The Jewish faith points to a number of sources that lead us to understand how to marvel in creation starting at Genesis with the Creation story. But it is also a living religion full of day-to-day practical tips for helping us save resources, protect public space, and letting nature rest. But how these “ideas” go into practice among secular and religious Jews in modern times leaves a lot of room for debate and guidance. 

Rabbis function in Israel as spiritual guides but they mainly deal with the very practical application of the Jewish mitzvas more than anything. How do you celebrate holidays or simchas “happy events”; how do you cook in a kosher way, or how should the relationship look between husband and wife, friends and your community.

It’s not usual for any rabbi to have a specific skillset on environment issues, however. Same is true in Islam and Christianity although the times are changing. We know of one eco-rabbi in Jerusalem (Yonatan Neril – who wrote the Eco Bible) and no doubt there are many we haven’t met, but I was excited to hear that eco-activist David Pearlman Paran had taken the path, and we speak with him in the interview below about that path and what it means for Israel.

I’d met David about 20 years ago when he was working for the Heschel Center, an environmental advocacy group in Tel Aviv that teachers influencers from all walks of life how to walk the green walk at work. I was impressed not only by David’s passion and knowledge but enjoyed the philosophical questions has asked us as we toured a “sustainable Tel Aviv.” 

He pointed out public and private spaces and made us listen and look to our city, wondering if it’s reasonable that the city allows us to be bombarded with advertisements and noise. He didn’t offer answers to the questions he asked, and that may be how the best teachers operate, asking you to search inside for the answer. 

A little background: David immigrated to Israel in 1994 from Sydney, Australia and early on was a leader and educator at the Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership. He uses his theatre background when teaching environmental awareness to his students. Today he is also very involved in Israel’s Green Party and has served in various positions and is one of the leaders of Pardes Hanna’s Masorti Congregation: Darchei Noam. His wife is Yael Cohen Paran, a former Member of the Knesset from the Zionist Union party. She was a Knesset member from 2015-2019.

David was ordained an eco-rabbi by the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary in the Masorti/Conservative movement in Judaism, in December, 2022 in Jerusalem. Overseeing the seminary and education is Rabbi Avi Novis-Deutsch who explains to Green Prophet about our responsibility to protect the environment. 

“It is a religious obligation to protect the environment and the world’s creations,” he says. “One reason is the basic obligation put on Adam, the first person, to ‘work and protect’ the world. Another reason is our responsibility to other human beings living today and in future generations.

“This responsibility is repeated in various commandments and in the Biblical emphasis to maintain every human being.”

“Thus, every single negative thing that we do in the world God created for us certainly has a negative impact on other people and is inappropriate and against what the Torah commands us,” adds Novis-Deutsch.

Reach out to David here.

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At the end of last week’s segment, Joseph still had not revealed his true identity to his brothers and he decided to incarcerate Benjamin, the favorite brother of their father. When Judah hears this, he knows that it would kill their father, and he stands up to Joseph, the second in command to Pharaoh.

I identify with Judah. He took upon himself the responsibility to watch over his younger brother, Benjamin. When everything seemed to be going wrong, and Pharaoh’s right hand man was going to detain Benjamin in jail, Judah had to stand up for him.

The Midrash Kohelet Rabbah (7:19) states: “At the time that the Holy One of Blessing created Adam, God showed him all the trees of the Garden of Eden and said to him: See my works! How beautiful and praiseworthy they are? And everything that I created, I created for you. Take care that you should not destroy my world, for if you spoil it there is no one to repair it after you.”

Our planet is our little brother. Judah understood that they needed to bring Benjamin to Egypt in order to get food for the family. But he also knew that Yosef was trying to detain him unjustly, when they discovered the goblet in Benjamin’s bag. He stood up for his brother and offered himself instead.

We were given something precious to safeguard as well and we cannot let it be unjustly destroyed. Stand up, like Judah did, when you see people wasting. There are many community projects that you can run for raising awareness of what the issues are that we are dealing with. Be a leader like our great great grandfather Judah and take the initiative to organize such events.

When Judah did stand up for his little brother, the results he got far surpassed what he had imagined. He discovered his long-lost brother. Remember the words of the midrash (interpretation) and let us take care of our world as Judah did Benjamin:

“Take care that you should not destroy my world, for if you spoil it there is no one to repair it after you.”

