Join friends for routes through pine forests, farmland, and local villages, culminating in a barbecue lunch of kosher, pasture-raised meat from Grow and Behold, followed by an interactive marketplace of local, sustainable vendors, swimming and boating, children’s programming from Teva, and more! Your participation supports Hazon Philadelphia in running innovative Jewish programming on food, health, and  sustainability.

Not a cyclist? The Ride wouldn’t be possible without our dedicated crew, who support and cheer on riders, help behind the scenes, and then enjoy the lunch and afternoon with their rider friends. Registration sold out last year, so sign up today! hazon.org/phillybike

Last chance to help us make Israel a greener, environmentally healthier land: Until the end of April you can vote online for the upcoming World Zionist Congress. The results determine, among other things, the division of power at the Jewish National Fund’s international board.

For the past decade I have sat on the JNF board, largely because of the support and intervention of the Green Zionist Alliance – a wonderful group of young environmentalists who decided to get involved and improve Israel’s environmental performance. This support has allowed me to represent them and pursue any number of important green initiatives which include:

· creating new sustainable forestry policies for the JNF,

· putting bike lanes on the organization’s agenda,

· creating a brand new “affirmative action” program to systematically reach out to Israel’s Arab minorities to finance environmental projects,

· increasing the organizational commitment to green building and solar energy,

· leading the fight to prevent JNF funding over the green line,

· expanding funding for forestry and agricultural research as well as river restoration projects, and

· fighting for good government and transparency.

There is a lot more that needs to be done. Whether or not I can continue depends on whether the “GZA” – or Aytzim as they call themselves these days gets enough votes. It only takes ten dollars to register and 3 minutes online to vote. (The polls close this Thursday April 30th). Here’s a link to Vote Green Israel: www.worldzionistcongress.org

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. And thanks to all of you who have already voted green for the support. – Alon Tal

(Considered by many to be the leading environmentalist in Israeli history, Alon Tal is a co-founder of the Green Zionist Alliance)

Download the free “Haggadah of the Inner Seder” (18 pp.). PDF, RTF, and DOC versions, along with a brief guide to the haggadah’s features, can be found at: http://neohasid.org/zman/pesach/InnerSeder/.
You can also go to neohasid.org for Omer Counter apps, and for information about David Seidenberg’s new book, Kabbalah and Ecology: God’s Image in the More-Than-Human World, published by Cambridge University Press.

About Eden Village Camp: Eden Village Camp aims to be a living model of a thriving, sustainable Jewish community, grounded in social responsibility and inspired Jewish spiritual life. By bringing the wisdom of our tradition to the environmental, social, and personal issues important to today’s young people, we practice a Judaism that is substantive and relevant. Through our Jewish environmental and service-learning curricula, joyful Shabbat observance, pluralistic Jewish expression, and inspiring, diverse staff role models, we foster our campers’ positive Jewish identity and genuine commitment to tikkun olam (healing the world). Our 3 acre educational farm and orchard are based on principles of permaculture, sustainable and organic farming. We produce annual vegetables, perennials, and tend educational gardens as well as animals.

About the Farm Educator Apprenticeship: This is a paid six-month apprenticeship for young adults seeking hands-on experience. In the Spring build your knowledge based on agriculture, farm-based education and Jewish community. In the Summer, work at our 8-week intensive summer camp as Jewish Farm Educators. In the fall, take ownership and integrate your new skills by diving deeper into independent projects.  Live on-site at our beautiful camp, one hour north of New York City. By joining the farm staff at Eden Village, apprentices will hold two main responsibilities – tending our growing spaces and educating in our all of our programming through the spring, summer and fall. Apprentices will also have an opportunity to dive deeper into one of four focus areas: perennials, annuals, animals, and educational gardens. In these specialties apprentices will gain a deeper understanding of certain aspects of farming and will take on leadership and special projects to booster their learning and the learning of campers and program participants.

Details: April 14th, 2015 – October 22nd 2015, Apprentices receive full room and board at Eden Village, as well as a modest stipend. Extensive experience is not necessary but experiential curiosity is required. We recommend you explore our website thoroughly to get more information about our apprenticeship, farm, camp, and more at Eden Village Camp.

More questions? Explore the FAQ page. For all other questions, contact farm@edenvillagecamp.org

Young Urban Moshav is thrilled to have the opportunity to create a demonstration garden at the JCC of the East Bay. The garden is intended to serve the after school program’s garden curriculum and to function as a Jewish outdoor learning center for the community. The project site design will integrate best urban garden practices with Jewish cultural items such as traditional holiday foods and the fruits of Israel. The space will accommodate groups of learners and holiday activities. Young Urban Moshav’s participatory approach includes support with community engagement, from communications content and crowdsourcing to strategic connections with other Jewish green initiatives.

Artisan Katherine Gulley of Raised Bedlam Woodworks (left), Green Educator Ezra Ranz (center), JCC East Bay Berkeley After School Director Cassie Brown (right) enjoy the new beautiful redwood garden furniture that arrived in November.

Young Urban Moshav, a new Jewish food start-up, has been accepted into the Hazon CSA network and aims to develop a residentially-based Community Supported Agriculture program. The JCC East Bay garden will be an example of garden design and implementation that Young Urban Moshav is offering for other institutions and private residences as it embarks on its goal to grow a system of interconnected urban agriculture sites across the East Bay.

In developing this exciting demonstration garden, Young Urban Moshav is sourcing labor and products from within the community whenever possible. As of the end of November 2014, exciting progress has been made. The garden has received its first major contribution from Katherine Gulley at Raised Bedlam Woodworks in Berkeley. A beautiful redwood table and bench, including end planters and a garden box, are already on site! Katherine makes custom outdoor and reclaimed furniture. She herself grew up in Berkeley attending the JCC and proudly claims that she was at her after school program at the JCC when the big earthquake of ‘89 hit.

Chuck Weis (left), Jory Gessow of Gessow Landscaping (center), and Garden Educator Ezra Ranz (right) scope out the site for grading upgrades.

The garden site, an alley between the southwest corner of the JCC building and the adjacent commercial CVS building, is being graded during the month of December so that the main area in use will be flat. Approval has been obtained for a retaining wall and ramp, to be constructed by community member Jory Gessow of Gessow Landscaping. You might recognize Jory from the annual Tikkun Leyl Shavuot events as he is an avid participant of many years!

JCC After School Director Cassie Brown has been overseeing the project. Green Educator Ezra Ranz has been coordinating between the JCC and Young Urban Moshav on a volunteer basis while already growing some starts with students in small boxes on location (pictured in the featured image of this article). Facilities Supervisor Chuck Weis is managing construction details regarding the building site. Front Desk Supervisor Selena Martinez has been filling an insightful and exemplary advisory role. The garden design has been developed by Young Urban Moshav volunteer Talya Ilovitz, who now is updating the drawings to include the newest developments.

Next major steps include construction of raised garden beds and installation of drip irrigation as well as a spiral herb garden and worm bin. Material contributions are being graciously accepted, from lumber to soil, garden equipment and planters to irrigation supplies, seeds, plants and even worms! Please contact youngurbanmoshav@gmail.com if you would like to contribute to this exciting Jewish community garden.

We lived with the wild animals once, rather than carving out separate spaces for us and our domesticated fellow travelers. According to the Torah, that is the real truth, and all the owning and property and buying and selling is an illusion. We can return to that truth during Shmita, when we get to root ourselves in a real way in the land – not by owning it by being with it. Not by fencing it but by taking down fences. Not by hoarding but by sharing everything, with all the creatures.

Here are the relevant verses about eating:

In the garden of Eden, “God said: Here, I have given to you all every plant seeding seed which is on the face of all the land and every tree which has in it tree-fruit seeding seed, for you all it will be for eating, and for every wild animal of the land and for every bird of the skies and for every crawler on the land in which there is a living soul (nefesh chayah), every green plant for eating. And it was so.” (Genesis 1:29–30)

In the story of the flood, “God said to Noah: …from all life from all flesh, two from all you will bring unto the ark to keep them alive with you, male and female they will be. From the bird by their species and from the animal by her species from every land crawler by their species, two from all you will bring unto you to make them live. And you, take for you from all the food which is eaten, and gather unto you, and it will be for you and for them for eating.” (Genesis 6:19–21)

And in the laws of the Shmita or Sabbatical year, it says, “YHVH/Adonai spoke unto Moshe in Mt. Sinai, saying: You all will come into the land which I am giving to you, and the land will rest, a Shabbat for YHVH/Adonai…And the shabbat-growth of the land will be for you all for eating: for you and for your male servant and for your female servant and for your hired worker and for your settler living-as-a-stranger with you; and for your animal and for the wild animal which is in your land, all of her produce will be to eat.” (Leviticus 25:6–7)

There is a debate among the the earlier rabbis, about whether the tree fruit in Eden was just for the human beings and the grass for the animals, or whether it was all for all of them. Nachmanides says that humans dined separately, but Rashi says that it truly was one family sharing one food supply. As for the ark, according to the midrash Noah had to create one great store of every kind of food, because each animal needed its own sustenance, and Noah and his family had to spend every hour of the day feeding the animals, since some ate at dawn and some during the day, some at dusk and some at night.

After the flood, in between the ark and Shmita, comes the tragedy of human history. The wars and usurpations, enslavements and empires, the amassing of gold and land by some and the impoverishment of others. And in between the two are also the tragedies of our relationship to the wild animals: not just using but abusing, extinguishing whole species, and losing touch with our own wild selves.

That’s reflected in the flood story: when Noah and family emerge from the ark, they are told that “a terror of you and a dread of you will be over every wild animal of the land and every bird of the skies, everything which crawls the ground and all the fish of the sea, into your hands they are given. All that crawls which lives, for you it will be for eating – like green plants I have given all to you all. Just don’t eat flesh with its soul, its blood.” (Genesis 9:2–3)

This is no blessing but a curse. And it is no dominion: according to one interpretation, the meaning of dominion in Eden was that when Adam would call to the animals, they would come to him. Now it would be the opposite – they will run away in terror. (“Rashi” on B’reishit Rabbah 34:12)

One question for us today, in this year of Shmita, is: how can we get ourselves back to the garden? Back before our fellowship with the animals was lost? That can’t mean turn the hands of the clock back on history. Shmita answers a slightly different question: how do we get back to the garden as grownups, after having eaten from the tree of knowing good and evil? It’s not about feigned or renewed innocence, but rather about knowing our power to destroy, and not exercising that power. It’s about finding fellowship with the land and the other animals. And above all, it is about finding rest – rest from ourselves, and rest with each other, with all the other ones that inhabit the land.

A midrash says that during the twelve months in the ark, Noah “did not taste the taste of sleep, not in the day and not in the night, for he was busy feeding the souls that were with him.” (Tanchuma Kadum Noach 2) Another midrash, says that when God was setting up the world, the earth heard God say, “It’s not good, the human being alone” and she realized this meant that human beings would begin to reproduce. Then the earth “trembled and quaked”, saying, “I do not have in me the strength to feed the flocks of humanity.” God promised the earth to feed humanity at night with sleep, and so share the burden with her. (Pirkei d’Rabi Eliezer ch. 12)

In our society, where almost everyone is racing to keep their jobs or make money or outcompete, we don’t really let ourselves sleep. As a society we never rest. We don’t get enough of this divine food. And it’s not because like Noah we are feeding all the creatures. But here’s what this midrash teaches us: a humanity that never rests is a humanity cut off from the unconscious, cut off from its divine sustenance, and it is a humanity that will destroy the earth.

It is time for us to rest, and to dream, as a whole society: Shmita.

It says in Proverbs 11:30, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and one who acquires souls is wise.” These souls are the animals, the midrash teaches, and it was because Noah was capable of caring for them that he was worthy of being saved from the flood. (B’reishit Rabbah 30:6) Are we worthy?

