In recent decades, Jewish rabbis and scholars have shown that traditional Jewish teachings about God, humanity, and nature contain much wisdom that can inform a spiritual and ethical response to present-day environmental concerns. Longstanding Jewish religious and ethical teachings encourage appreciation for nature, a sense of spiritual connection to it, and the responsibility to protect human health and the diversity of life. This wisdom is carried into the present from the past by the Hebrew Scriptures, the later oral and written commentaries by religious and legal scholars, and the prayers, liturgies and religious practices of the Jewish community.

Among the Jewish teachings and practices that support environmental concern are the following:

God as Ruler and Owner of the World

God never fully relinquishes dominion over the world. In promulgating the laws of the sabbatical year (Leviticus 25:23), he reasserts his proprietorship over creation, stating, “The land is mine.” This principle of divine ownership of nature is . . . the basis for several categories of liturgical blessing. According to the Tosefta, “Man may not taste anything until he has recited a blessing, as it is written ‘The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof’ (Psalm 24:1).

"Anyone who derives benefit from this world without a (prior) blessing is guilty of misappropriating sacred property." The list of blessings based on this concept includes numerous specialized and general blessings recited on comestibles and a host of rules and regulations regarding their application and priorities. (Jonathan Helfand, “The Earth is the Lord’s: Judaism and Environmental Ethics,” in Religion and Environmental Crisis, Eugene Hargrove, ed., University of Georgia Press.)

In Genesis 2:15, the first humans are commanded "to till and to tend" the Earth. This formulation hints at a kinship with the rest of creation that becomes even clearer when we look at the Hebrew more closely. Avad means not only to till, or even to work in a more general sense; it means also, and more powerfully, to serve or to participate in worship of the Divine. Thus, our "tilling" is more properly understood as service to God's Earth, a service that is not only a profound responsibility but a direct and critical part of our connection with and worship of God as well. And shamar, or "tend," means not only to tend, but more commonly, to guard or to watch over. What these meanings have in common is that the shomrim guard property that does not belong to them, but that is entrusted to them. (Daniel Swartz, “Jews, Jewish Texts, and Nature: A Brief History.”)