 |
Newsletter Issue 14 Spring 2001 Nisan 5761 In This Edition Pesach Olive Trees Eco-Kashrut Views Next event Pre-Shavuot visit to The Wetlands Centre, Barnes, on 20th May
-PESACH - Freedom for Us & Freedom for the Planet?
At Pesach we celebrate our freedom - the freedom to live our lives as Jews without fear of persecution or slavery. But with freedom comes responsibility
- not only towards our fellow humans, but also to all of creation? So, why is it that Pesach is the festival where the planet suffers the most from the consequences of our consumerist lifestyles! Public enemy number one
at Pesach is not Pharoah, but polystyrene cups, foil cooking containers and plastic cutlery. The Noah Project is once again calling on the community to think about the planet this Pesach and not revert to disposable
cutlery and crockery. Many people go for disposables as a way of guaranteeing a Chametz-free Pesach. Whilst this may be sound by the laws of Kashrut, the chemicals and pollution emitted in producing such products, and
the resulting land-fill when it is disposed of, is in breach of the principle of Bal Tashchit (Do Not Destroy). The Noah Project was also saddened to see the official advice of the London Beth Din (as printed in the
Jewish Press recently) that disposable plates are preferable
for the final Chametz-meals before Pesach. Our parents' and grandparents' generation did not have these harmful products to fall back on, so one must wonder if such a move is indeed for the sake of Kashrut, or for the sake of convenience - at the expense of the planet. We are not a poor community. Many of us have the funds to purchase additional crockery which can be re-used each Pesach. We have a responsibility towards the planet, and Pesach is the time when we should be showing that we are worthy of the freedom which we were granted. We wish all our supporters an environmentally-sound Pesach !
Foot and Mouth To what extent is Foot & Mouth
an environmental issue? What can Judaism teach the wider world about animal welfare ? We'd like to get a creative discussion going within the Community about this issue. If you have any views on this issue, please
contact us, and we'll print your comments next time. Calling all Educators The Noah Project features in a new GCSE text book "Religion in Focus - Judaism in Today's World" (published by John Murray
). One of the authors is our Education Co-ordinator, Vivienne Cato. Olive Trees - by Miriam Gitlin Olive trees are a symbol of peace and
have been part of the Israeli landscape for thousands of years. So, the e-mail shot I recently received from Arthur Waskow was especially sobering. Writing on behalf of the broad coalition of Rabbis for Human Rights, he
documents the destruction of hundreds of Palestinian olive trees. A group of Rabbis went to see Palestinians besieged in their towns. They maintained that Israeli soldiers and settlers had been responsible for uprooting
groves of olive trees. In the village of Hares 1500 olive trees were destroyed in areas that the villagers claimed could not have been used as a cover for violence. These olive trees formed the economic and ecological
basis of the town for centuries past and had intended to be such. Although, unfortunately, the crisis in Israel could not be more current these events take us on a time warp into ancient times. We are told in
Deuteronomy that if you besiege a city you should not destroy its fruit trees for "…is the tree of the field man that it should be besieged by you?" I have seen the rabbinic interpretation of this verse used many
times to justify a Jewish environmental ethic. If trees can't be cut down in a time of war how much more so in times when there is no immediate threat? It's come down to us as a prohibition against mindless destruction,
waste and even stretched to over-consumption. Yet, here we are back at the raw verse, so to speak. Villages besieged and an army destroying trees for their own protection. The symbolism is hard to ignore. The emblem for
peace uprooted. The link between 'man' and the land sundered? I don't want to be too lyrical about this at a time when people are being killed and injured. The Israelis would certainly claim that the destruction of
olive groves is an unfortunate but strategic necessity. A necessity, by-the-by, that would be supported, in religious terms, by the Rashbam and other commentators. Desperate times do indeed give rise to desperate
measures. That the prohibition refers to a time of war underlines its seriousness. We are asked to show restraint even at the very worst of times. There has been some discussion whether the underlying reason for the
prohibition is compassion for whatever Gd has created or considerations of human welfare. The web of life is so inter-linked, however, that one leads from and to the other. Ibn Ezra interpreted the verse as "The
life of a person is only from the tree." Everything we have comes initially from the land. To destroy is to take from man. One descending spiral can lead to another. The environment is degraded through conflict and
its very degradation may be a cause for more hostility. The enormous push for development and security of the State of Israel has often been at the expense of the Land of Israel itself. Building development has taken
place with little regard to its impact. Groundwater has become so contaminated that a large proportion of the water is unusable. Most of the country's streams are contaminated by poorly treated municipal sewage.
