16th September 2025 Bulletin Eco-Corner

Eco-Judaism have declared that the theme of this year's upcoming Eco-Shabbat (Saturday 22nd November - mark it in your diaries!) is l'ab'dah uhl'sam'rah, “to tend and watch over”.  This comes from the Biblical verse Genesis 2:15 “The Lord set the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it".  In other words, according to Jewish teaching, humanity was created to steward the natural environment.  You may be thinking that hasn't worked out so well, but in the spirit of “tending the garden”, Eco Corner was put in mind of something everyone can do in their own garden, if they are lucky enough to have one: making it hedgehog friendly.
 
The RSPCA has a helpful guide here, which includes advice such as providing helpful habitats in the form of piles of leaves, logs or compost; making gaps in garden boundaries to enable hedgehog access; leaving out hedgehog-approved food – NOT milk or bread, but tinned dog or cat food, or proper hedgehog food, served in clean dishes.  Did Adam make the Garden of Eden hedgehog-friendly with similar steps?  Eco Corner likes to think so.