For God's sake, recycle, say Tel Aviv rabbis
"With a minor effort on our part we can help preserve the environment as well as keep our city and holy land clean and beautiful," top Orthodox rabbis tell their followers, quoting from the scriptures to encourage the communities to participate in city's recycling project.
Critics of Israel's Orthodox
establishment claim it is out of touch with modern life, but apparently
those critics haven't visited any Tel Aviv synagogues lately. Synagogues
in the Israeli metropolitan are calling on their congregants to make
the effort to separate their trash.
A written newsletter signed by Yisrael Meir
Lau, Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv and a former chief rabbi of Israel, and
Rabbi Moshe Maya, the head of the Zikron Moshe yeshiva in the city and a
former Shas Knesset member, quotes Jewish sources that emphasize the
importance of protecting the environment. The letter is currently making
the rounds in Tel Aviv's Orthodox synagogues.
"Our rabbis teach us of the importance of
preserving the environment for our own sakes and for those who come
after us," the two rabbis write. The letter also describes the recent
joint initiative by the Environmental Protection Ministry and the Tel
Aviv Municipality to separate trash and encourage recycling in the city,
and urge the faithful to take part in the effort. "With a minor effort
on our part we can help preserve the environment as well as keep our
city and holy land clean and beautiful ... Please give your hearts and
minds to this effort."
Rabbi Maya for his part explains that because
recycling bestows value on trash, anyone who throws out trash
indiscriminately without separating recyclables is transgressing the
Biblical commandment of Bal Taschit (do not destroy). "Through a small
effort, we will be saved from transgressing a negative commandment,"
writes Maya.
Over 250,000 residents from 31 local
municipalities currently participate in the Ministry's recycling project
and it is estimated that this number will jump to 1.5 million by 2014.
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=5165
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