LEV1128 For all of the questions in this case study, two teachings arise for me as transcendently important: One is the contemporary consensus of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a council of scientists from around the world, that planet earth is becoming overheated, that this poses very serious dangers to human civilization and to the web of life in which the human race came into existence, and that this process is mostly due to the actions of the human race itself. The second is the warning in ancient passages in Leviticus 26:31-35 and 26:43 that failure to let the earth rest, as described in Leviticus 25, will bring about social and ecological calamity: famine, drought, and exile. Leviticus is, I think, encoding the accumulated experience of farmers, shepherds, and orchard-keepers on the western edge of the Mediterranean as sacred wisdom. These are the sharpest and most poignant teachings, but not the only relevant ones. The traditional second paragraph of the Shema, for example, taken from Deuteronomy 11:13-21, warns that if we follow the sacred teachings that flow from the One Who/That is the Unity of all life, then the rain, the soil, the sun, and the seed will unite to make our herds and our crops prosper and we will live well; but that if we turn to “afterthought gods” (Elohim acherim), then the earth, the river, and the sky will become our enemies. For me, the God of forethought, or flow, of the Whole is YHWH, Whose name cannot be pronounced but only breathed because God is the interbreeding of all life. … For me, these teachings are not sacred just because they are embedded in what we call Torah. They are sacred because they embody lived and living experience. And they point to what I can see around me: that human action can despoil, and is despoiling, our earth. Human beings, as well as entire species, are dying as a result. … It is also important to pursue the hands-on practices of an “eco-kosher” life-path, in which not only food but everything else we “eat” from the earth--like coal and oil--must be consumed in a way that seeks to heal the earth. Perhaps even more importantly, it is necessary for Jews to advocate vigorously for changes in public policy. It has become clear that governments will take effective action on the climate crisis only if the public insists on serious change. I encourage action based on the following seven principles, which are deeply rooted in Jewish tradition, and which should act as a yardstick for measuring the success and integrity of Jewish and interfaith efforts to shape U.S. and world policy on the climate crisis:... 2. The cost to those responsible for spewing CO2 and methane into the atmosphere must be greatly increased through taxation and/or “cap and trade” legislation that requires payment from carbon producers according to the damage they are causing. The underlying Jewish principle here is captured in Exodus 21:28-30: “When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox is not to be punished. If, however, that ox has been in the habit of goring, and its owner, though warned, has failed to guard it, and it kills a man or a woman--the ox shall be stoned and its owner, too, shall be put to death. If random is laid upon him, he must pay whatever is laid upon him to redeem his life.” (By Arthur Waskow, "Jewish Environmental Ethics: Intertwining Adam with Adamah")
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