Wisdom of the Ages or Ageless Wisdom 

As a kid growing up in Manhattan I remember when the “environment” became the important issue. Every Friday in 1968 I would stand with my mother next to the 59th street bridge at the City’s first recycling facility washing plastic bottles, the term “smog” had been coined and new phrases like pollution of the air and water became household terms.

Jump cut to over 55 years later and “environment” has become the big issue. New terms and new concerns have been introduced, but at the core the same urgency remains to get things done.

What if we could jump cut back through time 2,500 years ago to the city of Pumbedita, near the modern day Fallujah, Iraq. There we would find a large Jewish population famed for its Academy, whose scholarship, together with the city of Sura, gave rise to the Babylonian Talmud.

The Talmud, the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law and Jewish theology, would grow so large that a person who read a folio a day would complete one cycle of the Talmud in seven and half years.

To the surprise of many, buried among these pages are jewels of information about the “environment”. 

The late Dutch-Israeli scholar, Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld, was the first to map out environmental issues found in the Talmud:

To paraphrase Dr. Gerstenfeld, he writes that the prohibition of wanton destruction, called in Hebrew bal tashhit (‘do not destroy’), is the principle in Jewish law that elaborates Judaism’s attitude toward the environment. 

War has signaled a period of destruction from time immemorial, from the poisoning of wells in ancient times through policies of ‘scorched earth’, the nuclear destruction of humans and the ecosystem in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to Iraq’s intentional pollution of water with oil in the Gulf War.

Jewish laws of trees and war

Yet the Torah teaches that even in times of war, Divine commandments impose certain constraints concerning the environment: “In your war against a city, you must not destroy its trees. You may eat of them, but you must not cut them down. Only trees that you know do not yield food may be destroyed.” 

Maimonides mentions further extensions of this principle, pointing out that bal tashhit refers not only to periods of war, but to all times. However, he also states that it is not considered destruction to cut down a fruit tree which is causing damage to other trees or a field. 

One of the oldest collections of rabbinical traditions, the Sifrei, written around 300 CE., extends the legislation of wanton destruction to prohibit interference with water sources. The Talmud extends it to include an uneconomical use of fuel.

A far-reaching interpretation of bal tashhit is found in the Talmud: Rabbi Hisda says: “Whoever can eat bread made from barley and eats bread from wheat, transgresses the prohibition of bal tashhit.” Rabbi Papa says: “Whoever can drink beer and drinks wine, transgresses the prohibition of bal tashhit.”

The Talmud indicates, however, that these opinions are not accepted, as one should not eat inferior food, but rather care more for one’s body than for money.

This is because Jewish law forbids a person to damage his own health. The injunction goes beyond the conventional boundaries of environmental interest, which tends to limit itself to damage to third parties and not to what one does to oneself.

Hunting also deals with destruction. Hunting as a sport was addressed in Jewish society long before modern environmentalism emerged. The 18th century Rabbi Yechezkel Landau, when asked whether it is permitted to hunt game, was surprised that anyone should even ask this question and simply answered: “How can a person go out to kill a living creature only for pleasure?”

In recent years noise has increasingly come to be considered a problem of health protection as well as nuisance. The Mishnah states that neighbors can prevent the opening of a store in a common courtyard by claiming that they cannot sleep due to the noise of customers entering and exiting; however, they cannot object to the noise of a hammer or a grinding mill in a craftsman’s home; nor can they object to the noise children make if one of the courtyard’s residents is a school teacher.

Related: Slow Food chef revives food from Talmudic times

(The Mishnah or the Mishna is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. It is also the first major work of rabbinic literature, with the oldest surviving material dating to the 6th to 7th centuries BCE.)

What we covered here is the tip of the iceberg on just one subject relating to environmental concerns. If you wish to read Dr. Gerstenfeld’s doctoral theses, please go here. If the wisdom of the Jewish ancients is of further interest, there is now a free, open-to-the-world platform of Talmudic wisdom launched in Dubai, UAE, in the winter of 2022 called The Peoples’ Talmud which makes the Talmud accessible to layman and scholar in user-friendly English. 

About Gedaliah Gurfein

Gedaliah has been involved in the high-tech world since 1994 both in Jerusalem, New York and Beijing. He has also been a teacher of the Talmud since 1974 and is currently the spiritual leader of two Igbo communities in Nigeria. 

You can hear Gedalia on The Peoples’ Talmud here.

In one sampling on Animals, it is written: “Wild animals are usually called wild because they cannot be domesticated and used in labor. However, as Ben Gurion once said, “If an expert tells you it can’t be done, get another expert.”

The Talmud says that there were people who so understood animal nature that, despite the nature of wild donkeys, they were able to utilize wild donkeys to turn their millstones.

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The Healthy Jew is an online publication about healthy Jewish living and Israel’s natural world, written by me, Shmuel Chaim Naiman, a health teacher and foraging guide based in Ramat Bet Shemesh, Israel. 