It also says in Proverbs 12:10, “A righteous person knows the soul of his animal.” It is time to practice this righteousness. Not just with the other animals, but also with ourselves. How will we know the soul of this animal within us? How will we make peace within, with each other, and with the land? How will we dream our animal dreams again? That is the door Shmita opens for us. That is the ark Shmita builds for us. And I believe that is how we get back to the tree of life in the garden.

contributed by all the organizations and initiatives on “the Map” http://jewcology.org/map-of-initiatives/

Here’s a quick bit of Sukkot Torah to start us off: “The four species of the lulav represent the four types of ecosystems in the land of Israel: desert (date palm), hills (myrtle), river corridors (willow), and sh’feilah, the lowlands (etrog). Each species has to be fresh, with the very tips intact – they can’t be dried out, because they hold the water of last year’s rain. Together, they make a kind of map of last year’s rainfall, and together, we use them to pray for next year’s rains.” I hope everyone enjoys the wonderful array of activities and ideas we are generating. We are a strong and beautiful network. Please add more to this list if you like: write to rebduvid86@gmail.com and I’ll update this page. I will also be updating the format and fixing the fonts — I don’t have time Erev Yom Kippur to do more than simply share this content. Thank you to everyone who shared, and g’mar chatimah tovah! Rabbi David Seidenberg, neohasid.org

Resources

from Judith Belasco, Hazon

http://hazon.org/educational-resources/holidays/sukkot/ Hazon also has an incredible array of resources on Shmita linked at: http://hazon.org/shmita-project/educational-resources/resource-library/

from the Religious Action Center

“Eco-Friendly Sukkot”  http://resources.rj.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=1369

“Table Texts about Food Justice” http://rac.org/pdf/index.cfm?id=23602

from Max Arad and Rabbi Carol Levithan, The Rabbinical Assembly

“The Sukkah as Shelter: A Source Sheet” http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/jewish-law/holidays/sukkot/sukkah-as-shelter.pdf See also: http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/jewish-law/holidays/sukkot

 from Jeffrey Cohan, Jewish Vegetarians of North America

“Sukkot, Simchat Torah, and Vegetarianism” http://www.jewishveg.com/schwartz/hlydysu.html

from Rabbi Katy Z. Allen, Ma’yan Tikvah

Ushpizin for an Ecological Sukkot by Laurie Levy https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzF1ISt_50TyVG9lWE0zOXJpd1k/edit

from Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Shalom Center

14 articles on Sukkot at: https://theshalomcenter.org/treasury/114 including “Reb Zalman’s Prayers for the Earth on Hoshana Rabbah” and “Spread over all of us a Sukkah of shalom, salaam, paz, peace!”   from Rabbi David Seidenberg, neohasid.org “How-to Build a Sukkah For Under $40” http://www.neohasid.org/sukkot/a_simple_sukkah/ more links at: http://neohasid.org/zman/sukkot/ including “Eco-Torah for Sukkot”, “Hoshanot, the Original Jewish Earth Prayers”, and “Egalitarian Ushpizin with a Prayer for the Earth”

 from Canfei Nesharim via Rabbi Yonatan Neril

resources can be found at http://canfeinesharim.org/sukkot/ and on Jewcology http://jewcology.org/resources/sukkot-shemini-atzeret-resource-and-program-bank/

 also from Rabbi Yonatan Neril, for Jewish Ecoseminars

http://www.jewishecoseminars.com/let-the-land-rest-lessons-from-shemita-the-sabbatical-year/

 from Nati Passow, Jewish Farm School

Two resource sheets for Shmita to be posted on Jewcology – look for them on Monday before Sukkot

 from Anna Hanau, Grow and Behold Foods

Recipes (meat): http://growandbeholdblog.wordpress.com/tag/sukkot/

Events

We have three big regional festival events going on, Sukkahfest, Sukkot on the Farm, and Sukkahpalooza, and lots more local events:

 from Judith Belasco, Hazon/Isabella Freedman

Oct 8-Oct 12, Sukkahfest at Isabella Freedman Retreat Center http://hazon.org/calendar/sukkahfest-2014/

 from Pearlstone

Oct 8-Oct 12, Sukkahpalooza http://pearlstonecenter.org/signature-programs/sukkot/

 from Sarai Shapiro, Wilderness Torah

Oct 9-Oct 12, Sukkot on the Farm, Green Oak Creeks Farm, Pescadero CA http://www.wildernesstorah.org/programs/festivals/sukkot/   local events and projects:

from Hazzan Paul A. Buch, Temple Beth Israel, Pomona CA

Our synagogue will break ground during Sukkot on a 1/2 acre urban farm on our property, in cooperation with a local NGO. The farm will be fully managed by the NGO at no cost to us, and all workers are paid a living wage. The produce grown will be available for purchase to our congregation and sold at farmers markets in the area. A portion will be dedicated to those who are food insecure. Question for everyone: Do you know of any other synagogues who have dedicated their land in a similar way?  Please note this is not an urban garden, but a functioning not-for-profit commercial project.

from Becky O’Brien, Boulder Hazon

Oct 6, at 5:30 pm, family sukkot program, in partnership with the south Denver JCC Oct 12, at 4:00 and 7:00 pm, screenings of “Road to Eden”, co-sponsored with the Boulder JCC Oct 16, Sukkot Mishpacha, a program for young families at a local organic farm Rabbi Julian Sinclair stopped in Denver/Boulder on his recent book tour promoting Shabbat Ha’aretz; we hosted five programs with him earlier this month. We are leading a shmita hike for local staff of Jewish organizations to help them decompress from the hectic time of the high holidays. We expect that many shmita-related programs will arise throughout the year but we don’t yet know what they will be.

from Helen Bennet, Moishe Kavod House

Fri Oct 10, Shabbat in the sukkah Tues Oct 14, Sukkot Festival dinner, co-hosted with Ganei Beantown (Leora Mallach). Moishe Kavod is planning to run a series of learning and DIY sessions on shmita starting in November, with focuses on economic justice, food and ag system, and chesed/caring community principles.

 from Gail Wechsler, St. Louis Jewish Environmental Initiative (JEI)

Sun Oct 12, 4-6 PM, screening of the film “Fire Lines”, about joint Israeli and Palestinian fire fighting efforts during the Carmel fire of December 2010. The film includes environmental themes as part of the reason for the fire was overforestation of the affected area. The director, Avi Goldstein, will speak after the film.  In partnership with the Jewish Community Relations Council, Webster University and the JCC.

followed by:

Sun Oct 12, 6-7:30 PM, organic potluck Sukkot dinner. In partnership with the JCC and its Garden of Eden, a community garden that grows organic fruits and vegetables to benefit the clients of the nearby Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry. Both events at the Jewish Community Center Staenberg Arts & Education Building.

from Michael Rosenzweig, Boulder JCC

We have a great event each year called Sukkot Mishpacha, where we partner with a local farm so the children and families can learn about environmental issues, do fun arts and crafts projects, and pick their own gourds. http://www.boulderjcc.org/events/2249/2014/10/14/boulder-jcc-events-calendar/sukkot-mishpacha/ Note: I have not included narrative detail in general here, but I found Rhonda Ginsberg’s description so delightful to imagine and I just didn’t think I could condense it. So here is what she wrote to me, with some minor editing:

from Rhonda Ginsberg, teacher, Carmel Academy, Greenwich CT

For Sukkot we do a 4 year rotation focusing on different aspects of the holiday.  The first year of the cycle we invite the ushpizin and have the 7 species at a festive meal.  The second year we look at wind with kite flying as a major activity, the third at rain and water, and the last year at stars and shade. Each exploration is done both from the Judaics side with text study and from the science/experiential side. This year we are looking at water.  For the K to 3rd graders, teachers act out the story “Why Does it Rain on Sukkot”, MS. Frizzle (science teacher) comes to teach about rain & why it’s needed, then students rotate through stations that are led by 4th graders and teachers.  At the stations they investigate kosher tops for pipework sukkot, create rain sticks, have various water activities & races, sing songs & learn the dance “Mayyim”.  For the 5th to 8th graders, they start with an appropriate text study.  Then, the 6th through 8th graders become the instructors teaching the other grades about the aspect of water that they researched and created a project for.  6th graders look at the water cycle, which they present through posters, dioramas, etc.  They also perform a song and skit on the water cycle.  7th graders research water pollution – causes, effects, and possible solutions.  8th grade engineering students investigate flooding – causes, effects, how engineers have created solutions.  8th grade honors biology students investigate droughts, concentrating on trouble spots in the Western US, Israel & the Middle East, and Africa.  They also look at causes, effects, & possible solutions.  Then we have a Simchat Beit HaShoava – the biblical Water Libation ceremony which took place during Sukkot in Temple times, with students singing, dancing, juggling, filling pools with golden pitchers, etc.

by Rabbi Howard Cohen

The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilisation. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

With the approach of the season of Teshuvah it is once again time to reflect on our relationship with the earth.  In the past I would have asked myself questions such as ‘did I waste natural resources’; or ‘did I pour unreasonable amounts of carbon into the atmospher’; or ‘did I speak out against corporate environmental abuse’.  These questions are important but I believe that there is another set of questions equally or more important that we should start asking ourselves.  This year I am asking ‘how prepared am I to live in an ecologically changed/damaged world’ and ‘how am I helping others cope with the environmental changes we fear that are now a part of our reality’.

Humans have already irreversibly and negatively impacted the ecology and environment of the earth.  Perhaps we can mitigate to some degree future damage, but we cannot undo what has been done.  Thus, the most important existential challenge today is how to live in our environmentally affected world.

Sadly, the environmental movement has failed.  This is not because Truth and science are not on its side, nor because it lacked resources or organization.  It failed because it was essentially a messianic movement. Like all messianic movements it focused on final outcomes: If we don’t change our ways terrible things await us (think Jonah and his commission from God to the Ninevites).  But if we change (teshuvah) our ways we can avoid this horrible fate and enjoy heaven on earth.  Alternatively it was messianic because it was built upon the belief that in the end if we do right we can return (teshuvah) the earth and all therein to a time when it was much more like the days of the Garden of Eden.  (Think Shabbat as a taste of the Olam HaBa, that is, in the Garden of Eden). The environmental movement failed because messianic movements always fail.

This is a dark message if we are afraid of the unknown.  This is a depressing message if we do not prepare for the changes scientist are quite confident will almost certainly come.  That is why this year when I reflect on my earth/nature relationship instead of asking what can I do better next year to stop the inevitable changes from happening, I am going to ask how can I live with and help others live with the changes already under way.  Learning to live within a changed environment can be empowering, inspire hope and stimulate creativity.  It is not, nor does it need to be depressing.

Rabbi Howard Cohen runs Judaism Outdoors: Burning Bush Adventures, through which he takes people into the wilderness for an unforgettable experience of God, Judaism, and wilderness,

This time of year always seems a hurricane of activity: coming back from vacation to reams of email, or starting school, or dealing with all the pent-up housework that went blissfully ignored during the easy summer months.

Traditionally, Jews see this time of year very differently. Like typical Americans, this period is for them both an ending and a beginning: a recognition of the waning of life and an invigorating harbinger of new possibilities. But in place of the chaotic hurricane that starts for us after Labor Day, many Jews launch a period of quiet, internal reconstruction four days earlier on the first day of Elul.

Leaving mental space and physical time for self-reflection—and doing it now, precisely because this is such a busy time of year—represents an excellent discipline that can preserve mental and physical health throughout the year.

The change of seasons also teaches about of the amazing balance in the Earth that gives us food, clean air, and all good things. We don’t need to lament the end of warm weather and the reminder that in a few months we will be buried in snow. Snow is one of the great blessings of God–not just because we enjoy winter sports, but because it forms the perfect storage medium that, when the climate works right, preserves the water coming from Heaven that is needed months later for the plants that sprang up on the third day of Creation.

We don’t have to approach Elul through the traditional obsession with the S-word (sin). We can look back at what we wanted to accomplish during the year, and measure how far we have come. We can recall what unanticipated challenges and woes came up, congratulate ourselves for making it through them, and give a thumb’s up to the greater force that might have helped. We can ask why it is (if so) we do more Jewish stuff during High Holidays than the rest of year, and consider incrementing our Jewish practice and thinking year-round. And most of all, we should take a vow to devote part of the year to the preservation of the Earth, so that our descendants can enjoy High Holidays three thousand years from now.

