Oct. 20
COEJL Institute at Temple Israel
Offers full
environmental slate
by Susie
Davidson
Advocate
Correspondent
BOSTON - A
comprehensive lineup of mental, spiritual, social, nutritional and auditory
sustenance is assured this Sunday at Temple Israel at the Coalition on the
Environment and Jewish Life’s Second Annual Jewish Environmental
Institute: Connecting Judaism and the Environment.
From 1-6:30
p.m., workshops, talks, discussions, food and music will fill the needs of
environmentally conscious attendees seeking to make a difference in the air we
breathe, the water we drink, and the safeguarding of precious planetary
resources.
Once again,
organizer and COEJL director Judy Lehrer and her crew have done an outstanding
job in securing both prime discussion topics and exemplary, accomplished
speakers and workshop leaders. Geared to both the curious novice and
experienced activist, and including a vegetarian Kosher dinner with
entertainment, attendees will leave wiser and even more pumped up to do the worthy
and worldly thing.
“This
year,” said Lehrer, “our focus is Connecting Judaism and the
environment through learning and discovery.” Attendees will learn about
environmental issues, develop organizational skills for synagogue or community
environmental work, participate in interactive, engaging workshops, celebrate
the Jewish environmental community in Greater Boston, network with others who
care about justice and the environment and feast and listen to music.
Workshop topics will
include: What is the connection between Judaism and the environment?; Rebbe
Nachman's Prayer Among all Living Things; Nature Imagery in Psalms; Greening
the Jewish Holidays; Religious Challenges for Jewish Environmentalists;
Learning from the Beginning: the Jewish Creation Stories; D’var Earth;
How can individuals and institutions protect the environment?; How to Reduce
Pollution from Your Synagogue and Home; Putting Your Own House in Order: How to
Lead an Environmentally Sustainable Lifestyle; Everything you wanted to know
about recycling but were afraid to ask; How can we work as a community to
effect change?; Turning Thoughts into Action: Political Advocacy; Environmental
Policy: Making a World of Difference; Campaign to Protect Child Health and
Energy from the Sun, Wind and Land.
Keynote
speaker New Jewish High School teacher Ebn Leader will follow remarks by COEJL
Chair Susan Hiller, Rabbi Pesner, National COEJL Executive Director Mark X.
Jacobs, JCRC President Geoffrey Lewis, and Lehrer. Small groups, workshops and
the dinner will follow Leader, who grew up in Jerusalem and is also a spiritual
guide at the Boston Synagogue. “He has studied with Rabbi David Hartman
and Amos Hetz, and is currently working with Rabbi Arthur Green on
understanding and developing the relationship between Jewish tradition and the
environment,” explained Lehrer.
The stellar
slate of workshop leaders are Temple Aliyah and Prozdor educator Alison Adler;
Swampscott's Temple Israel Rabbi Neal Loevinger, who has published on Judaism
and ecology; COEJL National Field Director Stefanie Zelkind, who worked at Adam
Teva V’Din: The Israel Union for Environmental Defense and
EcoPeace/Friends of the Earth Middle East; Joel Baskin, who studied at the
Jewish Theological Seminary and has led numerous Jewish environmental programs;
COEJL steering committee member Lisa Greber, a master's student in
environmental studies at Antioch New England; Outreach Coordinator for
Massachusetts Interfaith Power and Light Lara Hoke; Eastern Massachusetts
Coordinator for the Household Ecoteam Program and volunteer Vice President of
Newton’s Green Decade Coalition Dan Ruben, who is also Program Manager
for Buy Recycled and Source Reduction Initiatives for WasteCap of
Massachusetts; Founding Executive Director of the Chelsea Center for Recycling
and Economic Development Amy Perlmutter, who was formerly Director of Recycling
for the City of San Francisco and Solid Waste Program Manager for Passaic
County, New Jersey; JCRC Director of Government Affairs and Massachusetts
Association of Jewish Federations Brad Kramer; Vice President for Policy at the
Environmental League of Massachusetts Pam DiBona; Environmental Collaborative
at the Environmental League of Massachusetts Director Rani Corey;
Alliance
for a Healthy Tomorrow spokeswoman and Clean Water Action Campaign Director
Tina Clarke, who directed Greenpeace USA's national citizen advocacy network;
and Massachusetts Energy Consumers Alliance Program Director Nicole
Wobus.
“We're
looking forward to a joy-filled day of learning, prayer, and
celebration,” said Lehrer.
Temple
Israel is located at the corner of Longwood Avenue and Plymouth St., one block
from the Longwood stop on the Green “D” Line. For more information
or to register, call COEJL (a program of the JCRC) at 617-457-8670, email Coejl@jcrcboston.org
or visit www.jcrcboston.org/coejl.