After October 7, The Healthy Jew enlisted to defend the Jewish people – not to fight the war of bodies (with guns and tanks) or minds (online and in the media), but to combat fear, anxiety, stress, and negative drama. Our enemies want us to stop living, caring, and connecting. They want us to see Israel as the “land that eats its inhabitants.”

We win the war for wellness by practicing healthy Jewish living and appreciating Israel’s natural world. In this war, everyone is a soldier.

For the past 4 months, The Healthy Jew has been waging war with two free weekly newsletters:

• Healthy Jewish (Wednesday) shows you how to defeat terror with healthy Jewish living strategies that are particularly useful for times of crisis. We won’t allow the enemy to stop us from living, caring and connecting. Israel needs healthy Jews!
• Natural Israel (Sunday) invites you to exchange, if only for a moment, Israel’s current images of pain and fear with pictures of purpose and health. The failed spies said Israel is “the land that eats its inhabitants”; we’re joining Yehoshua (Joshua) and Calev’s (Caleb) response: “The land is very, very good!”

Now you can read many of The Healthy Jew’s best ideas and advice in  new book, published this week together with Yeshivas Lev Hatorah: Land of Health: Israel’s War for Wellness.

The first part of Land of Health builds on Natural Israel’s posts about the healthy body of the Jewish people – the Land of Israel.

The second part, based on Healthy Jewish posts, offers practical strategies for healthy living during challenging times.

Finally, Land of Health presents The Healthy Jew’s mission and programs for teaching healthy Jewish living and discovering Israel’s natural world.

Land of Health comes with dozens of stunning pictures of healthy living throughout Natural Israel.

The book is available in bookstores throughout Israel, on Amazon, and directly from the author. Reach out.

Shmuel Chaim Naiman is a health teacher and foraging guide in Ramat Bet Shemesh. He writes about healthy Jewish living and Israel’s natural world, teaches the nightly Healthy Jew class at Yeshivas Lev Hatorah, guides popular foraging walks, and offers personalized health coaching. He recently published a book, Land of Health: Israel’s War for Wellness, which is available on Amazon and in bookstores (in Israel). Learn more at healthyjew.org, and contact him at scnaiman@healthyjew.org.

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According to Hebrew-language website Mako, the warning read, “Recently our city has seen the opening of classes employing the South American ‘Zumba’ method. After having established that both in form and manner, the activity is entirely at odds with both the ways of the Torah and the holiness of Israel, as are the songs associated to it, I hereby announce that the organization and participation in such classes is forbidden.”

Video of ladies going wild with Zumba, in Israel

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM5XL4veOrw[/youtube]

The women’s classes had apparently infuriated extremist elements in the Haredi-dominated town, leading to the warning from the Rabbinical Court.

Mako quoted one angry resident who accused the panel of “wanting to turn our city into Afghanistan, and we won’t go along with it. The rabbis and judges can’t determine whether or not we participate in Zumba classes. I’m sick of them strangling us with these illogical halachic rulings.”

Check out this clip of instructor Naama Baumgarten leading a class at Zumba Fitness Israel.  A bunch of gals having a good workout, as provocative as watching your mother hang laundry.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/nZpvBJh5578[/youtube]

There’s no word from the women as to whether they’ll continue to dance, but this city has a history of vigilante punishment of community members who disregard local standards.

Last February, Israel Police arrested two townsmen for allegedly threatening and attacking residents whose dress was deemed inappropriate. Known members of the town’s “modesty patrol” were investigated, and the town mayor questioned on suspicion that he was aware of the harassment and had told residents who complained not to inform the police.

Mako explained that Zumba and running are labelled indecent because they involve moving parts of the body. Doesn’t beating up your neighbors fall into the same category?

Image of women athletes from Shutterstock

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For Jews in Israel, there is probably no better time to reflect on one’s place in nature and the health of the environment than during Sukkot, the Festival of Booths or the Jewish harvest festival.

When I lived in Jerusalem, I could see the small make-shift sukkahs (huts) erected everywhere outside my window – each one has at least three walls made from wooden clapboard or cloth with a simple roof made from plant cuttings (skakh).

Here in Jaffa, a mixed Jewish-Arab city, the effect of the holiday is less profound, because half of the population won’t be building a sukkah, but I am hoping to get a chance to sleep in ours to remember Sinai – physically and metaphorically.

Integral in the building of a sukkah is that it must have an uninterrupted view to the sky and stars. The holidays’s meals are to be eaten in the hut and some of the more hardcore types sleep in it as well.

There is a host of elaborate customs during Sukkoth which involve waving plants and making blessings on a strange aromatic citrus fruit, the etrog, as well as a mitzvah (commandment) for people to travel and explore the land.

What I like most of all about Sukkoth, is that it is a leveler: Rich or poor, young or old, it is a time when people cast aside their worldly possessions and take life’s speed down a notch or two inside their own little hut. It is also about living among nature, not as a conqueror but as an equal to other creatures.

There are different interpretations about the spiritual meaning behind Sukkot – and one I like is that it teaches that existence is fleeting and momentary.

We think that a little bit of reflection on the environment can go a long way around this time as one sits in the hut listening to the nature outside. Even if it is urban nature.

