The weekly message of Shabbat rings with environmental import, if we but dare to understand it on its own terms. But to my mind, this profound and uniquely biblical institution is not intended to ennoble the human race but to humble it. With its incessant strictures against work, Shabbat reminds us of our earthly status as tenant and not overlord. To rest is to acknowledge our limitations. One day out of seven we cease to exercise our power to tinker and transform.
Willful inactivity is a statement of subservience to a power greater than our own.
The design of Shabbat to rein in our lust for grandeur and gratification, then, addresses the environmental issue head on. For the first time, a species has the power to render this planet uninhabitable, either cataclysmically or incrementally. Precisely at this juncture, the archaic texts of the Hebrew Bible confront us with a vision of responsibility. We are not free to act indifferently or selfishly. Our mission is to tend to this cosmic oasis, to perpetuate an islet of consciousness in a seemingly mindless universe.