Spiritual Ecology
“One who pays attention to everything in their environment will gain wisdom from each and every thing, [learning about] one’s conduct [both] in the service of God and toward other people. This is true not only when we witness something extraordinary, but even the most common phenomena—like a blossoming tree. Countless teachings may be gleaned from ordinary life.”
- Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Area Summary
Global climate change, manifest in extreme weather events and staggering loss of biodiversity, is the greatest moral, religious, and existential crisis of our day. Our programs explore the full range of Jewish literature connected to environmental consciousness and action, from Tanakh, Talmud, and law to mysticism, poetry, and philosophy. We aim to grapple with some of the pressing ecological, social, and theological problems facing us today. “The ecological crisis," writes Mary Evelyn Tucker, “is also a crisis of culture and of the human spirit. It is a moment of reconceptualizing the role of the human in nature.” Our work builds toward this renewal of the human spirit through constructive, creative, and courageous engagement with the past.
Lead Fellow
Ariel Evan Mayse, senior scholar-in-residence at the IJSS, is an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Stanford University. He holds a Ph.D. in Jewish Studies from Harvard University and rabbinic ordination from Beit Midrash Har’el in Israel. Mayse's research and teaching interests include: Hasidism, Kabbalah, and Jewish mysticism; comparative religious ethics and theology; ecology and the environmental humanities; medieval Jewish thought; and the philosophy of Jewish law.
Conferences
Nahara:
Beit Midrash for Environmental Renewal
Nahara is planting seeds for the Jewish future. Exploring the full range of Jewish literature connected to environmental consciousness and action-from Tanakh, Talmud, and halakhah to mysticism, poetry, and philosophy-we aim to foster generative scholarship on the ecological, communal, and theological questions facing us today.
Our programs reflect the belief of Rabbi Akiva that study leads to action. We allow our Torah to transform us into more thoughtful residents of the world we have been entrusted to inhabit. Please join us in diving deeply into Jewish sources while putting them in conversation with contemporary questions and the possibilities of communal response. At Nahara, the way we learn becomes the way we live.
Spiritual Ecologies:
A Day of Reflection on Theology, Contemplation, Education and Activism
The Spiritual Ecologies summit is dedicated in memory of our dear friend and colleague Rabbi Ellen Bernstein, a trailblazing educator, a thoughtful scholar, and a pioneer in the field of religious environmental work. This virtual summit provides an opportunity to explore a set of interwoven themes connected to questions of spiritual ecology. Bridging between ancient wisdom and the present crisis, our panelists speak about the religious values, ideas, and traditions that continue to inform and animate their ecological work and social activism.
