Masorti Environmental Sustainability Initiative- MESI

On Tu Bishvat 5784 (2024), USCJ and the Rabbinical Assembly, in conjunction with a grant from KKL, launched a new Movement-wide project called the Masorti Environmental Sustainability Initiative ( MESI ). It is designed to motivate and empower every Conservative/Masorti organization to advance environmental sustainability.

Now is exactly the right time for our Jewish communities to continue moving forward and taking action to halt global warming, end climate catastrophes, and take action to heal our environment.

Weeks of Learning and Doing (WOLAD)

The Weeks of Learning and Doing webinar series is a highly curated Movement-wide online event that offers education, information, and resources about environmental sustainability from a Jewish perspective.

MESI has partnered with various arms of the Movement such as NAASE, FJMC, and Women’s League as well as some fabulous external partners like Adamah, Dayenu, and JIFA. This one-of-a-kind webinar series about the environment and climate change will inspire and motivate action and advocacy.

Complementing the webinars, each week of the Omer, we will be sending out thoughts and teachings that can deepen our collective commitment to caring for the earth. These teachings will dive deeper into Judaism’s many ways of caring for the earth and the age-old mitzvah whose time has truly come – Yishuv Ha’olam – the imperative to preserve a habitable world in which all God’s creatures may thrive.

To register for WOLAD Click Here!

WOLAD webinar topics include:

• Financial incentives for synagogue efficiency and cost savings
• Sustainable food practices + ancient recipes from the rabbis
• Bal tashkhit (the imperative not to waste) and the laws  of sustainability
• Organizing for Jewish youth climate advocacy

 This Movement-wide online event is for everyone who is passionate about environmental sustainability. It will include a highly curated series of webinars that offer a variety of learning opportunities for clergy, professional staff, lay leaders, youth, educators, and the general public.

• We’ll hear from climate science experts and Jewish scholars.
• We’ll share inspiring stories from congregations that have signed up for the Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition, as well as those who are taking their first steps.
• We’ll discuss environmental ethics in biblical texts.
• We’ll learn about cultivating spiritual courage around climate change.
• And so much more!

Find us on exploringjudaism.org

We now have a place where Conservative/Masorti environmental sustainability lives on the internet! You can find our new Climate and Environment section on the Exploring Judaism website which presents Jewish perspectives on the environment and sustainability.

See you at WOLAD!

We are partnering with Adamah’s Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition, a nationwide initiative assisting organizations in their response to climate change. With over 50 Conservative synagogues already signed on, we are encouraging all  USCJ congregations to participate and create their own climate action plan, a strategic plan for climate protection.

Click here to sign up!

Thoughts and Teachings

• Counting the Omer Resources

Did you miss a webinar? Click on the links below to view recordings of previous webinars!

• Eat Like a Sage: Insights on Diet and Cooking from Biblical to Rabbinic Times
• “The earth is GOD’s and all that it holds”: A Jewish Conversation about the Environment.
• Climate Change: How Synagogues Respond.
• Calling Planet Earth To The Bimah.
• Cultivating Spiritual Courage and Confronting the Climate Crisis
• Capital Planning from an Environmental Perspective
• Financial Incentives for Greening Your Synagogue
• Jewish Advocacy: Courage in Action
• Helping to Ensure a Healthy World: The Mitzvah of Yishuv Ha’olam

Questions? Contact Us!