When we all work together the results will far surpass our greatest expectations.

Image Credit: SamJuk

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Okay, this week’s parashah is a no-brainer. Seriously, how can an Eco-Rabbi NOT talk about Parshat Miketz? The parashah which contains the solution for dealing with famine…

Parshat Miketz opens with Pharaoh, King of Egypt, receiving a dream in which he sees 7 fat, healthy cows consumed by 7 weak and sickly cows. Then Pharoah sees 7 fat, healthy bundles of grain consumed by 7 weak and sickly bundles.

After consulting with every wise man around he finds Joseph, who had been thrown in jail. While in jail Joseph helped, correctly, interpret the dreams of 2 cellmates. One of them ended back in Pharaoh’s court – and it was he who recommended Joseph to Pharoah.

Joseph explains that there will be 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine. He recommends that if Pharaoh is wise, he will save during the years of plenty for the following years of famine. Pharaoh immediately raises Joseph up to be his top advisor and Egypt is saved.

The advice of Joseph in Parshat Miketz is wise, even today. We have been blessed with a storeroom full of fuels – natural gasses, coal and oil. But at the rate at which are burning them, it will be all be gone, perhaps even within our own lifetimes.

Additionally, our current infrastructure for utilities is not sustainable. With too many years of drought we will be without water, even though there are few countries in the world who do not border on an ocean. Not to mention all the waste we dispose of which could be reused or recycled. Our Sun is an unlimited source of energy, if we only invest in harvesting it.

The problem is that if we continue consuming at this rate we will be left without. On an individual basis, Joseph’s advice is wise. If we all can conserve, we will last longer before we use up our resources.

On a larger scale, Joseph’s advice is crucial. Governments need to be taking advantage of this time-period of plenty for developing alternative solutions to their country’s needs.

Israel is a country that develops some of the most advanced environmental technologies but those individual companies cannot implement them here because the government is not providing the financial support. Support for programs that would ultimately be beneficial to her.

Let’s remember with this Hanukkah the three R’s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. And let us work towards a sustainable future of plenty.

Image Credit: Ted and Jen

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This week we begin our celebration of the festival of Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights. The main event of Hanukkah is the lighting of the Menorah, a candelabra.The Menorah has 9 arms, one for each day of the holiday, plus one more candle for lighting the other ones.

One of the lessons of Hanukkah is that if you want to spread a message, you need to vocalize it and announce it to everyone. Everyone who celebrates Hanukkah looks forward to walking through their local community during Hanukkah at night and seeing all the lights in the windows. I think that we should take a page out of Hanukkah’s book to understand how to spread the importance of treating our environment better.

The reason for lighting the menorah is to spread the message of Hanukkah. To announce to everyone how the Jews overthrew the superpower, Greece, who were oppressing them. The Greeks forbade Jewish worship and defiled our temple. We overthrew them, despite being small in numbers, and reclaimed our temple and right to religious autonomy.

The rules specify that the Menorah must be lit in a place that can be seen from the street, and during an hour that people will see the lights. These rules are discussed at length in order to assure that the message inherent in the act of lighting is properly communicated. The message being, that we are announcing our victory. That with the help of God, even a small minority can overthrow a tyranny.

Spreading the message of treating our planet well is important. One needs only to see the melting polar ice caps to understand that global warming is not a myth. And there are more and more beaches which testify, through their filth, to how destructive we are being to our oceans. We are living in the generation that has to reverse the terrible habits we have developed, or we may not be leaving anything to our children.

Be the candle to your friends and colleagues. Be that beacon of light. A candle can be a word, an idea spread. It does not take much. A candle can light other candles without depleting from its own light, and the more candles are lit, the brighter the light becomes.

A candle is deceptively small. But by burning a little wax at a time, it can bring light for many hours. Similarly, the act of spreading the message of creating a healthy world need not be big. For example, some people add the following statement to their email: “Be nice to our planet. Please do not print this email unless you truly need to.” With every email they send, they bring into the consciousness of the people that they email the importance of our planet.

Let us take this holiday to brighten our world and bring a better future for us all.

Image Credit: WWWorks

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The links between religion and environmental concern/activism are no news to Green Prophet.  We’ve covered them in our Eco Rabbi series, discussion of the environment and the Qu’ran, and in stories about multi-faith perspectives on the environment.

