by
Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.
Tisha B'Av (the 9th day of the
month of Av) which we commemorate this year
(2005) on August 15, reminds us that over
2,000 years ago Jews failed to heed the warnings
of the prophet Jeremiah, with the result that
the first Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.
Today there are many “Jeremiahs”
warning us that now it is the entire world
that faces destruction from global warming
and its effects, species extinction, droughts,
destruction of tropical rain forests and other
valuable habitats, and many other environmental
threats. For example, in 1992, over 1,700
of the world's leading scientists, including
104 Nobel Laureates, signed a "World
Scientists Warning to Humanity," stating
that 'human beings and the natural world are
on a collision course", and that "a
great change in our stewardship of the earth
and the life on it is required, if vast human
misery is to be avoided and our global home
on this planet is not to be irretrievably
mutilated." This year, Academies of Science
in the United States and other industrialized
countries warned of severe consequences if
immediate steps are not taken to reduce the
threats of global warming.
On Tisha B'Av, Jews fast to
express their sadness over the destruction
of the two Temples and to awaken us to how
hungry people feel. So severe are the effects
of starvation that the Book of Lamentations
(4:10) states that "More fortunate were
the victims of the sword than the victims
of famine, for they pine away stricken, lacking
the fruits of the field." Yet, today
over 70% of the grain grown in the United
States is fed to animals destined for slaughter,
as an estimated 20 million people worldwide
die annually because of hunger and its effects.
Jewish sages connected the word
"eichah" (alas! what has befallen
us?) that begins Lamentations and a word that
has the same root "ayekah" ("Where
art thou?"), the question addressed to
Adam and Eve after they had eaten the forbidden
fruit. Perhaps failure to properly hear and
respond to "ayekah" in terms of
stating "Hineni" - here I am, ready
to carry out God's commandments so that the
world will be better - causes us to eventually
have to say and hear "eichah".
The reading of the book of Lamentations
on Tisha B’Av is meant to wake up the
Jewish people to the need to return to God's
ways, by showing the horrors that resulted
when God’s teachings were ignored. The
readings on Tisha B'Av help to sensitize us
so that we will hear the cries of lament and
change our ways. Rabbi Yochanan stated "Jerusalem
was destroyed because the residents limited
their decisions to the letter of the law of
the Torah, and did not perform actions that
would have gone beyond the letter of the law"
('lifnim meshurat hadin') (Baba Metzia 30b.
in this time of factory farming, environmental
threats, widespread hunger, and epidemics
of chronic degenerative diseases, perhaps
it is necessary that Jews go beyond the strict
letter of the law.
This Tisha B’Av, I hope
that we will begin to heed its basic lesson
that failure to respond to proper admonitions
can lead to catastrophe. The Jewish people
must make tikkun olam (the repair and healing
of the planet) a major focus in Jewish life
today, and consider personal and societal
changes that will start to move our precious,
but imperiled, planet to a more sustainable
path. By doing this, we would be performing
a great kiddush Hashem (sanctification of
God’s Name) by working to meet our mandate
to be a light unto the nations.
All of us can and must contribute
to this new stewardship, even with modest
changes to our lifestyle. In 1999, the UCS
wrote: "Just as we don't claim that people
need to stop driving their cars completely,
we don't argue that they need to stop eating
meat entirely. But reductions in both areas
- driving and meat consumption - will certainly
benefit the environment.”
In view of the many threats
to humanity today, I hope that Jews will enhance
their commemoration of the solemn but spiritually
meaningful holiday of Tisha B'Av by making
it a time to begin striving even harder to
live up to Judaism's highest moral values
and teachings. One important way to do this
is by working to shift our precious, but imperiled,
planet to a more sustainable path.
