Published: 21 February 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
LIKE MANY CULTURES, Jewish tradition emphasises a symbiotic relationship with the earth and expresses gratefulness for nature’s gifts for human sustenance and enjoyment. Tu Bishvat is a time for reflection on environmental preservation, and today, in the context of climate change, it has become interwoven with the causes of conservation and sustainability, exemplifying the obligation to care for the planet for future generations.
The convergence of events inspired by nature at the weekend reminded me both of the beautiful universality of humankind and of the uniqueness of all the cultures that contribute to the kaleidoscope of life. The earth has helped shape our ethics and customs. What parts of Jewish tradition, then, can we offer to the climate cause?
Jewish tradition, like many, emphasises human responsibility to care for the earth and for future generations.
Rabbi Rafi Kaiserblueth from Sydney’s Emanuel Synagogue says that the concept of stewardship or duty can be traced all the way to the story of Creation. A “traditional, not even new age reading of the creation story,” he explains, “is that humans, although they can make use of nature, must guard and preserve it because this is the one world we have.”
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