Nadene Goldfoot
The land of Israel had been in the Ottoman Empire's hands for the last 400 years up to 1917 and had laid barren, a land of swamps, deserts and mosquitoes; almost uninhabitable. We say it was waiting for the return of Jews who started returning in 1880 CE. 1948 was the birthday year for Israel, and things had started to improve.
Ecology is a branch of biology concerning interactions among organisms and their biophysical environment, which includes both biotic and abiotic components. Precepts were already laid out for us by Moses from G-d to follow in connection with our land.
Planting trees has had a special holiday called TuBishvat and is literally 'New Year of the Trees'. In contemporary Israel, the day is celebrated as an ecological awareness day, and trees are planted in celebration. Of the talmudic requirements for fruit trees which used Tu BiShvat as the cut-off date in the Hebrew calendar for calculating the age of a fruit-bearing tree, Orlah remains to this day in essentially the same form it had in talmudic times. In the Orthodox Jewish world, these practices are still observed today as part of Halacha, Jewish law. Fruit that ripened on a three-year-old tree before Tu BiShvat is considered orlah and is forbidden to eat, while fruit ripening on or after Tu BiShvat of the tree's third year is permitted.
The land was a promise to Abraham (e.g.,Genesis 12.7, but really throughout the Torah, The "promised land," a "land flowing with milk and honey" (Exodus 3.17) figures prominently in Jewish thinking (e.g., Psalm 137.1-6, Ezekiel 36.24) Moses, the great prophet, longed even just to see the promised land, as if it were a glimpse of heaven. (Deuteronomy 34.)
First of all, We were on a system of 7 with the 7th day a day of no work. This is the Sabbath. This gave the land a rest as well as the people, for these people had no rest when enslaved in Egypt, but had to work every day of every year without a break.
Actually, the land could be bought and sold, but every 50 years it reverted to its "owners" or "inheritors." The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine (G-d's) and you are but aliens and my tenants." (Leviticus 25.23) This verse clearly assumes that mankind is custodian or caretaker of land. This is the law of Yovel, the Jubilee Year. We are to teach that the land and freedom are Divine gifts and that ownership reverts to those to whom He wills it. (Chinuch).
People get a respite every 7th year in their work in Israel. Teachers get a sabbatical every 7th year of teaching and could use it for more education, travel, etc. It may be so for other professions as well. (update from my own experience). Israel has been the only country in the world who does this. Jews in the Land of Israel must take a year-long break from working the fields every seven years. A "sabbatical" has come to mean an extended absence in the career of an individual to fulfill some goal, e.g., writing a book or travelling extensively for research.
Some universities and other institutional employers of scientists, physicians, and academics offer the opportunity to qualify for paid sabbatical as an employee benefit, called sabbatical leave. Some companies offer unpaid sabbatical for people wanting to take career breaks; this is a growing trend in the United Kingdom, with 20% of companies having a career break policy, and a further 10% considering introducing one. In British and Irish students' unions, particularly in higher education institutions, students can be elected to become sabbatical officers of their students' union, either taking a year out of their study (in the academic year following their election) or remaining at the institution for a year following completion of study.
The Jubilee (Hebrew: יובל yōḇel; Yiddish: yoyvl) is the year at the end of seven cycles of shmita (Sabbatical years) and, according to biblical regulations, had a special impact on the ownership and management of land in the Land of Israel. Every 50th year is the Jubilee Year. It was a sanctified year that proclaimed freedom throughout the land for all its inhabitants. Each man was to return to his ancestral heritage and each man was to return to his family. We were not to sow nor harvest its aftergrowth and we were not to pick what was set aside of it for ourselves. It was a holy year. We could eat from the field the crop.
For 6 years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, and in the 7th, you shall leave it untended and unharvested, and the destitute of your people shall eat, and the wildlife of the field shall eat what I left, so shall you do to your vineyard and your olive grove. 6 days shall you do your activities, and on the 7th day you shall desist, so that your ox and donkey may be content and your servant's son and the traveler may be refreshed. (Exodus 23-10-12)
The age of fruit trees was to be known, as people planted them. They were not to eat the fruit of the tree until it was 5 years old. At age 4, the fruit wasn't ready to be eaten but was to be sanctified to laud G-d. (Leviticus23). We are not to destroy fruit-bearing trees in a war. The principle is rooted in the Biblical law of (Deuteronomy 20:19–20). “When you lead a siege against a city many days … you may not destroy any tree of hers, to hew an ax against it, for from it you will eat, and you may not cut it off! Is the tree of the field a person, to come before you in the siege? Only a tree that you know is not a tree for food, that one you may destroy and cut off, and build siegeworks…” In the Bible, the command is said in the context of wartime and forbids the cutting down of fruit trees in order to assist in a siege.
