Re: Zoo Torah: The Religion of Conservation, part one


moshes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Harry Weiss <hjweiss@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
> > moshes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> >
> > Are they going to put you in Cherem for posting this.
>
> I doubt it. Those that put in Cherem don't read SCJM!

So? They banned books that they didn't read...

-Shlomo-


> >> Enjoy.
> >
> >
> >> The Religion of Conservation
> >
> >> Part One
> >
> >
> >> I. Conservation - Why Bother?
> >
> >> There are all kinds of endangered birds that require protection nowadays,
> >> including the bald eagle, spotted owl, and California condor. Recently, a
> >> man was indicted for shooting and eating a California condor. At the trial,
> >> he protested that it was the first time he had done anything of this sort,
> >> that he had no idea what type of bird it was, and that he had no idea that
> >> it was a protected species. The judge let him off, but as they were leaving
> >> the court, the judge stopped him and asked, "Tell me, I'm so curious, what
> >> did the condor taste like?"
> >> "Well," said the man, "It was kind of like a cross between bald eagle and
> >> spotted owl."
> >
> >> Joking aside, many people take conservation very seriously. The World
> >> Wildlife Fund, one of the largest conservation organizations, has an annual
> >> budget of over $300 million, a staff of nearly four thousand and over five
> >> million supporters worldwide. The statistics on endangered and extinct
> >> species are frightening. The most numerous bird ever, the passenger pigeon
> >> of the United States, which numbered some four billion birds in the
> >> nineteenth century, was hunted entirely to extinction by 1914. Even
> >> prominent creatures are few in number - there are only around ten thousand
> >> lions left in the entire world. Every second, one and a half acres of
> >> rainforest are cut down. Every twenty minutes, another species of animal or
> >> plant goes extinct - a total of 27,000 per year.
> >
> >> But why is conservation important? People are very passionate about it, but
> >> why should mankind exert enormous effort and expense to save animals from
> >> extinction? What difference does it make if the spotted owl and the
> >> California condor become extinct? And does Judaism have anything to say
> >> about conservation?
> >
> >> II. The Value of Creatures
> >
> >> One basic reason for conservation is the utilitarian value of the world for
> >> us. Animals and plants can be of tremendous value to mankind in many
> >> different ways.
> >
> >> "Even things which appear to you to be superfluous in the world, such as
> >> flies, fleas and mosquitoes, are also part of the creation of the world, and
> >> God performs His operations through the agency of all of them, even through
> >> a snake, mosquito or frog." - Midrash Bereishis Rabbah 10:7
> >
> >> There are famous stories along these lines. The Talmud recounts how the
> >> wicked Roman emperor Titus was killed by a mosquito that tunneled into his
> >> brain. The Midrash describes how King David asked God about the necessity of
> >> such creatures as spiders; he was answered when a spider helped him escape
> >> from his pursuers, by spinning a web across the mouth of the cave in which
> >> he had just hidden, thereby convincing his pursuers that the cave must be
> >> empty. This is not necessarily to say that the entire species was created
> >> just for the acts of these individuals. Rather, these should be seen as
> >> examples of how even apparently useless and unpleasant things are
> >> beneficial.
> >
> >> The benefits of the natural world fall into several different categories.
> >> First, there are practical physical benefits. Some of these are widely
> >> known, such as the meat that we eat and the wool that we wear. But it is not
> >> only farm animals that are of benefit to man. Even creatures that seem
> >> repulsive and useless can provide physical benefits:
> >
> >> "Of everything that the Holy One created in His world, He did not create
> >> anything in vain. He created the snail as a cure for scabs, the fly as an
> >> antidote for hornet stings, the mosquito as an antidote for snakebite,
> >> snakes as a cure for sores, and spiders as an antidote for the stings of
> >> scorpions." - Talmud, Shabbos 77b
> >
> >> Scientists often study obscure creatures and plants from rainforests,
> >> looking for new molecules and new drugs. The results are often surprising.
