It's Your World

by aish.com

Taking responsibility for the environment. A message for Tu B'shvat.

Published: November 1, 2009

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Visitor Comments: 18

(15) ruth housman, January 22, 2013 7:42 PM

Thoreau

It's wonderful for Aish to spend time on our need to protect & preserve. I believe it's The Most Important if all endeavors! The Eau or water that is in a great conservationist's name and O for completing our work here which IS to marry conscience with consciousness. A MAN DATE with manifest destiny: a messianic future.

(14) Anonymous, February 12, 2012 6:32 PM

What a coincidence

I was just reading about biodegradability of certain common items. I was shocked to learn that a plastic drinking bottle takes more than 400 years. Diapers- regular ones- 450 years! Fishing line- 350 years! It sure makes me think. It is a beautiful world.

(13) Rosen, February 10, 2012 2:56 AM

protecting our world

A wise man once said (which I read on a bumper sticker): "The earth does not belong to us, we belong to the earth." Thus, we should not overuse and exploit the resources that Hashem has given us.

(12) richard, January 24, 2012 11:05 PM

Beautiful...Inspiring...Thank you Aish HaTorah!

What a beautiful inspiring video. Yes, Hashem has given us a wonderful world. Let's use it for its true purpose: To serve Him with all our hearts! Thank you Aish HaTorah. Well done.

(11) Sue, January 9, 2012 5:51 PM

God has made a beautiful world. To use the blessings of the world wisely, is why God created it, for us to enjoy. This past week, several people have brought up the 12-12-12 the end of the world. One person told me, it's on the History Channel daily talking about it, one night the local nightly news gave reference to it. One person told me the whole universe is coming to an end, all the planets. God created a beautiful world, he placed the stars in the galaxies, he set the planets in motion. Why do some wish it to be destroyed? Why do some wish we not enjoy it? Our Jewish liturgy, gives praise to God the Creator. Our liturgy gives us the opportunity to take time off of our busy lives, to enjoy God's Creation. Our Jewish liturgy is a prayer of thanks to the Creator, and to enjoy God's beautiful Creation is giving back to God the pleasure of giving it to us. It isn't happenstance that the Torah starts out with God Creating the Universe. It's something positive, God wants our thoughts to be, as in the beginning--Positive Thoughts, Positive Co-Creators--Because God created positive words, and a beautiful Universe to go along with those positive words. Our liturgy addresses God as the Master of the Universe, and Our Master is Eternal.

(10) Rivky, January 20, 2011 4:30 AM

Bal Tashchis (waste) is a sin.

Waste is a sin. We cannot destroy what we got. The world is a beautiful place.

(9) Anonymous, January 29, 2010 4:20 PM

Tikun Olam

People often forget the rest of the sentence when it comes to "Tikun Olam", from our daily Prayers in Oliynu; "to perfect the world THROUGH THE ALMIGHTY'S SOVEREIGNTY", since when did Tikun Olam become one of the 613 Mitzvot? If we are to perfect the world, it should be through the Sovereignty of G-d, through the pursuit of Spirituality. It’s all very well to "reduce reuse and recycle", but please do not make it a religious thing.

ari, February 7, 2012 6:30 PM

derech eretz comes before the 613! baal tashchis is one of the 613!

Being considerate to others including those not yet born is a basic component of being a mench. Conservation is exactly that! Besides, the prohibition to destroy things without reason is a violation of one of the 613 commandments. Other religions confine themselves to their temples and holymen. The torah is about living every aspect of your life, physical and mundane as well as spiritual acourding to the divine purpose. I don't know what you consider "religious" but this is definately Torah, and that's what matters!