Land was not so much a commodity. Rather, it was an inheritance for the Israelites and it was core to the covenantal promises that G-d made to them. G-d's people are not to abuse their inheritance, but to treasure it. It cannot be bought and sold. (Leviticus 25.)
Since 1948, most of the land of Israel belongs to the State or the Jewish National Fund. It is not sold to the new villages but is leased, as a rule for 49 years. Betterment by the Government and/or the Fund has made it possible to direct new villages to specific farming branches.
The Torah, as our history tells us was written by Moses while on the Exodus, explained all this to us (see above). The Midrash (finding new meaning in addition to the literal one in the Torah exemplifies the teaching with lessons.
1. Take care not to spoil or destroy My world.
a. This brings to mind the work of Norman Lamm, "Ecology in Jewish Law and Theology."
b. Eric G. Freudenstein, "Ecology and the Jewish Tradition."
c. Jonathan I. Helfand, Ecology and the Jewish Tradition: A Postscript."
During Rabbinic Times of the Middle Ages, Waste disposal was a major problem. Bit of broken glass on public land was known to cause injury. Saintly men would bury their broken glassware deep down in their own fields. Other rubbish could be deposited on public land, but only during the winter month when in any event the roads were a morass of mud due to the rains.
Rabbinic concern for peaceful and clean environment brought out this rule: a dovecot must not be kept within 50 cubits of a town and no one may keep a dovecot on his own property unless his land extends 50 cubits in every direction around it. This was to keep the doves from eating seeds sown in the neighboring fields.
If trees stood before a town grew up around them, they can be cut down, but the owner must be compensated for them. Carcasses, graves, and tanneries must be kept at a distance of at least 50 cubits from the city.
A tannery must not be set up in such a way that the prevailing winds can waft the unpleasant odor to the town.
Goats or sheep must not be raised in the cultivated areas of the Land of Israel because of the damage that might be done to young plants. This one came about to encourage renewed agricultural growth after the devastations to the land caused by the wars with Rome.
"In contemporary Jewish ethics on Judaism and ecology, advocates often point to bal tashchit as an environmental principle. (Jewish vegetarians also point to bal tashchit as one justification for vegetarianism or veganism, arguing that eating meat and raising animals in general is wasteful.) Nevertheless, although bal tashchit may be broadly applied to environmental ethics, its limitation in the case where one may profit through a destructive act makes the application of the laws of bal tashchit to environmental issues complicated."
There is the prohibition against destroying anything of value, "do not destroy," base on Deuteronomy 20:19, against destroying fruit-bearing trees, now extending to include all cases of wasting things that can be used. Maimonides wrote, "It is not only forbidden to destroy fruit-bearing trees but whoever breaks vessels, tears clothes, demolishes a building, stops up a fountain or wates food, in a destructive way, offends against the law of "thou shalt not destroy." This includes animals or even to cause the oil in a lamp to burn too quickly.
Israel had celebrated its 50th year in 1998. "The gala celebration will be broadcast on both major Israeli television channels and in many countries overseas. TV, in fact, may be the best way to watch. The Givat Ram stadium has only 12,000 seats, and 5,000 are reserved for invited guests from the world over, including Vice President Al Gore, as well as Israel's President Ezer Weizman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials. Israel does have bigger stadiums, but organizers wanted Jerusalem, to drive home the point that this is the Israeli capital, even if most foreign governments have yet to recognize it. "
Among events in the fall will be a mass public assembly on Oct. 6 at the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem, intended to renew ''the ancient Jewish tradition of holding mass public gatherings at the temple once every seven years.'' Another event tied to the anniversary will be the Festival of Humor, Laughter and Satire in the Negev city of Beersheva Oct. 6 to 8. Events were going on all year long. The next Jubilee year will be in 2048, only 28 more years from now. May it be an amazingly peaceful one.
Judaism affirms without reservation that the world is G-d's creation and that whoever helps to preserve it is doing G-d's work.
Resource:
What Does Judaism Say About...? by Louis Jacobs
Tanakh, The Stone Edition
https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/26/travel/a-50th-jubilee-for-israel.html
http://www.landwatch.org/pages/perspectives/christiansteward.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bal_tashchit#:~:text=Only%20a%20tree%20that%20you,to%20assist%20in%20a%20siege.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_BiShvat#:~:text=It%20is%20also%20called%20Rosh,trees%20are%20planted%20in%20celebration.
Update 10/12/2020 -my experience
facts about Israel, Division of information, Ministry for foreign affairs, Jerusalem
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