“Environmental

protection is the
service to
humanity”

World Religions
Day event
Jewish Mongolia - January 2020

Jewish Mongolia
 What does Judaism teach about the
environment?
• Stewardship- the job of supervising or taking care of something
• Jews believe that God created the world (Genesis) and gave human beings a special responsibility
within creation to cultivate it, guard it and use it wisely. This is known as stewardship.
• God gives man control of the environment. Some people interpret this to mean human beings have been
given total power over everything on Earth to do as they want, but most Jews believe that humans should
act responsibly, ensuring the environment is not treated badly. Man has to work within creation and look
after it:
• The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.Genesis 2:15
• The Tenakh makes it clear that, as the whole Earth belongs to God, humans have to respect it and hand it
back to God unspoiled.
• The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.Psalm 24:1
• These passages can be used to support different sides of the argument about how Jews should care for the
environment. However, the main message is that God is the one who provides for humans and humans
show they are thankful by taking care of what God has given them.

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 Tikkun Olam
• Tikkun Olam means 'repairing the world' and expresses the Jewish desire to encourage
harmony in the world. This refers to social harmony, people being able to live in peace with each
other, enjoying health, justice and prosperity. It also refers to a duty to take care of the
environment.
• One of the ways Jews try to heal the world is the sabbatical year. According to the Bible, every
seven years, the land should be allowed to lie fallow (left for a period without being sown in order to restore
its fertility or to avoid surplus production.), so that the natural ingredients in the soil can be replenished
and better harvests can be expected in the future.
• The Jewish Declaration on Nature makes the following important points:
• God made order out of chaos when he created the world
• man accepted responsibility before God for all of creation, at the beginning of time
• the righteous Jew lives in the world and respects the rights of other people and creation itself
• humans were given dominion over nature, but God commanded them to behave towards the rest of creation with
justice and compassion.

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Add a Slide Title - 1
 Tree Planting & Bush Regeneration
• Since 1901 the blue coin boxes of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) have been ubiquitous in every
Jewish home with the aim of raising funds for the planting of forests and other environmental
works in order to restore and maintain the fertility of the Land of Israel. In recent years the JNF
has also organised voluntary tree planting and bush regeneration in Australia, including the
Bondi – Bronte Beach coastal walk, and the approach road to Olympic Park.

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 Jewish environmental organization

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 15 Shevat
The New Year for Trees (known as Tu Bishvat)
February 10, 2020
• The 15th of Shevat on the Jewish calendar—celebrated this year on Monday, February 10, 2020
—is the day that marks the beginning of a “new year” for trees. Commonly known as Tu Bishvat,
this day marks the season in which the earliest-blooming trees in the Land of Israel emerge
from their winter sleep and begin a new fruit-bearing cycle.
• We mark the 15th of Shevat by eating fruit, particularly from the kinds that are singled out by
the Torah in its praise of the bounty of the Holy Land: grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and
dates. On this day we remember that “man is a tree of the field” (Deuteronomy 20:19), and
reflect on the lessons we can derive from our botanical analogue

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 15 Shevat
Stories about Carob - Part One

• "One day, Choni was walking down the road

and saw a man planting carob. Choni asked the
man, “When this tree will bear fruit?” The man
answered, “After seventy years.” Choni asked,
“Are you sure that you will still be around
then?” The man answered, “I was born into this
world and I found this carob which bore fruit.
As my fathers planted for me, I am planting for
my children."
(Babylonian Talmud, Taanit 23a)
•
The carob tree is therefore a sign of the times -
past, present and future.
If there's a story that people should know
about carob, and about how to treat this fragile
existence of ours, this is the one to remember.

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 Jewish Mongolia

You welcome to Join the group

Yair Jacob Porat

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