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According to the Jewish calendar every seventh year is a Sabbatical year, in which we give the land its due rest. In addition to allowing the land to rest during the seventh year, loans were cancelled and produce from the fields became ownerless, allowing virtually free access to everyone.
The essence of the seventh year teaches that all human striving and achievement must be in tune and in accordance with a Divine cycle and plan for mankind.
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When relating the event of Matan Torah - the Sinaic revelation - the Torah (Exodus 18:16-18) takes great pains to describe the 'sound effects':
In the morning of the third day, there were thunder and lightning and a thick cloud upon
the mountain and the sound of the shofar exceedingly loud…
I have long been troubled by this. Why did the Torah feel the need to fill us in on the stage management and special effects?
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In classical Judaism, many references are made to issues we nowadays would define as "environmental".
These are found, for instance, in both the Tanakh's halakhic parts and the narrative.
Together they present a specific Jewish position on what emerged only a few decades ago as a separate field
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One of the striking phenomena of modern Orthodox life is how distant we are from nature. In the
ancient world, both among Jews and among the other nations of the world, people were very connected and sensitive to the cycles of the sun, moon, and the stars and the planets.
All of our holidays and the cycles of Judaism are based on the natural cycles of the world
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