Our greatest sin is emissions: We must repent for climate change - opinion

In the scorching summer of 2022, over 60,000 people died of the heat in Europe. And that is on top of the 9 million people worldwide killed by air pollution from power plants and transportation, according to the World Health Organization.

If our hearts truly go out to the families of those who also died by wildfires and floods, by thirst and hunger, by smog and smoke, then let us courageously yet belatedly acknowledge that the greatest collective and individual sin we bear in this yet-another-hottest-year-in-history is the sin of emissions. Our species, and so many other miraculous living testaments to God’s majesty, are in a physical state of emergency caused by humanity’s spiritual failings.

The Jewish people, for all our powerful texts and sources and good intentions, are not part of the solution. And, frankly, the State of Israel especially isn’t. My teacher Elie Wiesel dubbed the term the “Jews of Silence,” in critiquing the lack of action for the Jews trapped in the Soviet Union by World Jewry who had power, agency, and wealth in the 1960s. When it comes to the climate crisis, the Jews of silence are the State of Israel.

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, in his epic Halachic Man, teaches about two categories of sins: The sin of commission – of doing something wrong – and the sin of omission, which is deliberate lack of action.

The State of Israel is part of a global ecocide trend of doubling down on fossil fuels at a time when there needs to be instead a speedy move away from oil and gas to renewables. Drilling for and burning fossil fuels, including gas, is a sin of commission and this is the national policy of the State of Israel. At a time when billions of people are at risk worldwide for the effects of the climate crisis, it is the policy of the Jewish State to perpetuate a deadly gas monopoly for at least another generation of our electricity-dependent society. Solar energy costs a fraction of the price of gas, so the only explanation for perpetuating a dangerous monopoly is the moral corruption of our decision-makers.

And the lack of citizen and leadership action is a sin of omission.

How to reduce our sin of emissions

To reduce our sin of emissions by half by 2030, I have submitted the Abramowitz Plan to the Israeli Climate Forum. The plan is cost-effective and easily implementable. It aims for Israel to be 100% solar-powered (during daylight hours) by 2030, which will align it with similar goals in the United States and the European Union.

By 2020 we achieved this goal in Eilat and the Arava, so an extra decade for the state to catch up is reasonable. Just utilizing our available rooftops and parking lots can get us close to cutting our greenhouse gas emissions in half, especially if accompanied by switching to electric vehicles powered by solar panels with storage.

Furthermore, providing Bedouins with clear and fair on-ramps to develop solar fields will yield not only win-win compromises on disputed lands but provide 10,000 Bedouin jobs and 5,000 MW of clean power. Bedouin solar and rooftop solar, in addition to the existing solar fields, can provide for the super-majority of Israel’s daytime energy needs.

We must repent not just by beating our fists on our hearts – but with action. The Jewish people have shown that when we put our minds to work, we can make miracles happen. We demonstrated that clearly with the improbable return to Zion after 2,000 years, the various rescue operations of Jews in far-flung countries, and the creation of one of the most innovative economies in history.

On this Day of Awe there is no more noble cause for the Jewish people than saving humanity itself, ensuring that God’s covenant not to wipe out the planet with rising waters will be – in some small measure – because of our actions. It is for this purpose that we have been created, that we have survived and flourished. There is no higher fulfillment of the Jewish mission than to honor and save the majesty of God’s creation and to do so as individuals and as part of a global Jewish collective with Israel as our national platform. But our national platform has yet to even pass an ambitious climate law reducing greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030.

It is time for the Jewish people to “choose life so that you and your children may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

While most of our emissions are due to systemic national policies, there is a lot individual Jews can do.

THE PROCESS of raising, feeding, killing, and transporting beef is one of the most destructive forces on the planet and demand is only increasing. Your grandma’s brisket and that pastrami on rye collectively contribute as much greenhouse gas emissions as all the world’s cars and trucks.

By next Yom Kippur, let’s have halved all kosher beef consumption.

Chicken has one-quarter of the carbon footprint of beef – and plant-based beef substitutes are only getting better. Tel Aviv has been ranked by the UK The Independent newspaper as “the vegan capital of the world.” Jewish communities worldwide should follow suit. Making this switch can be an example for other communities.

The other switch we can make with ripple effects globally is to electric vehicles. By next Yom Kippur, let’s decree that anyone who purchases a combustion engine car in Israel or in the Jewish community will be committing a hillul Hashem (desecration of God’s name). So far this year, one out of every four cars purchased in Israel has been electric, which is the turning point in our market.

Because of Shabbat observance in Israel, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by a third – and are nearly zero on Yom Kippur.

If every denomination of the Jewish people truly sanctified Shabbat as a non-consumer day of rest and this example was followed by other faith communities, then Shabbat would save the Jewish people along with the entire planet. Since Yom Kippur is the Sabbath of Sabbaths, and we worry even more this year who will perish by fire or flood and more, let’s transform Israel and the Jewish people into a renewable light unto the nations. 

Nominated by 12 African countries and MK Alon Tal for the Nobel Peace Prize, Yosef Israel Abramowitz serves as CEO of EnergiyaGlobal and co-chair, with Raed Abu Alkian, of the Bedouin-Jewish solar NGO Shamsuna, and leader of Israeli Climate Forum, a co-founder of the White House Power Africa initiative. @kaptainsunshine.

The Environment and Climate Change portal is produced in cooperation with the Goldman Sonnenfeldt School of Sustainability and Climate Change at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The Jerusalem Post maintains all editorial decisions related to the content.

Pioneering climate solutions >