Caring for the Earth and Each Other

Celebration of Prayer 3 14 2024

Prayer by Rabbi Sam Cohon

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם יוֹצֵר אוֹר וּבוֹרֵא חֽשֶׁךְ עֹשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם וּבוֹרֵא אֶת־הַכֹּל:

Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, Maker of light, Creator of darkness, Maker of peace, Creator of all things.

What is our responsibility, as human beings, to the planet on which we find ourselves?  And how are we to act in ways that demonstrate our moral appreciation, and the ethical imperative, to treat a shared space that is home not only to our unique species, but to every other unique species on the earth?

In Genesis in the Torah we are told that God, who according to Jewish tradition created everything, gave Adam, the first, primordial human, the responsibility to care for the earth.

וַיִּקַּ֛ח יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֑ם וַיַּנִּחֵ֣הוּ בְגַן־עֵ֔דֶן לְעׇבְדָ֖הּ וּלְשׇׁמְרָֽהּ׃

“The LORD God took the human being, Adam, and placed him in the garden of Eden, to till it and tend it” the Jewish Publication Society English edition of the Torah reads that.  Now that phrase can be translated various ways: literally, in the original Hebrew, it means “to serve it and to guard it.”  Everett Fox, in his poetic translation, has, “to work it and to watch it,” which is also close to the original Hebrew.  The Schocken Bible has “To work it and to preserve it,” which is quite nice, if less alliterative.

In other words, our role in this creation in which we have been placed by God is both to work the earth and use its production for benefit—and also to protect it.

These two verbs, לְעׇבְדָ֖הּ וּלְשׇׁמְרָֽהּ can be said to represent rather different functions we must fulfill, which may sometimes, perhaps often, be in conflict.  We are commanded by God to utilize the earth we have been given to produce what we require: the traditional food, water, shelter, and clothing, but also heat, power, transportation, communication, connection, and healing in today’s world.  We know how to do this and we are good at it.

Note that we are also equally commanded to guard, protect, watch, preserve and be good stewards of the same natural world we might otherwise seek to exploit solely for our benefit.  You see, in Jewish tradition, we are required to consider not only whether we can derive benefit from the world in which we live but to decide whether we can do so while maintaining its full viability and vitality for the future. 

It is that tension that lies at the heart of our dilemma today.  We know that we must both provide for ourselves, and for all the people living now, and simultaneously protect future generations forever on this magnificent, but somewhat fragile planet with which God has blessed us.

For many years we have been living in an era that some scientists call the Anthropocene: a time when human behavior has transformed and profoundly affected our home, the earth.  Many of these changes are permanent, and some are decidedly dangerous to the future of many species, including ours, on this planet.  The phenomenon of global warming has impacted every part of the world, and after a great deal of denial about it for a long time here in America and elsewhere, we are finally coming to terms with some of the ways we must seek to alleviate some of the causes and consequences of that transformation.  

We know that if we do not change the direction of the damage we are doing to the earth through this process, and through other deformations of our natural environment by pollution and waste production—that is, nondegradable garbage—that we will reach a point at which it becomes impossible to truly preserve a healthy planet.

It is, frankly, a shared necessity that we protect the earth, the only one we have—Mars is not yet a viable alternative, no matter what some billionaires believe.  It is also a shared necessity that we do so while preserving our ability to provide for the true needs of people living now on the planet, to seek to do the other commandments that Genesis includes here: to feed, provide water, clothe, and care for the human beings, and the other beings, currently living.

It is that tension between those two words in the short Genesis sentence that lie at the heart of our challenge today.  It has been said that in America, we have rights, while in Judaism we have responsibilities.

In truth, our caring mission today must embrace our responsibilities to do both of these things, לְעׇבְדָ֖הּ וּלְשׇׁמְרָֽהּ, to preserve and protect, to work and to watch, to till and to tend. It is in that intrinsic tension, that creative frisson that our true task lies, our moral and practical purpose: to be true stewards of this precious earth.  May this be God’s will; but more importantly, may it be ours.