Turning Tu B'Shvat Into An "Environmental Shabbat"

Many contemporary Jews are increasingly looking at Tu B'Shvat as a Jewish “Earth Day,” and using Tu B'Shvat seders as occasions to discuss how Jewish values can be applied to reduce many of today's ecological threats. This is more important than ever today in view of the many environmental problems currently facing Israel and our planet.

Since Tu B'Shvat falls on a Shabbat this Hebrew year (February 2-3, 2007), it would be wonderful if many congregations treated it as an “Environmental Shabbat” with observances that would increase the environmental awareness and activism of its members. This could be a great opportunity for education about environmental crises locally, nationally, and internationally, with perhaps a special emphasis in some congregations on environmental problems in Israel. It also could help energize our congregations and bring many Jews back to Jewish involvement.

People are becoming increasingly aware of and concerned about global warming because of almost daily reports about record heat waves, widespread forest fires, an increase in the number and severity of storms, severe droughts, the melting of glaciers and polar ice caps and other indications of global climate change. In late December 2006, there were reports of three events that dramatized that global warming is occurring and that it is happening far faster than climate scientists expected: (1) an inhabited island was completely evacuated because it had been inundated by rising sea waters, leaving 10,000 people homeless; (2) a giant ice island (120 feet thick and 2,500 square miles in area) broke free from a Canadian Arctic ice shelf; (3) the Bush Administration, which had been resistant to reacting to global warming, announced that polar bears are in jeopardy, mainly due to thinning ice, and moved to put them on the endangered list and to take steps to protect them. Both the U.S. and England experienced their warmest years in recorded history in 2006.

Some renowned climate scientists, such as James Hansen of NASA, are warning that global climate change may reach a 'tipping point' and spiral out of control within a decade, with disastrous consequences, if current conditions continue. A recent 700-page United Kingdom report projected losses of up to twenty percent of world gross domestic product by mid-century unless one percent of current world domestic product is devoted to combating global climate change.

When God created the world, he was able to say, "It is very good". Everything was in harmony as God had planned, the waters were clean, the air was pure. But what must God think about the world today? What must He think when the rain He sends to nourish our crops is often acid rain due to the many chemicals poured into the air by our industries? When the ozone layer He provided to separate the heavens from the earth is being depleted at such a rapid rate? When the abundance of species of plants and animals He created are becoming extinct in tropical rain forests and other threatened habitats, before we have even cataloged them? When the fertile soil that He provided is rapidly being depleted and eroded? When the climatic conditions that He designed to meet our needs are threatened by global climate change? When there are already many indications of global climate change, such as melting glaciers and polar ice caps, severe storms, droughts, flooding, and insect migrations, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control, a group composed of many of the world's leading climate scientists, is predicting an increase of 2.5 to 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit in the next hundred years, a change that would have devastating consequences for the planet; when it is projected that the majority of the world's people will live in areas with insufficient clean water in 30 years. When, along with Israel's remarkable progress in many areas, it faces a severe water shortage, very badly polluted rivers, air pollution that causes thousands of deaths per year and 17 percent of its children to have asthma, rapidly declining open space, congested roads, and an inadequate mass transit system.

These environmental problems are largely due to the fact that the ways of the world are completely contrary to Jewish values:

1. Judaism teaches that “The Earth is the Lord's” (Psalms 24:1), and that we are to be partners with God in protecting the environment. But today's philosophy is that the earth is to be exploited for maximum profit, regardless of the long-range ecological consequences.

2. Judaism stresses bal tashchit, that we are not to waste or unnecessarily destroy anything of value. By contrast, wastefulness in the United States is so great that, with less than 5% of the world's people we use about a third of the world's resources, and this has a major impact on pollution and resource scarcities.

It is urgent that Torah values be applied toward the solution of current environmental problems. This means, for example: an energy policy based not on dangerous energy sources, but on CARE (conservation and renewable energy), consistent with Jewish teachings on preserving the environment, conserving resources, creating jobs, protecting human lives, and considering future generations.

Tu B'Shvat is the New Year for Trees, the date on which the fate of trees is decided for the coming year. Hence, it is an ideal time to consider the rapid destruction of tropical rain forests and other valuable habitats. It is interesting that the prohibition bal tashchit ("thou shalt not destroy") is based on concern for fruit-bearing trees, since the Torah indicates that even in war time fruit trees may not be destroyed in order to build battering rams to attack an enemy fortification (Deuteronomy 20:19.20). This prohibition was extended by the Jewish sages. It is forbidden to cut down even a barren tree or to waste anything if no useful purpose is accomplished (Sefer Ha-Chinuch 530). The sages of the Talmud made a general prohibition against waste: "Whoever breaks vessels or tears garments, or destroys a building, or clogs up a fountain, or destroys food violates the prohibition of bal tashchit" (Kiddushin 32a). In summary, bal tashchit prohibits the destruction, complete or incomplete, direct or indirect, of all objects of potential benefit to people. Imagine the impact if this prohibition was put into practice by society today!

It is customary to recite Psalm 104, as well as other psalms, on Tu B'Shvat. Psalm 104 indicates how God's concern and care extends to all creatures, and illustrates that God created the entire earth as a unity, in ecological balance. Since Jews are to imitate God's positive attributes, and we are to bring a “light unto the nations,” we could have a great impact by being a positive example by imitating God's concern for all of creation.

Some possibilities for an "Environmental Shabbat" include

1. A Tu B'Shvat seder on Friday night, with a discussion or guest speaker on an environmental topic;

2. A sermon on Jewish environmental teachings on Shabbat morning;

3. An environmentally-conscious kiddush or lunch, with a minimum of waste and an environmental d'var Torah;

4. A discussion or a guest speaker on an environmental topic after morning services (possibly as part of a kiddush) or between Mincha and Maariv.

Many additional creative ideas consistent with Jewish tradition can be considered.

It would be wonderful if Jews used Tu B'Shvat and activities related to this increasingly important holiday, as occasions to start to make tikkun olam, the repair and healing of the planet, a central focus in Jewish life today. This is essential to help move our precious, but imperiled, planet to a sustainable path.
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There is much valuable background material on Jewish teachings on environmental issues and Tu B'Shvat observances at the web sites of COEJL (Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life) (www.coejl.org) and Canfei Nesharim (“Wings of Eagles”) (http://www.canfeinesharim.org/).

Thanks to Jonathan Wolf for his help on this article.