Andrew Oram is an editor and writer at the technology company O’Reilly Media, a member of Temple Shir Tikvah of Winchester, Massachusetts, and an activist in the Jewish Climate Action Network and other local
(This is adapted from an article originally published in the newsletter of Temple Shir Tivkvah, Winchester, Mass.)

Reisterstown, MD – May 5, 2014 — Pearlstone Center is holding its 4^th annual Nevatim-Sprouts Conference, Sunday, July 13^th through Wednesday July 16^th. This professional development conference brings together early childhood, day school, and religious school educators from around the country for training in Jewish garden and environmental education. Participants learn the basics of educational garden design, share lesson plans and Jewish, environmental curricula, tour the state’s premier outdoor classrooms, harvest and prepare farm to table meals, and walk away with the tools, resources, and professional network needed to develop Jewish, environmental programming at their schools.

This year, in response to past participant feedback, an additional day was added to the conference to provide more opportunities for interactive lesson-plan modeling and group brainstorm. Hands-on sessions explore how to integrate an educational garden into your institution and bring the outside into the classroom to teach about the Jewish calendar, social justice, stewardship and responsibility, among other Jewish values. Pearlstone’s skilled staff utilize the center’s 4-acre organic farm, small animal pasture and trails throughout the conference. Continuing education credits (CEUs) from the Maryland Department of Education are available to participants.

Conference partners this year include RAVSAK, Pardes Institute, The Jewish Montessori Society, United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism, Schechter Day School Network, Early Childhood Educators of Reform Judaism, PARDeS Day Schools of Reform Judaism and the Louise D. and Morton J. Macks Center for Jewish Education. “This opportunity to partner with such a diverse and impressive list of Jewish networks and institutions of Jewish education speaks to the impact this conference makes on educators and their schools. Participants arrive with challenges and questions and leave inspired and excited to ignite passion in their students for Judaism and our relationship with the land,” reported Neely Snyder, Pearlstone Center’s Director of Signature Programs and Nevatim Conference organizer.

4^th Annual Nevatim-Sprouts Conference
July 13-16, 2014
Pearlstone Center, Reisterstown, MD

For additional information, visit pearlstonecenter.org/nevatim

The Pearlstone Center ignites Jewish passion. Our retreat center, farm, and programs enable and inspire vibrant Jewish life. Engaging Jewish, faith-based, and secular organizations, individuals, and families, Pearlstone serves all ages and backgrounds throughout Baltimore, the Chesapeake region, and beyond.

Monday, June 9 – Friday, June 13, 2014 at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center

Join us for a week dedicated to renewing our relationship with the earth, gaining garden education skills, and studying eco-Torah. The Teva Seminar is the premier annual professional development opportunity in the field of JOFEE: Jewish Outdoor, Food, and Environmental Education. Featuring leaders in the JOFEE field: Nili Simhai, Mordechai Leibling, Jakir Manela, Cara Silverberg, Brent Spodek, Arthur Waskow, plus a team of talented educators from Teva, Jewish Farm School, Eden Village, and many more.

Now in its 20th year, this multi-day, hands-on training program is designed for educators, camp counselors, community leaders, and anyone who is seeking training in the emerging JOFEE field. Participation in the Teva Seminar will enhance the work of your community ­– whether your organization is just getting started in this field, or you’ve been wanting to add goats to your camp’s nature center, take a field trip with your Hebrew school to the farm, or offer a kosher foodie series or farmer’s market at your JCC. Each workshop is accessible to people with all levels of experience in gardening,wilderness skills, culinary arts, and/or experiential Jewish education.

• Learn to infuse Camp, Hebrew school, synagogue, or JCC programming with JOFEE-based activities
• Build new skills in Jewish environmental education
• Get trained to lead hikes and outdoor games within a Jewish context
• Take home resources to use in your community

Use code WELOVEU50 for $50 off. Generous scholarships available.

Presented by Hazon, Adamah and the Jewish Farm School, in partnership with: 7Seeds, Baltimore Jewish Environmental Network, Canfei Nesharim, COEJL, Eden Village Camp, Ganei Beantown, Green Zionist Alliance, Jewcology, Jewish Farm School, Jewish Greening Fellowship, Moishe House International, Neo Hasid, Pearlstone Center, RAC, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Shalom Center, Shoresh, Urban Adamah, Wildnerness Torah, Yiddish Farm

This ebook is the most comprehensive study in English of how Jewish traditional sources teach us to protect our natural resources and preserve the environment. From food to trees, energy to water, wealth to biodiversity, the book studies eighteen topics where Jewish tradition has a relevant lesson for today's environmental challenges. All materials were comprehensively studied and reviewed by scientists and rabbis before printing.

These materials were originally created for the Canfei Nesharim/Jewcology Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment in 2012, and were released between Tu b'Shevat 5772 and Tu b'Shevat 5773. The materials were shared widely throughout the Jewish community, reaching more than 50,000 people. Source sheets, podcasts and videos are also available separately for each topic.

The ebook can now be ordered for your Kindle or Ebook device.

Podcasts now available: Another exciting release from the Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment: all podcasts from our series are now available on iTunes! To see the full series, simply search “Canfei Nesharim” in the itunes store, or go to https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/canfei-nesharim/id646475293?mt=2. You can listen to the podcasts right there, or click "view in iTunes " and then click subscribe to have them appear in your iTunes podcast library.

Don’t have itunes? All items are also available for listening or downloading at http://canfeinesharim.podbean.com/.

Check out all the materials, including source sheets and videos, at www.canfeinesharim.org/learning or www.jewcology.com/learning.

It’s the kind of thing that makes you proud.

I especially wanted to share about a recent event that I attended, the dedication of the new Vera Lieber Memorial Garden.

Vera Leiber was the preschool director at the school, in addition to other roles in the school, in the community, and in our county educational system. (She and her husband, Tsvi, were also supporters of Canfei Nesharim.) When Ms. Leiber died five years ago, she left behind so many people who loved and missed her. Now, her memory can be honored continually, through the dedication of Tsvi and his family and the hard work of staff at the Hebrew Academy, with a beautiful garden for preschool students.

Nancy Moses, the garden designer for the project, explained how the plan was made. The goal was to remove the candy-colored plastic play objects and create a multisensory environment for small children to interact with natural objects, learn where food comes from, and engage in creative play. Five new trees were planted ceremoniously in the garden. Artistic decorations in the garden were also made by the children.

The garden includes specific creative activity “rooms,” including a salad table, arbor, performance area, boulder areas for jumping and climbing, and an edible garden with herbs. The teachers can also integrate lessons about science, planting, and healthy nutrition in the garden.

At the dedication, educators showed a video of the children interacting in this new play area. A fallen tree had been transformed into play logs for the children to sit on, but because they were moveable, they became an active part of the children’s play.

Part of the stated goal of the garden is to help the children appreciate G-d’s world and the miracles of creation.

When I founded Canfei Nesharim more than ten years ago, the myth in the Jewish environmental world was that Orthodox Jews would never care about the environment. But things change. Now we see communities popping up with all kinds of creative and meaningful ways to educate themselves and their children about our connection to land, food, energy and the environment. It’s so rewarding to see!

Kol haKavod to the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy and the entire Lieber family.

Although these pictures were taken on a chilly autumn day, you can still see the beautiful flowers and the natural surroundings of this garden. May the garden grow, and may we see other versions of this model in Orthodox Jewish day schools across the country and the world!

Please share widely.

Cadette Girl Scout Troop 4056 is pleased to present, as its silver award project, this cookbook of recipes that not only use leftover or excess food as ingredients but also conform to Jewish dietary laws, or kashrut. In preparation for this project, the troop earned the New Cuisines badge and experimented with cooking foods from different times, places and cultures. The troop also volunteered in the kitchen at Martha’s Table, a Washington, D.C. organization that prepares over 1,000 meals per day for needy residents of the city. The Troop learned about the Biblical commandment not to waste food, and brainstormed ways of using food that might otherwise go to waste. Members of the troop collected recipes from their families. They tested recipes, typed and edited copy and provided photographs of completed recipes.

This cookbook contains recipes that use three different categories of “leftovers.” The first category includes traditional leftovers–dishes prepared for one meal that are then repurposed into a second meal. For example, if roasted chicken and rice are served on Monday, any leftover chicken can become a chicken pot pie or chicken jambalaya later in the week and the leftover rice can be reused in kugel or as fried rice. Other common leftovers in this category are leftover cooked vegetables and leftover cooked pasta. The second category includes leftovers that are not previously cooked but that might be tossed out as garbage, such as potato and carrot peels, chicken wings and necks (which come with the whole cut up chicken but which my family doesn’t eat), or a pumpkin that has been used for a Fall display. The third category includes foods that were purchased in bulk and are in the refrigerator or pantry but will spoil or go stale if not used. These foods include milk, eggs, bread, cereal, bananas and apples, and for any family with a backyard vegetable garden, tomatoes and zucchini, in season.

Troop 4056 developed this project as a part of the 2013 Year of Jewish Action on the Environment, developed by the Jewish-environmental organization Canfei Nesharim and its Jewcology program. The year-long program focuses on actions to save energy and reduce food waste, practical actions called for by the Jewish mitzvah of bal tashchit. Jewcology.com is a social media portal where Jews who care about the environment can connect and share resources. As part of the Year of Action, Jewcology members can take action and check a box to see their personal impact, and can also see the shared impact of the entire Jewcology community. You can see the full program at www.jewcology.com/action.

This cookbook is the featured online tool for the Year of Action’s “Food Waste Action #8: Make Leftovers” and, as such, will be distributed to Jewish communities worldwide. Troop 4056 wishes to thank Evonne Marzouk and Canfei Nesharim for helping develop the project and for distributing the cookbook.

Laura Warshawsky

Advisor, Troop 4056

Silver Spring, MD

September 2013

The Urban Adamah Fellowship, based in Berkeley, CA, is a three-month residential training program for young adults (ages 21–31) that combines urban organic farming, social justice training and progressive Jewish learning and living within the setting of an intentional community.

Through the operation of Urban Adamah’s one-acre organic farm and internships with social justice organizations, fellows gain significant skills, training and experience in all aspects of sustainable urban agriculture, community building, leadership development and food justice advocacy. The Fellowship’s experiential curriculum is designed to equip fellows with the tools to become agents of positive change in their own lives and in their communities.

Now in its third year, the Fellowship has graduated nearly 100 young adults who have gone on to work in the fields of environmental education and policy, sustainable agriculture, community organizing, Jewish education and social entrepreneurship.

Upcoming Fellowships

Spring: March 2–May 23, 2014

Summer: June 8–August 29, 2014

Fall: September 7–November 25, 2014

The cost of the Fellowship is offered on a sliding scale from $1,300 to $1,800. Program fees are highly subsidized and include room, board and all other program expenses. We accept 12­–14 fellows per season. Admission is on a rolling basis, and we encourage applicants to apply as soon as they’ve made the decision to enroll in a particular season.

Visit the Urban Adamah websitetoday to learn more and to request an application.

www.urbanadamah.org|510-649-1595 | info@urbanadamah.org| See us on Facebook

The Urban Adamah Jewish Community Farm, located in Berkeley, CA, integrates the practices of Jewish tradition, sustainable agriculture, mindfulness and social action to build loving, just and sustainable communities.

If I’m going to try to save the world, I don’t think I can be satisfied until the whole wide world is fixed. I’ve always thought that was virtuous, but now I’m realizing it might simply be a recipe for banging my head against a wall.

Here are some of the numerous environmental problems that I’ve recently confronted:

• Prenatal Exposure to Pollution Raises Risk of Autism in Kids
• Meet the Town that’s Being Swallowed by a Sinkhole
• Fukushima leak is much worse than anticipated (in which we learn that 75,000 gallons of irradiated water pouring into the Pacific EVERY DAY may be an underestimate).
• And don’t even get me started about the mercury polluting our oceans and contaminating our food.

