Jewish Environmentalism in Israel: A Shared Movement?

Faith-based organizations promoting an environmental agenda emerged in Israel over the past two and a half decades. These NGOs are rooted in, or guided by, Jewish values and Jewish traditions. While this myriad of organizational actors might share common environmental agendas and goals, they still come from very different, and often conflicting, theological frameworks. This reality poses a major hurdle to aligning a system of shared values. Our goal is to understand whether shared values that motivate environmental engagement exist among the different organizations and communities in Israel that work towards sustainable lifestyle solutions based on Jewish traditions.

Tanhum Yoreh is an associate professor in the University of Toronto’s School of the Environment. He researches faith-based environmentalism and is the author of Waste Not: A Jewish Environmental Ethic.