> >> The rosy periwinkle, a delicate pink flower originally from Madagascar, is
> >> used to make highly successful treatments for leukemia and Hodgkin's
> >> disease. Cancer fighting molecules are obtained from the liver of the
> >> dogfish shark. Almost fifty per cent of our medications are derived from
> >> plants, and most modern drugs were developed from them. But it is not only
> >> in the field of medicine that the natural world contains solutions to our
> >> problems. Yields of oil from oil palms in Malaysia improved by a value of
> >> one hundred million dollars in less than two years when a small beetle was
> >> introduced from Cameroon to pollinate them. The Talmud's statement
> >> concerning the importance of bugs is echoed in contemporary times:
> >
> >> "In the future perhaps the best reason for studying insects in rainforests
> >> will not be because of their intrinsic interest to entomologists or their
> >> harm to man, but because of their potential benefits." - Andrew Mitchell,
> >> The Enchanted Canopy (London: Collins 1986)
> >
> >> It is not only physical benefits that are provided by animals. They can even
> >> be of spiritual benefit. One of these benefits is the inspiration that we
> >> are enjoined to draw from the beauty and wonder of the natural world:
> >
> >> "This honored and awesome God - it is a mitzvah to love Him and to fear
> >> Him... And how does one come to love and fear Him? When man contemplates the
> >> great wonders of His deeds and creations, and he perceives from them His
> >> boundless and infinite wisdom, instantly he loves and praises and gives
> >> glory, and he has a great desire to know God... And when he contemplates
> >> these matters, he instantly recoils and is in awe, and he knows that he is a
> >> small, dismal, lowly creature, standing with a minuscule weakness of
> >> intellect before the Perfect Wisdom..." - Rambam, Yad HaChazakah, Hilchos
> >> Yesodei HaTorah 2:1-2
> >
> >> This benefit is enhanced by the sheer volume and diversity of the natural
> >> world. Every new and novel species that we discover provides a new source of
> >> wonder.
> >> In addition, Judaism states that we can learn spiritual lessons from
> >> different animals:
> >
> >> " 'He teaches us from the animals of the land, and from the birds of the
> >> heavens He makes us wise.' (Job 35:11) Rabbi Yochanan said: Had the Torah
> >> not been given, we would have learned modesty from the cat, [the prohibition
> >> of] theft from the ant, [the prohibition of] forbidden relationships from
> >> the dove, and the proper method of conjugal relations from fowl." - Talmud,
> >> Eruvin 100b
> >
> >> However, conservation cannot be justified simply by invoking the physical or
> >> even spiritual benefits that the animal kingdom provides to man. There are
> >> many creatures, especially insects, that are of no direct physical or
> >> spiritual benefit to man. For example, there are hundreds of thousands of
> >> species of beetles that are very similar to each other. Any given species is
> >> not sufficiently distinct from the others to provide a unique physical or
> >> spiritual benefit. We shall have to go further in order to justify the
> >> preservation of all species.
> >
> >> III. The Web of the Ecosystem
> >
> >> An important concept in conservation is the idea of the ecosystem. Animals
> >> and plants lead lives that are interconnected by a complex web of food
> >> chains. Even if one species appears unimportant, it still occupies an
> >> important place in the larger ecosystem. Driving it to extinction can harm
> >> the ecosystem as a whole.
> >
> >> It is wonderful that the concept of the interconnected-ness and unity of
> >> everything is accepted by the wider world. Most children have heard of "The
> >> Circle of Life." But it is often not appreciated that this strongly relates
> >> to monotheism.
> >
> >> "One who looks at the components of creation according to their superficial
> >> appearance, will at first see nothing other than scattered and disparate
> >> parts. That is to say, they are not connected to a single purpose, but
> >> rather every one is distinct, for a special purpose... but one who goes
> >> deeper in wisdom will find that all parts of creation are tied together with
> >> a proper knot, as they are all required to complete the concept that the
> >> Higher Wisdom intended with creation, and they are all united in a single
> >> purpose." - Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, Da'as Tevunos 128
> >
> >> In fact, it is argued that the current appreciation of the unity of the