With these issues, I’m not even talking about climate change, which I agree with other environmentalists is the greatest challenge of our time. (And it is… but are we letting all of these other challenges build up unnoticed while we struggle and fail to deal with greenhouse gasses?)

It’s enough to make me cry. Which I’ve done. Several times, while thinking about the futility of it all.

Tomorrow we celebrate the anniversary of the March on Washington, when bold activists and the engaged public stood up for something that really mattered to them – their freedom. Those people made a true difference for our nation. But even their work wasn’t permanent. It requires constant vigilance, as we learned from the Supreme Court this year.

Or as Rabbi Arthur Waskow once said to me, “Every generation needs to take out the garbage.”

If Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his entire movement couldn’t fix the world permanently, how can I possibly expect to? And if I can’t, is there a point to my efforts to try to make a difference?

Usually at this point in the conversation, someone brings up Pirkei Avot 2:21, about how it’s not our job to complete the work but we also can’t desist from it. I feel pretty sure that the rabbis in the Mishnah weren’t referring to saving the environment, but it’s a good message.

Still, it’s a struggle. How do we ever know that what we did is enough? And if we’re type A leaders, driven to results, how is a world of perfection to be pursued without burning out completely, feeling we never got there?

How can we ever feel we “got there”?

I’ve been thinking that somehow, the only answer is that the world is OK as it is. There is no “getting there,” there is only “being here.”

Hard as it is for me to imagine, hard as it is for me to confront, this is the world we have. It’s not a match for my values, but it is exactly what it is – not some other world that I imagine, but this world that we have. The fact that it doesn’t match my values gives me the golden opportunity to try to express my values, to aim to bring the world a little closer to the picture I hold dear. And that’s one of the greatest gifts of life.

As an activist, as a human being, how have you dealt with the question, how much is enough? I want to know. Please tell me what you think in the comments.

If you find value in the prayer very humbly invite you to make use of it and to share it with others.

Richard Shavei Tzion

Jerusalem

* My grateful thanks to: Rabbi Professor Benjamin Ish-Shalom, Gabi Lindenberg, Levia Piurko, Rabbi Shmuel Slotki, Ruti Spero, Gilad Stern, Ido Tauber and Naora Yahav.

“I have set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and the Earth.” (Genesis 9:13)

Millennia before Kermit the Frog sang about the Rainbow Connection, the very first Rainbow Day marked the connection between God and all animals. The biblical flood began on the 17th of the second month, exactly one lunar year and 10 days — or one complete solar year — before Noah, his family, and all the animals that were with them left the ark, on the 27th day of the second month. But just before they left, God made a covenant with them that there would never again be a flood of water to destroy life on Earth. And just as today we sign contracts with our signatures, God signed our covenant with a rainbow.

Rainbow Day, which falls on the 42nd day of the counting of the omer, and the day after Yom Yerushalayim — Jerusalem Day — is a time to celebrate the diversity of life on Earth, and to remember our role in God’s covenant. It is a time to remember that the first covenant was not with human beings but with all living things, and it’s a chance to reflect on the deep spiritual and religious meaning of diversity, creation and our role as part of Creation and partners with God. This is a special time in human civilization when we need to reflect on the rainbow covenant and our place in sustaining a world where sowing and reaping, cold and hot, summer and winter will not stop.

continue reading…

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Rabbi David Seidenberg is a theologian, dancer, and activist who teaches eco-Torah and Jewish spiritual songs through his website, Neohasid.org. He was ordained both by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and by the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he wrote his doctorate thesis on ecology and Kabbalah. NeoHasid.org is a member of the Green Hevra.

The Jewish Energy Guide presents a comprehensive Jewish approach to the challenges of energy security and climate change and offers a blueprint for the Jewish community to achieve a 14% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by September of 2014, which is the next Shmittah, or sabbatical, year in the Jewish calendar.

The Jewish Energy Guide is part of COEJL’s Jewish Energy Network, a collaborative effort with Jewcology’s Year of Action to engage Jews in energy action and advocacy. The Guide was created in partnership with the Green Zionist Alliance.

Sign up here to join the Jewish Energy Network and receive weekly articles from the Jewish Energy Guide.

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov identifies the desire for food and drink as the central desire of the human being, and the one from which other desires emanate. In Rabbi Tzadok Hacohen’s “A Treatise on Eating,” he cites the mystical book of theZohar, which calls the moment of eating “the time of combat.” This is because in eating a Jew must engage in the spiritual fight to ensure the act is a holy one.

Eating food is a significant part of the Jewish spiritual path, and Jewish teachings and practices provide guidance for how to eat in a holy manner. These include being selective and mindful of which foods we eat (based on the kosher laws), and how we eat them. Jewish teachings can help us appreciate the food we eat and eat it in a spirit of holiness. As we will see, eating in a Jewish way can also help the environment.

We are How We Eat: A Jewish Approach to Food and Sustainability

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These materials are posted as part of Jewcology’s Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, in partnership with Canfei Nesharim. Jewcology thanks the Shedlin Outreach Foundation and the ROI community for their generous support, which made the Jewcology project possible.

Learn more about the Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment!

Rabbi Yonatan Neril on We are How We Eat!

These materials are posted as part of Jewcology’s Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, in partnership with Canfei Nesharim. Jewcology thanks the Shedlin Outreach Foundation and the ROI community for their generous support, which made the Jewcology project possible.

See all Core Teaching #13 We are How We Eat: A Jewish Approach to Food and Sustainability!

Learn more about the Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment!

Click here to hear Jewcology's podcast on a Jewish Approach to Food and Sustainability.

These materials are posted as part of Jewcology’s Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, in partnership with Canfei Nesharim. Jewcology thanks the Shedlin Outreach Foundation and the ROI community for their generous support, which made the Jewcology project possible.

See all Core Teaching #13 We are How We Eat: A Jewish Approach to Food and Sustainability Materials!

Learn more about the Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment!

Enjoy this Hebrew/English source sheet and study guide on the topic of We are How We Eat: A Jewish Approach to Food and Sustainability. Discussion questions provided!

These materials are posted as part of Jewcology’s Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, in partnership with Canfei Nesharim. Jewcology thanks the Shedlin Outreach Foundation and the ROI community for their generous support, which made the Jewcology project possible.

See all Core Teaching #13 We are How We Eat: A Jewish Approach to Food and Sustainability!

Learn more about the Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment!

We are How We Eat: A Jewish Approach to

Food and Sustainability

By Rabbi Yonatan Neril

The beginning of the Torah makes clear the centrality of eating to human existence: “And the Lord God commanded man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat. But of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat of it, for on the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:16-17).

Adam and Eve transgressed this command with the first sin – eating from the Tree. Rabbi Tsadok HaKohen teaches that the Tree of Life represents holy eating, while the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil represents eating suffused with physical pleasure.[1] Based on this, Sarah Yehudit Schneider, a contemporary teacher of Torah in Jerusalem, writes that

humanity's first sin was not Adam and Eve's eating of forbidden fruit, but rather the way they ate it. The Tree of Knowledge… was not a tree or a food or a thing at all. Rather it was a way of eating. Whenever a person grabs self-conscious pleasure from the world, he falls, at that moment, from God consciousness….Whenever we eat without proper kavanna (intention) we repeat this original sin. The primary fixing of human civilization is to learn to eat in holiness.

A Jewish Approach to Eating

In a pivotal moment in the book of Genesis, Esau returns tired from the field and encounters Jacob, who has prepared a red lentil stew. Esau says to him, “Pour me (haliteni) some of that red red stuff,”[2] and agrees to sell his birthright in exchange for the stew. Esau’s consumption represents a paradigmatic case in the Torah of a human being eating in an unrefined, base way. The Midrash[3] links Esau to a camel through the word 'haliteni'—a word used to describe pouring food into a camel's belly so it will walk on a long journey without needing to stop to eat.[4] Based on this, Rabbi Samphson Rafael Hirsch (19^th century Germany) explains 'haliteini' as to "greedily to gulp down." Esau’s animalistic eating without thought therefore serves as an example of an inappropriate and unholy way to eat.[5]

Eating food is a significant part of the Jewish spiritual path, and Jewish teachings and practices provide guidance for how to eat in a holy manner. These include being selective and mindful of which foods we eat (based on the kosher laws), and how we eat them. In Rabbi Tzadok Hacohen’s “A Treatise on Eating,” he cites the mystical book of the Zohar, which calls the moment of eating “the time of combat.”[6] This is because in eating a Jew must engage in the spiritual fight to ensure the act is a holy one.[7]

If Esau teaches how not to eat, what wisdom does our tradition offer for how we can consume in holiness? We will briefly explore four ideas suggested by Jewish teachings.

Why am I eating? Rebbe Nachman of Breslov identifies the desire for food and drink as the central desire of the human being, and the one from which other desires emanate.[8] Rabbi Shlomo Volbe teaches that a person needs to distinguish between eating because of a healthy desire of the body (i.e., eating in order to be healthy), versus eating out of base physical desire.[9] Of course we also know that many people today also eat out of emotional desire. It is therefore important to clarify, before eating, that what I am eating is for the right reason.[10] To eat in a Jewish way, we should eat when we are hungry, to fulfill our body’s needs, rather than out of physical or emotional cravings.

How fast do I eat my food? While it is possible to eat a meal in a few minutes, Jewish teaching cautions against doing so.[11] Rabbi Natan of Breslov states: “Be careful not to swallow your food in a hurry. Eat at a moderate pace, calmly and with the same table manners that you would show if an important guest were present. You should always eat in this manner, even when you are alone.”[12] Along with the physicality of his cravings, Esau’s fast eating is also considered unholy. A Jewish way of eating includes eating food slowly and consciously.

Where do I eat? In the Talmud, Rabbi Yochanan and Reish Lakish teach that a person's table has taken the place of the Temple of ancient times in atoning for that person. One understanding of their statement is that when a person eats in holiness at their own table, they have made proper use of their table in a way parallel to the altar of the Temple.[13] This underscores the significance in Jewish thought of eating at a table, and not while standing or walking. Today some of our eating takes place at a desk or even in a car! We will eat more healthfully if we take wholesome meals at a table.

With whom do I eat? In Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) we learn that Rabbi Shimon would say: “Three who eat at one table and do not speak words of Torah, it is as if they have eaten of sacrifices of the dead…But three who eat at one table and speak words of Torah, it is as if they have eaten at G-d's table…”[14] The act of eating with others and sharing not only food, but also Jewish wisdom, bestows upon the meal an aura of sanctity, and elevates eating to a holy act.[15] A shared opportunity for blessing before and after one eats also serves to connect the act of eating to a higher purpose.[16] These practices elevate our bodily needs and can help transform our eating to become an act of holiness and devotion.

Where Our Food Comes From– A Biblical View

Even with the above practices, eating as a spiritual practice becomes difficult when a person is disconnected from the food he or she eats. Reflecting upon the sin of eating from the Tree, the Ohr Hachaim (Rabbi Chaim ben Moses ibn Attar, 1696-1743 C.E., Morocco)comments that Adam did not know he was eating from the forbidden fruit, and that his sin was in not making an effort to find out where the fruit Eve gave him came from.[17] So, perhaps the most fundamental sin of the first human being was in neglecting to ask about the origin of the food he was given.

How we eat is fundamentally linked to our understanding of where our food comes from. The Torah describes a reality in which every Jewish family owned and farmed its own land in the land of Israel.[18] Following the Israelite conquest of the land of Israel over 3,000 years ago, the land was divided into homesteads which Jews worked as subsistence farmers. These family homesteads were passed down from generation to generation. Rabbi Shmuel Eliezer Edels (17^th century Poland) wrote, “when the Jewish people were on their land, every man had land.”[19] This reality had great benefit, as the Psalmist wrote, “When you eat the toil of your hands you are fortunate and it is good for you.”[20]

At the end of the book of Genesis, Jacob’s blessings highlight characteristics that are unique to each son and to the tribes of their descendants. According to the preeminent commentator Rashi, four of these blessings focus on the agricultural specificity of each tribe’s territory in the Land of Israel.

