“The heavens are G-d’s Heavens, but their earth was given to Human Kind” (Psalm 115). הַשָּׁמַיִם שָׁמַיִם לי’ ; וְהָאָרֶץ, נָתַן לִבְנֵי-אָדָם
For this journal, we were asked to write a minimum of 2 paragraphs explaining what this means, and how it related to our mitzvah project. Our mitzvah project was to clean the beach. We walked up to the pier, and then we went back, filling garbage bags. Me and my friends also found a jellyfish! I think we did a good thing, helping to preserve the rule: Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints.
I think what that quote means is that we were given Earth as a gift. We are so lucky to have a planet that gives us everything that we need. We need to respect it, or we will not be able to use it anymore. If we litter, then we destroy our gift from G-d. We were preserving that verse by cleaning the beach last Friday.
Click here to read the full text of Psalm 115 in English, Hebrew, and to read some commentary on it by Rabbi Benjamin J. Segal.