Kabbalah and Ecology: God's Image in the More-Than-Human World

by David Mevorach Seidenberg (Author)

11 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-1107081338

ISBN-10: 1107081335

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Kabbalah and Ecology is a groundbreaking book that resets the conversation about ecology and the Abrahamic traditions. David Mevorach Seidenberg challenges the anthropocentric reading of the Torah, showing that a radically different orientation to the more-than-human world of nature is not only possible, but that it also leads to a more accurate interpretation of scripture, rabbinic texts, Maimonides, and Kabbalah. Deeply grounded in traditional texts and fluent with the physical sciences, this book proposes not only a new understanding of God's image but also a new direction to restore religion – to its senses and to a more alive relationship with the more than human, with nature and with divinity.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book will be of interest in numerous disciplines, including Jewish studies, conservation and environmental studies, and religion. Recommended for all Jewish Libraries."
David B. Levy, Association of Jewish Libraries News

Book Description

Kabbalah and Ecology resets the conversation about ecology and the Abrahamic traditions.

Publisher : Cambridge University Press (April 6, 2015)
Language : English
Hardcover : 420 pages
ISBN-10 : 1107081335
ISBN-13 : 978-1107081338
Item Weight : 1.65 pounds
Dimensions : 6 x 0.94 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,152,164 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,011 in Jewish Theology
- #2,359 in Judaism (Books)
- #2,781 in Kabbalah & Mysticism

Customer Reviews:
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Andrew D. Oram

Can change the way you approach and apply religion

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2016

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This book is not for everyone, but with the right mindset, it can not only inform your approach to saving our environment but change the emphasis and direction of your religious thinking. What you need to get through it (and really all I had) is a modest familiarity with the Bible and a willingness to read slowly, thinking through the connections made by the author. There is so much in this 350 pages that I can’t hope to summarize the book’s insights. At times, reading it felt like living out the gigantic concepts of mystical Judaism, such as the original Adam who filled the universe. But certainly you learn a lot about the meaning of the soul and how it might be seen in animals, plants, and even rocks. You get to ponder the purpose of the Earth and whether we should act as stewards or treat it as a source of strength for ourselves. The recognition of animals and the whole world as equals in God’s order goes back to first Rabbis if not earlier, and Maimonides turns out to be an unexpected hero (no one before Seidenberg uncovered his important and bold stance on the rights on non-humans). Later chapters suggest ways to heal ourselves while making the best use of science to help our planet.

6 people found this helpful

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Daniel Fink

A pathbreaking book

Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2017

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David Seidenberg has written an exhaustively-researched, deeply thoughtful, and groundbreaking work here.

For a generation, many in the Jewish world have been making links between Jewish tradition and environmental ethics in a fairly ad hoc manner. Rabbi Seidenberg ups the ante here, taking a deep and systematic approach, focusing on the notion of "Tzelem Elohim"--the image of God. He demonstrates that there have long been strains of Jewish thought that do not limit that category to human beings.

Much work remains to be done in creating a body of Jewish environmental ethics, but Rabbi Seidenberg has left us with a very firm foundation.

One person found this helpful

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Anne Andrews

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2016

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Thank you

One person found this helpful

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D. Myers

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2016

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Excellent read.

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Pioneer Hasid

Inspiring endorsements for Kabbalah and Ecology

Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2015

Listen to what's been said about Kabbalah and Ecology:

"This is one of the boldest, most imaginative and theologically significant works on Jewish Thought to appear in recent memory. With lucid expositions and meticulous scholarship, Seidenberg invites his readers to reconsider the ways we think about God, humans, animals, and the cosmos as a whole. His elegant and vibrant writing makes a persuasive case for a reverent embrace of all creation as the divine image and encourages us to ennoble our ethical postures and religious lives." ~ Nehemia Polen, Professor of Jewish Thought, Hebrew College

"A careful but exhilarating examination of ways our traditions have imagined – and might again re-imagine – our fraught relationship with the more-than-human world. Stunning in its depth!" ~ Bill McKibben, founder, 350.org, author, The Comforting Whirlwind: God, Job, and the Scale of Creation

"Seidenberg’s Kabbalah and Ecology is one of the most, if not the most, original and important contributions to the growing discourse around religion and the environment of the last decade. Jewish mysticism is a woefully ignored mine of rich sources and insights for those wishing to ground their environmentalism in a spiritual base with deep roots and fertile branches. Too many works in this field are by people who are not experts, or not knowledgeable in all relevant fields. Seidenberg brings to the work truly impressive transdisciplinary learning and experience. The book deftly spans the divide between scholarship in Jewish and mystical studies and contemporary social environmental thought and analysis. There is much here for everyone – both scholar and activist, professional and layperson, and I daresay – Jew and non-Jew. One of Seidenberg’s many strengths displayed in this book is not only making accessible otherwise obscure or esoteric source material, but doing so in such a
way that it virtually jumps off the page with relevance." ~ Dr. Jeremy Benstein, co-founder and deputy director, The Heschel Center for Sustainability (Israel), author, The Way Into Judaism and the Environment

