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In the year 5758 (1997), after more than two decades of yearning to travel to the grave of our beloved Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, I finally merited to be in Uman for Rosh Hashanah. As I have already written elsewhere, my Journey to Uman was filled with countless wonders and boundless joy, and will remain forever in my heart as one of the greatest experiences of my entire life.
Nevertheless, there was one thing in Uman which greatly concerns me to this day -- a blemish in the behavior of my fellow Chassidim, which still brings deep sadness to my heart. I am speaking of the terrible amount of trash and litter which we dropped on the streets and along the river during the pilgrimage. Everywhere I looked, there were cups, cans, plastic bottles, and paper plates blowing in the wind. Whenever I went to walk along the river to meditate, our trash was floating there, too. (Yes, fellow pilgrims, it really was our trash, because the labels were in Hebrew.)
I have made hisboddidus (private prayer) about this matter for many hours since returning to the USA, asking G-d from the deepest depths of my heart: Should I say anything to my fellow Chassidim? Will it do any good? Many were the times when the yetzer hara (evil inclination) arose and tried to stop me from writing this letter, saying, "Just who do you think you are, taking it upon yourself to rebuke others? Who will bother to listen to you?"
Nevertheless, I did not succumb to this obstacle, for it is written in the Torah that "you shall surely rebuke your neighbor," so I sincerely pray that I am worthy to give the following sermon, and that you will receive it as intended, in love -- along with some possible solutions to the problem. Because, even before the disease appears, G-d has provided us with the cure. There is a cure for this problem, and I pray that everyone who reads this letter will see it in the spirit that I offer it -- as a tikkun (repair) for a blemish in ourselves, that we all need to fix.
(For the sake of those who do not know Hebrew, I will translate all Hebrew terms the first time they appear here.)
Today is Tu B'Shevat (the fifteenth of the month of Shevat), which is the "New Year for Trees" on the Jewish calendar. On this day, our tradition tells us, G-d judges the trees, and decrees what they will produce in the coming year. On this day, too, the Cosmic Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden is also renewed. On the physical level, children are planting trees in the Holy Land today. In America, Tu B'Shevat is a time to focus on nature, ecology, and the environment. For all these reasons, I feel that today is a good time to write this letter about our impact on the ecology of Uman.
I will begin by asking: How can we be so disrespectful of the very land upon which our Holy Rebbe once walked? Even at the gravesite itself -- the very goal of our holy pilgrimage -- there was trash everywhere. I ask myself: If Rebbe Nachman were alive today and walking the streets of Uman, what would he think of us?
Most likely, the Holy Rebbe would be horrified at such a lack of respect for his gravesite and the town where he lived. Surely he would be deeply saddened to see the refuse we left behind in the woods and fields that he so loved -- the very places where he and his Chassidim went to make hisboddidus. I'm certain he would be upset to go to the river and see plastic bottles floating there.
My fellow Breslovers and friends, we must honestly ask ourselves: if Rebbe Nachman were alive in the flesh today, and we went to Uman to visit him in his house, and then left behind such an ugly mess, would he be pleased with us? Or would he be disappointed in his Chassidim for such an appalling lack of ecological awareness?
How would you yourself feel, if thousands of people descended on your hometown and created such an eyesore?
We are taught that "the Zaddikim (saints) are greater after their death than when they are alive on earth. " If this is true -- and I do believe it is -- then how much more should we strive to respect the Rebbe's Tzion (gravesite) when we travel to him there! Indeed he is with us during the pilgrimage -- we all feel his presence on Rosh Hashanah. Shouldn't we act as if we are walking with him through the streets of Uman? Surely we do not want him to have to wade through our litter and garbage!
When I have discussed this problem of littering with various individuals in Breslov and other groups, many excuses have been offered, some of which I shall now address here. Each of these excuses is nothing more than an illusion, a false barrier thrown up by the yetzer hara to try to stop us from doing the mitzvah of lo tashchit -- " you shall not destroy." Each of these obstacles can easily be overcome -- if we desire to overcome it. But, as the Rebbe also says, sometime you have to really "want to want" -- you must sincerely desire to even have the desire to care about it. This in itself will take some effort, because the yetzer hara puts up many excuses for not caring about the litter problem in Uman, such as:
No, my friends, it doesn't always happen. It is possible for large crowds to gather and not leave litter all over the streets. I recently saw film footage of the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca -- where, according to the newscaster, over seven MILLION people gather in one place -- and there was no trash littering the streets. If they can do it with millions of people in Mecca, then we can do it with a few thousand in Uman!
All it requires is for each pilgrim to take personal responsibility for his own actions, decide not to litter, and then see that his trash was properly disposed of. We should each regard it as a mitzvah (commandment) to keep our camp clean. Literally a mitzvah, as serious as any other mitzvah that we do. "Be as careful with a minor mitzvah as a major one, for you do not know the true value of a mitzvah." By keeping our camp clean, we could be redeeming holy sparks that cannot not be redeemed in any other way.
