Judaism and Ecology
February 22-24, 1998
- Opening Session
- Interdisciplinary Reflections
- Toward a Contemporary Jewish Theology of the Natural World
- The Mystical Tradition
- Nature and Moral Obligation
- The Bible through an Ecological Prism
- Nature and Human Obligation
- Creation and Nature
- Modern Jewish Thought
- Nature and the Environment
- The Engaged Community
Opening Session
Welcome and Introduction:
Lawrence Sullivan, Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions
Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, Bucknell University
Steven Shaw, Jewish Theological Seminary
Moshe Sokol, Touro College
Interdisciplinary Reflections
Moderator - Michael Paley, UJA Federation, New York
Ismar Schorsch, Jewish Theological Seminary - Judaism and Nature: Some Critical Reflections
Lawrence Rasmussen, Union Theological Seminary - New Directions in Theological Ethics, Nature and the Environment
J. Baird Callicott, University of North Texas - Current Issues in Environmental Philosophy
Toward a Contemporary Jewish Theology of the Natural World
Moderator - Mitchell Thomashow, Antioch New England Graduate Center
Michael Fishbane, University of Chicago
Arthur Green, Brandeis University
Nature in Winter: A Brief Ecological Field Trip (Part I) - Steve Shaw, Dan Swartz, and Michal Smart
The Mystical Tradition
Chair - Everett Gendler, Andover, Massachusetts
Yehuda Gellman, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel - Buber's Bluff: On the Attitude of Early Hasidism to the World and Nature
Shaul Magid, Jewish Theological Seminary - Nature and Disability: The Natural World in Nahman of Bratzlav's “Tale of The Seven Beggars”
Elliot Wolfson, New York University - The Mirror of Nature in the Jewish Mystical Tradition
Respondent - Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, Indiana University
Nature and Moral Obligation: Theoretical Perspectives
Chair - Roger Gottlieb, Worcester Polytechnical Institute
Lenn Evan Goodman, Vanderbilt University - Respect for Nature in the Jewish Tradition
Shalom Rosenberg, Hebrew University, Jerusalem - Torah and Nature: On the Functionality of “Nature”
Moshe Sokol, Touro College - What are the Ethical Implications of Jewish Theological Conceptions of Nature?
Respondent - Barry Kogan, Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati
The Bible through an Ecological Prism
Daniel Hillel, Center for Environmental Studies, Karkur, Israel - The Bible through an Ecological Prism
Nature and Human Obligation: Biblical and Theological Reflections
Chair - Eric Katz, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Tsvi Blanchard, CLAL - Can Judaism Make Environmental Policy? Sacred and Secular Language in Jewish Environmental Discourse
Evan Eisenberg, Leverett, Massachusetts - The Ecology of Eden
Tikva Frymer-Kensky, University of Chicago - “Leshev” and Gaia: The Limits of Biblical Ecology
Respondent - Eilon Schwartz, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem
Creation and Nature
Chair - David Shatz, Yeshiva University
Stephen Geller, Jewish Theological Seminary - Nature's Answer: Creation and Theodicy in the Bible
Neil Gillman, Jewish Theological Seminary - Liturgical Transformations of the Creation Stories
David Novak, University of Toronto - The Doctrine of Creation and the Idea of Nature
Respondent - Jon Levenson, Harvard University
An Evening with Edward O. Wilson, Harvard University
Chair - Paul Gorman, National Religious Partnership for the Environment
Nature in Winter: A Brief Ecological Field Trip (Part II) - Steve Shaw, Dan Swartz, and Michal Smart
Modern Jewish Thought
Chair - David Szonyi, Jewish Theological Seminary
Benjamin Ish Shalom, Bet Morasha, Jerusalem - Nature in the Thought of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook
Edward Kaplan, Brandeis University - Reverence and Responsibility: Abraham Joshua Heschel on Nature and The Self
Respondent - Susan Shapiro, Columbia University
Nature and the Environment: Perspectives from the Rabbinic Tradition
Chair - Lawrence Troster, CLAL
Eliezer Diamond, Jewish Theological Seminary - How Much Is Too Much? The Problem of Conventional Versus Individual Pollution Standards in Rabbinic Law
David Kraemer, Jewish Theological Seminary - Jewish Death Practices: A Commentary on the Relationship of Humans to the Natural World
Respondent - Saul Berman, Yeshiva University
The Engaged Community: Reflections by Jewish Environmental Practitioners
Chair - Rachel Cowan, The Nathan Cummings Foundation
Daniel Swartz, National Religious Partnership for the Environment
Mark Jacobs, Coalition on the Environment & Jewish Life
Michal Smart, Camp Isabella Freedman
Jeremy Benstein, Heschel Center for Nature Studies, Israel