Rabbi Alon C Ferency

What do we really need? And once our needs are met, what is it that we desire? In this meditation on "Bal Tashchit," the Jewish teaching against needless destruction, rooted in Deuteronomy 20:19, we’ll slow down and notice the difference between need and want. From there, we’ll consider a third possibility: taking less. Less food, less stuff, less energy, less attention, less of the world’s finite resources. Not as punishment or deprivation, but as a practice of discernment: enough is enough. We’ll make space to ask what truly sustains us, what simply satisfies an impulse, and where choosing less might become an act of care for ourselves, our communities, and the living world.