Genesis

In the Weeds

In 1967, medieval historian Lynn White published a now-infamous paper that traces the current environmental crisis back to a Judeo-Christian worldview… essentially, he blames the creation story in Genesis, especially the part in which God gives humans the task of “ruling” over animals.

I wanted to take a closer look and knew the thing to do was to ask a rabbi.

I got help from Rabbi Isaiah Rothstein, rabbi-in-residence for Hazon, the Jewish lab for sustainability.

We talk about Rabbi Rothstein’s own background - he grew up in a mixed-race family in an ultra-orthodox community, in Monsey, New York - and how this led to his current position with Hazon; about the current Jewish environmental movement and Hazon’s declaration that the Jewish new year, 5270, is the year of the Environmental Teshuva, and I ask Rabbi Rothstein to walk me through the Hebrew of the creation story in Genesis.

Buckle your seatbelts and get ready for a bumpy (and fascinating) theological ride!

For more information see:

hazon.org/environmentalteshuva
in-the-weeds.net