Environment
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"There are three ways in which we may relate ourselves to the world: we may exploit it, we may enjoy it, we may accept it in awe."
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Mi sheberach Avoteinu veimateinu.
May the Holy One Ancient of Days Who Blessed our ancestors turn and Bless victims, survivors, mourners, supporters, workers, and friends at this time of distress and in the face of this great devastating flood.
May the Holy One whose powers can melt mountains like wax also shine healing and strength to those crying out in need and dislocation.
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This is a moral issue for me and my community….How can we permit money to be made to feed the greed of people in our generation while ignoring the children who will live after us?... Let's start now the process of stopping the criminal abuse of our environment. Let's start by having comprehensive protections of the roadless areas remaining in our national forests... Jewish tradition teaches that we have a responsibility to protect the earth for future generations. "Choose life that you and your children might live" (Deuteronomy 30:19)
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[Cited by the Jewish Climate Initiative, http://www.jewishclimateinitiative.org/ethics/pollution.php]
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein...takes what seems to me to be a major step towards translating the laws of damages between neighbors into an industrial context. He was asked whether a student might smoke in the study hall of a yeshiva. R. Feinstein replied that this is forbidden by halakhah as it potentially damages the health of other students.14 Then he adds the following:
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Judaism teaches that we have a sacred obligation to the Creator, to Creation, and to future generations to safeguard and protect Earth's ecosystems. Before the Flood, Noah and his family protected at least two of every animal species, enabling all creatures to make safe passage from one era of human history to the next. After the Flood, God said to Noah: "Behold, I establish My covenant with you, and with your seed after you, and with every living creature that is with you, of the birds, of the cattle, and of every wild animal of the earth with you" (Genesis 9:9)....
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Trees: The Ultimate Zionist Ideal
A common Tu B’Shevat activity is to have a tree drive for Israel. Trees can be purchased to
be planted in one of the JNF (Jewish National Fund) Forests in Israel. Tree planting was an
integral part to the Zionist cause in settling the land of Israel from the late 19th Century.
Planting trees was seen as a necessary ritual in order to connect to the land. Trees were an
essential symbol for the Zionist mission of “striking roots” in the Jewish homeland. In
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Generations come and go, political leadership changes, but "haaretz leolam omedet" - the earth is forever. As the matrix for all life, the earth is precious. This is a basic teaching of our Jewish tradition and certainly not that tradition alone. All people have the responsibility to care for the cradle of humanity and the home of future generations.
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Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai ... used to say: if you have a sapling in your hand, and someone should say to you that the Messiah has come, stay and complete the planting, and then go to greet the Messiah. [COEJL]
רבן יוחנן בן זכאי... אם היתה נטיעה בתוך ידך ויאמרו לך הרי לך המשיח. בוא ונטע את הנטיעה [ואח"כ צא והקבילו].
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A person should only eat meat on rare appointed occasions, and the reason is that a person should not become accustomed to eat meat, as it is written, "You shall eat meat with all your desire. Eat it, however, as you eat the gazelle and the deer," (Deuteronomy 12:21-22). This means that you should eat meat by circumstance [accident] rather than in a set way. For the gazelle and the deer are not easily found around human dwellings for they are wild, and their habitation is not with people, but in the deserts and forests.
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In order to serve God, one needs access to the enjoyment of the beauties of nature, such as the contemplation of flower-decorated meadows, majestic mountains, flowing rivers… For all these are essential to the spiritual development of even the holiest people.
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