G-d is aware of the difficulty of keeping a large camp of people clean, and this is precisely why He gave us the mitzvah that you shall bury your excrement outside the camp, etc., "so that I [G-d] do not see anything disgusting when I walk through your camp." If this is true of organic waste such as excrement (which eventually decomposes and returns to the earth), then how much more so must it be true of plastic bottles and aluminum cans which will NEVER break down? Surely G-d does not find it pleasing to "walk" through our camp and see ugly trash scattered everywhere. Surely He expects us to put it in the proper place for removal from the camp, so that the streets and dwelling places may remain free of litter.
Sadly, this attitude does exist among us -- and it is a trick of our own egos. Just as the yetzer hara puts up obstacles by telling us it is impossible to get to Uman, so does it also tempt us with false piety when we finally do get there. The yetzer hara whispers in our ears, saying, "You are on a holy pilgrimage -- how can you worry about something as trivial as trash?" In this way we are tricked into committing a desecration, heaven forbid.
I have been told many times by ecology-minded non-Orthodox Jews that "the Orthodox don't care about the environment." Sadly, this attitude does exist among some Chassidim, but it is a big mistake that has nothing to do with Torah or with Orthodoxy. In fact, Torah teaches us to be concerned about the environment, because it is part of G-d's holy Creation. We were put here to take care of it.
In addition, we must remember that everything in the universe is constantly singing a song to G-d. Literally! Every bird, every tree, every leaf, every blade of grass joins with us in our prayers. Rebbe Nachman once was walking through a grassy meadow when he said to the person with him, "If only you could hear and understand the language of the grasses. Each blade of grass sings its prayers and praises to G-d." (Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom #163)
Shall we -- heaven forbid! -- silence the birds with our poisons and choke the voices of the rivers with our trash? As Rashi says regarding the order of Creation in Genesis: If we human beings are worthy, we are the Crown of Creation -- but if we are unworthy, then even a flea was created before us. Let us strive to be truly worthy, so that we may be honored above the fleas!
There is a saying that one should "take only pictures, leave only footprints." This holds true for any place we visit. We should always try to leave the site looking better than when we arrived there -- not worse. Surely we do not want the local townsfolk to think of us as a bunch of pigs who come in and trash their town? This only plays into the old stereotype of "dirty Jews" and brings hatred and mistrust upon us from the other nations. Wouldn't it be much better if the gentile world saw us Breslovers -- and Jews in general -- as people who care for the world around them, and who do not litter?
I heard this attitude many times in Uman, and it saddened me. Yes, it is true that many Ukrainians cooperated with Hitler to round up the Jews. And it seems that some Chassidim came to Uman with a sense of revenge for past wrongs, and simply did not care whether or not they left a mess of trash on the streets. But again, this is a wrong attitude. Torah teaches us not to take personal revenge. We should not say, "When I asked you for a hammer you would not lend me one, so now you cannot borrow mine," etc. It is also wrong to say, "You treated us badly so now we will treat you badly." Surely we can act better than our oppressors!
But even if we do see the Ukrainians as oppressors, that is no reason to disrespect the natural environment. "Is a tree a person, that it can retreat from your army?" The Torah forbids us to destroy trees during a battle of war -- how much more so should we respect the trees and other natural resources in a time of peace! More than once in Uman, I saw Chassidic children stomping on fallen walnuts "just for the fun of it." But this is a sin -- it violates the principle of lo tashchit -- you shall not destroy something that is still useful, especially something that is usable for food. I also saw the local people collecting those nuts for food. What do they think of Jews who wastefully smash them "for fun"?
Why should we care what the Ukrainians think? Because all of this falls into the category of chillul Ha-Shem (desecrating G-d's Name, heaven forbid.) We are G-d's servants, we are His representatives on earth. How we act reflects on G-d and his Torah. The eyes of the world are on us in Uman, and the news media are beginning to write about this annual event. This is a mixed blessing, to be sure. On the one hand, it brings much-needed publicity about the Rebbe and his teachings. But on the other hand, it also reveals the littered streets of Uman to the whole world. Do we really want the entire planet to see us as slobs, heaven forbid?!!
Yes, this was true. When over 7000 people descend on a small town the size of Uman, the waste removal system will soon become overwhelmed. But at least we can properly bag the trash before putting it out, so it does not blow all over town. Granted, there were very few trash bags available in Uman -- but that is easily fixed. Each and every pilgrim should bring at least two large, strong plastic garbage bags in his luggage -- one for his own trash where he is staying, and the other for donating to the kitchen, the gravesite, the synagogue area, etc. Those who organize the pilgrimage should specifically ask participants to add trash bags to the list of items that everyone brings. A few trash bags weigh almost nothing and take up very little space in a suitcase.
REDUCE the volume of our trash in various ways, so it takes up less space. Flatten all those cardboard boxes before discarding them. Nest all those dirty plastic cups inside each other. Stack the paper plates. Crush those aluminum and steel cans. Granted, we can't do a lot of this type of work on Shabbos or Rosh Hashanah. But we can do it on the days in between, and we should.
