A Hasidic "Council of All Beings": Ecology, Ethics, and Jewish Mysticism.

This article explores how Hasidic texts might be read as ethical prompts, not simply as nudges or pushes to do the right thing, but sources that spark a process of thinking, reflection, and discernment. Such encounters with Hasidic teachings can enhance our mental toolbox by providing new conceptual...

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Publicado en:Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies Vol. 43; no. 2; pp. 198 - 232
Autor principal: Mayse, Ariel Evan
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Purdue University Press 2025
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: A Hasidic "Council of All Beings": Ecology, Ethics, and Jewish Mysticism.
      aug:
        au: Mayse, Ariel Evan
      su:
        Ethical decision making
        Environmental policy
        Human ecology
        Religious literature
        Sustainability
        Cabala
        Ethics
        Environmental disasters
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          Ethical decision making
          Environmental policy
          Human ecology
          Religious literature
          Sustainability
          Cabala
          Ethics
          Environmental disasters
      keyword:
        ecology
        mysticism
        religion and ethics
        ritual studies
        spirituality
        sustainability
      ab: This article explores how Hasidic texts might be read as ethical prompts, not simply as nudges or pushes to do the right thing, but sources that spark a process of thinking, reflection, and discernment. Such encounters with Hasidic teachings can enhance our mental toolbox by providing new conceptual data and methods of reasoning, thereby deepening our capacity for ethical decision-making and our capacity to grapple with real-world problems. We are in the midst of a major ecological crisis manifest in extreme weather events, loss of biodiversity, depletion of fisheries, pollution of air, water, and soil, prolonged droughts, and mass extinction of species. The statistics amount to a grave moral and existential crisis of our day, one that should prompt us to consider our ways of acting, thinking, and being in the world. But in part because of their magnitude and complexity, even cataclysmic reports and dramatic models do not seem to motivate large-scale change. To address dire environmental problems, we must explore traditional sources with an eye to different modes of theorization and valuation that can unseat assumptions about humanity and our relationship to the nonhuman world. I suggest that Hasidic homilies have much to offer contemporary discussions regarding environmental thinking, policy, and planning, and, at the same time, our study of these sermons has much to gain from engaging with the broader methods and disciplines of ecology and sustainability.
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