![]() ![]() ![]() Of itself, it espouses the philosophy ‘eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die,’ while abandoning its children to an unknown future. Second, a society that destroys the environment is one that lacks any sensitivity towards future generations. The destruction of the environment is thus a testimony to the spiritual level of society. What this points to is a society that is not at all afraid of decline and is not open-minded enough to allow for constructive criticism. Not only this, but the abused Earth also testifies to the fact that our massive consumption has been done without any mechanisms put in place for its protection. The obesity spoken of here is a result of unbridled consumption and of intensive gorging on everything the world makes available to us. This can be seen as the root of the verse found later in our parashah, “Jeshurun became grew fat and kicked (Deut. First, it exposes a society driven by consumerism and greed, one which knows no fulfillment, and does not know how to restrain itself from exhausting the pleasures of this world. The failure to protect the environment serves as a very powerful testimony to a number of extremely basic issues. It refers rather to a control and mastery of the world that is guided by knowledge of our responsibility to use it to realize the full potential of everything and everyone that exists in our world. While we were commanded to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the land and subdue it (Genesis 1:28),” this conquest does not mean sucking the Earth dry and exhausting nature’s treasures. An appropriate attitude towards the Earth begins with a great sense of humility in the face of reality. ![]() The Earth testifies to how we live our lives. Heaven and Earth bear witness, in fact, to the character–in the general sense–of the society we are building, since they constitute the basic structure of the universe. The profound and constantly increasing awareness of environmental issues and of the awesome responsibility we bear towards the Earth and its atmosphere afford us a special opportunity to contemplate the testimony given by Heaven and Earth. They need not make any active effort in order to listen, since their actual existence is in fact their means of hearing (eg, Nahmanides). Other commentators explain that Heaven and Earth bear witness simply by virtue of their eternal existence. Some commentaries interpret the call to Heaven and Earth as a call to become tools of the Creator for the realization of His intentions (eg, Rashi). ![]()
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