By Candace Nachman Nearly 38 years ago, the first Earth Day was observed in the United States. Twenty million people, 2,000 colleges and universities, 10,000 grammar and high schools and 1,000 communities mobilized for the first nationwide demonstrations on environmental problems. The response was nothing short of remarkable, and the modern American environmental movement […]
by Rabbi Michael Skobac In the first mishnah of tractate Rosh HaShanah, the School of Hillel asserts that the “New Year” for trees is on the 15thday of the month of Shvat. The significance of this date is to determine when the year begins for assessing the tithes and other agricultural obligations for fruit trees. Basing […]
By Rabbi Gavriel Weinberg Tu b’Shevat is an appropriate time to appreciate the greatness of Creation, and to honor it. We read in the third chapter of Pirke Avot (Chapters of the Fathers) a mishna that symbolizes the essence of the Torah’s regard for the purposefulness of all God’s creation. Ben Azai would be accustomed […]
by Dr. Aryeh Gotfryd If the science of ecology has demonstrated anything at all, it is this: No act thuds into isolation or oblivion. Everything is interwoven and responsive, with all natural processes intimately linked in a precisely balanced global ecosystem. Each species, each creature, each organ, each cell, is finely attuned and adapted […]
by Rabbi Dovid Sears This article is printed as part of the Tu b’Shevat Learning Campaign, sponsored by Canfei Nesharim, an organization that is educating the Orthodox community about the importance of protecting the environment. Jewish mystics speak of “Four Worlds.” These Four Worlds are actually four stages in a sequence that spans […]
