Nature in the sources of Judaism

Daedalus

Volumn 130, Issue 4, 2001, Pages 99-124

  Tirosh Samuelson, Hava ^a  

^a ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 33748041474     PISSN: 00115266     EISSN: 15486192     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (66)

1. Lynn White Jr., "The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis," Science 155 (1967): 1205.
2. For an overview of the Christian response to Lynn White and the history of Christian thinking about the environment consult Roderick Nash, "The Greening of Religion," in This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, Environment, ed. Roger S. Gottlieb (New York and London: Routledge, 1996), 194-229.
3. Norman Lamm, a leader of modern orthodoxy and the president of Yeshivah University, was among the first Jewish respondents to White's charges. See Norman Lamm, Faith and Doubt: Studies in Traditional Jewish Thought (New York: Ktav Publishing House, 1972), 162-185. Although Lamm identified all the pertinent elements of a Jewish perspective on environmentalism, his work did not give rise to a Jewish environmental movement. Jewish environmentalism emerged a decade later as part of the so-called Jewish Renewal movement. It brought Jews who were already committed environmentalists to anchor their ecological sensibility in the sources of the Jewish tradition.
4. At the forefront of this movement is Ellen Bernstein and the organization she founded, Shomrei Adama (The Keepers of the Earth). For a sample of Jewish environmental writings consult Ellen Bernstein, ed., Ecology and the Jewish Spirit: Where Nature and the Sacred Meet (Woodstock, Vt.: Jewish Lights Publishing, 1998). In 1993 the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL) was founded to educate Jews about environmental concerns and inspire them to lead an environmentally sound life, based on Jewish values as expressed in the sacred sources of Judaism.
5. For an overview of Jewish responses to the contemporary environmental crisis, consult Eric Katz, "Judaism and the Ecological Crisis," in Worldviews and Ecology: Religion, Philosophy, and the Environment, ed. Mary Evelyn Tucker and John A. Grim (Maryknoll N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1994), 55-70;
6. Eilon Schwartz, "Judaism and Nature: Theological and Moral Issues to Consider while Renegotiating a Jewish Relationship to the Natural World," Judaism 44 (1995): 437-448.
7. A typical example of both these approaches can be found in Aubrey Rose, ed., Judaism and Ecology (New York: Cassell, 1992).
8. This tension, and hence the tenuous relationship of Judaism to environmentalism, was pointed out by Steven S. Schwartzchild, "Unnatural Jew," Environmental Ethics 6 (1984): 347-362.
9. Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 77b.
10. For a fuller discussion of the representation of nature in the Book of Psalms, consult Gerald Blidstein, "Nature in 'Psalms,'" Judaism 13 (1964): 29-36.
11. See Edward L. Greenstein, "Biblical Law," in Back to the Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts, ed. Barry W. Holtz (New York: Summit Books, 1984), 90-96.
12. Many have noted the etymological connection between the Hebrew word adam (human beings) and the word adamah (land). However, it is important to note that the word adamah refers to arable land and is identified with land that humans farm to survive (Gen. 3:17-19). See Theodore Hiebert, The Yahwist's Landscape: Nature and Religion in Early Israel (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 35. Conversely, the word midbar does not mean "wilderness" (as it is normally translated) but a "rugged land of seasonal pasturage unfit for cultivation."
13. See Jeanne Kay, "Concepts of Nature in the Hebrew Bible," Environmental Ethics 10 (1988): 309-327, esp. 325. The Bible does not despise wilderness but it clearly links the aridity of the desert with divine punishment and the dialectics of blessing and curse. The successfully cultivated land manifests the presence of God in the life of the people, and, conversely, disloyalty to God incurs divine punishment in the form of loss of life's necessities.
14. Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 53b; the relevant passage is cited in Lamm, Faith and Doubt, 167.
15. On humans as co-creators see Philip Hefner, "The Evolution of the Created Co-Creator," in Ted Peters, ed., Cosmos as Creation: Theology and Science in Consonance (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989), 211-233.
16. See Jonathan Helfand, "The Earth Is the Lord's: Judaism and Environmental Ethics," in Eugene C. Hargrove, ed., Religion and Environmental Crisis (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1986), 38-52.
17. Mishnah Berakhot 6:3: "Rav. Judah said in the name of Samuel: To enjoy anything of this world without a berakhah is like making a personal use of things consecrated to heaven."
18. Richard Sarason, "The Significance of the Land of Israel in the Mishnah," in The Land of Israel: Jewish Perspectives, ed. Lawrence A. Hoffman (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1986), 114.
