Description: Traces the development of bal tashḥit, the Jewish prohibition against wastefulness and destruction, from its biblical origins to the contemporary environmental movement.
Brief description: Tanhum S. Yoreh is Assistant Professor at the School of the Environment at the University of Toronto.
Review Quotes:
"Overall, Waste Not presents a panoply of Jewish sources about waste and worth in the world. The book does not rely on genizot to prove a Jewish impulse toward preservation of the sacred in the world, but it rather looks to rabbinic and biblical teaching and persistent Jewish belief that the divine does indeed care for creation. I highly recommend it for all readers, and I look forward to Yoreh's next work on this topic." - Janelle Peters, H-Net Reviews (H-Environment)
"This book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the prohibition against wastefulness as an environmental principle." - Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture
"The book's argument, well-grounded as it is in firm textual evidence, displays a sound familiarity with rabbinic sources and communicates it in a manner suitable for readers whose familiarity with those sources may vary. There is a drama implicit in the presentation, having to do with the religiously and environmentally pressing question of how Jewish sources show up under close historical and environmental examination." - Martin D. Yaffe, University of North Texas