> >> natural world is one of Judaism's legacies.
> >
> >> "Where the ancients were content to create many minor deities, each of whom
> >> had a hand in explaining the origins of particular things, but might often
> >> be in conflict with one another, the legacy of the great monotheistic
> >> religions is the expectation of a single over-arching explanation for the
> >> Universe.. The current breed of candidates for the title of a "Theory of
> >> Everything" hope to provide an encapsulation of all the laws of nature into
> >> a simple and single representation. The fact that such a unification is even
> >> sought tells us something important about our expectations regarding the
> >> Universe. Our monotheistic traditions reinforce the assumption that the
> >> Universe is at root a unity, that it is not governed by different
> >> legislation in different places, neither the residue of some clash of the
> >> Titans wrestling to impose their arbitrary wills upon the Nature of things,
> >> nor the compromise of some cosmic committee." - John Barrow, Theories of
> >> Everything (New York: Oxford University Press 1991) pp. 8-15
> >
> >> Judaism led the world to monotheism, which led to a grasp of the unity of
> >> the natural world. This may in turn lead the world back to monotheism. This
> >> idea is eloquently expressed by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch:
> >
> >> "Do the findings of all the natural sciences to date not show similarities
> >> that would suggest the existence of the very Oneness that is the foundation
> >> of Judaism? Is it not possible that the astronomer in his observatory, the
> >> mineralogist in his pit, the physiologist with his microscope, the anatomist
> >> with his scalpel and the chemist with his flask will be forced to conclude
> >> that all their studies actually center on one and the same work of creation
> >> in the heavens and earth? Is it not possible that, with all their
> >> investigations, they find themselves on the track of one single Thought that
> >> inspires the creation of matter and energy, laws and forms, that even in the
> >> midst of the infinite variety presented by the universe here is an obvious
> >> single harmonious unity?
> >
> >> "In light of the foregoing, would Judaism not be justified in viewing this
> >> idea of a universal unity, which inquiring minds have already pieced
> >> together from the textbook of the universe and which man's consciousness
> >> yearns to express, as nothing less than the long-awaited triumph of the
> >> truth of Judaism? This is the truth with which, thousands of years ago,
> >> Judaism first appeared in the midst of a chaotic multitude of gods,
> >> proclaiming that there is only one, sole God in heaven and on earth, and
> >> that all the phenomena of the universe are founded upon His Law. This idea,
> >> the concept of the Unity of God, is the truth for which Judaism has endured
> >> a course of martyrdom without parallel in world history." - Rabbi Samson
> >> Raphael Hirsch, The Educational Value of Judaism, in Collected Writings,
> >> vol. VII, p. 258
> >
> >
> >> To be continued in the next installment! Please remember that if you are
> >> able to help with sponsoring the publication of this book, write to me at
> >> zoorabbi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Have a good Shabbos!
> >
> >
> >> =====================================
> >> Zoo Torah is a non-profit educational enterprise that offers a series of
> >> books, programs for both adults and children, zoo tours, and safaris, all on
> >> the theme of Judaism and the animal kingdom. For more details and a taste of
> >> the experience, see www.zootorah.com. This essay is produced by Zoo Torah in
> >> collaboration with Ohr Somayach Institutions (www.ohr.edu). For details of
> >> the books from which these essays are extracted, see
> >> www.targum.com/store/Slifkin.html.
> >
> >> =====================================
> >> (c) Copyright by Rabbi Natan Slifkin 2005, zoorabbi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx All rights
> >> reserved. This essay may be further distributed free of charge, provided
> >> that the header and footer information is preserved intact. To subscribe to
> >> this list send an e-mail to nature-subscribe@xxxxxxxx To unsubscribe send an
> >> e-mail to nature-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxx
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Harry J. Weiss
> > hjweiss@xxxxxxxxx

.

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