(8) Nathan, January 28, 2010 7:08 PM

Judaism vs. eco-paganism

It's one thing to act responsibly, it's another to slip into nature-worship, that is, emphasizing environmentalism as our first obligation. That's not the Jewish approach, it's a form of paganism. The Torah teaches that the earth and everything in it was made for mankind's benefit. Pictures of puppies may be cute, but that's a very incomplete depiction of nature. If we need gas or oil to keep warm or power our SUV's, Judaism allows us to drill for it. It's not right to make the Torah fit the fad of the day.

Stuart, January 26, 2012 10:24 PM

Well Said

I would add, there are more trees today in America than there were 100 years ago. It is time to stop substituting feel-good, narcissistic pseudoscience for the real thing.

Tova Saul, February 7, 2012 5:47 PM

Paganism?

"The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it " (Genesis 2:15) That statement comes even before any Jews were around. Seems pretty basic, no? I'm not seeing any Zeus statues or water nymphs here.......

(7) SusanE, January 28, 2010 9:47 AM

As a Citizen.............

The video is beautiful. This Earth is breathtakingly beautiful. My America is a country that inspires awe in its beauty. some of that beauty is not a healthy land. We are all one person. Each one of us doing our part helps keep the Earth healthy so it can renew itself, much like our own bodies. I don't know if we can make a difference at the personal level. The destruction seems to be so out of control. My state has been logged, gas drilled, oil drilled, deep mined, and strip mined to near death. The rivers have power station dams on them and industry dumps its waste in them. Now we are allowing another huge round of gas well drilling in Pennsylvania beneath the Marcellus Shale. It's on the internet you can look it up. ----------- I recycle, reuse, restore, and conserve. I urge others to do that too. How can my meager protections of the Earth ever be more than a speck when Industry and Big Business do damage on such a huge scale? Thanks.

(6) ruth housman, January 26, 2010 9:43 PM

the whole world in our hands

This is a lovely little video with an important message. I have often wondered why AISH has so few offerings that have to do with the message within this video and I have written and asked about this. The message is so Right, and there is so much we can all do, as Jews, as responsible citizens, and as people inhabiting a world that is deeply about spiritual values, and in the celebration of all creation I think we need to hear about this, on a more constant basis, lest we forget, this beauty we are heir to. There are deep metaphoric connects that do bind us all, as part of Nature, to Nature, and as trees are to roots, and limbs and as we are part of the tree of life itself, it's a fitting tribute to this holiday to make such a lovely gem of a video.

(5) LF, January 26, 2010 6:41 PM

more of this

Good video but it's short and I don't see a lot of this from Aish (albeit I am new here). Isn't taking care of our planet the ultimate implication of Tikkun Olam? This may seem like a random comment, but if every religious Jew were truly committed to these concepts they would go vegetarian immediately. Meat production and consumption is directly what is causing the most damage to the planet in the areas of health, environment, resources and even morals. And no, most kosher factories aren't any better despite what you are led to believe. This is just one comment but I'd really like to see some articles tackling these kinds of issues.

(4) Tova Saul, January 26, 2010 4:46 PM

Nice idea, but.....

Thanks for projecting the idea of nature appreciation and conservation. Please go further and publish articles about what people can do to conserve what is left of wilderness and wildlife. Due to overpopulation and unrelenting depletion of wilderness habitat, we are rapidly extinguishing many species, and have brought thousands of them to the brink. Future generations will be truly saddened that this century had so little foresight, so little compassion, such lack of generosity of spirit for the future that it would eliminate most species of wild mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, butterflies.......Most of them are threatened, many of them critically. We are acting as though we hate our children by leaving them such a world.

(3) Jonathan D Rausch, January 18, 2010 5:44 PM

Excellent message.

Thanks for sharing Rabbi Moshe Goldstein of Boca Raton, FL.

(2) Brenda Doubet, January 17, 2010 8:21 PM

Great video and message!

(1) luis caroca hidalgo, November 1, 2009 7:47 PM

very beautiful space and page program Aish.com. lectures and beautifuls video poems ,songs diferents showing in this page congratulations GOD BLESSED all in your country and around world good things.

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