Judaism assumes that man is only the guardian and not the owner of Creation and that God created the world with man as a partner in this enterprise. The Midrash tells us that God made Adam and Eve responsible for caring for the environment and that if they were to destroy it, no one but themselves should and could repair it. (Midrash Ecclesiastes Rabbah VII 12.1)

The insistence on man’s responsibility to care for Creation was emphasized by the rabbis with the mitzvah “bal tash hit,” “do not destroy.” According to Devarim 20:19, during a war, destroying the enemy’s lands or their food sources was prohibited. This prohibition of destruction was generally extended in Jewish literature to all natural resources at all times and places.

“Bal tash hit” has many implications. In general, it prohibits senseless destruction. It requires us to be careful not to harm wildlife. We must take care of the air and water and in general everything that surrounds us.

Also the mitzvah of “yishuv haaretz,” colonizing the land, is focused on the sense of doing so in a way that improves the world. On Tu Bishvat, the New Year of the Trees, the custom of planting trees is an example of this mitzvah.

A third mitzvah, “Tzaar baaley hayim,” prohibits causing suffering to any living being. In Devarim 25:4 it is stated that you should not muzzle an animal that helps with work in the field, which implies that the animal cannot eat while doing its work. And in 22:10 it clearly states that you should not put an ox and a donkey together in a yoke, since the latter does not have the strength of the former and putting them together would cause unnecessary suffering.

The Talmud explains that we can even violate the laws of Shabbat to save or cure an injured or endangered animal. We are also obligated to feed animals before we eat. And the slaughter of animals for their meat must be done with the least possible suffering for the animal. The laws of Noah prohibit us from eating parts of a living animal. Hunting as a sport is also prohibited.

The world discovered the ecological issue a few decades ago. Judaism has been dealing with it for millennia, because it is immersed in the very essence of Jewish tradition. That is why ecology is not a new topic in our Torah.

By Marcos Gojman

Bibliography: “Judaism, the way of sanctification” by Rabbis Samuel H. Dresner and Byron L. Sherwin.