The Green Shul
Should a synagogue be Green?
Seems like a no-brainer.
It’s one of those ideas that percolate around my head these days as I prepare (in a few short weeks) to begin service as Senior Rabbi at Beth Elohim.
You know, I’m not really a rainbow tallis wearing Eco-Kashrut type; nor am I a post-modern organicist. Whole Foods is nice but it annoys me and as I’ve mentioned before, the sanctimoniousness of the Park Slope Food Coop requires that I keep my anti-nausea medication and a fully charged iPod close at hand whenever I enter the Gulag.
Still, Greening a building is reasonable, and that’s the great attraction for me. And in a world where countless lives are snuffed out by violence that has at its core the pursuit of oil wealth, well, the sooner we innovate and get off our reliance on certain fuels and wasteful living, the better off we’ll all be.
Over the weekend, I checked out Daniel Pink’s article, The Rise of the Neo-Greens, in the May Wired. It’s another argument for how generationally, there is a shift taking place. And though the general outlook of the featured Neo-Greens isn’t mine–I begin with no fashion sense. When I ever get around to getting one, there’s one thing I do know: it’s not going to be “Green.” (It just seems a short step to Togas and Nikes and some alternative worship system that freaks me out.)
Anyway, the first challenge to contemplate is this: can a one hundred year old building be made environmentally efficient? I like the idea of a real Green Committee at the Shul. Younger Israelis have some serious know-how in this and so does our neighborhood. It’s another way in for the “unaffiliated crowd” as they contemplate coming back to community and taking on responsbility for the Jewish future on their own terms.
Who wants to join the committee? Or offer advice?
I’m listening.
May 30th, 2006 at 3:02 pm
I know nothing about “greening” an old building but I do know there’s not enough recycling/reusing going on at Brooklyn Jews events or in the world in general. I’m willing to learn. Sign me up.
May 30th, 2006 at 3:57 pm
I’m in. DPG (former co-director of recycling, Legal Aid Society, Criminal Appeals Bureau).
May 30th, 2006 at 4:34 pm
Please note that while we can certainly do a better job on recycling/reuse at CBE, ongoing congregational efforts have resulted in two relatively green buildings and supported sound environmental practices in operations. In the spirit of tikkun olam, the social action committee has taken the lead in working on environmental issues, events and education, and has worked constructively with the executive director, religious school director and commited members over the course of many years. Recently, the acting director of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL) was invited to speak at a CBE Friday night service; she had a lot of praise for our efforts to date, and provided us with a number of resources to use in furthering our environmental goals in the future. Let’s talk.
May 30th, 2006 at 4:39 pm
An additional thought came to me after I volunteered. Perhaps this is a matter to work on through our standing social action committee. Without in any way speaking for the other members of the committee, it seems like a natural for us to take up. “Green” being a third party kind of thing (albeit with disastrous results on occasion) I can also see why we might want to form a new committee dedicated solely to this issue. However, I don’t see any virtue in holding additional monthly meetings, so on the whole I hope we can bring it within social action, a committee already up and running and populated by a group with a long-term committment to these kinds of issues. However, the last thing we want is to make a turf thing out of it, so I’ll emphasize that it’s worth doing either way if there is a consensus.
May 31st, 2006 at 10:45 pm
[…] S3K Leadership Network member Rabbi Andy Bachman has launched an interesting discussion on the Brooklyn Jews weblog (here and here) about environmentally-friendly synagogues. He asks, “can a one hundred year old building be made environmentally efficient?” and goes on to conclude in the 2nd post that …It’s a matter of course that Jewish communities, moving well into this century knowing everything we know about the state of energy in the world, may have an ethical obligation to create sacred structures on these principles. […]
June 23rd, 2006 at 4:54 pm
Great post. And something that I’m working on. There’s a new campaign by the Shalom Center called Beyond Oil, and we’re looking at working within the Jewish community to act on better and safer energy practices. Would love to speak with you about this further.