Our Mission Statement captures our purpose, and the dream that keeps us going.
BJEN is committed to working to:
- Promote an attitude of awe, appreciation, and stewardship toward creation.
- Re-imagine the definition of a good life, a good community and a good economy in a spiritually fulfilling, socially just and environmentally sustainable manner.
- Further the creation of policies, practices and behaviors that enable individuals and society to thrive while tending well to the earth.
Our Objectives are more concrete:
- To create and provide resources that promote and enhance a deep understanding of Jewish environmentalism
- To encourage increased advocacy for environmentally-sensitive values, behavior, legislation and public policy
- To mobilize the wisdom, energy and resources of the Jewish community to improve the condition of the local environment through individual and collective action.
Our History
BJEN was launched in October 2006 at an inaugural conference designed to engage the Baltimore Jewish community in the critical arena of environmental action. The conference was attended by 120 Jewish environmentalists with a broad array of skills, talents, knowledge and expertise: gardeners, lobbyists, engineers, educators, rabbis, and bold citizens.
In our first year, we created the Green Synagogue Handbook, catalyzed environmental initiatives throughout our community, partnered with national Jewish environmental organizations as well as local academic, interfaith and nature environmental organizations, and found a home within the Pearlstone Conference and Retreat Center.
On September 30, 2007, BJEN conducted its second annual community-wide environmental gathering, in cooperation with the Pearlstone Conference and Retreat Center, the Associated, the JCC Adult Services Department, the JCC camps, Jewish Big Brother/Big Sister League, Jewish Volunteer Connection, the Darrell Friedman Institute, Connections, and the Maryland League of Conservation Voters. Over 500 people came to Pearlstone on that beautiful Sukkot Sunday over the course of the six programming hours.
That was the kick-off to BJEN’s second programming year.
Our Founding Board Members
Jeanne Armacost, Baltimore County Department of Environmental Protection and Resource Management (DEPRM)
Lisa Beltz Canfei Nesharim
Ilene H. Briskin Irvine Nature Center
Jen Brock-Cancellieri Maryland League of Conservation Voters
Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin Founder
Adie Carlyle
Rachel Glaser Beth Israel Congregation and Religious School
Dick Goldman Pearlstone Conference & Retreat Center
Dori Grasso
Ricky Gratz Chizuk Amuno Congregation
David Greene Gunpowder Valley Conservancy
Adelaide Habel Beth El Congregation
Lee Hendler The Associated & Joseph and Harvey Meyerhoff Family Charitable Funds.
Lois Jacobs Baltimore County Commission on Environmental Quality
Neville Jacobs Beth Tfiloh Dahan High School
Larry Kloze Master Gardeners of Baltimore
Rebecca Levin Kent LEED Accredited & USGBC (United States Green Building Council)
Anne Lichtenstein Madow Beth El Congregation
Shelly Morhaim filmmaker; documentarian
Wendy Matt Appalachian Mountain Club,Mountain Club of Maryland, Sierra Club
Jo-Ann Orlinsky Friends of Maryland’s Olmsted Parks and Landscapes, and Oheb Shalom
Joan Plisko Baltimore County Advisory Commission on Environmental Quality
Margaret Presley-Stein Dereck-Eretz: Environmental Skills for Tomorrow
Sidney Rankin Chemical Engineer with speciality in recycling and solid waste management
Michele Rosenberg Friends of Gwynns Falls/Leakin Park
Lore Rosenthal Simplicity Matters
Audrey Rothschild Oheb Shalom
Rabbi Elissa Sachs-Kohen Baltimore Hebrew Congregation
Rachel Siegal The Associated
Scott Shindell Beth Israel Congregation
Carol Silldorff Baltimore Green Week
Stuart Stainman
Josh Tulkin Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Jessica Weinberg Pearlstone Conference and Retreat Center
Carl Werner
Judy Werner