For example, in Judah’s blessing, “Binding his foal to the vine…he washes his garments in wine.”[21] Rashi comments that this related to the abundance of wine in Judah’s domain.[22] Similarly, interpreting the blessing to Issachar, “He saw a resting place, that it was good, and the land that it was pleasant,”[23] Rashi writes that his land would produce good fruit.[24] Issachar, whose tribe’s destiny was immersion in Torah learning, received land where ready-to-eat food grew in abundance and devotion to study would be practical.[25] According to Rashi, the tribe of Naftali, which included the Sea of Galilee, was also known for its fruits.[26] In the Galilee region, the tribe of Asher was renowned for its olive trees and abundant olive oil.[27]

These teachings elucidate the regional nature of Biblical food production. Many parts of the Land of Israel were known for the particular kinds of crops and produce native to them, and the tribes from these areas became known for their produce. The others of the nation knew that the members of the tribe of Yehuda grew their grapes, those in Asher made olive oil, those in Issachar harvested the fruit. A biblical Jew could, if he or she chose, trace the relatively short journey of each item from the region of Israel, via the specific tribe, to their plates.

Where Our Food Comes From — Today

Rabbi Edels, who wrote that when Jews lived in the land of Israel every family had land, also wrote, “But from when they were exiled, they did not have land to plant.”[28] The denial of land ownership to Jews was one factor contributing to the historical shift among Jews away from agriculture. Today, for a variety of reasons, the vast majority of Jews do not work in agriculture. In Israel, in 2009 2.1% of all employed Israeli residents worked in agriculture (including supporting services), a decrease from 4.2% of Israeli citizens working in agriculture in 1990.[29] Of the small number of Israeli citizens working in agriculture, Jews are perhaps only five to ten percent.[30] Among those Israeli Jews who do work in agriculture, many manage industrial agricultural operations employing non-Jewish workers. The shifts away from agriculture are evident among people globally and especially in the Western world. In the United States, less than 1% claim farming as an occupation.[31]

This shift contains profound religious, social, and ecological significance.[32] After thousands of years of specialization within human society, it seems unlikely that large numbers of people will choose to return to a subsistence lifestyle.[33] Contemporary Jews, along with most Westerners, have lost most connection to the origins of their food, including the people who plant, pick, and transport it or the place where it is grown. We buy our industrially produced and packaged food in supermarkets that are identical from Brooklyn to Brookline and from Skokie to Silver Spring. The typical item of food on an American dinner plate has traveled 1500 miles.[34]

Does this matter? In his influential book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan argues that it matters very much. Pollan claims that the industrial food chain relies on a thick veil of ignorance being cast between us and the process of production. From meat raised in CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations), to corn-fed cattle emitting methane, to the raising of monoculture fruits, vegetables and grains, to the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides on our produce, we simply do not know, and perhaps do not want to know, too much about how what we eat arrives on the supermarket shelves.

If we were fully aware of the cruelty frequently involved in raising our food, the environmental degradation caused by growing it, the health risks to consumers in processing and preserving it, and the immense expenditure of fossil fuels in transporting it, we would be troubled– if not repulsed. Modern food production and consumption contributes to a host of environmental problems, including rainforest deforestation (to clear land for cattle and crops) and impact on water . Runoff of agricultural byproducts, including nitrogen fertilizers and animal wastes, enter bodies of water with major effects. In the Midwestern United States this has caused one of the world’s largest ‘Dead Zones’ in the Gulf of Mexico. High levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in the Gulf of Mexico have resulted in blooms of algae, which depletes oxygen in the Gulf and results in the decline of many other forms of sea life.[35]

The production, transportation, refrigeration, and disposal of food also contribute to climate change. In 2006, agriculture contributed about 20% of greenhouse gas emissions globally.[36] The production of red meat is one of the single largest contributors to global climate change. This is because the digestive system of cattle produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas, which is exhaled.[37] According to a study by scientists at Carnegie Mellon University, reducing or eliminating red meat intake would have a far greater impact in reducing greenhouse gas emissions than buying all of one's food locally.[38]

The globalization of food production and consumption also means that a drought in one part of the world impacts the price of food in another part. This is especially important when high costs limit the ability of the poor to buy food. For example, the World Bank reported that from June to July, 2012, the price of corn and wheat rose by 25 percent each to record highs, and the price of soybeans by 17 percent. These price increases are due to weather events in a number of countries, including drought occurring in the lands of major food exporters such as the U.S., Russia, the Ukraine, and Brazil.[39] James Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, expressed "a high degree of confidence" that the extreme heatwaves in Europe in 2003 and Russia in 2010, as well as the Texas and Oklahoma droughts of 2011, were "a consequence of climate change."[40] With the increasing reality of climate change, the reliance on a few countries for food staples increases food vulnerability for all.

Finally, the link between how much we eat and the environmental ‘footprint’ has been made clear by several studies. Adults in the United States on average eat 500 calories more per day (about one large hamburger) than they did in the 1970s.[41] Between 1983 and 2000, US food availability (food consumption including waste) increased by 18%, requiring an additional 3.1% of total US energy consumption as well as more land and water to produce the food.[42] By 2006, agriculture contributed about 20% of greenhouse gas emissions globally, making it a major factor in addressing global climate change.[43] Modern food production and consumption also contributes to rainforest deforestation (to clear land for cattle and crops) and water pollution (from pesticide and fertilizer use). Expanding agriculture to meet growing demand based on overeating only exacerbates these impacts.

Toward a Return to Repaired Consumption of Food

Knowledge is power, but it also creates responsibility. How can we develop the knowledge, and exercise the ethical responsibility that comes with knowledge about the sources of our food? If we make an effort to know the people who grow our food, we can take a measure of responsibility for how it is grown and how it reaches us. Pollan quotes Joel Salatin, owner of Polyface Farm, a pesticide and fertilizer free farm where the animals are all free-range: “The only meaningful guarantee of integrity is when buyers and sellers can look one another in the eye.”

It is unquestionably a challenge for the urban and suburban Jew to achieve this. One small way to close the gap between food producer and food consumer is through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) projects. City-dwellers or suburbanites subscribe at the beginning of the growing season, pay several hundred dollars for the season, and receive a box of produce each week. Thousands of Jews subscribe to CSAs, in part based on the conviction that we need to consider the full range of ethical issues involved in our food’s production. A second way to purchase local food is through farmer’s markets, which can also offer the chance to meet local farmers.

Another way is by appreciating the food we eat and eating it in holiness. The Jewish teachings mentioned above regarding mindful eating provide us helpful guidance. These include eating only when we are hungry, to fulfill our body’s needs, slowly and consciously, at a table, and preferably with others while sharing Jewish wisdom. When we eat with greater intention and awareness, we will likely consume less because we will be more attuned to what our bodies actually need. This will also reduce the impact our food consumption has on the environment.

Bringing awareness and holiness to our consumption of food can generate profound healing to ourselves, our communities, and our planet. At the individual level, one who eats in a proper way will feel healthier and more connected to the Infinite. At the communal level, conscious eating can bring members of the community together and inspire others to join the community. At the global level, the changes we make in our food consumption will affect people, animals and plants in faraway places.

Embedded within urban, modern society, we can still reclaim a level of sanctity, balance, and sustainability in our food consumption. Jewish teachings can help us make our way back from the tortured complexity of the industrial food chain towards a healthier relationship with what we eat.

In light of the centrality of food to the human experience, repairing the way we relate to food can make a difference for ourselves, our community, and the earth. By repairing the way we eat and the way we relate to food, we can help address many crises facing modern society: health, environmental, and social. May we eat with intention, and in so doing, help bring the world closer to its perfected state.[44]

About the Authors:

Rabbi Yonatan Neril founded and directs Jewish Eco Seminars, which engages and educates the Jewish community with Jewish environmental wisdom. Since 2006, he has worked with Canfei Nesharim in developing educational resources relating to Judaism and the environment. He received a BA and MA from Stanford University, during which time he conducted research in Mexico on food issues. He completed his rabbinic studies at Yeshivat Hamivtar, and lives with his family in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Yedidya (Julian) Sinclair is a writer and teacher. He is Senior Rabbinical Scholar at Hazon. Previously he was campus rabbi at Cambridge University where he also taught in the Divinity School. Rabbi Sinclair earns a living working in clean tech in Israel. He is currently Vice President and Head of Research at Gigawatt Global, an international solar developer. Before that he worked for two years on the founding team of Alma Ecocities Ltd where he was Director of Communications. He holds degrees from Oxford and Harvard Universities as well as Orthodox semichah and lives in Jerusalem.

This material was produced as part of the Jewcology project. Jewcology.comis a new web portal for the global Jewish environmental community. Thanks to the ROI communityfor their generous support, which made the Jewcology project possible.

[1]Pri Tzadik, Rabbi Zadok HaKohen Rabinowitz of Lublin(Kreisburg, 1823 – Lublin, Poland, 1900),

Torah portion of Genesis, section 8

[2]Genesis 25:29.

[3]Part of the Oral tradition explaining the Written Torah

[4]Midrash Genesis Raba (Vilna edition), 63:12, citing Mishna, Tractate Shabbat 24:3. Rashi cites this Midrash in his commentary to Genesis 25:29. This teaching also appears in Genesis Raba chapter 21, Midrash Tanchuma, Pinechas 13, and elsewhere

[5]It also was done at significant cost, since it involved the sale of the birthright.

[6]Cited in Rav Tzadok Hacohen, Kitzur Kuntras Eit HaOchel, section 9

[7]In a similar vein, Rabbi Natan Sternhartz of Breslov teaches that the main spiritual exertion with relevance to the outside world concerns eating, which is the hardest act of spiritual separation (berur) to engage in. He cites the Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Shekalim 5a. His teaching is found in Likutei Halakhot, Betziat HaPat 5.7

[8]Likutei Moharan I, 62:5

[9]Alei Shor, page n/a.

[10]Rabbi Moshe Rafael Seror (contemporary, Israel) suggests a practice for when we feel a desire to eat. We can ask ourselves whether the desire to eat that we feel is for a specific food that we like, for example chocolate, and whether the feeling of hunger extends to foods we don't like. If we can feel in our body that the desire is for the latter, then it is genuine hunger coming out of the body's need for nourishment, and not a smokescreen of the inclination that seeks instant gratification by means of sugary, fatty, or salty foods.

[11]One creative approach to thinking about food comes from the word for food in Hebrew, ochel, which is spelled aleph, caf, and lamed. These letters correspond to the first letters of three words: eich (how), cama (how much), and lama (why). That is, a Jew should examine the way they are eating by asking: how am I eating, how much, and why?

[12]Chayey Moharan #515, by Rabbi Natan Sternhartz, translation by R’ Avraham Greenbaum. In a similar vein, Rabbi Tzadok Hacohen in section five to his Treatise on the Time of Eating teaches about the importance of moderation to temper the desire to eat, swallow, and finish quickly. He cites the Talmud, Tractate Berachot 2a-b on how a person should prepare themself before eating.

[13]Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Hagigah p. 27a

[14]Chapter 3, Mishna 4

[15] Similarly, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin writes about "Eating—A Religious Experience," in A Happening Haggadah " He writes, “The Seder can serve as a model to teach us the Jewish philosophy of eating. We permit ourselves to have only a tiny portion of karpas. By immediately withdrawing from the food, we learn discipline and restraint. As human beings we must learn the self-control to put the food aside and make the meal a religious experience. By learning to do not what we have the urge to do, but what He commands, we serve God… On [Pesach] we became a people of God whose primary purpose is to serve Him. We do so by subsuming the physical to the spiritual—by turning our meal into a learning experience and a prayer experience. Indeed the learning and prayer come first. It is through karpas that this lesson is brought home to the children around the Seder table."

