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| Ellen Bernstein | |
Ellen Bernstein, author, rabbi, and "birthmother of contemporary Jewish environmentalism," died February 26 at age 70. Her most recent book, Toward a Holy Ecology: Reading the Song of Songs in the Age of Climate Crisis, was published just two weeks ago, on February 20, by Monkfish Book Publishing/Consortium. Her other books include The Promise of the Land: A Passover Haggadah, Splendor of Creation: A Biblical Ecology, and Ecology & the Jewish Spirit: Where Nature & the Sacred Meet.
Bernstein studied environmental science, seeking a path that included a spiritual approach. In 1988, she founded Shomrei Adamah (Keepers of the Earth), the first Jewish national environmental organization. She has been involved with a variety of religious environmental organizations including Third Act Faith and the Green Sabbath Project, and she was an advisor to the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology. She became a rabbi in 2012.
She was remembered (via the Jewish Telegraphic Agency) in part by her friend Shira Dicker, who called Toward a Holy Ecology "sure to be her masterwork":
"She was super-smart, something often difficult to discern in shy people. I've been with her at large settings where she was tormented by the torrents of talk and the high volume of voices. I've also seen her sidestep her way through crowds to the podium and deliver eloquent, poetic, visionary words. I last heard her speak at the United Nations General Assembly this past fall and she was magnificent--speaking about the role women can play in responding to the climate crisis.
"Ellen was entirely authentic; she lived the mission of the organization she founded. Yes, there was her make-up-free, untrendy natural appearance, but it was her organic, unadorned soul which was most luminous....
"Ellen changed my life, and that of so many others, by rooting us in our authentic skins and teaching us to feel the earth move under our feet. She peeled away the artifice of contemporary society and popular culture and gave us permission to see and inhabit the true essence of life--the seasons, flowers, birds, animals, mountains, rivers, the sun rising and setting, rainbows, the smell of rain, fields, deserts, the scent and sweep of great winds, the majesty of the ocean, deep lush forests, fragrances and sounds, the great swirling hullabaloo, orchestrated by God, given to humankind to protect."