In 1967, medieval historian Lynn White published a now-infamous paper that traces the current environmental crisis back to a Judeo-Christian worldview… essentially, he blames the creation story in Genesis, especially the part in which God gives humans the task of “ruling” over animals. 

But is Genesis really to blame? To understand more, I spoke with Rabbi Isaiah Rothstein, rabbi-in-residence for Hazon, the Jewish lab for sustainability.

We talk about Rabbi Rothstein’s own background – he grew up in a mixed-race family in an ultra-orthodox community, in Monsey, New York – and how this led to his current position with Hazon; about the current Jewish environmental movement and Hazon’s declaration that the Jewish new year, 5270, is the year of the Environmental Teshuva, and I ask Rabbi Rothstein to walk me through the Hebrew of the creation story in Genesis.