Ellen Bernstein

Dubbed the “birthmother of the Jewish environmental movement,” Ellen Bernstein

founded Shomrei Adamah, Keepers of the Earth, the first national Jewish

environmental organization in 1988. Rabbi, environmental thinker and writer, she

is author of numerous books including Toward A Holy Ecology: Reading the Song of

Songs in an Age of Climate Crisis, The Promise of the Land: A Passover Haggadah

(Behrman House), The Splendor of Creation, Ecology & the Jewish Spirit, The

Trees’ Birthday, and Let the Earth Teach You Torah.

Bernstein began studying religion and ecology in high school and graduated from

one of the first environmental studies programs. at U.C. Berkeley in 1975. In

1988, after teaching highschool biology and leading wilderness river trips for

several years, Ellen founded Shomrei Adamah, Keepers of the Earth. She created

and hosted the first ecologically-centered Tu B’Sh’vat (Jewish New Year of the

Trees) seder (1988) and popularized Tu B’Sh’vat as a community-wide

inter-spiritual ecological arts celebration. In 1990, she organized an All

Species Parade in Philadelphia for the 20th anniversary of Earth Day which was

witnessed by 30,000 people.

Ellen received an M.A.in biology and education from Southern Oregon State

University, an M.A. in Jewish studies from Hebrew College and rabbinic

ordination from the Academy of Jewish Religion. She serves as an advisor to the

Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology and Faith for Our Planet. Ellen lives with

her husband Steven Tenenbaum and their dog, Ro’I in the (aspiring) eco-village

of Mt Airy (Philadelphia) near the Wissahickon Creek, where she hikes most days.