Compassion and Self-Concern in Halakhic Environmental Decision-Making
The prevailing stance in Jewish orthodoxy is that environmental issues are extra-legal and not under the purview of halakhah (Jewish law). While considered important, environmental protection falls only under “midat haḥasidut” (extraordinary piety). This ultimately translates into environmental prot...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2022
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| In: |
Worldviews
Year: 2022, Volume: 26, Issue: 1/2, Pages: 29-54 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Bible. Deuteronomium 20,19-20
/ Halacha
/ Environmental protection
/ Waste
/ Legality
/ Morals
|
| IxTheo Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism AG Religious life; material religion BH Judaism FD Contextual theology HB Old Testament NBD Doctrine of Creation NCB Personal ethics NCG Environmental ethics; Creation ethics XA Law |
| Further subjects: | B
waste not
B self-concerned environmentalism B extraordinary piety B environmental decision-making B Compassion B Deuteronomy 20:19 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The prevailing stance in Jewish orthodoxy is that environmental issues are extra-legal and not under the purview of halakhah (Jewish law). While considered important, environmental protection falls only under “midat haḥasidut” (extraordinary piety). This ultimately translates into environmental protection being treated as non-obligatory and only under the purview of righteous behavior rather than obligation. This has created a significant barrier to halakhically driven environmental decision-making. I argue that this worldview emerges from the process of conceptualizing the prohibition of bal tashḥit—“waste not,” the prohibition against wastefulness originating in Deuteronomy 20:19. This verse gave rise to two worldviews: one which was prioritized of not destroying the environment out of compassion for the non-human world, and another marginalized worldview that emphasized a self-concerned environmentalism which equates harm to the environment as self-harm. Privileging this latter worldview creates a pathway to advance Jewish legal discourse and align it with mainstream environmentalism. |
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| ISSN: | 1568-5357 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Worldviews
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685357-20210901 |