But it was news to discover an Eco-Activist Beit Midrash (EABM) in Jerusalem’s Yeshivat Simchat Shlomo, which, in their own words, tries to “bring Torah down to earth.”

Founded last year and based in Nachlaot – a neighborhood near the center of Jerusalem – EABM’s founder’s statement proclaims that “we envision a learning center for people inspired by the natural world and dedicated to it’s current struggle with humankind to have a chance to connect to their own Jewish roots and tradition of change… The tremendous body of Jewish law is about fixing the relationship between people and the Creator, through the land we live on and through the interactions we face with each other.”

EABM’s mission is “to become a serious center for a deep Torah ecology, connected to land and our modern people, cultivating a cadre of rooted, informed and inspired activists to bring lights of Tikun (fixing) into our own communities and the world.”

In light of these goals, EABM promotes learning both inside and outside of the classroom.  Three mornings a week are spent studying traditional texts, while afternoons are spent studying the correlation between modern environmental problems and traditional texts.  Two days a week are spent outdoors, studying the ecology and history of Israel.

EABM also hosts many activities which are open to the public (to RSVP contact Shaul at organicjew@yahoo.com).  Here are some of their upcoming events:

July 22 (Rosh Chodesh Av): Eco-perspectives in Breishit with Rav Dov Berkovitz at Yakar in Katamon (1:30pm)

July 28: Rav Dov Berkovitz, part 2, in Simchat Shlomo (2:30pm)

August 2: Class with Jonathan Nerill on learning from trees in Gan Saker (10am)

August 2: Lecture with Alon Tal on Israel’s environmental crisis and movement at the JNF building (2pm)

August 4: Desert full moon trip (leaves Nachlaot at 7pm and returns at 10am the next morning)

:: Yeshivat Simchat Shlomo Eco-Activist Beit Midrash

Read more about religion and the environment::

Environmental Conference for Imams Challenges Israeli Muslims to Go Green

Rabbi Julian Joins with Other Faiths to ‘Love God, Heal Earth’

Faith & the Environment: Multi-Faith Perspectives

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I’m a vegatarian… sympathizer. (Seriously, could you really eat lamb after looking at that picture?) Yeah, I couldn’t go without eating meat. But I understand the importance of respecting the animal that gave up its life to be eaten.

Down the block from where I live there are regular hafganot, demonstrations, against the slaughter of innocent animals so that us evil meat eaters can have an unhealthily full stomach.

Personally, I think that they’d do a lot more for the well-being of animals if they would protest the mistreating of animals, and not the eating of them. Sure, the mistreating is addressed at the demonstrations, but I think the message is lost in the presentation. I would certainly sign a petition to that extent, instead of what happens now, where I just get hungry for a burger when I see them there…

Coming from this perspective, the idea of sacrificing is not an easy one to wrap my head around. The way the sacrifices are presented in the bible it sounds like needless slaughter.

A friend of mine is a vegetarian, and a Cohen, priestly descent. He was talking with a friend of his who does eat meat and that friend asked if he would fulfill the priestly obligations of sacrificing and eating if the temple were to be built in his lifetime. When my friend answered that he would his friend asked how he could be a vegetarian but be willing to sacrifice animals?

In response my friend asked how his friend was willing to sacrifice an animal’s life for his own pleasure but not in honor of the One who created him, and the animal for that matter…

Interestingly, the bulk of sacrifices during the time of the temple were eaten. People could not afford to eat meat on a regular basis. But a few times a year people were commanded to bring a sacrifice. Most of the meat went to them and their family. A portion went to the priest who sacrificed it. And a small portion went to God.

A person ate their sacrifice with friends and family because the law is that you had to finish it before the end of the day – a good thing in pre-refrigeration days. And it was probably the most meat that they would have eaten all that year.

In days when buying a cow was the equivalent to buying a car today (see our post on Whole Animal Cooking for a modern version of this), it’s hard for me to imagine that people were as wasteful with meat as they are today. The few sacrifices that were totally burnt were done so so that the person bringing the sacrifice would feel as if it was supposed to be them in the animal’s place. A sacrifice to God. And when you raise the animal and bring it on foot across the country I can imagine that you truly felt it.

Consequently, the laws sound so gruesome because they cover every detail of how to sacrifice the animal, so that nothing goes to waste.

