Divrei Rav Josh- Parshat Bereishit

Daniel Goleman, who most famously popularized the terms of “emotional intelligence” and “social intelligence” in our society, recently wrote a book entitled Ecological Intelligence, which attempted to explain why we must adopt a similar stance to understand the importance of acting intelligently with respect to our planet.  Regarding this topic, he writes the following:

“We go through our daily life awash in a sea of things we buy, use, and throw away, waste, or save.  Each of those things has its own history and its own future, backstories and endings largely hidden from our eyes, a web of impacts left along the way from the initial expression or concoction of its ingredients, during its manufacture and transport, through subtle consequences of its use in our homes and workplaces, to the day we dispose of it.  And yet these unseen impacts of all that stuff may be their most important aspect” (Daniel Goleman, Ecological Intelligence).

According to Goleman, a person who possesses ecological intelligence is one who can relate to the world in a way that sees how their individual actions affect the ecological balance, which, by extension, affect every living being on the planet.    Goleman’s vision is a modern notion, yet one whose origins are found in Parshat Bereishit, where humanity is charged to see their relationship to the natural world as one that requires thinking seriously about what it means to serve as a steward to God’s creation.         
        
While the first chapter of Bereishit tells us that God tells the first people that they should “be fruitful and multiply; replenish the earth, and subdue it” (Bereishit 1:28), our rabbinic commentators make clear that this command does not justify wanton destruction and widespread abuse of natural resources, as exemplified by the following comment on this verse by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Ha-Kohen Kook, the first Chief Ashkenazi rabbi of Israel:

“No rational person can doubt that the Bible, when it commands people to “rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky and all living things that move on the earth,” does not have in mind a cruel ruler who exploits his people and servants for his own will and desires—God forbid that such a detestable law of slavery (be attributed to God) who “is good to all and his tender care rests upon all his creatures (Psalms 145:9) and “the world is built on tender mercy” (Psalms 89:3)…”

Rav Kook rejects the notion that one can read the first chapter of Bereishit and see God giving humanity carte blanche to do with the earth as one pleases, and Rav Kook’s comment is echoed in the commentary on this verse by rabbinic commentators throughout the ages.  Instead, the rabbis come to understand a different relationship that people must develop with the world.

When one reads the second chapter of Bereishit, one finds God providing specific directions to humanity as to how they should exist within the balance of the natural world.   The Torah states:

“And so the Lord God took the man, and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and to guard it” (Bereishit 2:15).   

In this verse, two verbs form the heart of what humanity is meant to do with God’s creation, namely that humanity is placed on earth l’ovdah, to work the land, and l’shomrah, to protect it.   In this sense, humanity can more accurately described as stewards of God’s creation, responsible for upkeep and sustenance, and liable if they abuse that land in an irresponsible manner.   This analogy is outlined most explicitly by Jonah ibn Janakh, a medieval commentator and grammarian.  He writes the following:

“A man is held responsible for everything he receives in this world, and his children are responsible too…The fact is that nothing belongs to him, everything is the Lord’s, and whatever he received he received only on credit and the Lord will exact payment for it. This may be compared to a person who entered a city and found no one there. He walked into the house and there found a table set with all kinds of food and drink. So he began to eat and drink thinking, “I deserve all of this, this is all mine, I shall with it what I please.” He didn’t even notice that the owners were watching him from the side! He will yet have to pay for everything he ate and drank, for he is in a spot from which he will not be able to escape” (Jonah ibn Janach, from The Living Talmud).

This above commentary lays out an explicit evaluation of how we must understand the way in which all of us are held accountable for the decisions we make on this planet.   As such, the way in which teach others, and especially our students, to be responsible stewards for creation takes on a critical importance.

While our primary task in providing a Jewish education to our students at Schechter is to ensure that they care and understood the core ideas, practices, and concepts, of our Jewish tradition, we also have the responsibility to place those objectives into a context, and remind them about their obligation to take those ideas and use them to affect the world.    Perhaps nothing in requires a renewed sense of care and responsibility than the way in which we treat our planet, an idea that finds its roots in our parasha, and should affect the hearts and minds of our Schechter Community.   

May each of us have the merit of charging every member of the Schechter Community to see how our Jewish values can and must affect our sense of responsibility to care for God’s wondrous acts of creation.

Shabbat Shalom!