Jewish Perspectives on the Environment Examined

Chestertown – Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin will lecture on “Caretakers of Creation: Jewish Perspectives” on Tuesday, October 13, at 10:30 a.m. at Emmanuel Church located at 101 N. Cross Street in Chestertown. The lecture is free and open to the public. Immediately following the program, discussion will continue over lunch in the Parish Hall. Lunch is $15 and reservations are required by October 7 by contacting jfairchild2@washcoll.edu or 410-778-7295.

Complementing Rabbi Cardin''s presentation, Dr. Gary S. Schiff, Cantor of the Chestertown Havurah and Adjunct Professor of History at Washington College, will speak briefly about the reflections of the concern for nature in Jewish liturgy and music.

Ordained in 1988 from the Jewish Theological Seminary, Rabbi Cardin now serves as Director of the Baltimore Jewish Environmental Network (BJEN) at the Pearlstone Conference and Retreat Center. She is also an environmental activist and educator, an author, and a freelance sustainability consultant.

In 1978 Rabbi Cardin co-founded the Jewish Women’s Resource Center, which is now part of the National Council of Jewish Women—NY Section; and in the mid-1990s she co-founded the National Center for Jewish Healing and the New York Jewish Healing Center. She most recently served as General Consultant to COEJL, the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (2007-2009).

Rabbi Cardin serves on the Boards of Chana, a Jewish organization that assists the victims of domestic violence, Hillel of Towson University, the Irvine Nature Center, Maryland League of Conservation Voters, and the Foundation of Spirituality and Medicine. In addition, she serves as the Community Educational Representative on the Baltimore County Sustainability Network, as well as on the OneMaryland Vision task force, a State think tank dedicated to developing a vision for a more sustainable state.

For five years Rabbi Cardin was the editor of Sh’ma: A Journal of Jewish Responsibility. She is the author of A Tapestry of Jewish Time: A Spiritual Guide to Holidays and Lifecycles, and Tears of Sorrow, Seeds of Hope, a spiritual companion to infertility and pregnancy loss, among other books, writings and articles.

This program is presented by the Center for Environment & Society at Washington College, the Chestertown Havurah, and the Chester Valley Ministers Association as the kickoff event of the “Caretakers of Creation” lecture series. The Reverend Allen LaMontagne, Rector of St. Paul's Parish, Kent, says the public forums will feature different faith perspectives in the context of the community’s relationship with the land. “Discussion will center on our role as people of faith in the care of creation,” he says.