Cliff’s Air Conditioner
My friend Cliff called this week to say he was getting rid of an old air conditioning unit and would I want to take it off his hands…at no charge? Cliff knew that I had spent much of the summer sweltering in my top floor home office.
I have an air conditioner already in my Jerusalem home office but, at only ¾ horsepower, it’s woefully underpowered and on a hot day, I can’t get the room temperature to less than 28 degrees Celsius (that’s over 80 Fahrenheit) – not a particularly conducive environment in which to work.
My predisposition for a bargain however was tempered by a counter thought: was this kosher? I don’t mean whether the assembly of the air conditioner was supervised by Chabad. Rather, would adding another air conditioner into the world mesh with Jewish law?
Now, of course, there’s nothing in the Torah or Talmud that forbids keeping comfortably cool, but what’s the point of scrupulously keeping the minutia of halacha if doesn’t promote concern for the planet and ultimately the welfare and continued survival of the people who live in it? After all, on Yom Kippur you first have to make peace with your fellow men and women before anything supernatural can kick in.
It turns out that Jews have been thinking about the environment for awhile. In the late 1970s. Rav Zalman Schachter-Shalomi coined the term “eco-kosher.” His point was that it’s not enough to make sure the meat you’re eating is slaughtered according to Jewish law; the animal has to be treated humanely, the environment must not be harmed, and the workers who toil in the kashrut factories cannot be exploited either.
It’s only logical to extend the concept of eco-kosher to the environment as a whole. Rav Zalman noted that while a Styrofoam cup might be useful to someone keeping kosher, it would not be a good choice for someone concerned with the environment. A more hi-tech example would be whether it’s politically correct to buy printed books and newspapers that deplete the rain forests when electronic versions are growing in popularity (run out and get a Kindle).
In this light, whether to accept Cliff’s air conditioner was no longer just a personal choice; it had become a metaphor for how to conduct one’s life ethically and socially. This need is even more pronounced in Israel where we can, as a sovereign nation, make a real difference, if not on a planetary level then at least in our little corner of the Middle East.
And so, when it comes to that air conditioner, I’m saying no. It’s a small step for sure, but it hopefully won’t be the last as my own social consciousness grows. And a billion small steps can add up quickly.
Israeli Public Wants Urgent Action Against Climate Change
In advance of Copenhagen, a new survey shows that Israelis seek action against climate change.
The Israeli public is a few steps ahead of its government in wanting to see strong action on climate change, according to a new poll conducted by Ben Gurion University.
The survey was done ahead of the international Climate Summit which will convene in Copenhagen on December 7th, where a new international framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions is hoped to be created. Read more
The Israel Electric Company Purchases “Poo” Power from Jerusalem
(In 1922 Jerusalem gets its first sewage system. YNet)
Jerusalem is a holy city which houses the country’s holiest people. Now their excrement will continue doing good work:
In the first deal of its kind for the country, the Israel Electric Company (IEC) signed an agreement on Sunday with Gihon, Jerusalem’s water and sewage firm, to purchase electricity generated from bio-gas resulting from the treatment of solid waste, reports the Jerusalem Post.
“It will produce enough electricity to light between 1,000 and 1,500 homes,” said Yisrael Bar-Gil, the CEO of Mabti, a Gihon subsidiary said. “We can eventually produce up to 50 percent more.”
In need of rain? Ask a government minister
Filed under: Environment, General, Israeliness, Life, Religion
I feel like a fish that has been left out of water too long. I’m literally gasping for rain. Being one of those foreign transplants from grey, rainy Britain, Israel’s warm climate is a frequent source of joy. But while I enjoy the heat and the sunshine, I still need the storms and rain of winter to help me get through the long, hot, barren, endlessly blue and sunny summers where I seem to suffer a kind of reverse seasonal affect disorder.
Oh for a good heavy rainstorm...
This year I’m not the only one. Even the most hardened Israeli sun-lovers, who normally complain of depression after just one day of rain, are protesting. And with reason. It’s been the driest January since Israeli records began, and it comes after four other exceptionally dry years.
From 1980 to 2007, the available volume of water in Lake Kinneret was 328 million cubic meters a year. This year it will be just 45 million cubic meters. Prof. Uri Shani, head of the Water Authority said the probability of Israel having such a dry winter, after a series of four dry years, was practically zero – but when did probability enter into global warming.
There are all sorts of plans afoot on how to deal with this water crisis – plans which quite frankly should have been put in place a year or two ago, but possibly the most kooky of the lot comes from Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon, who has come up with the idea of changing all the mezuzot in the Israel Water Authority offices.
Under Jewish tradition, a mezuzah is a piece of parchment inscribed with specific Hebrew verses from the Torah, which is put inside a special case and attached to doorframes as a kind of blessing. Some people like to kiss their hand and touch the case as they go in and out of the building, for good luck.
Simhon’s big plan, then, is to change the blessings inside these mezuzot in an effort to change Israel’s luck with rainfall patterns. The minister explained his logic by telling other ministers that when Labor was at an all-time low in the polls, he changed the mezuzot at the Labor House, and the party doubled its strength.
Good to know the water crisis is in capable hands, eh? Perhaps we should also consider bringing a tribe of native Indians across to do a rainfall dance. Of course water rationing, and a desalination plant or two might also help. But hell, what would I know, I’m not a government minister.
Subscribe
Subscribe to Israelity via email:
Social Media
Categories
- A New Reality
- Art
- Blogging
- Business
- coexistence
- Crime
- design
- education
- Entertainment
- Environment
- Food
- Foto Friday
- General
- health
- History and Culture
- Holidays
- Immigrant Moments
- Israeliness
- Life
- Medical Breakthroughs
- Movies
- Music
- News
- Nostalgia Sunday
- Picture of the Week
- Politics
- Pop Culture
- Profiles
- Religion
- Science
- Social Justice
- Sports
- Technology
- Travel
- tv
- War
The Face of Israel Today
-
About Israelity
Free newsletter
Stories from ISRAEL21c.orgPopular Posts