Because the Jews were first to believe in one God who created the universe, they also laid out in the Torah the world’s first-ever environmental legislation. And so we have in the Torah laws about letting fields go fallow every seven years, about not needlessly destroying trees when laying siege to a city and so on. The key phrase here, two vital words, occur in the second chapter of Bereishit, where it says that God planted the first human being in the garden, l’ovdah u’leshomrah, to serve and conserve it.
In other words, God says to us, “Here is the universe. I have made you the single most powerful force in the universe, but you are My guardians, My trustees, and therefore, you have to protect and preserve the environment for the sake of future generations.”
A Midrash puts it as well as any other statement that I’ve heard. When God finished Creation, and He had created the first human being, He said, “Adam, see what I have created and I’ve made it all for you. Therefore, be careful. Be careful not to destroy what I’ve made. For if you destroy it, there will be no-one left to put the damage right.”
SHARE
More from JInsider
Rabbi Sacks on the Jewish Narrative
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Future Tense Take Aways: Part 1
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Future Tense Take Aways: 2
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on the Universal Jewish Story
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Peoplehood
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on an Engaged Judaism
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Charity Priorities
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on a Responsible Life
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Reconciliation
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Community Conflict
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Particularism vs Universalism
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on a Culture of Hope
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on his Personal Hatikvah
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Israel and Jewish Society
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Torah in Today's World
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Prayer
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Indifference
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on the Jewish Role in the World
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Torah and the Real World
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Free Market and Judaism
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Antisemitism
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Future Tense
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Love as Deed
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Combatting Antisemitism
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Material Loss
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on the Antidote to Materialism
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Parenting
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on a Tzedakah Tale
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on a Family Story
JInsider (March 2010)
On the Internet and Judaism
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Plato's Ghost
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Optimism vs. Hope
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Victim Mentality
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Jerusalem
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Advice for our Times
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Fundamentalism
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Time
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on the Chosen People
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on 21st Century Israel
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on the Origins of Antisemitism
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Understanding Jewish Exile
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Anger
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on the Historical Evolution of Antisemitism
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Interfaith Relations
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Coincidence and Providence
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Free Will
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Family and Marriage
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Tzedakah Defined
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Daily Life
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Being Jewish
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on his Personal Rebbe, Rabbi Nachum Rabinovitch
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Connecting to God
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on God and Evil
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Dialogue with Atheists
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Doubt
Jinsider (March 2010)
On Tikkun Olam
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on a Response to Atheism
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on Finding Purpose
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on a Responsible Life - Example
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on the Dignity of Difference - Part 2
JInsider (March 2010)
Rabbi Sacks on the Dignity of Difference - Part 1
JInsider (March 2010)