[16] Rabbi Tzadok Hacohen, Pri Tzadik, Treatise on the Time of Eating, section six

[17]Commentary to Genesis 3:17

[18]This description occurs many times in the Torah, including in Numbers 34:13.

[19]The Maharsha, 1555-1631, Poland, commentary to Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Menachot, p. 103b

[20]Psalms 128:2. The Talmudic sage Rabbi Ahai ben Yoshiya expresses the value of eating food one has grown him or herself: “During the time that a person eats from what he has grown himself—his mind is tranquil. Even one who eats from that which his father has grown or from that of his mother's or son's, his mind is not tranquil—and you do not [even] need to say [food grown] from that of others [non-relatives].” (Avot d'Rabbi Natan, version 1, chapter 30, translation by Hazon.) The rabbis understand this to be a teaching about food security—of being assured about where one's next meal will come from. Ultimately, Rabbi Ahai understands that this can only occur when a person grows his or her own food.

[21]Genesis 49:11

[22]Midrash Bereshit Rabbah 98:9; Rashi to Genesis 49:11, s.v. osri lagefen iryo The Talmud describes the grapes and wine grown in the lands of Judah: “Any palate that tastes it says, ‘Give me! Give me!’”Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Ketubot 111b

[23]Genesis 49:15

[24]Rashi to Genesis 49:15

[25]Rashi to Genesis 49:15 based on Targum Onkelos and Bereshith Rabbathi

[26]Rashi to Genesis 49:21

[27]Rashi to Genesis 49:20

[28]The Maharsha, 1555-1631, Poland, commentary to Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Menachot, p. 103b

[29]From the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, online at http://www1.cbs.gov.il/reader/?MIval=cw_usr_view_SHTML&ID=418 See also “Agriculture in Israel 2004,” Statistifile No. 55, online at http://www1.cbs.gov.il/www/statistical/agri04_e.pdf They also note that “the percentage of persons employed in agriculture in Israel is one of the lowest in the world, resembling that in the US and Canada. By comparison, in Greece the share is 15% and in Jordan 10%.” In economics, this phenomenon is called ‘structural transformation’ of an economy.

[30]Maariv online news (Hebrew), “Poll: Only 14 percent of those employed in agriculture are Jews,” by Dahlia Mazori, 5.17.2010, online at http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART2/108/007.html The article notes that “According to Ami Bergman, director of the Sting Systems polling company, the survey data include only legal workers who were paid, but many of the foreign workers – about 40 percent is estimated – are illegal and therefore not listed in the survey.” Based on this, I estimate that 5 to 10 percent of agricultural workers are Jews.

[31]http://www.epa.gov/agriculture/ag101/demographics.html According to a different sourse, in 2009 just 0.7% claimed farming, forestry, and fishing (all of whom are defined as agriculture) as their occupation. See https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2048.html

[32]For example, at a religious level, following the destruction of the second Temple, Jews no longer bring first-fruit offerings from their crops to Jerusalem.

[33]In The Rational Optimist, Matt Ridley compares life in modern society to that of subsistence farmers and explains the many ways in which our standard of living has improved as reasons for why a voluntary return to subsistence living is unlikely.

[34]Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma, New York, Penguin, 2006. p. 239

[35]For more information, see the Carleton College Science Information Resource Center at http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/deadzone/

[36] “Climate Change and Agriculture,” 2006, Martin Parry and Cynthia Rosenzweig, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (U.K. Meteorological Office and Goddard Institute for Space Studies), online at http://cgiar.bio-mirror.cn/pdf/agm06/agm06_ParryRosenzweig_climatechange%26agr.pdf

[37]See US Environmental Protection Agency, “US Greenhouse Gas Inventory 2012,” Chapter 6: Agriculture, section 6.1 of http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/Downloads/ghgemissions/US-GHG-Inventory-2012-Chapter-6-Agriculture.pdf In addition, a second source of methane from cattle is from the anaerobic decomposition of their manure (see section 6.2).

[38]“Food-Miles and the Relative Climate Impacts of Food Choices in the United States,” Dr. Christopher Weber and Dr. H. Scott Matthews, Environmental Science & Technology. 2008, 42 (10), pp 3508–3513, online at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es702969f The article notes that “shifting less than one day per week’s worth of calories from red meat and dairy products to chicken, fish, eggs, or a vegetable-based diet achieves more greenhouse-gas reduction than buying all locally sourced food.”

[39]The full report is available at http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTPOVERTY/Resources/336991-1311966520397/Food-Price-Watch-August-2012.pdf, and the press release, “Severe Droughts Drive Food Prices Higher, Threatening the Poor,” The World Bank, August 30, 2012, is online at

http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/2012/08/30/severe-droughts-drive-food-prices-higher-threatening-poor

[40]As reported by Reuters, “Climate change poses risks to food, beyond U.S. drought,” by Alistar Doyles, 8.12.12, online at http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/16/us-climate-drought-idUSBRE87F0RY20120816

[41] "Increased food intake alone explains the increase in body weight in the United States," Boyd Swinburn et al. oral presentation, 17th European Congress on Obesity,5.9.2009, news abstract online at http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/149553.php The researchers consider this increased food consumption to be the leading cause of the obesity epidemic.

[42]“Luxus Consumption: Wasting Food Resources Through Overeating,”By Dr. Dorothy Blair and Dr. Jeffery Sobal, Agriculture and Human Values, Volume 23, Number 1 (2006), p. 63-74

[43] “Climate Change and Agriculture,” 2006, Martin Parry and Cynthia Rosenzweig, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (U.K. Meteorological Office and Goddard Institute for Space Studies), online at http://cgiar.bio-mirror.cn/pdf/agm06/agm06_ParryRosenzweig_climatechange%26agr.pdf

[44]Indeed, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov teaches thatthe eating of Israel brings G-d, Blessed be He, and the Shechina (G-d’s Immanent Presence) face to face (Likutei Moharan I 62:1).

We are How We Eat: A Jewish Approach to

Food and Sustainability

By Rabbi Yonatan Neril

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov identifies the desire for food and drink as the central desire of the human being, and the one from which other desires emanate.[1] Jewish teachings can help us appreciate the food we eat and eat it in a spirit of holiness. Doing so can also help the environment, as we will explore.

What does it mean to eat in a Jewish way? First of all, we should eat when we are hungry. Rabbi Shlomo Volbe teaches that a person needs to distinguish between eating because of a healthy desire of the body (i.e., eating in order to be healthy), versus eating out of base physical desire.[2] (Of course many people today also eat out of emotional desire.) It is therefore important to clarify, before eating, that what I am eating is for the right reason,[3] rather than out of physical or emotional cravings.

Not only what we eat, and but also how we eat is important. A Jewish way of eating includes eating food slowly and consciously. While it is possible to eat a meal in a few minutes, Jewish teaching cautions against doing so. Rabbi Natan of Breslov states: “Be careful not to swallow your food in a hurry. Eat at a moderate pace, calmly and with the same table manners that you would show if an important guest were present. You should always eat in this manner, even when you are alone.”[4]

Where we eat also matters. In the Talmud, Rabbi Yochanan and Reish Lakish teach that a person's table has taken the place of the Temple of ancient times in atoning for that person. One understanding of their statement is that when a person eats in holiness at their own table, they have made proper use of their table in a way parallel to the altar of the Temple (Chagigah p. 27a). This underscores the significance in Jewish thought of eating at a table, and not while standing or walking. Today some of our eating takes place at a desk or even in a car! We will eat more healthfully and with more holiness if we take wholesome meals at a table.

Finally, the act of eating with others – and sharing not only food, but also Jewish wisdom – bestows upon the meal an aura of sanctity, and elevates eating to a holy act.[5] In Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers 3:4) we learn that Rabbi Shimon would say: “Three who eat at one table and speak words of Torah, it is as if they have eaten at G-d's table…” A shared opportunity for blessing before and after one eats also serves to connect the act of eating to a higher purpose.[6] These practices elevate our bodily needs and can help transform our eating to become an act of holiness and devotion.

How we eat, and consequently, how much we eat, has a bearing on our ‘environmental footprint,’ as several studies make clear. Adults in the United States on average eat 500 calories more per day (about one large hamburger) than they did in the 1970s.[7] Between 1983 and 2000, US food availability (food consumption including waste) increased by 18%, requiring an additional 3.1% of total US energy consumption as well as more land and water to produce the food.[8] By 2006, agriculture contributed about 20% of greenhouse gas emissions globally, making it a major factor in addressing global climate change.[9] Modern food production and consumption also contributes to rainforest deforestation (to clear land for cattle and crops) and water pollution (from pesticide and fertilizer use).

Expanding agriculture to meet growing demand based on overeating only exacerbates these impacts. When we eat with greater intention and awareness, we will likely consume less because we will be more attuned to what our bodies actually need. This will also reduce the impact our food consumption has on the environment.

Bringing awareness and holiness to our consumption of food can generate profound healing to ourselves, our communities, and our planet. At the individual level, one who eats in a proper way will feel healthier and more connected to the Infinite. At the communal level, conscious eating can bring members of the community together and inspire others to join the community. At the global level, the changes we make in our food consumption will affect people, animals and plants in faraway places. May we eat with intention, and in so doing, help bring the world closer to its perfected state.[10]

Rabbi Yonatan Neril founded and directs Jewish Eco Seminars, which engages and educates the Jewish community with Jewish environmental wisdom. Since 2006, he has worked with Canfei Nesharim in developing educational resources relating to Judaism and the environment.

This material was produced as part of the Jewcology project. Jewcology.comis a new web portal for the global Jewish environmental community. Thanks to the ROI communityfor their generous support, which made the Jewcology project possible.

[1]Likutei Moharan I, 62:5

[2]Alei Shor

[3]Rabbi Moshe Rafael Seror (contemporary, Israel) suggests a practice for when we feel a desire to eat. We can ask ourselves whether the desire to eat that we feel is for a specific food that we like, for example chocolate, and whether the feeling of hunger extends to foods we don't like. If we can feel in our body that the desire is for the latter, then it is genuine hunger coming out of the body's need for nourishment, and not a smokescreen of the inclination that seeks instant gratification by means of sugary, fatty, or salty foods.

[4]Chayey Moharan #515, by Rabbi Natan Sternhartz, translation by R’ Avraham Greenbaum. In a similar vein, Rabbi Tzadok Hacohen in section five to his Treatise on the Time of Eating teaches about the importance of moderation to temper the desire to eat, swallow, and finish quickly. He cites the Talmud, Tractate Berachot 2a-b on how a person should prepare themself before eating.

[5] Similarly, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin writes about "Eating—A Religious Experience," in A Happening Haggadah " He writes, “The Seder can serve as a model to teach us the Jewish philosophy of eating. We permit ourselves to have only a tiny portion of karpas. By immediately withdrawing from the food, we learn discipline and restraint. As human beings we must learn the self-control to put the food aside and make the meal a religious experience. By learning to do not what we have the urge to do, but what He commands, we serve God… On [Pesach] we became a people of God whose primary purpose is to serve Him. We do so by subsuming the physical to the spiritual—by turning our meal into a learning experience and a prayer experience. Indeed the learning and prayer come first. It is through karpas that this lesson is brought home to the children around the Seder table."

[6] Rabbi Tzadok Hacohen, Pri Tzadik, Treatise on the Time of Eating, section six

[7] "Increased food intake alone explains the increase in body weight in the United States," Boyd Swinburn et al. oral presentation, 17th European Congress on Obesity,5.9.2009, news abstract online at http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/149553.php The researchers consider this increased food consumption to be the leading cause of the obesity epidemic.

[8]“Luxus Consumption: Wasting Food Resources Through Overeating,”By Dr. Dorothy Blair and Dr. Jeffery Sobal, Agriculture and Human Values, Vol. 23, No. 1 (2006), p. 63-74

[9] “Climate Change and Agriculture,” 2006, Martin Parry and Cynthia Rosenzweig, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (U.K. Meteorological Office and Goddard Institute for Space Studies), online at http://cgiar.bio-mirror.cn/pdf/agm06/agm06_ParryRosenzweig_climatechange%26agr.pdf

[10]Indeed, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov teaches thatthe eating of Israel brings G-d, Blessed be He, and the Shechina (G-d’s Immanent Presence) face to face (Likutei Moharan I 62:1).

