Jul 08, 2008   5 Tammuz 5768 Canfei Nesharim
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Learning and Resources / Learn Torah

Featured Articles

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What a Lot of Noise
By: Rabbi Yossi Ives

The Environment in Contemporary Jewish Law
by Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld

Reconnecting to Nature
by Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz

The Four Children and the Environment
By: Rabbi Shlomo Levin

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?

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

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

On Passover we read about the four children- the wise, the wicked, the simple, and the one who does not know how to ask.

Each has a different attitude toward the Passover holiday, and we can often picture a stereotype of what type of person they represent.

What if these same four children discussed the environment?

What kinds of people could we imagine them to be?

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Browse all our "Learn Torah" articles:


A Free Nation
A post-Chanukah thought
Are We Lagging Behind On Green Issues?
Beneath the Surface of the Mitzvah of Bal Tashchit
Bal Tashchit: Optimism in a Time of Teshuva
Counting the Omer: A Tool for Nature Consciousness
Chanukah and the Miracle of Saving Oil
Counting Our Connections to the Land
Destructions of Our Past and Present
Earth Day and the Ethical Obligation to Protect the Earth
Elevating the Holy Sparks in Wealth: The Exodus, Pesach, and Our Lives
Eruv "Pollution"?
From Egypt to Israel: A Process or a Goal?
Is Appreciating Nature Bittul Torah? A New Reading of Mishna Avot 3:7
"Judaism and Ecology"
Learning Faith and Gratitude Through our Relationship to Hashem's Creation
Lessons from the Animal Kingdom
Lessons From a Tsunami
Mattos-Masei
Modern Day Equivalents of a Talmudic Question
Mishpacha - Environmenal Legislation
Noah's Environment
Our Gift for Earth's Birthday
On A Land that "Drinks Water from the Rain of Heaven"
Our Beautiful World
Purim as a Model for Making a Difference
Perceptions on the Parsha
Planting the seed of Eternity
Pearls from the Nest
Re-Connecting to Nature
Rosh Hashana, Personal Change, and the Future of the Planet
Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah: A Connection
Sources for the Study of Jewish Law and Ecology
The Halachos of Netilas Yadayim and Water Conservation
The Caution that is Called For
The Halachic Responsibility of Forest Fires
Trees, Protection, and the Three Weeks
The Interdependence of All – an Exploration of Bereishit
The Jew and the Omer: An Ecological Synthesis
Tikun Olam in a Halachic Framework: A Comparative Analysis of Talmudic Sources and Environmental Principles
The Land is Mine
Tu B’shvat The Power of Blessings
Tu B’shvat Bar Ilan – Parshat Beshalach
The Environmentalism of the Pious
The Tree of Life
The Conflict of Yaakov and Esav
To Pollute or Not to Pollute: Environmental Management in Torah Law
The Four Children and the Environment
What Does the Torah Say about the Environment?
"Were our Mouths as Full of Song as the Sea"
What a Lot of Noise!
You Are What You Eat

 
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