Energy.
One of the most significant challenges of our time is how we produce, use, and relate to energy. Today, billions of people use fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas for energy. While use of these resources has greatly increased standards of living, it also has driven significant worldwide environmental consequences.
The Jewish tradition teaches us to use energy wisely. In some cases, wasting energy is a violation of Bal Tashchit, the prohibition not to waste excessively. For example, the Talmudic Sage Mar Zutra stated, “One who covers an oil lamp [causing the flame to burn inefficiently] or uncovers a kerosene lamp [allowing the fuel to evaporate faster] violates the prohibition of Bal Tashchit” (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat 67b). This response shows a high degree of concern for wasting energy in a case where someone does not derive benefit from an additional use of energy.
Similarly, the Ben Ish Chai (a work by Rabbi Yosef Chaim ben Eliyahu, an Iraqi nineteenth-century authority on Jewish law, in Torah Lishma section 76) discusses a case in which a person puts a large amount of oil before Shabbat in a lamp in their home in order for it to remain lit for all of Shabbat. He rejects this practice as a waste of oil and a transgression of Bal Tashchit, since the light from this lamp will not be of benefit to a person during the day in their sun-lit home. The mitzvah of Bal Tashchit—do not destroy or waste—communicates a deeper Jewish message about the value of things: there is never enough to waste even if there is plenty right now.
In our time, the above views can still be relevant to leaving lights, heaters, air conditioners, or other appliances running for all of Shabbat or during the week when a person will not derive benefit from them. Another area where this may apply is in ‘standby’ appliance use in most homes. According to the Energy Analysis Department of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, “a surprisingly large number of electrical products—from TVs to microwave ovens to air conditioners—cannot be switched off completely without being unplugged . . . A typical American home has forty products constantly drawing power. Together these amount to almost 10% of residential electricity use.”
Rabbi Ezra Batzri, former head of the Sephardi Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem, writes that a character trait of a righteous person (Midat Hasidut) is being careful about not damaging others even indirectly. The Mishnah expresses this concern for protecting our neighbors by instructing that tanneries, which produce noxious odors, must be sufficiently distanced from human settlements so as not to negatively affect the air people breathe in the vicinity (Bava Batra 25a).
Today, we can use less energy and reduce the amount of coal and gasoline burned, diminish the health impacts from the resultant air pollution, and uphold the rabbinic advice not to damage others indirectly. We might do so by driving less, eating less meat or globalized food, or taking fewer plane trips. It is in the realm of personal consumption that Jewish thought may best inform our energy and climate challenges today and empower us to change. To generate broader changes in our people and our world, we must start with our own actions.
The prophet Isaiah repeatedly calls on the Jewish people to be a “light unto the nations." In our times, let us find inspiration and light in the profound teachings of our tradition that address our central challenges. And let the light that emerges from our example reveal to the world a new sustainable path.
Source: Rabbi Yonatan Neril and the Jewcology Project
The Jewish tradition teaches us to use energy wisely. In some cases, wasting energy is a violation of Bal Tashchit, the prohibition not to waste excessively. For example, the Talmudic Sage Mar Zutra stated, “One who covers an oil lamp [causing the flame to burn inefficiently] or uncovers a kerosene lamp [allowing the fuel to evaporate faster] violates the prohibition of Bal Tashchit” (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat 67b). This response shows a high degree of concern for wasting energy in a case where someone does not derive benefit from an additional use of energy.
Similarly, the Ben Ish Chai (a work by Rabbi Yosef Chaim ben Eliyahu, an Iraqi nineteenth-century authority on Jewish law, in Torah Lishma section 76) discusses a case in which a person puts a large amount of oil before Shabbat in a lamp in their home in order for it to remain lit for all of Shabbat. He rejects this practice as a waste of oil and a transgression of Bal Tashchit, since the light from this lamp will not be of benefit to a person during the day in their sun-lit home. The mitzvah of Bal Tashchit—do not destroy or waste—communicates a deeper Jewish message about the value of things: there is never enough to waste even if there is plenty right now.
In our time, the above views can still be relevant to leaving lights, heaters, air conditioners, or other appliances running for all of Shabbat or during the week when a person will not derive benefit from them. Another area where this may apply is in ‘standby’ appliance use in most homes. According to the Energy Analysis Department of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, “a surprisingly large number of electrical products—from TVs to microwave ovens to air conditioners—cannot be switched off completely without being unplugged . . . A typical American home has forty products constantly drawing power. Together these amount to almost 10% of residential electricity use.”
Rabbi Ezra Batzri, former head of the Sephardi Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem, writes that a character trait of a righteous person (Midat Hasidut) is being careful about not damaging others even indirectly. The Mishnah expresses this concern for protecting our neighbors by instructing that tanneries, which produce noxious odors, must be sufficiently distanced from human settlements so as not to negatively affect the air people breathe in the vicinity (Bava Batra 25a).
Today, we can use less energy and reduce the amount of coal and gasoline burned, diminish the health impacts from the resultant air pollution, and uphold the rabbinic advice not to damage others indirectly. We might do so by driving less, eating less meat or globalized food, or taking fewer plane trips. It is in the realm of personal consumption that Jewish thought may best inform our energy and climate challenges today and empower us to change. To generate broader changes in our people and our world, we must start with our own actions.
The prophet Isaiah repeatedly calls on the Jewish people to be a “light unto the nations." In our times, let us find inspiration and light in the profound teachings of our tradition that address our central challenges. And let the light that emerges from our example reveal to the world a new sustainable path.
Source: Rabbi Yonatan Neril and the Jewcology Project