In the first chapter of Genesis, twice in three verses, G-d speaks of humans ruling over other living beings. In the second instance, after creating Adam and Eve, G-d blesses them, saying "Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." What does it mean for humans to subdue the earth and have dominion over other creatures?

Genesis and Human Stewardship of the Earth

• Summary Article

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These materials are posted as part of Jewcology’s Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, in partnership with Canfei Nesharim. Jewcology thanks the Shedlin Outreach Foundation and the ROI community for their generous support, which made the Jewcology project possible.

Learn more about the Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment!

We are proud to present Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, speaking on the topic of Genesis and Human Stewardship of the Earth!

These materials are posted as part of Jewcology’s Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, in partnership with Canfei Nesharim. Jewcology thanks the Shedlin Outreach Foundation and the ROI community for their generous support, which made the Jewcology project possible.

See all Core Teaching #12 Genesis and Human Stewardship of the Earth Materials!

Learn more about the Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment!

Click here to hear Jewcology's podcast on Genesis and Human Stewardship of the Earth.

These materials are posted as part of Jewcology’s Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, in partnership with Canfei Nesharim. Jewcology thanks the Shedlin Outreach Foundation and the ROI community for their generous support, which made the Jewcology project possible.

See all Core Teaching #12 Genesis and Human Stewardship of the Earth Materials!

Learn more about the Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment!

Enjoy this Hebrew/English source sheet and study guide on the topic of Genesis and Human Stewardship of the Earth. Discussion questions provided!

These materials are posted as part of Jewcology’s Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, in partnership with Canfei Nesharim. Jewcology thanks the Shedlin Outreach Foundation and the ROI community for their generous support, which made the Jewcology project possible.

See all Core Teaching #12 Genesis and Human Stewardship of the Earth Materials!

Learn more about the Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment!

Genesis and Human Stewardship of the Earth

Rabbi Yonatan Neril[1]

The first two chapters of Genesis contain teachings with profound relevance for ourselves and our world today. In the first chapter of Genesis, twice in three verses, G-d speaks of humans ruling over other living beings. In the second instance, after creating Adam and Eve, G-d blesses them, saying "Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."[2] What does it mean for humans to subdue the earth and have dominion over other creatures?

Human Righteousness and Dominion of the Planet

One of the central precepts of Rabbinic Judaism is that the Written Torah must be understood within the context of the 2,300 year-old rabbinic tradition (including the Midrash and other works) that interprets it. While on the surface the words of this verse appear to give people license to degrade and subdue the earth, the Rabbis for the most part[3] do not read them this way. The rabbinic commentaries reveal much about these verses beyond the simple reading. The Oral tradition makes clear that a wholly different message is being conveyed.

The Midrash offers a key insight into the dominion about which the Torah speaks. It teaches, “Rabbi Chanina said, ‘if he [the human being] merits it then [G-d says] have dominion, while if he does not merit, then [G-d says] he will be taken down.’[4] Rabbi Yaakov of Kfar Chanin said, ‘If he [acts] in Our image and likeness [then] 'he will rule,' if he [acts] not in Our image and likeness, then 'and he will be taken down.'”[5] The Midrash is based on a play on words in Hebrew, in which the root of the word 'to rule' is the same root as the word 'to be taken down.'

The great commentator Rashi writes based on the Midrash that if we do not merit, we will be ruled by animals.[6] In this vein, the Soncino translator writes, “Man is entitled to pre-eminence only as long as he cultivates his G-d-like qualities; when he voluntarily abandons them he is even lower than the brute creation.”[7] Can humans be ruled by animals today? At first one may think that human beings are so powerful as to be immune to these predictions, but one only need think of insect infestations (even in the Western world) which have caused tremendous havoc. One example is the “bed bugs” outbreak in North America in 2010. Another example relates to diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, and the West Nile Virus. These are spreading into new areas as the range of certain mosquitoes extends to more northern latitudes as a result of human-induced climate change.[8]

The Midrash above links human dominion of creation to humanity’s righteousness: if humanity merits through its righteousness, then it shall rule over nature. But if it does not merit because it does not act in an upright fashion, then humanity itself will descend and not be granted rulership over nature. One key message emerging from the Midrash is that G-d’s blessing to rule over other creatures depends on our living as righteous people. The rabbis learn this from the juxtaposition of G-d saying that the human will be created in G-d's image and then G-d saying the human will rule over other creatures.[9]

Another Midrash makes clear that part of human righteousness involves being stewards of the earth. The Midrash says that G-d showed Adam around the Garden of Eden and said, “Look at my works! See how beautiful they are — how excellent! For your sake I created them all. See to it that you do not spoil and destroy My world; for if you do, there will be no one else to repair it.”[10] Acting righteously thus involves treating the world with utmost respect; for this the human will merit dominion of creation.

What Does it Mean to Rule?

Maimonides understands our verse about dominion as teaching us that humans have a disposition to dominate, but that is not the purpose for which G-d created us. He writes, “The Torah tells man, "And rule over the fish of the sea etc." – this does not mean that he was created for this purpose, but rather it informs us of the nature that the Holy One implanted in him.”[11]

The Toldot Yitzhak addresses the following question: why does G-d state that human beings are only permitted a vegetarian diet after G-d tells them to rule over the fish, fowl, and animals? His answer teaches that the ruling over these creatures does not involve killing them for human food.[12]

A further question: why does the Torah (here in Genesis 1:26 and 1:28) use the order fish– birds– animals?[13] The Kli Yakar (Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz, Prague,1550-1619) explains,[14]

Of these three species, man has the ability to rule over one to a greater extent than the other. Indeed, man has the ability to rule to a greater extent over domestic and wild animals and over everything that creeps on the earth, for they are present with him and man can follow them in all the places they run to and fro. This is not the case with birds and fish since man cannot fly in the air or go down to the depths of the sea.

He explains that if humans do not merit, then not only will they not dominate the fish, which are harder to catch, but also the birds and animals, which are easier.

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of Israel, writes that “no intelligent, thinking person could suppose that when the Torah instructs humankind to dominate… [[that] it means the domination of a harsh ruler, who afflicts his people and servants merely to fulfill his personal whim and desire, according to the crookedness of his heart…”[15] Rabbi David Sears writes on this:

Rather, it comprises a form of stewardship for which humanity is answerable to G-d. Both Talmudic and Kabbalistic sources state that it is forbidden to kill any creature unnecessarily, or to engage in wanton destruction of the Earth’s resources. All forms of life are precious by virtue of the divine wisdom that brings them into existence, whatever rung they may occupy in the hierarchy of creation… The divine mandate for man to dominate the natural world is a sacred trust, not a carte blanche for destructiveness.[16]

Subduing in the Context of Being Fruitful

Rabbi Daniel Kohn beautifully contextualizes the command to ‘subdue the earth’ and sheds new light on what it means. In his understanding, it is very much connected to the command that precedes it, ‘be fruitful and multiply,’ to spread and make life manifest. He teaches that ‘be fruitful and multiply’ describes a natural process of things growing and diversifying without control—disorganized, disconnected. ‘Subduing’ is about organizing this abundance, giving things their place and actively caring about them, so that they come to their full expression in the context of an integrated and balanced harmony with one another. Rabbi Kohn emphasizes that subduing involves the application of intelligent planning and foresight — always in the context of the Divine imperative to spread and diversify life.

Rabbi Kohn continues that subduing can only be as G-d intended when it grows out of a commitment to life. To cause extinction would be the opposite of this—it would be ‘shachet,’ destroying. ‘Subduing’ does not imply destroying, extincting, oppressing, or annihilating, but rather it requires preserving life's diversity and helping life perpetuate itself. In this sense G-d's command impels diverse and sustainable living.[17]

In a similar light, Rabbi Norman Lamm, former chancellor of Yeshiva University, writes that “ ‘Subdue it’ is not only not an invitation to ecological irresponsibility; it is a charge to assume additional moral responsibility, not only for the natural world as such, but even for the manmade culture and civilization that we found when we were born into this world.”[18]

Genesis 2:15: To Work It and to Protect It

The second chapter of Genesis includes a second story of Creation that focuses on human beings in the Garden of Eden. The Torah tells us that G-d placed the human being “in the Garden of Eden to work it and to guard it.”[19] Rabbi Jonathan Sacks points out the significance of the two Hebrew verbs used to describe the human being's mandate. He writes, “The first– le'ovdah—literally means "to serve it." The human being is thus both master and servant of nature. The second—leshomrah--means "to guard it." This is the verb used in later biblical legislation to describe the responsibilities of a guardian of property that belongs to someone else. This guardian must exercise vigilance while protecting, and is personally liable for losses that occur through negligence. This is perhaps the best short definition of humanity's responsibility for nature as the Bible conceives it.”

Modern Industrial Society

A glaring contrast emerges between the Kli Yakar’s 17th century description of the limited human capacity for domination of the animals, birds and fish of the natural world and what we know about the ability of contemporary society to dominate the land, air, and sea of planet earth.[20] The 20th century witnessed the extinction of numerous species of land animals and birds, including species of tigers and rhinoceroses.[21]

While the Kli Yakar emphasizes that fish are not visible to people, sonar, satellite data and the Global Positioning System (GPS) enable fishermen to effectively ‘see’ giant schools of fish with pinpoint accuracy. These technologies were developed by militaries during the Cold War and then transferred to commercial fishing trawlers post-1989. According to a study led by researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada, these changes have contributed to a dramatic fall in fish populations in all of the world's oceans. One of the researchers, Villy Christensen, said “The total weight of tablefish—species eaten by man—in the oceans has declined by a total of 85 percent in the last century and continues to decline at 2 percent or more per year. Many species are being hunted right down to the last fish.”[22]

Several examples illustrate the extent of human domination of the waters. In recent years, Canadian cod serves as an example of overfishing and the dramatic drop in cod populations that resulted.[23] This spurred the Canadian government to ban Northern cod fishing in 1992.[24] In 2010 the Yangtze River Dolphin was reported functionally extinct; a New York Times article was aptly titled: “20 Million Years and a Farewell.”[25] In January 2011, the Israeli government banned for two years commercial fishing in the Sea of Galilee. Explaining the decision, Agriculture Ministry spokeswoman Dafna Yurista said, "The data raised serious concerns of an ecological disaster that would take place, turning the Kinneret [Hebrew for Sea of Galilee] into a lake completely devoid of fish."[26] When human mastery grows such that we seriously deplete the numbers of a particular fish, our continued access to this fish quickly diminishes.

Industrial technology has changed the scope and scale of human mastery of the earth. The BP oil spill revealed the consequences of human domination. Today people extract oil thousands of feet below the surface of the sea. In April 2010, a deep-water oil spill released millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. People, birds, fish, and plants in this ecologically-rich region face the decades-long effects of the spill Despite some claims that the oil released simply disappeared, researchers have stated that hydrocarbon levels near the blowout "exceeded background levels by up to 75,000 times." As the oil spreads it has the potential, by blocking sunlight, to decrease algal growth. As algae are at the base of the Gulf food chain, this may present problems for ecosystem health. While less algae at the surface means less falling to the bottom of the Gulf to decompose, an oxygen-consuming process, it is also likely that oil-consuming bacteria will increase in numbers. Because such bacteria also consume oxygen, such an increase in microbial activity may extend the area of the human-caused hypoxic "dead zone" in the Gulf currently caused by fertilizer runoff and sewage discharges that travel down the Mississippi River.[28] Since sea creatures depend on oxygen in the water for their survival, this will likely negatively impact sea life in these areas.

