Program 1 - Keeper of the Garden
Introduction
Having been placed in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve served as the prototypes of future generations whose tasks included the preservation of the natural order in the world. As a time marking cyclical renewal, Tu B'Shvat serves as a springboard for considering our role in nature, ecological morality, and the Jewish view on conservation.

General Educational Goals:
1.To encourage students to consider the relevance of Judaism to a contemporary moral issue;
2.To assist students in examining the relationship between human beings and nature within a Jewish ethical framework;
3.To promote projects among the students towards nature conservation;
4.To help students explore a modern idiom related to Tu B'Shvat.

STAGE ONE:Environment and Judaism

The rabbis ruled that the prohibition of needless waste or destruction covered a broad range of activities, including things like tearing clothing and throwing away food. This prohibition is called Ba'al Tashchit "Do Not Destroy or Waste".

(i) The moderator introduces the connection between Tu B'Shvat, trees and environmental protection. (ii) The moderator asks students to define an environment and what the relationships are between the various elements within it. What are the effects of changes to those elements? (iii) What evidence is there of ecological balance in the world? (iv) What indications are there in Jewish tradition/writings that the human control of nature should be regulated. (Sabbath; Sabbatical Year; Command not to cut down trees in war; not to waste, etc.)

STAGE TWO: Moral Dilemmas
Students discuss environmental issues that have raised moral dilemmas in recent years:

The Biblical source for the commandment not to destroy (Ba'al Tashchit) is a directive to the Israelites not to use trees for battering rams during wartime (Deuteronomy 20:19) War, in particular, puts our values to the test. Examples of war-time ecological dilemmas include:

Vietnam - The U.S. army's use of Agent Orange destroyed foliage that provided cover for the Vietcong. The destruction saved lives, it was claimed.

During the Vietnamese war tens of thousands of trees were destroyed by the US air forces. Enemy presence in afforested areas prompted U.S. armed forces to drop 20 million gallons of chemicals on them, including Agent Orange. In addition 2.8 million tons of bombs were also dropped on suspected sites of guerilla activity, resulting in the destruction of 54% of Vietnamese rain forests.

West Bank - Jewish settlers in Israel cut down olive trees providing cover for terrorists; opinions varied regarding the validity of that act.

Arab farmers tended many olive groves on the West Bank. During the Intifada, the Arab uprising. Cars passing along the road were attacked with stones and molotov cocktails as the perpetrators hid behind olive trees. Jewish settlers cut down the trees and many local rabbis ruled that this was permissible. This destruction of trees stirred up considerable controversy.

Kuwait - One of the unforgettable images of the 1991 Gulf war was the bellowing smoke blackening the Kuwaiti skies after Saddam Hussein attacked the oil wells there. Setting fire to the wells was part of Saddam's plan to destroy and terrorize Kuwait. But people were not the only casualties.

After the War, 538 oil wells burned on. Temperatures dropped unnaturally in the contaminated areas. The smoke and oil spread for hundreds of miles, causing countless millions of dollars of damage to property, animal life and the oceans.

** What justification was there for these acts of destruction?

STAGE THREE: Personal/Group Survey
Students complete a survey on their own relationship to the environment. (the students could, of course, design their own questionnaire.)

The students discuss the results, and ways and means of making personal and group commitments to improve their personal environment(s) or that of their neighborhood (see below).

STAGE FOUR: Community Project
The students discuss possibilities for nature conservation projects in the community project, with all the attendant hype and publicity: Here we present some ideas.

Introduction Since the days of Adam and Eve, Jewish tradition has stressed man's responsibility to his environment, as a Keeper of the Garden." The commandment Ba'al Tashchit - "Don't Destroy" - can be applied to anything from needless wasting of food to industrial pollution of the ocean. Projects we develop in our own communities to guard the earth's resources, can help make our planet once again a "Gan Eden".

Any of these can projects can be organized with a few or many people, for little or no money.