pursuit
of economic growth. We become conscious
that we are creations, not just creators. The
earth is not ours but God’s. For six days,
it is handed over to us, but on the seventh
we symbolically abdicate that power. We
may perform no “work,
” which is to say,
an act that alters the state of something for
human purposes. The Sabbath is a weekly
reminder of the integrity of nature and the
boundaries of human striving.
What the Sabbath does for humans and
animals, the Sabbatical and Jubilee years
do for the land. The earth, too, is entitled
to its periodic rest. The Torah warns that
if the Israelites do not respect this, they
will suffer exile, “then shall the land make
appeasement for its Sabbaths, for as long
as it lies desolate, and you are in your ene-
mies’ lands. Then the land will rest and
make appeasement for its Sabbaths.
”(Lev.
26:34)
Behind this are two concerns. One is
environmental. As Maimonides points
out, land that is overexploited eventually
erodes and loses its fertility. The Israelites
were therefore commanded to conserve
the soil by giving it periodic fallow years,
not pursuing short-term gain at the cost of
long-term desolation. The second, no less
significant, is theological. “The land,
” says
God, “is Mine; you are merely migrants
and visitors to Me.
” (Lev. 25:23)
We are guests on Earth.
There is another group of commands
that directs us against over-interference
with nature. The Torah forbids cross-
breeding livestock, planting a field with
mixed seeds, and wearing a garment of
mixed wool and linen. These rules are
called chukim or “statutes.
”
Nahmanides understood this term to
mean laws that respect the integrity of nature.
To mix different species, he argued, was to
presume to be able to improve on creation
and is thus an affront to the Creator. Each
species has its own internal laws of devel-
opment and reproduction, and these must
not be tampered with: “One who combines
two different species thereby changes and
defies the work of creation, as if he believes
that the Holy One, blessed be He, has not
completely perfected the world and he now
wishes to improve it by adding new kinds
of creatures.
”
Deuteronomy also contains a law forbid-
ding taking a young bird together with its
mother. Nahmanides sees this as having
the same underlying concern, namely of
protecting species. Though the Bible per-
mits us to use some animals for food, we
must not cull them to extinction.
Samson Raphael Hirsch in the
19th century gave the most forcible
interpretation of biblical law. The statutes
relating to environmental protection, he
said, represent the principle that “the same
regard which you show to humanity you
must also demonstrate to every lower
creature, to the Earth which bears and
sustains all, and to the world of plants and
animals.
”
They are a kind of social justice applied
to the natural world: “They ask you to
regard all living things as God’s property.
Destroy none; abuse none; waste nothing;
employ all things wisely … Look upon all
creatures as servants in the household of
creation.
”
TO SERVE AND GUARD THE EARTH
Hirsch also gave a novel interpretation
to the phrase in Genesis 1, “Let Us make
man in Our image after Our own like-
ness.” (Gen. 1:26) The passage is puzzling,
for at that stage, prior to the creation
of man, God was alone. The “Us,” says
Hirsch, refers to the rest of creation.
Because man alone would develop the
capacity to change and possibly endanger
the natural world, nature itself was con-
sulted as to whether it approved of such a
being.
The implied condition is that humans
may use nature only in such a way as to
enhance it, not put it at risk. Anything else
is ultra vires, outside the remit of our stew-
ardship of the planet.
In this context, a phrase in Genesis 2 is
decisive. Man was set in the Garden of
Eden “to work it and safeguard it.” (Gen.
2:15) The two Hebrew verbs are signifi-
cant. The first — le’ovdah — literally means
“to serve it.
” Man is not just a master but
also a servant of nature.
The second — leshomrah — means “to
guard it.
” This is the verb used in later
Torah legislation to describe the responsi-
bilities of a guardian of property that does
not belong to him. He must exercise vigi-
lance in its protection and is liable for loss
through negligence. This is perhaps the
best short definition of humanity’s respon-
sibility for nature as the Bible conceives it.
Man’s dominion over nature is thus
limited by the requirement to serve and
conserve. The famous story of Genesis
2-3 — eating the forbidden fruit and the
subsequent exile from Eden — makes just
this point. Not everything we can do, may
we do. Transgress the limits, and disaster
follows. All of this is summed up by a
simple Midrash: “When God made man,
He showed him the panoply of creation
and said to him: ‘See all My works, how
beautiful they are. All I have made, I have
made for you. Take care, therefore, that
you do not destroy My world, for if you do,
there will be no one left to mend what you
have destroyed.
”
We know much more than we once did
about the dangers to the Earth’s ecology
by the ceaseless pursuit of economic gain.
The guidance of the Oral tradition in
interpreting “do not destroy” expansively,
not restrictively, should inspire us now.
We should expand our horizons of
environmental responsibility for the sake
of generations not yet born, and for the
sake of God, whose guests on Earth we
are.
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks (1948-2020) was a
global religious leader, philosopher, the author of
more than 25 books and moral voice for our time.
His series of essays on the weekly Torah portion,
entitled “Covenant & Conversation” will continue to
be shared and distributed around the world.