As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks writes, “The real and present challenge to Jews specifically, humanity generally, is to wrestle with the ever more consequential challenges of human action. To believe either that we are accountable to no one, or that G-d will somehow intervene to save us from ourselves, is consistent but irresponsible, and this is not how I read my faith or understand the human condition.”[29]

Rabbi Daniel Kohn links the blessing to subdue (kivshuha) in our verse with the Mishna’s use of ‘subdue’ in a different context. In the Ethics of the Fathers (Pirke Avot), Ben Zoma teaches, “Who is strong? One who subdues his inclinations. As is stated (Proverbs 16:32), "Better… one who rules over his spirit than the captor of a city." That is, spiritual discipline comprises true strength, and not physical prowess. Rabbi Kohn teaches that a person must decide in their own life which desires to subdue and which desires to bring to realization.

Jewish tradition teaches us that we only merit the opportunity to rule the earth if we behave righteously. This includes the spiritual discipline to use our resources wisely, and subdue with a sense of moral responsibility. In our times, we have demonstrated our ability to subdue the earth. A central question facing humanity concerns whether we will exhibit the strength to rein in our desires. If we do not, we may be taken down by our lack of righteousness. May we pray for the strength to conquer our short-term desires, live with righteousness, and merit an enlightened dominion of the planet G-d created.

This material was produced as part of the Jewcology project. Jewcology.com is a new web portal for the global Jewish environmental community. Thanks to the ROI community for their generous support, which made the Jewcology project possible.

Rabbi Yonatan Neril founded and directs Jewish Eco Seminars, which engages and educates the Jewish community with Jewish environmental wisdom. He has worked with Canfei Nesharim for the past six years in developing educational resources relating to Judaism and the environment.

[1] The author would like to thank Evonne Marzouk for her significant editorial comments.

[2] Genesis 1:28

[3] The explanation of Nachmanides (Ramban) goes in a different direction than many other commentaries. In explaining ‘kivshu’ha,’ ‘subdue it,’ the Ramban emphasizes that G-d gives people the power to uproot trees and to extract resources from the earth through mining, among other human activities vis a vis the earth. Had this permission not been granted, Noah would never had built the ark, and humans would not have entered the Bronze Age.

[4] Or, let others (the besasts) rule over him (footnote of Soncino translation)

[5] Midrash Genesis Raba (Vilna Edition), 8:12. The Maharal explains in Gur Aryeh to Genesis 1:26 that “the verse uses ‘v’yirdu’ for ‘ruling,’ from the root resh-dalet-heh, rather than the more common ‘mashal,’ so that it can be expounded as if it were from the root yud-resh-dalet, ‘declining, degenerating,’ as well.” (From Artscroll Rashi Bereishit)

[6] Rashi to Genesis 1 :26

[7] As contained in footnote 3 of Judaic Classics Library version of Soncino translation.

[8] See the most recent Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, available at www.ipcc.ch

[9] Rabbi Zev Wolff Einhorn in his commentary (Perush Maharzav) to the Midrash explains that this Midrash is explaining the different grammatical uses of the verb ‘to rule’ in verses 26 and 28. In verse 26, before the human being has been created, G-d says about them, ‘v’yirdu,’ in the future tense, meaning ‘and they shall rule over.’ Verse 27 reads ‘And G-d created Man…’ Verse 28 contains G-d’s blessing to people, in the imperative form ‘urdu,’ meaning ‘rule over.’ The Midrash, however, reads the latter verse differently. The lettering can also be read ‘v’yeiradu,’ in the passive form meaning ‘they [people] will be ruled over [by animals].

[10] Midrash Kohelet Rabbah 7:13

[11] The Guide for the Perplexed, 3:13. Another interpretation is provided by Rabbi Daniel Kohn. He writes that “In this [first] story [of Creation] G-d is called Elokim, a name which implies Power, differentiation and judgment. Man is created to be like G-d Who rules by power: “and G-d said we will make man in our image and form and he will rule over…the world.” He is created in the image of G-d, specifically in His manifestation as Elokim… The first story is one of din alone, and is about a world which cannot survive.”

[12] Toldot Yitzhak (Wagshal edition, Jerusalem, 1994) to Bereishit 1:28

[13] He also contrasts this usage with that in the Torah portion of Noah and in Psalms 8:7-9, in which the reverse order of animals– birds– fish is used. He answers by saying that here the Torah uses a ‘not only this, but even that’ formulation which is also seen in the Mishna and Talmud. Rabbi Yitzhak Frank explains that formulation: “Some texts list cases in a climactic sequence—starting from the most obvious case and progressing until the climax, which is the least obvious and hence the most novel case.” Practical Guide to the Talmud, Ariel: Jerusalem, 1995, p. 131

[14] To Genesis 1:26

[15] "A Vision of Vegetarianism and Peace,"by HaRav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook. Edited by HaRav David Kohen, the Nazir of Jerusalem. Translated by Rabbi David Sears.

[16] The Vision of Eden, Orot: Spring Valley, NY, 2003, p. 69-70

[17] Rabbi Kohn also provides an interpretation of the differing commands in the first two chapters of Genesis. He writes, “Genesis chapter 1 can be summarized as a rulership mandate – where people are the ruler and the planet is a servant in the sense of G-d’s name ‘Elokim,’ which signifies din (judgment), of a master-servant relationship where the master subjugates his servant to keep him from becoming independent– an antagonistic relationship. The resources of the earth are here to serve me, since I am their master and they are created for me. Genesis chapter 2 can be summarized as a stewardship mandate, where we are the father and the planet is our child, where the father desires the best for his child – based on Rachamim (compassion), as in the name of G-d ‘Hashem.’ The earth is unfurling of man’s will by man praying for rain and through G-d bringing rain to cause plants to grow.” (From essay on prayer wrriten December 2011.)

[18] “Ecology in Jewish Law and Theology” in Torah of the Earth vol. 1, p. 125. Rabbi Lamm is also the editor of the journal 'Tradition.'

[19] Genesis 2:15

[20] David Roberts, citing a June 2012 tipping point study in the journal Nature, wrote that “it is becoming increasingly clear that the decisions made by people alive today will determine the fate of life on Earth for centuries to come.” Grist Mazagine, 6.11.2012, online at http://grist.org/business-technology/getting-used-to-being-in-charge-of-the-planet/

[21] For a full treatment of this subject, see Wilson, E.O., The Future of Life (2002) and Leakey, Richard, The Sixth Extinction : Patterns of Life and the Future of Humankind,

[22] As cited in “Cold war military technologies have devastated global fish populations.” National Geogrphic Magazine, Bijal P. Trivedi, 2.25.2002, online at http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/02/0225_0225_TVnomorefish.html

[23] See Clover, Charles (2004). The End of the Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World and What We Eat. London: Ebury Press.

[24] "Marine World – Will Atlantic cod ever recover". Ices.dk. http://www.ices.dk/marineworld/recoveryplans.asp.

[25] http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/weekinreview/17basics.html by Andrew Revkin

[26] CBN News, “Temporary Fishing Ban for Sea of Galilee,” 11.15.10, online at
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2010/November/Temporary-Fishing-Ban-for-Sea-of-Galilee-/

[27] In "Magnitude and oxidation potential of hydrocarbon gases released from the BP oil well blowout" Samantha B. Joye , Et Al Nature Geoscience 4, 160-164 (2011) http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v4/n3/full/ngeo1067.html

[28] See background sheet from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), online at see http://www.noaa.gov/factsheets/new%20version/dead_zone_oil.pdf).

[29] To Heal a Fractured World, p. 14

Genesis and Human Stewardship of the Earth

By Rabbi Yonatan Neril[1]

The first two chapters of Genesis contain teachings with profound relevance for ourselves and our world today. After creating Adam and Eve, G-d blesses them, saying "Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."[2] What does it mean for humans to subdue the earth and have dominion over other creatures?

One of the central precepts of Rabbinic Judaism is that the Written Torah must be understood within the context of the 2,300 year-old rabbinic tradition (including the Midrash and other works) that interprets it. While on the surface the words of this verse appear to give people license to degrade and subdue the earth, the Oral tradition makes clear that a wholly different message is being conveyed.

The Midrash teaches, “Rabbi Chanina said, ‘if he [the human being] merits it then [G-d says] have dominion, while if he does not merit, then [G-d says] he will be taken down.’[3] This teaching links human dominion of creation to humanity’s righteousness: if humanity merits through its righteousness, then it shall rule over nature. But if it does not merit because it does not act in an upright fashion, then humanity itself will descend and not be granted rulership over nature.

Another Midrash makes clear that part of human righteousness involves being stewards of the earth. The Midrash says that G-d showed Adam around the Garden of Eden and said, “Look at my works! See how beautiful they are — how excellent! For your sake I created them all. See to it that you do not spoil and destroy My world; for if you do, there will be no one else to repair it.”[4] Acting righteously thus involves treating the world with utmost respect; for this the human will merit dominion of creation.

Rabbi David Sears writes that the blessing to dominate “comprises a form of stewardship for which humanity is answerable to G-d. Both Talmudic and Kabbalistic sources state that it is forbidden to kill any creature unnecessarily, or to engage in wanton destruction of the Earth’s resources… The divine mandate for man to dominate the natural world is a sacred trust, not a carte blanche for destructiveness.”[5]

In the Torah, the order of domination is fish-birds-animals: “have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." The Kli Yakar (Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz) explains that man has a greater ability to rule over land animals than birds (out of reach in the sky), and fish (out of reach and out of sight, in the sea). [6] If humans do not merit, then not only will they not dominate the fish, which are harder to catch, but also the birds and animals, which are easier.

Yet a glaring contrast emerges between the Kli Yakar’s 17th century description of the limited human capacity for domination of the animals, birds and fish of the natural world and what we know about the ability of contemporary society to dominate the land, air, and sea of planet earth.

For example, while the Kli Yakar emphasizes that fish are not visible to people, sonar, satellite data and the Global Positioning System (GPS) enable fishermen to effectively ‘see’ giant schools of fish with pinpoint accuracy. According to a study led by researchers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, these changes have contributed to a dramatic fall in fish populations in all of the world's oceans.

When human mastery grows such that we seriously deplete the numbers of a particular fish, our continued access to this fish quickly diminishes. Our lack of righteousness leads us to lose our domination of this resource in the long-term.

Rabbi Daniel Kohn links the blessing to subdue (kivshuha) in our verse with the Mishna’s use of ‘subdue’ in the Ethics of the Fathers (Pirke Avot), in which Ben Zoma teaches, “Who is strong? The person who subdues their inclinations.” Spiritual discipline comprises true strength. A person must decide in their own life which desires to subdue and which desires to bring to realization.

Jewish tradition teaches us that we only merit the opportunity to rule the earth if we behave righteously. This includes the spiritual discipline to use our resources wisely, and subdue with a sense of moral responsibility. In our times, we have demonstrated our ability to subdue the earth. A central question facing humanity concerns whether we will exhibit the strength to rein in our desires. If we do not, we may be taken down by our lack of righteousness. May we summon the strength to conquer our short-term desires, live with righteousness, and merit an enlightened dominion of the planet G-d created.

This material was produced as part of the Jewcology project. Jewcology.com is a new web portal for the global Jewish environmental community. Thanks to the ROI community for their generous support, which made the Jewcology project possible.

Rabbi Yonatan Neril founded and directs Jewish Eco Seminars, which engages and educates the Jewish community with Jewish environmental wisdom. He has worked with Canfei Nesharim for the past six years in developing educational resources relating to Judaism and the environment.

1 The author would like to thank Evonne Marzouk for her helpful editorial comments.

2 Genesis 1:28

3 Or, let others (the besasts) rule over him (footnote of Soncino translation) Midrash Genesis Raba (Vilna Edition), 8:12, translation by Soncino Press. The Maharal explains in Gur Aryeh to Genesis 1:26 that “the verse uses ‘v’yirdu’ for ‘ruling,’ from the root resh-dalet-heh, rather than the more common ‘mashal,’ so that it can be expounded as if it were from the root yud-resh-dalet, ‘declining, degenerating,’ as well.” (From Artscroll Rashi Bereishit)

4 Midrash Kohelet Rabbah 7:13

5 The Vision of Eden, Orot: Spring Valley, NY, 2003, p. 69-70

6 To Genesis 1:26