I wish that today people would think twice before they cook, eat and dispose of their meat. As I said, I could not give up meat. But I think that there is something special about dedicating the meat that you eat to God, the creator of it all.

More on vegetarianism and meat-eating debate:
Vegewarianism and Vegaware Dinner
Barcode Your Organic Beef With Bactochem DNA Database
Whole Animal Cooking

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Each week Orthodox Jews read one segment of the Five Books of Moses so that they can complete the entire Five Books within the course of a year. In last week’s Eco-Rabbi post I discussed how to create room for God to live within us. This week I discuss giving thanks to God for the energy he has given us.

This week’s segment opens with God commanding Moshe on how to prepare the ner tamid for the tabernacle. The ner tamid is an eternal flame, that would burn in the menorah. What is the purpose of an eternal flame?

Fire distinguished man from animal. Fire made meat possible to eat without getting parasites. Without fire we could not make complicated tools. Many of our building techniques rely on fire. With fire to keep man warm, life expectancy grew and many medical procedures developed. Fire led to longer days with the ability to study by the candlelight. Knowledge grew and of course technology.

Fire also represents man’s soul. It is connected by a wisp to matter, but cannot be held. It barely holds onto reality, and reaches up to the heavens. Fire warms us, like our souls, but if you try to touch it it can burn you. And if you hold onto it too tightly, it goes out. With a single breath it goes out, yet it needs air to continue. Man’s elusive soul mirrors the flame.

This is yet another parallel between man’s soul and the Torah, just as water, and trees. The torah is said to be written with black fire on white fire. The torah, too, is ungraspable.

Fire is what allowed us to transcend the animal kingdom. But having this status comes with responsibility.

Most of our energy today comes from oil. Crude oil was made over millions of years from plankton, from the Jurassic period, roughly 180,000,000 years ago. The plankton were trapped under many layers of sand and mud. Over millions of years, the dead animals and plants were buried deeper and deeper. The heat and pressure, from that process,  gradually turned the mud into rock and the dead animals and plants into oil and gas.

Oil was a gift from God. Just as fire. So that man could transcend to a higher level of being. From animal to man to evolved man. Today we are developing more and more ways of generating energy. Ways that do not rely on burning oil. I believe that God gave us the oil so that we could develop these harmonious ways of living. But just as with all gifts, we need to use it responsibly. We are burning through millions of barrels of oil a day, only as fast as it can be pumped out of the earth. We’re charging God’s energy debit card faster than we can become self-sufficient.

If we respect this wonderful gift of energy, if we want it to be eternal, and not bring our own destruction, we have to be responsible with this gift. For the very least, be aware of the energy you use. Just as us Jews make a blessing before we eat, so that we can appreciate what we are about to take part in, I would like to suggest taking a moment to contemplate before turning on a light, or starting your car. Baruch yotzer ohr, blessed is the one who creates light.

Image Credit: veo

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God asks Moses to request from the Jewish People that each person give a donation. Each according to the generosity of his heart. From those donations God commands that they make a sanctified place, Mikdash, in their camp. God promises that if they do so, He will live inside them.

God, who created the heavens and the Earth, the One who took His people out of Egypt cannot just make a home in the midst of the camp Himself?

Why did God, the one who arranged for a cloud of protection for His people in the desert for the day and a pillar of fire for night, the one who made food rain down on the People of Israel every morning, need for the people to donate their recently acquired riches to Him so that they could make Him a home in their camp?

The answer is that HE did not. God could have conceived the Mikdash, and it would have been there. His people DID need it.

We need to give of ourselves to feel connected with something. This is why it is not enough to only believe in Judaism. There are action commandments that we need to fulfill, give of ourselves, so that we can connect with God through them.

It is for this reason that the People of Israel had to give, of their new riches, and build the Mikdash themselves. Otherwise God could not have lived among them. It would have been another miracle to witness and not internalize. Hashem knew that this is how we work, and so he commanded that we donate of our possessions and talents to make a home for Him. And in doing so, we made a home in ourselves for Him as well, so he had then room to live within us.

If something is truly important to you, it is not enough to think about doing something for it. Donate a little of yourself to the cause and it will actualize in your life.

If our home, Earth, is truly important to you and you would like for it to be around for your children and children’s children, then it is important to act and do something to help clean up.

In the Torah it says that each person gave as the generosity of his heart would allow. This is true for people as well. Not everyone can give the same amount, and in the same ways. But it IS important that everyone give. So that they can make room in their hearts for a better world.

