Temple Beth Am Podcasts

The West Pico Drill Site: Illegal Oil Wells, The 12-11-21 Oil Spill and Local Government's Dereliction of Duty

January 13th, 2022  |  1 hr 33 mins

Rabbi Avi Havivi introduces a panel discussion on the latest status of the oil drilling site at Pico and Doheny in Los Angeles, including last month's oil spill there. The panelists are from Neighbors for a Safe Environment (NASE): Professor Michael Salman (UCLA), Rabbi Yonah Bookstein (Pico Shul), and Temple Beth Am member Teri Cohan Link.

The panel discussion was part of the Green Team initiative at Temple Beth Am Los Angeles. For more information go to https://www.tbala.org/get-involved/green-team. The class was conducted via Zoom on Janury 13, 2022.

TBA Green Team Talk: The Oil and Gas Industry in California with journalist Ingrid (Yeye) Lobet

December 21st, 2021  |  52 mins 27 secs

Yeye Lobet is a journalist whose work has focused on climate, energy and environmental justice for two decades. She spent many years working in public radio, where she won national awards for investigative reporting. Now she mostly works in print/web. Recently she has been writing for a startup publication that covers the climate tech sector, called Canary Media, as well as for National Geographic, Inside Climate News and USA Today.

Yeye recently completed a master of science degree in climate science at Johns Hopkins. Please feel free to ask her climate science questions. She focused on how buildings can have a lower impact on the climate and still keep people comfortable. She is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. She and her partner raised their son in congregation IKAR after moving here from Seattle.

The talk is part of the Green Team initiative at Temple Beth Am Los Angeles. For more information go to https://www.tbala.org/get-involved/green-team. The class was conducted via Facebook and Zoom on December 15, 2021.

On The Mitzvah of Sustainabilty

December 14th, 2021  |  1 hr 11 mins

Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin leads a class on the Conservative movement's responsum on sustainability. In a world facing the urgent challenges of climate change and environmental degradation, how should a Jew live? What does Jewish Law (Halakhah) teach and require in the matter of
sustainability?

Nina Beth Cardin is a community rabbi who works at the intersection of faith and sustainability. She makes her home in Baltimore MD where she founded and led the Baltimore Orchard Project, a food and land justice organization dedicated to building healthier connections between people, food, place and each other. She is founder and director of the Maryland Campaign for Environmental Human Rights, an initiative that is working toward a state constitutional provision that would protect all Marylanders’ rights to a healthful environment and ensure the pursuit of public health and environmental justice. She is currently on the Board of Waterkeepers Chesapeake, a coalition of independent programs working to maintain and restore the health of the waters – and the communities - of the Chesapeake and Coastal Bays.

The class is part of the Green Team initiative at Temple Beth Am Los Angeles. For more information go to https://www.tbala.org/get-involved/green-team. The class was conducted via Facebook and Zoom on December 14, 2021. Rabbi Cardin is introduced by Rabbi Cantor Hillary Chorny.

Shemitah: The Land Gets To Rest - A Close Reading of Rav Kook’s Ecological/Spiritual Masterpiece Shabbat Ha’aretz - Class 4

November 18th, 2021  |  57 mins 57 secs

Is religious environmentalism new-age, post-modern and, essentially, incompatible with traditional Judaism? Or is it, rather, retro, a return to Biblical ideals, a re-wedding of the earth on which we live and the religion we all strive to observe on that land? In this biweekly course, we will do a close reading of central texts within Rav Kook’s own introduction of his seminal work שבת הארץ/Shabbat Ha’aretz, the very translation of which title will be an early focus of our study! Rav Kook (Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, 1865-1935) was the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community of pre-state Palestine. He was a mystic, scholar and communal leader who had the temperament and interest in straddling the two modern Jewish communities growing in the land of Israel: the piously observant Jew and the new secular “Israeli.” His words continue to confound, illuminate and inspire us nearly 100 years after his death, and he has much to teach us about our relationship to this one, precious world that is our home.

The class is part of the Green Team initiative at Temple Beth Am Los Angeles. For more information go to https://www.tbala.org/get-involved/green-team. The class was conducted via Facebook and Zoom on November 18, 2021.

Communal Food Choices: A Jewish Response to Factory Farming

November 11th, 2021  |  1 hr 17 mins

The class, taught by Melissa Hoffman, is part of the Green Team initiative at Temple Beth Am Los Angeles (https://www.tbala.org/get-involved/green-team). Melissa Hoffman is Director of the Jewish Initiative For Animals (JIFA), a leading sustainable food and animal welfare initiative. In her role, she consults with Jewish organizations and communities across the country to develop and implement ethical food practices, as well as curriculum and programs that foster compassion for all living beings through the lens of Jewish values. Prior to working with JIFA at Farm Forward, she earned her M.S. in Animals and Public Policy from Tufts University in North Grafton, Massachusetts.

