June 25, 2021
Online event at 12:00pm EDT
Born and raised in Jerusalem Rabbi Gila Caine received her rabbinic ordination at the HUC-JIR’s Israeli program in 2011. Her rabbinic thesis explored liturgical, spiritual, and ceremonial aspects of birth in Jewish tradition and contemporary practice. Stemming from that, as well as her years as volunteer at the Rape crisis center, Rabbi Caine is one of the founders of the Israeli rabbinic women’s group “B'not Dinah” – creating a female and feminist rabbinic tradition of healing after Sexual trauma. She now serves as rabbi at Temple Beth Ora congregation in Edmonton, AB (Canada), where is lives with her husband, children, and elderly dog.
The Rights of Nature – Halachah for the Earth
Traditional Halachah (Jewish law) is organised in two overarching categories:
The relationship between Jews and God/ess (בין אדם למקום / Bein Adam LaMakom)
The relationship between humans amongst themselves (בין אדם לחברו / Bein Adam LeChaveiro).
We now need to add another meta-category organizing the relationship between humans and the Earth ( בין אדם לאדמה/ Bein Adam LaAdamah).
To begin imagining what this might look like, we will explore the legal revolution of “The Rights of Nature”, and complementary notions inside the Jewish legal and legendary (midrashic) tradition, specifically with regards to the practice of the Shmitah (Sabbatical year).