Yonatan Neril

The Torah, the Hebrew Bible, began about 2500 years ago though it was written down much later. However, both volumes of the ECO BIBLE, which focus on each individual weekly parsha (chapter) is as timely now as it was in Biblical days.
Many people, when they think about the Bible, think only of the biographical stories of the main people: Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Isaac, Leah, Rachel, Joseph, and Moses. Many also don’t believe the stories and discount the entire Bible and religion because of that. Rabbi Yonatan Neril & Rabbi Leo Dee show there is much more to the book than that and point out all the passages that tell us something about the importance of healthy ecology.
Volume 2 is based on the final three books: Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Like volume 1, the focus in on way the Torah addresses ecological issues, predicting many of the problems currently occurring in our 21st century world. They include water shortages, air pollution, excessive noise, and transmitting diseases. They are very strongly in favor of plant-based diets.
Some examples:
Many people are familiar with the beautiful gold-hued stones of Jerusalem. At one time, even large ovens were not permitted in the city to avoid darkening the golden stones. Unfortunately, that is no longer true and Israel has 50% higher particulate air pollution than Western European countries.
Many people in the world suffer from food shortages but 70% of the grain grown in the US and 40%+ in the rest of the world if fed to animals that will be slaughtered. Those animals, especially, cattle, are large contributors to high greenhouse gas levels, even more than the entire worldwide transportation system.
The book addresses the negative effects of noise pollution, especially how it affects our health.
As I write this, the world is entering the third year of the Coronavirus epidemic. In the Torah, people with some contagious health problems were totally isolated.
Non-native species, both animal and vegetable, are discussed. In the US, about 50,000 nonnative species cause $120 billion worth of damage annually. Forty two percent of US threatened or endangered species are at risk primarily because of nonnative species.
Extra month in the spring so Passover would not occur in winter (high priest had to dip five times during Passover and Yom Kippur.)
When Israelites traveled from Egypt, they brought cattle. But when going through land owned by others, they voluntarily paid for water or food. (They had manna and water). Treat those people respectfully even if it cost more.
Cremation has become most common end-of-life method. It burns dozens of gallons of gas per body which contributes to air pollution and climate change. In India, wood is used which leads to deforestation and soil erosion. Scattering remains into a body of water causes contamination of the water.
It calls for a greenbelt around cities which then could not be expanded.
The textile industry is one of the most polluting industries, producing 1.2 billion cons of CO2 equivalent annually. That’s more emissions than produced by all international flights and maritime shipping.
Logging is the profession in the US with the most number of fatalities. 25% higher than the next: fishing.
Like ECO BIBLE Volume 1, this book provides solutions to today’s problems. It’s written based on accompanying the weekly Torah portions, easy to understand and provides healthy food for thought.… (plus d'informations)

Religion has been a channel for moral and ethical instruction across the ages. Throughout the world, eighty four percent of the population have a religious affiliation. More than three quarters of Americans so identify. Unfortunately, one topic of immense importance today is too often omitted from the teachings: ecology.
The first verse of the Bible states that in the beginning, God created the universe. People were created on the sixth day and were told to take care of the land, water, animals, and people. On the seventh day, God’s work was finished and was followed by a day of rest. After that, it was the people’s responsibility. “For your sake I created them all. See to it that you do not spoil and destroy My world; for if you do, there will be no one else to repair it.”
As we can see by all the changes in our environment, especially in the last 100 years, we haven’t done a very good job of it. Climate change, brought about primarily by human actions, has melted ice caps that were thousands of years old, raising sea levels. Hurricanes and tornados are more frequent. Forests have decreased Species of birds, fish, animals, and plants have decreased or disappeared. Because of animals losing their territories due to human encroachment, infectious diseases have spread among people world-wide.
Many of the causes are things that people do for convenience such as overusing and carelessly discarding plastics, wasting food, importing foods and goods. Artisanal gold mining is the world’s largest source of mercury pollution. Overuse of paper is a major cause of both deforestation and land pollution.
he book also provides action items so the readers can learn what they can do to help preserve our world for future generations such as recycling, composting, overpackaging, diversiifying, and buying locally.
Much of the information talks about the benefits and disadvantages of cattle and other animals on our world. Neril strongly endorses vegetarian and vegan diets. . “Livestock takes up nearly 80 percent of global agricultural land yet produces less than 20 percent of the world’s supply of calories.”
It speaks of family planning, especially in difficult times. “The intention of the Creator is that our being fruitful should lead to life, blessing, and not the opposite.”
It warns of the correlation between government corruption and environmental damage.
Religion appeals not just to our intellect but to our soul – and this is where change is most needed and he suggests praying in a room with windows so worshippers focus on natural beauty instead of only things created by people.
In the ECO BIBLE, Yonatan Neril vividly shows specific verses in Exodus and Genesis that relate specifically to ecology. Noah’s ark, for instance, is an excellent example. Some of the ideas, which seem so current, are actually discussed in the texts. We haven’t been listening.… (plus d'informations)