Being Responsible for the Earth or Watching it Fall

Ḥoni's Circle

In this week’s episode we talk about a text from Bereshit Rabah that discusses a quote from the creation story “dominate over the fish of the sea”. We discuss how the text sets up this idea that the one who is created in G-d’s image will dominate while those not created in G-d’s image will fall. While this can be a troubling idea because of the exploitation of the natural world’s resources and a destructive disregard for nature which we’ve seen acted out in the recent past, we see that it can rather refer to the idea that acting like G-d, ie. with foresight, long-term thinking, and love, can promote thriving. When humanity has not done this, we suffer the consequences of climate change at the hands of nature, including increased pandemics and allergies. This can be seen as a call for responsible stewardship in alliance with nature. Follow along with the source sheet here: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/575996?lang=bi