Judaism
A New/Old Jewish Environmental Ethic: Don’t Go About Like a Merchant
Even the most cursory look at Jewish ethics will reveal a vehement — at times almost obsessive — concern with preventing gossip. Even little kids grow up being warned against לשון הרע (“Lashon Hara”), literally the “evil tongue” — a horrific sin in traditional Jewish ethics. The great rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan (1838-1933, and no …
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CONTINUE READINGA Unique Definition of “Interfaith”
Today in the mail appears an interesting program from the Wallage Stegner Center of the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law: this coming Friday and Saturday, the Center will host “Religion, Faith, and the Environment” with lots of important guest speakers. Good on them. But then when I looked at the program, something …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Talmud and the Endowment Effect
The endowment effect is one of the most important aspects of behavioral economics. It postulates that losing something is worse than gaining something is good. One can easily see it applied to various aspects of property law: it is worse to lose a piece of property that you think is yours than to gain a …
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CONTINUE READINGChanukah as an Environmentalists’ Debate
The other day I suggested that Chanukah might be considered a paradigmatic environmental holiday because God’s central miracle essentially entailed energy conservation: The Temple Menorah as Prius. A teacher of mine (an Orthodox rabbi who moonlights as a professional photographer), said that he could accept that, but that he sees Chanukah as a demonstration of …
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CONTINUE READINGChanukah: The Ultimate Environmental Festival
“To see what is in front of one’s nose is a constant struggle.” — George Orwell. Every now and then, something hits you right between the eyes, and you wonder why you didn’t see it before. Thus it is that I realized this morning that Chanukah, which begins this Saturday evening, is the paradigmatic environmental …
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CONTINUE READINGGiving Thanks to Whom? And How?
Thanksgiving is often thought of as America’s unique secular holiday. That’s somewhat ironic, because the very name of the day suggests an external power, force, or being to whom we give thanks. But Thanksgiving also carries with it important environmental implications, because we are also celebrating the bounty of the earth. In a recent essay, …
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CONTINUE READINGIs Rain a Miracle?
Starting this Sunday evening, with the festival of Shemini Atzeret, observant Jews add a brief passage in the middle of the Amidah, the central prayer of the Jewish liturgy. Addressing God, the line reads: You cause the winds to blow and the rain to fall. It’s hardly surprising in one sense: with the beginning of …
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CONTINUE READING“Everything is God”: The Shema and the Environment
Rabbi Marc Angel is one of the most important Jewish thinkers today: the former chief rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel , New York’s oldest Sephardic synagogue, he created and now heads the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals, a think tank that has pioneered innovative modern Orthodox thought in the Sephardic tradition. His recent award-winning book on Maimonides and …
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CONTINUE READINGThey Tripped Through Its Wires
What comes to mind when you hear the phrase, “The Joshua Tree”? I’m just back from a week at Joshua Tree National Park. I was enormously fortunate to attend a fabulous Jewish Wilderness Spirituality program of Torah Trek, the brainchild of Rabbi Mike Comins. Comins’ book, A Wild Faith, is the fundamental starting point for examining the …
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CONTINUE READINGHappy New Year from Ecclesiastes
To all who are celebrating Rosh Hashanah, a big Happy New Year from Legal Planet. And what would a Jewish holiday on a legal website be without a text? In this case, the text is Kohelet Rabbah, the 8th Century CE rabbinic commentary on the Book of Ecclesiastes. The rabbis read Ecclesiastes’ line (7:13), “See …
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