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Judaism The framework for Judaism’s teachings on the environment emerges from the dynamic tension between two verses at the beginning of Genesis. In Genesis 1:28, God blesses the newly created humans, “... Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it; have dominion over... every living thing...” This apparent grant of absolute power was accepted by some environmentalists to be the reason why humans believe that they can exploit nature. However, it says just a few chapters later that, God takes the newly created human, “...and placed him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate it and to guard it.” This verse makes humans believe that they have a stewardship relationship to the world in which they live. It is unclear whether these verses are contradictory or complementary. Many Jews believe that by arriving at a compromise between these two extremes they can find harmony with the environment. I hope to expand upon the ideas of Jews concerning the world around them. The Tenakh, the Jewish book of hold scriptures, talks primarily about the ways in which Jews should treat their environment. Jews believe that God created the World and so they should maintain its beauty and care for it, as God would have wanted. This is a passage from the Tenakh: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light, ‘day’ and the darkness he called, ‘night’. And there was evening and there was morning – the first day.” Today, some people do not entirely believe that this passage should be taken literally, but all Jews think that some parts of it have messages, which can be applied to the World today. Many scientists cannot except that this story is completely true because of their discoveries making it virtually impossible that these things happened. Jews believe that after God created the world for them, he wanted them to look after it. This next passage basically means that Jews should have complete power over all the animals living in the World: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Jews accept that God created the World and then made people in his own likeness to look after what he had made. The idea that humans should be, “Stewards,” originates here. In some peoples mind it can be seen as a gift, whereas others perceive it as more of an obligation.
Approximate Word count = 1914
Approximate Pages = 7.7
(250 words per page double spaced)
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