"What a rare find – a work that integrates theology, science, and activism in organic and well-researched ways that make sense and can impact the future. Seidenberg presents texts and ideas that many modern Jews and Christians have not encountered, and offers a fresh new look at Jewish views of humanity’s role in the cosmos. Through ideas that range from Maimonides’ theory of the universe as a single organism to Jewish mystical writings in which the human shares the divine image with the cosmos, Seidenberg convincingly proves to the reader that Judaism can and does support a belief system that does not elevate humans above all other species. For Jews and others who want to be part of a human world that acknowledges its interdependence with all other species, this is a crucial and irreplaceable book." ~ Rabbi Jill Hammer, co-founder, The Kohenet Institute, author, The Jewish Book of Days: A Companion for All Seasons

"People have had an intuitive knowledge that the Kabbalah and the reality map of our life on the planet are congruous to each other. It took David Seidenberg to bring this intuition into a full and rich intellectual conceptualization. This book is an important contribution that harmonizes ecology with divinity." ~ Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, founder of the Jewish Renewal movement

"Kabbalah and Ecology is a tour-de-force – serious thoughtful theology, generous and respectful to the wide range of sources and thinkers cited, developing a remarkable direction for theology. This book is stunning and will greatly enrich the conversation." ~ Rabbi Irving (Yitz) Greenberg, founder, CLAL National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, author, The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays

"An ecological sense of the interbreathing of all life is at the heart of both ancient Biblical thought and practice and the most advanced science of today. Rabbi Seidenberg has with impeccable scholarship unearthed how ecological ways of thinking underlie the Bible and have also permeated Kabbalah. Since Kabbalah for the last thousand years has been at or very close to the heart of Jewish thought, his work is extraordinarily important to our understanding of Judaism. His findings can help empower action to heal the web of life that has been so deeply wounded by human behavior." ~ Rabbi Arthur Waskow, director, The Shalom Center, author, Tales of Tikkun, Godwrestling

"Kabbalah and Ecology is an extremely detailed, careful, and well thought out attempt to fashion a Jewish theology adequate to the environmental crisis. It advances the discussion, offers important insights, and makes a real contribution to the work of helping us change our ways. At times there are instances of lovely and even poetic theological insight. This is essential reading." ~ Roger S. Gottlieb, Professor of Philosophy, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, author, Engaging Voices: Tales of Morality and Meaning in an Age of Global Warming and Spirituality: What It Is and Why It
Matters

"This rich and well-researched book into the ancient theme of the image of God is a blessing for humans and the more-than-human alike, for it restores the intrinsic dignity and sacredness of all beings. Thus it moves us beyond anthropocentrism and our narcissism as a species to our true place, not above but alongside other creatures that also reveal the God-face, in all its grandeur and diversity. While all creatures currently tremble under the ongoing diminishment of the planet, this book liberates humanity from its self-absorption and sets it free to face nakedly our responsibility to change our ways of living on earth, so that Earth and all earth creatures may thrive anew." ~ Rev. Matthew Fox, author, Original Blessing, Coming of the Cosmic Christ, Meister Eckhardt: A Mystic Warrior for Our Times

"David Seidenberg’s book is a tour-de-force that moves the dialogue of Judaism and ecology forward in remarkably fruitful ways. This book takes a tremendous step toward reconfiguring religion, showing how we can transform some of the foundational premises of Western civilization by drawing on deeply earth-centered traditions. It is a must read for everyone interested in the impact of the Bible on the world, and for everyone studying the growth of ecotheology. Kabbalah and Ecology will be a seminal work for years to come." ~ Mary Evelyn Tucker, co-director, Forum on Religion and Ecology, Yale University

"Rabbi Seidenberg constructs an ecotheology from Talmud and Kabbalah wherein each species partakes in the image of God, and the awe of beholding a natural marvel is transferred onto every person. It invites us to join a conversation about humans and animals that has been going on for over a thousand years, yet, I suspect, is unknown to most conservation biologists or environmentalists." ~ Scott Gilbert, Professor of Biology, Swarthmore College, author, Ecological Developmental Biology

"Most contemporary religious environmentalists have gone beyond, given up on, or at least radically reread Jewish and Christian texts that suggest a strong anthropocentrism. In this significant new work of constructive theology, Rabbi Dr. David Mevorach Seidenberg takes a different tack, arguing that we have long misunderstood these texts. What is unique about Kabbalah and Ecology, however, is that Seidenberg does so not with mere assertion but with scholarly rigor, delving deeply into Biblical, rabbinic, Midrashic, philosophical, Kabbalistic, Hasidic, and contemporary texts. Seidenberg provides a serious theological backbone for Jewish environmental ethics – as well as one of the most systematic contemporary Jewish theologies of any type. The more serious the scholarly or theological reader, the more powerful Seidenberg’s challenge will be." ~ Dr. Jay Michaelson, founder, Zeek, contributing editor, The Forward, author, Everything is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism

5 people found this helpful

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S. Yanklowitz

Seidenberg did a terrific job! This is a must read

Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2015

Wow! Dr. Seidenberg did a terrific job!

This is a must read.

Sophisticated. Deep. Thoughtful. Expansive!

One person found this helpful

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Kabbalah and Ecology: God's Image in the More-Than-Human World

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