{"id":34040,"date":"2018-07-16T14:16:28","date_gmt":"2018-07-16T11:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=34040"},"modified":"2022-02-07T14:10:21","modified_gmt":"2022-02-07T12:10:21","slug":"guardin-the-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/guardin-the-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"Guardin’ the Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[360],"acf":{"old_id":"34040","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34011,"related_cahpter":"2","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Use the fruit, but preserve the fruitfulness, or: the first work-life balance","content":"

\u201cTo till and to tend,\u201d \u2018to work and to watch.\u201d My personal favorite translation of the famous two-word mission statement of Gen 2:15, is \u201cto serve and preserve.\u201d The first word is <\/span>avoda<\/span><\/em>,<\/span><\/i> \u201cwork\u201d or \u201clabor\u201d (and in the context of land, \u201ccultivation\u201d), and the second, <\/span>shemira<\/span><\/em> is guard or protect. Or \u201cobserve\u201d (as in <\/span>shemirat Shabbat<\/span><\/em>, the observance of the Sabbath), for it is surely no accident that both these terms have such cultic associations. Cultivating the soil and worshipping God are the same word in Hebrew (<\/span>avoda<\/span><\/em>); just as the English word \u201cworship\u201d is from \u201cwork,\u201d just as \u201ccult\u201d is the root of \u201ccultivate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, our relationship to the garden, and by implication the world, is analogous to our relationship with God: we are enjoined to do to the Garden what we do for God (<\/span>avoda<\/span><\/em> \u2013 service), and also what God does for or to us, as in the priestly blessing of Numbers 6:24: \u201c<\/span>yevarechecha\u2026 <\/span>veyishmerecha<\/span><\/em>, \u201cMay God bless you, and watch over (guard) you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This raises a troubling question: from what exactly are we meant to protect or guard the garden? Some say wild animals, or the less ordered, more chaotic world of nature outside the garden. This doesn\u2019t ring true, though, since animals are clearly included in the garden, and the entire world has already been deemed \u201cvery good.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

I would suggest that the main threat to the garden, and by extension, the world, is precisely the other pair of the dyad\u2014the cultivation, the human work.<\/span><\/p>\n

The mission is to work, to produce, to develop\u2014but at the same time to preserve, to guard, to be vigilant that the work doesn\u2019t get out of hand. It must remain, in a word, sustainable. Indeed, perhaps the best translation of the Biblical phrase <\/span>leovda uleshomra<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/em>(“watchful work”) is \u201csustainable development.\u201d<\/span> Working the land is crucial for human flourishing — but guarding the earth is the critical complement. We need to guard the world precisely from our <\/span>avoda<\/span><\/em>, the effects of our own work. In our struggle for the earth’s fruits, we sow the seeds of our own, and the world’s, destruction — unless we temper our toil with responsibility and concern for posterity. In the words of farmer philosopher Wendell Berry, by all means use the fruit, but take care to preserve the fruitfulness. <\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":101673,"id":101673,"title":"-62010ba7b90a9--62010ba7b90aagen2-apples garden fruit.jpg","filename":"62010ba7b90a9-62010ba7b90aagen2-apples-garden-fruit.jpg.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62010ba7b90a9-62010ba7b90aagen2-apples-garden-fruit.jpg.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/guardin-the-garden\/62010ba7b90a9-62010ba7b90aagen2-apples-garden-fruit-jpg\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"62010ba7b90a9-62010ba7b90aagen2-apples-garden-fruit-jpg","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":34040,"date":"2022-02-07 12:08:07","modified":"2022-09-07 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