If you’re Jewish, you’ve no doubt heard the phrase “two Jews, three opinions.” After a historic year for antisemitism, it’s time we get on the same page about something.
In 2024, young Jews in Israel and the United States could not be more different. Many Israeli Jews lament why some American Jews identify as anti-Zionist; and many American Jews resent Israeli Jews for electing a government they disagree with whose actions have spurred antisemitism directed toward them. As the two countries with the highest Jewish populations, a strong Israel-U.S. alliance is essential for protecting Jews around the world from antisemitism and terrorism — but that won’t last if young Jews can’t find common ground across the pond.
Despite this cultural divide, there is one common thread between Israeli and American Jews: environmentalism. Israeli and American Jews are both emerging as global climate leaders, with very different but equally intriguing styles. If we join forces, we can address the climate crisis, promote peace, and reunite our community all at the same time.
Jewish tradition puts environmental stewardship front and center, from land-based holidays like Tu BiShvat and Sukkot to biblical teachings of Shomrei Adamah, Bal Tashchit, and Pikuach Nefesh. However, Israeli and American Jews each have their own ethos as it pertains to environmentalism, with Israelis primarily driven by innovation and strengthening the state; and Americans focused more on political and community engagement.
In Israel, engineers developed desalination which now contributes 85% of the nation’s drinking water. Israeli entrepreneurs have launched over 850 climate solutions companies, exporting technologies worldwide and earning Israel a ranking of No. 6 on the 2017 Global CleanTech Innovation Index. For decades, traditional agricultural communities called kibbutzim rooted in collectivism and egalitarianism have developed new sustainable farming practices while helping global Jews migrate to Israel. And since 1901, the Jewish National Fund has planted over 250 million trees in Israel through their mission of reestablishing Israel as a Jewish homeland, making Israel the only country on Earth with more trees in 2000 than in 1900.
For American Jews, environmentalism takes a different form: building influence. Adamah, North America’s largest Jewish environmental organization with farm campuses in Maryland and Connecticut, has mobilized a Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition with over 200 members and engaged 20,000 people in immersive retreats and Jewish environmental education. Elsewhere, activists at Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action played a key role in pushing Jewish legislators to pass historic clean energy investments via the Inflation Reduction Act and connect the bill’s passage with Tisha B’Av, a Jewish day commemorating historical destruction and rebuilding. And just a few months ago, the Union for Reform Judaism, representing three million American Jews, approved a resolution recommending its institutions pull their money out of fossil fuels and engage in shareholder advocacy with other polluting industries. In fact, Jews are more likely to view climate change as a “crisis” than any other U.S. religious group, and we vote at exceedingly high rates.
With Israeli and American Jews reading from the same Torah, these contrasting approaches to environmentalism may appear strange. But it is not religion that drives our environmentalism. Rather, it is our secular values that, while deeply different between Israeli and American Jews, both yield positive environmental outcomes.
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Article by Ethan Brown.