The class was conducted via Zoom on November 11, 2021 and is introduced by Rabbi Avi Havivi.

Jewish Animal Ethics - The Suffering of Animals

November 9th, 2021  |  1 hr 13 mins

The class, taught by Rabbi Elliot Dorff, is part of the Green Team initiative at Temple Beth Am Los Angeles. For more information go to https://www.tbala.org/get-involved/green-team. The class was conducted via Zoom on November 9, 2021.

Shemitah: The Land Gets To Rest - A Close Reading of Rav Kook’s Ecological/Spiritual Masterpiece Shabbat Ha’aretz - Class 3

November 4th, 2021  |  1 hr 1 min

Is religious environmentalism new-age, post-modern and, essentially, incompatible with traditional Judaism? Or is it, rather, retro, a return to Biblical ideals, a re-wedding of the earth on which we live and the religion we all strive to observe on that land? In this biweekly course, we will do a close reading of central texts within Rav Kook’s own introduction of his seminal work שבת הארץ/Shabbat Ha’aretz, the very translation of which title will be an early focus of our study! Rav Kook (Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, 1865-1935) was the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community of pre-state Palestine. He was a mystic, scholar and communal leader who had the temperament and interest in straddling the two modern Jewish communities growing in the land of Israel: the piously observant Jew and the new secular “Israeli.” His words continue to confound, illuminate and inspire us nearly 100 years after his death, and he has much to teach us about our relationship to this one, precious world that is our home.

The class is part of the Green Team initiative at Temple Beth Am Los Angeles. For more information go to https://www.tbala.org/get-involved/green-team. The class was conducted via Facebook and Zoom on November 4, 2021.

Shemitah: The Land Gets To Rest - A Close Reading of Rav Kook’s Ecological/Spiritual Masterpiece Shabbat Ha’aretz - Class 2

October 21st, 2021  |  59 mins 47 secs

Is religious environmentalism new-age, post-modern and, essentially, incompatible with traditional Judaism? Or is it, rather, retro, a return to Biblical ideals, a re-wedding of the earth on which we live and the religion we all strive to observe on that land? In this biweekly course, we will do a close reading of central texts within Rav Kook’s own introduction of his seminal work שבת הארץ/Shabbat Ha’aretz, the very translation of which title will be an early focus of our study! Rav Kook (Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, 1865-1935) was the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community of pre-state Palestine. He was a mystic, scholar and communal leader who had the temperament and interest in straddling the two modern Jewish communities growing in the land of Israel: the piously observant Jew and the new secular “Israeli.” His words continue to confound, illuminate and inspire us nearly 100 years after his death, and he has much to teach us about our relationship to this one, precious world that is our home.

The class is part of the Green Team initiative at Temple Beth Am Los Angeles. For more information go to https://www.tbala.org/get-involved/green-team. The class was conducted via Facebook and Zoom on October 21, 2021.

Shemitah: The Land Gets To Rest - A Close Reading of Rav Kook’s Ecological/Spiritual Masterpiece Shabbat Ha’aretz - Introduction

October 7th, 2021  |  57 mins 49 secs

Is religious environmentalism new-age, post-modern and, essentially, incompatible with traditional Judaism? Or is it, rather, retro, a return to Biblical ideals, a re-wedding of the earth on which we live and the religion we all strive to observe on that land? In this biweekly course, we will do a close reading of central texts within Rav Kook’s own introduction of his seminal work שבת הארץ/Shabbat Ha’aretz, the very translation of which title will be an early focus of our study! Rav Kook (Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, 1865-1935) was the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community of pre-state Palestine. He was a mystic, scholar and communal leader who had the temperament and interest in straddling the two modern Jewish communities growing in the land of Israel: the piously observant Jew and the new secular “Israeli.” His words continue to confound, illuminate and inspire us nearly 100 years after his death, and he has much to teach us about our relationship to this one, precious world that is our home.

The class is part of the Green Team initiative at Temple Beth Am Los Angeles. For more information go to https://www.tbala.org/get-involved/green-team. The class was conducted via Facebook and Zoom on October 7, 2021.

Beyond Shmitah: God's Mandate to Humankind - Take Care of the Garden

October 5th, 2021  |  1 hr 4 mins

Looking at the text of the Bible and traditional commentaries, Rabbi Emeritus Joel Rembaum looks at the Shemitah law in Leviticus and shows how it is linked to both The Garden of Eden story in Genesis as well as the prophet Isaiah's vision of Paradise at the end of time.

The class is part of the Green Team initiative at Temple Beth Am. For more information go to https://www.tbala.org/get-involved/green-team. The class was conducted via Zoom on October 5, 2021.