 |
Jewish Statements on the Environment
Jewish leaders and scholars have forcefully
affirmed that responding to environmental degradation
is a clear moral imperative. That imperative is
grounded in gratitude for the divine blessings
given in and through creation and in the divinely
mandated human role as shomrei adamah,
guardians of the earth.
In March 1992, senior Jewish leaders from
across the religious and communal spectrum of
American Jewish life convened in Washington, D.C., for a Consultation on the Environment and Jewish
Life. At that consultation, they drafted “A
Jewish Response to the Environmental Crisis,”
which became the founding statement for the Coalition
on the Environment and Jewish Life. The statement
reads in part:
For Jews, the environmental crisis is
a religious challenge. As heirs to a tradition
of stewardship that goes back to Genesis and
that teaches us to be partners in the ongoing
work of Creation, we cannot accept the escalating
destruction of our environment and its effect
on human health and livelihood. Read
the complete statement.
This and other significant Jewish statements
on the environment show that environmental responsibility
has taken its place alongside — indeed,
is deeply bound up with — other longstanding
Jewish concerns such as social and economic justice
and the welfare of the Jewish people and the state
of Israel.
|
|
They announce the commitment that respect for
creation must permeate the institutions and practices
of Jewish life as part of what it means to be
tzedek — righteous.
|