19. For a modern reworking of this biblical view see Samuel Belkin, "Man as Temporary Tenant," in Judaism and Human Rights, ed. Milton R. Konvitz (New York: Norton, 1972), 251-258.
20. For further analysis on this principle in Talmudic literature consult "Bal Tashchit," Encyclopedia Talmudit, vol. 3, 335-337.
21. Jonathan I. Helfand, "Ecology and the Jewish Tradition: A Postscript," Judaism 20 (1971): 332.
22. Several rabbinic sources speak specifically against harming trees, especially fruit trees. See Yosef Orr and Yossi Spanier, "Traditional Jewish Attitudes towards Plant and Animal Conservation," in Rose, ed., Judaism and Ecology, 54-60.
23. A comprehensive analysis of this principle is provided by Noah J. Cohen, Tza'ar Ba'ale Hayim: The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Its Bases, Development and Legislation in Hebrew Literature, 2d. ed. (New York: Feldheim Publishers, 1976).
24. Nahmanides, Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:6. See Helfand, "Ecology and the Jewish Tradition," 333.
25. Jeffrey L. Rubinstein, The History of Sukkot in the Second Temple and Rabbinic Periods (Atlanta, Ga.: Scholars Press, 1995).
26. For a full discussion see Arthur Schafer, "The Agricultural and Ecological Symbolism of the Four Species," Tradition 20 (1982): 128-140.
27. See Ellen Bernstein, "A History of Tu B'Sh'evat," in Bernstein, ed., Ecology and the Jewish Spirit, 139-152.
28. For an overview of the Pharisaic transformation of Judaism, consult Jacob Neusner, From Politics to Piety: The Emergence of Pharisaic Judaism (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973).
29. This biblical principle is the foundation of contemporary Jewish social ecology. An example is Richard G. Hirsch, The Way of the Upright: A Jewish View of Economic Justice (New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 1973).
30. For an overview of these laws consult Gerald Blidstein, "Man and Nature in the Sabbatical Year," Tradition 8 (4) (1966): 48-55;
31. reprinted in Martin D. Yaffe, ed., Judaism and Environmental Ethics (Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2001).
32. Sholmo Riskin, "Shemitta: A Sabbatical for the Land," in Rose, ed., Judaism and Ecology, 72.
33. The Sabbatical Law could not be observed during the extended period of exile but its observance was renewed in the modern state of Israel. See Benjamin Bak, "The Sabbatical Year in Modern Israel," Tradition 1 (2) (1959): 193-199.
34. For a contemporary reflection on the relevance of biblical legislation see Arthur Waskow, "From Compassion to Jubilee," Tikkun 5 (2) (1990): 78-81.
35. On the interdependence of philosophy and Kabbalah in the Middle Ages consult Elliot R. Wolfson, "Jewish Mysticism: A Philosophical Overview," History of Jewish Philosophy, ed. Daniel H. Frank and Oliver Leaman (London and New York: Routledge, 1997), 450-498;
36. Hava Tirosh-Rothschild, "Jewish Philosophy on the Eve of Modernity," in ," History of Jewish Philosophy, ibid., 499-573.
37. The meaning of the concept of nature in medieval philosophy and Kabbalah requires a more extensive discussion than space allows. The pertinent issues are explored in the essays by Shalom Rosenberg, Lenn E. Goodman, and Elliot Wolfson in Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, ed., Judaism and Ecology (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press and Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions, forthcoming).
38. Consult Norbert M. Samuelson, Judaism and the Doctrine of Creation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
39. See Abraham Melamed, "Natural Law in Medieval and Renaissance Jewish Philosophy" [Hebrew], Daat 17 (1986): 49-66;
40. Melamed, " Natural, Human, Divine: Classification of the Law among Some Fifteenth and Sixteenth Century Italian Jewish Thinkers," Italia (1985): 59-93;
41. David Novak, "Natural Law, Halakhah and Covenant," Jewish Law Annual 7 (1988): 45-67;
42. David Novak, idem, Natural Law in Judaism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).
43. Moses Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed, trans. Shlomo Pines (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963), 1:2.
44. On the scientific activity of Levi ben Gershom, also called Gersonides, consult Gad Freudenthal, ed., Studies on Gersonides: A Fourteenth-Century Jewish Philosopher-Scientist (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1992).
45. Maimonides (Guide for the Perplexed, II:40; III:27) best articulated the interplay between the well-being of the body and the well-being of the soul that was the foundation of medieval philosophical ethics.
46. See Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, "Theology of Nature in Sixteenth-Century Italian Jewish Philosophy," Science in Context 10 (4) (1997): 529-570.
47. The dating of Sefer Yetzirah is disputed among historians of the Jewish mystical tradition. While it is reasonable to assume that some of the material is as early as the second century, the redacted text that came down to us is of a much later, medieval vintage.