RE-USE things whenever possible. Yes, we are away from our usual kosher kitchens, so we do generate a lot more plastic trash than we normally would at home. All the more reason to be ecologically-aware when we pack for the trip. After all, our ancestors made this trip without the convenience of disposable utensils. Bring a mug for tea and coffee, so you don't use dozens of plastic cups during your stay. This alone would greatly reduce the litter around the gravesite, where the hot tea is served. Re-use plastic spoons and forks when possible, or, better yet, bring your own set of eating utensils to use over and over. Not only will this reduce the litter, it will also reduce the amount of stuff you need to pack into Uman with you. Wouldn't you rather bring some extra food instead of boxes and boxes of disposable plastic-ware?
RECYCLE. True, there is currently no formal set-up for collecting recycled materials in Uman. But a lot of things do have secondary uses, especially in a poor country like Ukraine, where manufactured products are expensive. All those plastic bottles, for example, might be useful for the local people to carry and store water when the plumbing isn't working (and it often isn't.) I even observed Ukrainians carefully collecting the plastic cups we threw away, presumably to wash and re-use them. Glass jars have lots of household uses, as do large cans and other containers. Aluminum has a value, too. Maybe we should separate this stuff instead of just dumping it all together with the organic garbage.
You can also consider packing out your trash. This is standard practice on wilderness camping trips, and not all that difficult. After all, you brought it with you, so you can take it back out. This is an especially good idea with things like dead batteries, many of which contain mercury and are very harmful if they are just dumped in the landfill or, even worse, burned in an incinerator, which spreads the mercury into the environment. One or two batteries may not seem like much by themselves, but multiply that by thousands of us using them, and that mercury really adds up.
Our ancestors understood nature, because they were shepherds and farmers who worked with nature on a daily basis. When Jacob went out into the field to meditate, he knew the animals and plants like his own soul. But we have lost much of this knowledge. For many centuries, Jews were forbidden by various governments to own any land. A person who does not own and work the land can easily forget about the balance of nature. This happened to us in Europe and, in turn, it has affected the way that we relate to nature today.
Many of us walk around with spiritual blinders on, totally oblivious to G-d's creations, even when we are out in the woods or the fields. How many of us stop along the road, to hear a bird or see a butterfly? How many even notice the clouds or the ripples in the water? In so many ways, the animals, trees, and rivers have become strangers to us. We often see them as mere physical objects, not living, breathing things containing sparks of G-d's Holy Light.
This lack of understanding about nature is a serious defect in our perception of the world -- a defect that Rebbe Nachman is teaching us how to repair. There are any number of reasons why he told us to make our hisboddidus in the fields and forests. One reason might be, that he recognized the need for Jews to re-connect with living things in nature.
The very fact that our opponents in previous centuries thought that Breslovers were "crazy" for going off into the woods is proof of how unusual this practice was among Jews at that time. In some Jewish communities today, it is still seen as "crazy behavior" when somebody spends time alone in nature. Centuries of living in ghettos has caused us to forget this very basic form of meditation, which was as natural to our Patriarchs and Matriarchs as breathing. Now we are like caged birds, who have forgotten how to fly free, and are even afraid to go much beyond the doors of our cages.
The Holy Rebbe is saying to us, "Come out of your cages, you birds of the soul -- fly free in the forest and rejoice with your Creator!" As we learn to do that, let's keep in mind that the earth we walk on, the sky we walk under, and all the things which surround us are G-d's holy creations. As we yearn for Uman this year, let us also strive to respect the environment around it.
With heartfelt joy and gladness on Tu B'Shevat, 5758 (Feb. 1998).
Please send this letter to your friends and anyone else who might be traveling to Uman, or who has interest in Breslov teachings and/or ecology. Feel free to link it to your own website, and you can re-post it in newsgroups, too.
To read the full story of my trip to Uman, go to the Journey to Uman page.
Be well and be happy!
Reb Yonassan Gershom
Sandstone, Minnesota, USA
(c) copyright 1998 by Yonassan Gershom. This essay may be reproduced for educational purposes, provided the entire essay is included with this notice, and no money is involved. For other uses or to give feedback, please contact the author at: gershom613@yahoo.com
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To learn more about what Judaism has to say about ecology, read
Ecology and the Jewish Spirit, an excellent anthology edited by Ellen Bernstein.
This is not a Breslov book per se. It's a collection of 37 essays by Jews from
many different backgrounds, about how Judaism teaches us an ethical and spiritual
responsibility for taking proper care of the earth and the living things living
on it. Click the book cover to go to the Amazon site for more info and my review.
Also recommended is The vision of Eden by Rabbi David Sears, a vegetarian Breslover Hasid with a strong concern for ecology and animal welfare. This book has many excellent Torah references, many translated into English for the first time.
For those who prefer an academic approach, try Judaism and Global Survival by Richard H. Schwartz, PH.D. This book combines Torah references with scientific concerns about global issues, world hunger, peace and justice, economics, etc.