And if you build a sukkah and are not storing the skakh for next year, don’t forget to compost it (James’ has written a great little starter guide). We also hear that etrog makes a fabulous jam. Jack gives us the etrog jam recipe here. But make sure you do it after the holiday, not during or before.

There are a whole pile of green events taking place in Israel this Sukkot. Read Karen’s post on what is happening at Luna Park, with Greenpeace and at Junktion Studio.

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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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When Israel declared its new national bird, the hoopoe, Green Prophet was on the story. Little did we know that so was American fake newscaster Stephen Colbert, complete with Hebrew pronunciation.

“Congratulations, Israel. Just as America soars like the might eagle, may you emulate the noble long-billed hoopoe by squirting fecal matter at intruders,” says Colbert.

Colbert also had some exciting news about the kosher status of the giraffe.

In other online green news, “Stuff White People Like” author Christian Lander has written a five-part guide to “Stuff Environmentalists Like” for Plenty magazine:

“While many environmentalists are vegan or vegetarian, others can talk for hours about how it is possible to eat meat and still be green. Their requirement of course is that the animal is raised on a small farm and allowed to run around and eat grass.

“If you are hoping to impress a host in the latter camp, tell a story about how you are raising a few chickens in your backyard. For extra points, use the following terms: free-range, factory farm, and antibiotics.”

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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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After Pharaoh rejects Moses’ first request for his people’s freedom God steps up the attack and gives Moses the tools to send plagues onto the Egyptians in order to leverage the Jew’s freedom from slavery.

This week’s segment describes the plagues of blood, frogs, lice, wild animals, pestilence, boils, hail and locusts. Each of these plagues, in their own right, would cripple a society in those days.

The interesting thing is that God told Moses from the start that Pharaoh would reject Moses’ request until the end. Why would anyone in their right mind do such a thing? Moses is telling Pharaoh that all his troubles will go away if he only lets the Jewish people leave Egypt.

But Moses’ pleas falls on deaf ears.

But there is an explanation, God tells Moses: “I will harden his heart.” And sure enough he does. Moses pleas with Pharaoh to let his people go, and each time Pharaoh denies Moses’ request.

But it is a good question. Why would anyone bring such plagues on themselves? It takes a special type of dissonance to watch the destruction of one’s water supply and think that the problem will go away on it’s own. Or to watch plague and pestilence kill off countless livestock and ignore it. But in truth, that is what mankind has been doing for years.

River dumping has been reduced by quite a bit but we have a long way to go before we can say that our water supplies are not being wasted away. Livestock breeders pump unnecessary antibiotics into their livestock. We still do not understand how that effects our own health; but it is becoming more and more clear that it is not good for us.

Looking at what our response to environmentalists has been until today, had the bible not included God telling Moses that he will harden Pharaoh’s heart I would still have understood Pharaoh ignoring Moses’ requests.

In truth it is not easy to change. It can happen quickly, but it takes a lot to make a paradigm shift. When all of reality is telling you one thing cognitive dissonance is what keeps us in our comfort groove and keeps us chasing the plagues instead of looking for ways out.

More Eco-Rabbi:
What’s In a Blessing?
Jacob’s Cedars

Making All Years, Years Of Plenty

Image Credit: coxy

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Ever wonder why every day of Hanukkah we add another candle?

The Jewish religious source the Talmud explains that this disagreement goes back to the Jewish sages Hillel and Shamai. Hillel explains that we add another candle every day “for the days coming” and Shamai explains that we start with eight and remove a candle every day until there is one left on the last day.

We do this, he explains, “for the days gone by.”

What are the “days coming” and the “days gone by?”

These philosophies are connected with perspectives on life. The “days gone by” is the perspective of the people who say, “in the old days things were better.” In medieval times this was a powerful feeling permeating the culture. Many technologies from the ancients had been lost, and people felt that that had been the height of humanity and we are only growing away from greatness as each generation goes by. In Jewish Historical terms, the receiving of the Torah was our pinnacle and since then we have been growing farther from those heights.

The perspective of the “days coming” is the perspective that humanity is always growing and moving towards a perfection. Judaism holds a messianic philosophy that one day man will reach a level of perfection and the world along with him.

In today’s modern world with the ever quickening pace of technological developments it is certainly easier to identify with the approach of Hillel. Computers are getting faster, as well as transportation. We can plow more ground in a day then could be done in a week and plants are being engineered to fight of disease and unwanted pests. It is wonderful to see this development in the green-sphere.

This approach can also be taken with knowledge and personal development. And I would like to share it from an environmental perspective.

There are more and more tips and tricks coming out every day telling you how to “green” your life. But it can all be overwhelming. Let’s take a page out Hillel’s book and his advice.

Take the Hanukkah challenge. Take on one thing at a time. Every day incorporate one more thing into your life that will help heal our planet. Whether it’s switching over light bulbs, reducing the size of your lawn, or educating yourself, each day add one thing for each of the eight days.

You’ll see that things that you didn’t think that you could do seem easy when you build up. Let’s do this “for the days coming” and ensure that there will be days coming to look forward to for many generations to come!

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