Can a Jewish Radical Ethic of Sustainability Change the Human Attitude towards Climate Change and its Horrific Outcomes?

November 2021, Glasgow, Scotland. The climate change discussions. It seems that once again the states of the world have failed to reach beneficial solutions. In his speech, President Biden said: “We can create an environment that raises the standard of living around the world. And this is a moral imperative.”

The president of the USA has identified, correctly, the way to correct the climate change crisis as a moral path, but where can we find the ethics for this moral path?

In this paper I would like to suggest that the radical views of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch and Dr. Isaac Breuer, leaders of the Jewish German Orthodoxy in the 19th and 20th centuries, regarding Environment, Economy and Society, could lead to a new morality regarding climate change.

The findings of my research show that Rabbi Hirsch and Dr. Breuer developed a unique attitude towards environment, society and economics. These attitudes are based on their understanding that Nature has been submitted to Man`s Stewardship according to G-d`s commandments. According to Hirsch and Breuer, Man was created within Nature, superior to Nature and responsible for the well-being of Nature. He has to act within nature and together with nature in order to achieve the end of G-d`s plan in this world – to raise everything to moral sanctity.

The ethics developed by Hirsch and Breuer were indeed based on Jewish religious principles but could indeed suit secular Jews and also non-Jews due to the fact that many of their ideas suited many of the philosophers of their time. It is suggested that adopting the philosophies of Hirsch and Breuer could influence positively the attitude of the public and that of leaders regarding climate change.