Long before Green Shabbat, members of the Jewish community made a stand on climate change by playing a small but significant role in London’s Extinction Rebellion protests.
The general protest ran for ten days from April 15 and saw the non-violent occupation of Oxford Circus, Marble Arch, Waterloo Bridge and Parliament Square.
A daily contingent of approximately ten demonstrators made up the Jewish delegation each day — but numbers spiked to around 80 during a Seder held in Parliament Square.
Three Jewish demonstrators also participated in the protest’s opening ceremony by sounding 12 blasts of the shofar, symbolising the 12 years climate scientists say humanity has left to prevent “irreversible climate breakdown”, while Rabbi Jeffrey Newman of Finchley Reform Synagogue spoke at the closing ceremony.
Two Jewish demonstrators were also arrested during the protests.
Lianna Etkind, one of the leading members of Extinction Rebellion (XR) Jews, told the JC that two Jewish principles — tikkun olam and l’dor vador — were behind the group’s activism.
She said: “Environmental activism is seen as something people do for the planet. When I first got involved it was about the polar bears, then it became about people in Bangladesh and Ethiopia. And now it’s about whether there will be enough food, and whether people who are studying at school today will have water coming out of the taps.
“There was a very strong feeling that Jewish life is predicated on the idea of l’dor vador – passing on our values and our stories to the next generation and Jewish continuity. And what happens when you can’t rely on that continuity?
“One of the slogans was that it was the most urgent act of tikkun olam there has ever been.”
The group’s Seder, led by Yael Tischler and Shulamit Morris-Evans, was initially intended to be held in the road but was interrupted by a column of police, prompting the group’s “swift decision to make our own Exodus”, Ms Etkind said.
Guests at the Seder enjoyed maror and karpas grown at Sadeh, the Jewish farm at Skeet House in Kent, and a red chilli pepper was added to the Seder plate to symbolise global warming.
Rabbi Oliver Joseph read testimonies from communities in the ‘Global South’ already affected by climate change, while musician Jess Gold led participants in a version of Dayenu, rewritten with a carbon emissions theme.
South London Liberal Synagogue’s Rabbi Nathan Godleman said: “We are God’s stewards, obligated to conserve Creation and to consider future generations. Sometimes we are compelled to act, to answer the call of the moment”.
Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, who will host the flagship Green Shabbat at New North London Synagogue, expressed his “admiration” for the XR Jews, adding: “Civil disobedience with a commitment to non-violence has prophetic roots.
“I also understand concerns about whether this always brings the best publicity. It is important to focus public attention on the urgency of the challenge of climate change, yet to do so in ways which elicit public understanding.”
l JW3 and Shema, the Jewish Environmental Network, are co-hosting an event on Sunday to help galvanise a Jewish response to the crisis. It will include a film screening and a discussion with speakers representing green initiatives from across the community.
