Some Rabbinic texts on the importance of looking after the earth, and not wasting what we have:
A midrash: When God created the first human being, God led Adam around the Garden of Eden and said,"Behold my works! See how beautiful they are, how excellent! All that I have created, for your sake did I create it. See to it that you do not spoil and destroy my world; for if you do, there will be no one to repair it after you." R. Eleazar said: I heard that one who rends [his garments] too much for a dead man transgresses the command bal tashchit (Aramaic for 'not wasting')
- Baba Kamma 91b (Talmud)
This is the way of the kindly men of piety and the conscientiously observant…They will not destroy even a mustard seed in the world and they are distressed at every ruination and spoilage that they see…
- Sefer HaChinuch, no. 529 Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai said, three things are of equal importance, earth, humans, and rain. Rabbi Levi ben Hiyyata said: ... to teach that without earth, there is no rain, and without rain, the earth cannot endure, and without either, humans cannot exist
- (Genesis Rabbah, 13:3 (Midrash)) Look at My works. See how beautiful they are, how excellent. See to it that you do not spoil or destroy My world – for if you do, there will be no one to repair it after you.”
- (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:13) We are not obligated to complete the task; neither are we free to abstain from it.
- (Pirke Avot, 2:21)
Printer-friendly version
Post new comment