48. On the textualization of nature in Sefer Yetzirah and its cognate literature, consult Moshe Idel, Golem: Jewish Magical and Mystical Traditions on the Artificial Anthropoid (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990), 9-26.
49. Consult David B. Ruderman, Kabbalah, Magic and Science: The Cultural Universe of a Sixteenth-Century Jewish Physician (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1988).
50. The relationship between God and the world in Hasidism is by no means easy to define, since Hasidic thought is very rich and diverse. The dominant view in Hasidism is panentheism, namely, the claim "that the world exists within the divine being, as part of its substance. The panentheistic view assumes that the Divinity is both immanent in the world, its substance dwelling within it, and also transcendent in relation to it and beyond it." See Yoram Jacobson, Hasidic Thought (Tel Aviv: MOD Press, 1998), 23. Hasidism, however, has often been understood to advocate a pantheistic view (namely, a view that identifies divinity with the totality of the world itself), and thus comes dangerously close to the position that rabbinic Judaism recognizes as an idolatrous form of paganism.
51. For a contemporary critique of Hasidism's presumed pantheism consult Lamm, Faith and Doubt, 175-180.
52. On this dialectic see Rachel Elior, "The Paradigms of Yesh and Ayin in Hasidic Thought," in Hasidism Reappraised, ed. Ada Rapoport-Albert (London and Portland, Oreg.: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 1997), 168-179.
53. On Buber's approach to Hasidism consult Moshe Idel, "Martin Buber and Gershom Scholem on Hasidism: A Critical Appraisal," in ," in Hasidism Reappraised, ibid., 389-403.
54. "Buber's dialogical philosophy has inspired many contemporary, non-Jewish environmentalists. A typical example is found in Brian J. Walsh, Marianne B. Karsh, and Nik Ansell, "Trees, Forestry and the Responsiveness of Creation," in Gottlieb, ed., This Sacred Earth, 423-435. While the distinction between the two paradigms of human relations - the "I-Thou" and "I-It" - has been commonly employed in environmental literature in regard to nature, a systematic analysis of Buber's own philosophy in regard to nature is yet to be undertaken.
55. For a specific program for action to Jewish individuals and institutions consult Vicky Joseph, "Action on the Environment: A Practical Guide," in Rose, ed., Judaism and Ecology, 119-127.
56. An example of such application by Jewish environmentalists is articulated by Ellen Bernstein and Dan Fink, "Bal Tashchit," in Gottlieb, ed., This Sacred Earth, 549-569. The essay illustrates the kind of educational activities Jewish environmentalists must do in their attempt to bring ecological concerns to the awareness of contemporary Jews.
57. On that tension see Schwartz, "Judaism and Nature."
58. Many secular Jews do not endorse these claims, because they regard them, perhaps mistakenly, to stand in conflict with the truths about the world that contemporary science teaches. A Jewish environmental philosophy and ethics needs to be articulated within the contemporary dialogue between science and religion.
59. Norman Solomon, "Judaism and the Environment," in Rose, ed., Judaism and Ecology, 40.
60. The point is well taken by David Ehrenfeld and Philip J. Bentley, "Judaism and the Practice of Stewardship," Judaism 34 (3) (1985): 301-311.
61. For a Christian formulation of the principle consult Bruce R. Reichenbach and V. Elving Anderson, On Behalf of God: A Christian Ethic for Biology (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 1995), 40-109.
62. See Arne Naess, "The Shallow and the Deep, Long Range Ecology Movements," in George Sessions, ed., Deep Ecology for the Twenty-First Century: Readings in the Philosophy and Practice of the New Environmentalism (Boston: Sambhala, 1995), 151-155. That Arne Naess's eco-philosophy is deeply indebted to Spinoza should not be cited as an example for a Jewish influence on Deep Ecology. It was precisely because Spinoza rejected the revealed status of the Bible and severed the connection between creation and revelation that his philosophical monism could inspire the principles of Deep Ecology.
63. This is by no means an original idea; many Jewish authors have noted that the attitude toward the land of Israel is to be understood as the paradigm for the appropriate attitude toward the earth as a whole. See Evert Gendler, "On the Judaism of Nature," in The New Jews, ed. James Sleeper and Alan L. Mintz (New York: Vintage Books, 1971), 233-243;
64. Monford Harris, "Ecology: A Covenantal Approach," CCAR Journal 23 (1976): 101-108.
65. See Peter Singer, "All Animals Are Equal," in Environmental Philosophy: From Animal Rights to Radical Ecology, ed. Michael E. Zimmerman et al. (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1998), 26-40.
66. See Arthur Waskow, "What is Eco-Kosher," in Gottlieb, ed., This Sacred Earth, 297-302.