Pressure on land and pollution have all been points of conflict between Palestinians, Palestinian Israelis and Israelis. Overarching all of course is the drastic shortage of water. Its equitable distribution and the
drilling of wells to access underground reservoirs under the West Bank have been sources of tension with both Palestinians and the Jordanians. Its continuing contamination and waste by all involved in the conflict
reduces the general pool, literally. Make no mistake, the conflict is not just over land but over water as well. In the Bible, the Israelites are entreated to keep the laws of the Torah or risk the fruitfulness of the
land. They are also told to look after their physical environment, especially the land of Israel. That mysterious three-way pull, between the Land, the People and the Law is constantly under strain. It is a triangle
stretched out of all recognition when the crucial relationship with the Palestinians is added. Sometimes it seems that both sides are fighting against the very land they are fighting for. Could it be that we are to
respect the land itself and all that grows and lives on it despite political boundaries? Traditional and modern commentators have had long and profound debate over the correct interpretation of the Biblical verse "
is the tree of the field man…" On a purely simplistic level, could it be a straight analogy, comparing man to a tree? Roots deep in the land, searching for water. Arms stretched like branches to the heavens in
hope. Frank Benatt - Totnes Shabbat Gathering It was with a sense of relief that our Totnes Shabbat Gathering heard about the 'Noah Project' Shabbat. Coming as it did in the midst of the floods, the first ever
'environmental awareness Shabbat' on 4th November highlighted the need for urgent environmental action, to halt global climate change. The simultaneous public clamour for lower fuel prices, which would have the reverse
effect, demonstrated the almost total lack of public environmental awareness. We decided however to concentrate our Shabbat discussions on food, specifically 'Eco-Kosher'. [See Newsletter issue 11]. We agreed that a new
Eco-Kosher certification is needed to address the deep-seated and all pervading malaise of the food industry. Most of the food we buy is ethically unsound, arising from the unnaturalness of the practices involved, where
animal cannibalism, cruel animal caging, 3rd world exploitation and poisoning of the planet are the norms. The original Kashrut standards were concerned with the health and environmental problems of biblical
times, but fail to address the current abuses which could not have been prophesied then. Eco-Kosher, we thought, was on the right lines. However, it needs to tackle the deep-seated systematic problem, by political
(small p) as well as 'green consumerist' measures, if it is to avoid mere tokenism. For example is it sufficient to offer a Dayenu for overhaul of the World Trade Organisation without also proposing writing letters to
politicians objecting to the destructive effects of globalisation which the W.T.O. promotes? We wondered why there was no mention of surely the most effective route to Eco-Kashrut, namely to buy, as far as possible,
ORGANIC, which should be LOCAL or at least FAIRTRADE? The certification of the Soil Association and other associated bodies then virtually guarantees that food is 'wholesome'. In addition to raising awareness of the
general issues mentioned above we thought it would be helpful for the Noah Project to do more to highlight the ethical dilemmas associated with specific products. For example, meat production in Northern Europe is
dependent on the import of vast quantities of soya as animal feed. In addition to the Global Climate Change implications of shipping the soya, soya crop is produced on a huge area of land taken from tropical rain
forests, such as the Amazon: and as a 'cash crop' on land from which peasant farmers have been displaced so that their families go hungry. Should not Eco-Kashrut require that if meat is to be eaten then it should, at
least, be 'organic'? To achieve a new spirituality, we must "self consciously and politically align ourselves with the peoples, ecosystems and nations that have been rendered impoverished and destitute by the
current patterns of economic development & ecological imperialism" [Kothar]. Keep up the good work! The Noah Project responds: Thank you Frank and friends for an account of a truly enlightening
discussion. The issue of Eco-Kashrut is, however, a controversial one within Judaism. Many modern sources take the view that the ethical and environmental concerns of modern food production may go against a whole range
of other Jewish principles, but do not go against Kashrut as such. Whichever view one takes, the recent spate of food scares are, perhaps, one way that the natural world is telling us - enough is enough! Strategic Review At The Noah Project our list of supporters continues to grow and we are becoming better known throughout the community. With your help, we are getting the message of Jewish
Environmentalism heard loud and clear. This therefore seems a good time for The Noah Project Committee to review its activities, aims and objectives, with a view to targeting its work better. If you have any strong
views on anything you would like to see us do more of, or any other comments on our work, we'd always love to hear from you. Please call us on: 020 8747 9518 or email: info@noahproject.org.uk Tu B'Shevat in Hendon We would like to thank everyone who joined us for our Tu B'Shevat
Seder at Hendon Synagogue on February 7th. Lead by our Education Co-Ordinator, Vivienne Cato, the event was hailed a success by our co-hosts, the Raleigh Close Alternative Minyan. An Apology: In the last Noah Project newsletter we printed an extract from a sermon made at Southgate Reform
Synagogue on Shabbat Noah. This sermon was written and delivered by Melvyn Yude, and not as stated. We apologise to Mr Yude for the confusion. LIMMUD - GREEN LESSONS The recent Limmud Conference in Nottingham [December 2000] once again featured a number of
interesting environmental sessions. These included three given by Nigel Savage, who also spoke about last summer's cross-USA Jewish Environmental bike-ride, as reported on in previous newsletters. Another interesting
session, given by new Noah Project committee member, Miriam Gitlin was entitled "McDonalds and its Place in Jewish Thinking". Drawing on the reasons behind the riots which accompany World Trade Organisation meetings,
she examined the consequences from the point of view of Jewish values towards the environment. "Does our behaviour have unseen consequences around the globe"? she asked. However, many were saddened by the fact that due
to a change of location, Limmud's re-usable plastic plates were replaced with paper ones which were disposed-of at the end of each meal. 1500 people each eating three meals over 5 days equals at least 45,000 plates
which a equals lot of land-fill ! In reaction to this, Limmud now has a 'Green Group' as one of the organising teams, whose remit is to make Limmud Conference 2001 more environmentally sound. Headed by members of The
Noah Project committee, this group hopes to make Limmud a role-model for conferences within the community and beyond. If you would like to be a part of this group, please contact The Noah Project. [For more information
on Limmud, see www.limmud.org] Noah Project Visit to The Wetland Centre Sunday May 20th, 2001 Celebrate the forthcoming festival of Shavuot with The Noah Project at the new WETLANDS
CENTRE in Barnes, London SW13. This is London's newest nature reserve, and we think you will be amazed to find such a treasure so close to central London. The Wetland Centre has been built on the site of a former Thames
Water Treatment Plant and is a remarkable example of what CAN be done to preserve urban wildlife. Cost for the day will be £6.00 (Under 14s half price: under 5s free), covering your entrance to the Centre and a guided
tour. To book your place, please send your cheque in advance - no later than 10th May, please to The Noah Project at the usual address, whereupon we will send you details of where and when to meet. We look
forward to seeing you there! PREVIOUS ISSUE NEXT ISSUE |