Image Credit: keithwills

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Each week Orthodox Jews read one segment of the Five Books of Moses so that they can complete the entire Five Books within the course of a year. In last week’s Eco-Rabbi post we discussed water and life. In this week I will discuss man, trees and the receiving of the Bible (Torah) on Mount Sinai.

Today week we celebrate Tu Bishvat, the new year for trees. According to tradition the trees are judged on this day. God decides which trees will continue to grow healthily and how much they each will produce. The day coincides with the beginning of the new season, when the first trees begin to bloom.

Interestingly, this week, in the parsha, segment of Bible read, we talk about the receiving of the Torah. Standing at the foot of Mount Sinai must have been an incredible experience! Moses was talking directly with God, just out of slavery. Miracles happening right before the Jewish people’s eyes!

Is there a connection between the receiving of the Torah and Tu Bishvat?

Our tradition is filled with trees and hold them in the highest regard. Back to the very beginning of the story, Adam and Eve were placed in Gan Eden with only one commandment. Do not eat from the Tree of Knowledge (again a tree). Before they got a chance to eat from the Tree of Life they broke this commandment and were sent away from the garden.

But all is not lost. The book of Proverbs teaches us that the Torah is a “Tree of Life” to all who hold onto it. The Torah, that we describe the receiving of in this week’s parsha is our opportunity to eat from the Tree of Life that Adam and eve did not get.

So the Torah is the Tree of Life and, as we discussed last week, is also water of life.

Man is also described as a tree. In Deuteronomy (20:19) we are commanded not to cut down fruit trees during an offensive war because: “man is the fruit of the field.” We too are trees.

It is from that verse that we learn about the law that prohibits wasting, the prohibition of baal tashchit. This law is the source of what makes the environmental movement so important to the Jewish people.

If you are not allowed to waste, then naturally you should be careful to shut off lights when you are not using them, only use water when necessary. Even to make sure you drive responsibly and not waste gas.

All this comes out from the fact that we too are like trees. So there really is a strong connection between the giving of the Torah and Tu Bishvat.

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Each week Orthodox Jews read one segment of the Five Books of Moses so that they can complete the entire Five Books within the course of a year. In last week’s Eco-Rabbi post we discussed the power of symbols. This week continues with discussing of water and life.

Pharaoh finally agrees to let the Jewish people leave from Egypt. However, after six days of not having his slaves anymore, Pharaoh had a change of heart. He sent out his army and chased the Jews to the Reed Sea. With nowhere to go, the Jewish people, literally between a rock and a hard place, turn to God.

The Bible describes how over night a great wind blew and created a dry pathway through the sea. “And the waters were a great wall surrounding them on their left and on their right.” But when they were all through, and the Egyptians followed, the walls came tumbling down and destroyed the strongest ancient empire in one fell swoop.

Many cultures hold water in the highest regard attributing to it, and rightfully so, their life. “Vodka” actually technically means “little water” a shortened version of the original “zhiznennia voda” or “water of life.” The Gealic word for whiskey is “usquebaugh” also meaning “water of life.” The connection between water and life are found throughout mankind’s cultures.

In Judaism we call our Bible “water of life.” Many hassidim and mystics will claim to get drunk off of their learning. The description of the Jewish people’s salvation through water shows to what high a regard Judaism holds water.

After leaving the sea behind the Jewish people travel three days in the desert and do not find water. This is the power of water. So shortly after being saved from slavery and then the hands of the Egyptian army there is already dissent and displeasure with God.

Moses finds a well but the waters are bitter and no one can drink them. God explains to Moses how to sweeten the waters. But the commentaries take this story as a metaphor for life. Water is equated with the Bible in Judaism. The Rabbis explain that from that lesson Moses taught us that we cannot go three days without studying the Bible.

If you go into any synagogue around the world for morning prayers you will find on Monday and Thursday morning a special ceremony in which we read form the Bible. It is such, so that we will not go three days without the Bible.

The Bible, water, life, these are interconnected in our tradition. In today’s modern world it is easy to forget how dependent on water we are. All one has to do is turn on the faucet and water comes pouring out. Let us not forget how precious water truly is, I don’t think one needs to walk through a sea on dry land to see quite how much power it has over our lives.

Image Credit: Hypergurl

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