To my mind, Leviticus contains the core for a Jewish ecological ethic. But the absence of intent or malice does not spare us collectively from the consequences of what we have done individually. How much more culpable are we if we persist defiantly in the face of what we know to be the indisputable facts. The purification offering called for today is not a reckless dismantling of all federal environmental regulations, but rather a reaffirmation of the painful truth that what we have wrought individually can only be reversed collectively. Our mobile and materialistic culture is not conducive to generating much reverence for sacred space.
Scavengers are bereft of a sense of place and permanence.
To gaze at our planet from a NASA space ship should be enough to remind us just how beautiful, interconnected and fragile is the global habitat we have come to overrun. Our responsibility to care for it rises with our knowledge of its singularity and of our deleterious impact on it. Talk Shop Sign Up Search Courses Receive the JTS Torah commentary and Shabbat candlelighting times sent to you weekly by e-mail. Click here to sign up for free membership. If you're already a member, Log In .