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Reader’s Guide:
Environmental Issues
April 2013
From BJPA Director Prof. Steven M. Cohen
With the imminent arrival of Earth Day on Monday,
April 22, 2013, we have collected a sampling of BJPA
holdings that reflect and enrich the contemporary
Jewish discourse on the environment. Earth Day, first
celebrated in 1970, is now a 43 year-old tradition. But
as our writers point out, Jewish concerns for, and
sense of sacredness for, the earth is a 4,000 year-old
tradition, as old as Judaism itself. Significantly, the
first line of the Torah reads, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the
earth."
To be sure, the translation of the Hebrew of Genesis 1:1 is a matter of some dispute.
But it is indisputable that as human beings we have a compelling interest in caring
for the only earth we inhabit, and that as Jews we have contributed to compelling
thinking about the environment, our responsibilities, and possibilities for action. A
sampling of that thinking appears in this BJPA Reader's Guide to Environmental
Issues, which we hope will promote this vital conversation.
Judaism and the Environment
The Energy Cost of Food
Manuela Zoninsein. Jewish Energy Guide, GZA, COEJL, 2013
Is it Jewish to be Green?
Naomi Tsur. Jewish Energy Guide, GZA, COEJL, 2013
The Science of Climate Change
Daniel Ziskin. Jewish Energy Guide, GZA, COEJL, 2013
The Jewish Role in a Global Village, and the Impact of Globalism on the
Jewish Community
Simha Rosenberg. eJewish Philanthropy. 2011
Trees without Bulldozers: Environmental Justice for the Bedouin
David Krantz. GZA, 2013
Memoir of a Jewish Dirt Farmer
Daron Joffe. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
To Work and to Protect: The Place of the Garden in Jewish Life
Leah Zigmond. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
Focus the Nation
Matt Lehman, Samantha M. Feld. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
Footprint Forward
Rebecca Oshins. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
Reader’s Guide: Environmental Issues
Judaism and the Environment
Blessing for the First Cucumber
Shamu F. Sadeh. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
Tikkun Olam and Environmental Restoration: A Jewish Eco-Theology of
Redemption
Lawrence Troster. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
MAKOM: The Place of "Space" in Jewish Tradition
Baruch Sienna. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
Between the Generations: Becoming Elijah
Arthur Waskow. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
Classical Rabbinic Steps Toward a Theology of Environmental Torah
Jonah Steinberg. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
Environmentalism and Creation
Nancy S. Swartz. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
Guardians of the Earth: To Till and To Tend
Jamie Korngold. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
National Jewish Environmental Organizations
Liore Milgrom-Elcott. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
The Genesis of Diversity
Michael Cohen. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
Reader’s Guide: Environmental Issues
Judaism and the Environment
The Human Place in Nature
Ellen Bernstein. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
Sh’ma June 2008: Environment (Complete Issue)
Enduring Technological Optimism: Zionism's Environmental Ethic and its
Influence on Israel's Environmental History
Alon Tal. Environmental History, 2008
Massachusetts Board of Rabbis - Statement on the Environment (2008)
Jewish Wisdom for Our World
Evonne Marzouk. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
How Going Green will make the world safer for Jews—and everyone else
Robert S. Greenberger. Moment, 2007
Seeking Sustainability: Israel's Evolving Water Management Strategy
Alon Tal. Science, 2006
Would Isaiah Approve of Emissions Trading?
Robert Rabinowitz. CLAL, 2002
To Guard the Earth - A Review of Torah of the Earth: Exploring 4,000 Years of
Ecology in Jewish Thought
Bernie Fischlowitz-Roberts. The Reconstructionist, 2001
Reader’s Guide: Environmental Issues
Judaism and the Environment
"Going Green" is a Moral Imperative at Bar-Ilan University in Israel
Mark Medin. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2001
Blue White and Green? Towards a Jewish Environmental Ethic
Andrea Cohen-Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2001
Going For the Green
Alina Gerlovin Spaulding. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2001
Formulating Jewish Responses to Environmental Crisis
Robert Rabinowitz. CLAL, 2001
Jewish Community Priorities for Climate and Energy Policy
CAJE, 2001
Huffing and Puffing Won't Blow It Down: The Straw House Makes a
Comeback
Sue Kurtz, Zak Kurtz. Jewish EducatNews, CAJE, 2001
Cleaning Up Environmental Policies
Lawrence Troster. Sh’ma, 2001
Branching Out: The Growth of Jewish Environmental Literature
Fred Dobb. The Reconstructionist, 2000
Reader’s Guide: Environmental Issues
Judaism and the Environment
Torah, Jews and Earth
Arthur Waskow. Sh’ma, 1993
Jews and the Environmental Question
Jerome A. Chanes. Sh’ma, 1993
Practical Action
Green Your Conference
David Krantz. Jewish Energy Guide, GZA, COEJL, 2013
Green Your Home
David Krantz. Jewish Energy Guide, GZA, COEJL, 2013
Nuclear: Carbon-Free but Radioactive
Benjamin Kahane. Jewish Energy Guide, GZA, COEJL, 2013
The New Jewish Food Movement and the Jewish Consumer
Andrea Lieber. AJS Perspectives, 2011
The Planet-Saving Mitzvah: Why Jews Should Consider Vegetarianism
Daniel Brook. Tikkun, 2009
Reader’s Guide: Environmental Issues
Practical Action
Green Courses of Action
Jason Thompson, Samantha M. Feld. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
Low Hanging Fruit: Simple Congregation Projects to Raise Environmental
Awareness
Marla Feldman. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
Green Courses of Action
Samantha Feld, Jason Thompson. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2001
Jewish Environmentalism in Higher Education: Greening Your Jewish
Campus Organization
Dan Waxman. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2001
Green Menorah Covenant Coalition: Personal, Congregational, and PublicPolicy Changes to Avert Global Scorching
Arthur Waskow. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2001
Guidelines for an Eco-Kosher Kitchen
Stewart Vile-Tahl. Sh’ma, 1996
Reader’s Guide: Environmental Issues
Education
Jewish Outdoor Adventure Education: An Exemplar of Successful
Experiential Jewish Education
Courtney I. Jacobson. HUC-JIR, 2010
Inheriting the Planet: Judaism, Ecology and Art - A High School Curriculum
Karen Dresser. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
Creative Ways to Teach Sustainability and Environmentalism
Dov Peretz-Elkins, Yoni Stadlin. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
Eco-Jewish Education - Motivating for Change
Daniel Ziskin. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
Experiential, Environmental Education: A Natural Connection
Barbara Lerman-Golomb. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
Shemita as a Foundation for Jewish Ecological Education
Nati Passow. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
Sustaining the Quest for Sustainability: The Role of Spiritual Teaching and
Practice in Jewish Environmental Education
Jonathan Slater. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2008
Eco-Jewish Education -- How to Make It Effective
Gabe Goldman. Jewish Education News, CAJE, 2001
Reader’s Guide: Environmental Issues
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