What We Do
Inspire
Act
Influence
Who We Are
EcoJudaism is a unique Jewish charity, leading the UK Jewish Community’s response to the climate and nature crisis. We are the only truly cross-denominational Jewish movement, bringing together all parts of the religious spectrum, from Orthodox to Liberal to unaffiliated Jews. We also connect all regional Jewish communities, from Edinburgh to Exeter and from the largest to the tiniest communities. EcoJudaism unites them all with the same purpose; to understand and embrace Jewish environmental responsibility.
Our vision is:
‘A world where environmental responsibility is integral to Jewish identity and where Judaism inspires and strengthens the global endeavour to pass down a just and thriving world to future generations.’
Our mission is:
To create a paradigm shift in the way the Jewish community responds to the climate and nature crisis. We will:
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Inspire: bringing Jewish environmental responsibility to life in all parts of the community, through education, Torah teaching and our unique heritage as radical social reformers and pursuers of justice.
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Act: Provide practical and accessible ways for the community to reduce emissions and restore nature.
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Influence: Use the Jewish voice to campaign for environmental causes and inspire, strengthen and learn from the international Faith climate movement.
Strategic Objectives:
- Educate – Jewish children, Rabbinic and communal leaders about the climate and biodiversity crisis
- Inspire – Use the Torah to inspire our children, adults and leaders to take environment action as a core expression of their Jewish identity. (The SAP is a key tool for communities to achieve this.)
- Collaborate: Share our Jewish voice and support with the global faith environmental movement, to stand strongly as one to protect all life on Earth
- Influence: Use the morality of the Torah and growing Jewish environmental action to influence society around us to do the same. Influence national and international policy makers to act on the climate and biodiversity crisis, through joint Jewish, interfaith and activist action
Year 1 – Five Projects:
- Jewish Environmental Education for Jewish Primary schools
- Yeshiva Ecoversity – Online Jewish Environmental Education for Rabbis and community leaders
- Water restoration project – T’shuva through restoring our waterways
- Participate in appropriate local, Jewish, national and international campaigns for the environment
- Grow the SAP, Sustainability Action Plan, as way for synagogues, Jewish organisations and buinesses to lower their emissions, restore nature, pursue justice and positively influence society.
Naomi Verber
Naomi left a 15 year career in the city as a management consultant to work as an environmental activist within the Jewish community. She is the former Chair of Golders Green Synagogue where she put environmental responsibility at the top of the shul's agenda. She then partnered with the Jewish charity Sadeh, to conceptualise, design and run Europe's first kosher eco-hotel. Naomi then went on to become Head of Environmental Policy for the United Synagogue, running the Dorot programme, the United Synagogue and Office of the Chief Rabbi’s ambitious environmental initiative to reduce the charity’s environmental impact.
She is now Executive Director of EcoJudaism, where her role is to deliver our vison; a world where environmental responsibility is core to Jewish identity, and Judaism brings a unique inspiration to the global environmental movement.
Naomi Joffe
Naomi Joffe has a background working in breastfeeding support and milk banking, and was one of the founding members of the Hearts Milk Bank. She volunteers with charities including the Separated Child Foundation and Food Bank Aid, and has promoted environmental awareness and recycling in the Green Team at New North London Synagogue and the various schools attended by her three daughters.
Donna Cohen
Donna has a degree in French and Spanish from Queen Mary, University of London. In addition to her role at EcoJudaism, she teaches French and Spanish to A Level at Wentworth College in North London. Her love of languages is surpassed only by her passion for the environment, which she has felt since her teenage years, way before it became a mainstream concern. Donna is Eco Lead at Barnet Synagogue. She spearheaded the Environmental Project there in 2020 which has been a huge success and is an example of best practice for other synagogues. Donna has worked for EcoJudaism as Community Sustainability Lead since 2022 and considers it her dream job. Among other responsibilities, her main priority is to guide and encourage communities on their journey towards greater sustainability using the Sustainability Action Plan (SAP) as a framework. She never ceases to be impressed by the sheer commitment and engagement of registered communities all over the UK and particularly welcomes EcoJudaism’s first community abroad – ATID Masorti Barcelona. Donna hopes many other international communities, as well as Jewish organisations and charities within the UK will join EcoJudaism as members. She looks forward to the future with great optimism.
Jessica Robinson
Jessica has degrees in Environmental Science and Sustainable Development and has managed projects for environmental charities and local authorities for over 10 years. She is a CELTA trained TEFL teacher and has extensive experience of designing and delivering education, both formal and informal, to all ages. She is a Trustee for the Jewish Charity Sadeh which practices land based Judaism and delivers environmental education.
Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg
Jonathan Wittenberg is Rabbi of the New North London Masorti Synagogue and Senior Rabbi of the Assembly of Masorti Synagogues UK. He is a President of the Council of Christians and Jews, a co-founder of Eco-Judaism, and is closely involved in supporting refugees. He teaches and speaks widely, including on Radio 4’s Thought for the Day and Prayer for the Day. His publications include The Eternal Journey: Meditations on the Jewish Year (2001); The Silence of Dark Water, An Inner Journey (2008); Walking with the Light (2013); My Dear Ones: One family and The Final Solution (2016) and Things My Dog Has Taught Me About Being A Better Human (2017). He is married to Nicola Solomon; they have three children.
Abi Levitt
Abi Levitt is a consultant and interim CEO working in the social sector to build capacity and impact, to drive transformation and change and ensure sustainability through development and growth. The 20 years she has spent working for not-for-profits, housing associations and NHS trusts, have been focused on adding value to community action and social justice projects on the frontline.
Abi built her career in the early ‘90s delivering strategic communications and change programmes for leading communications agencies such as Wolff Olins, Grey Advertising and Pentagram. Her move to the social sector in 2006 was driven by a growing interest in issues around equity and inclusion.
Rabbi Mark Goldsmith
Rabbi Mark Goldsmith is Senior Rabbi of Edgware and Hendon Reform Synagogue, gaining S’michah in 1996 from Leo Baeck College. He teaches on Jewish Business Ethics, having run a catering distribution business before he trained for the Rabbinate. He was a co-founder of EcoSynagogue, the precursor of EcoJudaism. He is a past Chair of the Reform Assembly and the Liberal Conference of Rabbis and Cantors.
Rabbi Tanya Sakhnovich
Rabbi Tanya was born in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. There in 1998 she attained her first BA&MA in the History of Art and Music and after teaching for two years at the State Pedagogical University of Minsk, she began her career working in various capacities for the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) in Minsk, Moscow and the UK. After her graduation from Leo Baeck College in 2009 Rabbi Tanya served Nottingham Liberal Synagogue for 12 years and the Elstree Liberal Synagogue before joining EHRS in November 2022.
Dennis Snower
Dennis is the founder and President of the Global Solutions Initiative, Professor of Macroeconomics and Sustainability at the Hertie School in Berlin, Senior Research Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government in Oxford University, and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.
He is an expert on labor economics, public policy and inflation-unemployment tradeoffs, and is well-known for the insider-outsider theory of employment and unemployment which he developed together with Assar Lindbeck.
Dennis regularly advises a variety of international organizations and national governments on macroeconomic policy, employment policy and welfare state policy, and has published extensively on employment policy, the design of social systems, caring economics, and monetary and fiscal policy.
Julie Tucker
Julie Tucker is CSR Manager for workspace provider BE Offices where she leads on sustainability. Julie has also been involved with the Mayor of London's Business Climate Challenge and spoken regularly on their behalf to recruit new businesses to the scheme. She is a Clean Air Ambassador for the City of London Corporation, a volunteer tutor for Climate Ed, a charity which teaches climate education to primary school children, and a certified River action Leader with Thames21. Julie was very proud to win the Lord Mayor's Dragon Award for Social Impact Leadership in 2023 and the Chairman's Cup at the City of London Clean City Awards 2024. She was recently granted the Freedom of the City of London in respect of the support she gives to various City schemes and initiatives and has just been recognised as ESG Leader of the Year at the 2024 Property Week ESG Edge Awards.
Rafi Addlestone
Rafi Addlestone is a leading sustainability professional, having led global advisory teams at Deloitte and Amazon Web Services to support large corporates deliver positive impact in wider society. He now runs a small 'think-do' consultancy, Pineapple Partnerships, forming commercial partnerships for sustainability. Outside of work, Rafi is a trustee at JW3, on the board of Golders Green Synagogue and dad to three mad girls.
Sam Geall
Sam Geall is CEO of Dialogue Earth, an independent non-profit dedicated to environmental journalism and climate conversations. He is also Associate Fellow at the Environment and Society Centre at Chatham House and Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies. His writing has been published in leading newspapers and journals, including the Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, and China Quarterly. His areas of interest include climate policy and politics, energy transitions, and environmental governance in China, as well as the overseas impact of Chinese trade and investment in the Global South. He has a PhD in Social Anthropology from University of Manchester and was previously Departmental Lecturer in the Human Geography of China at Oxford University. He edited China and the Environment: The Green Revolution (Zed Books, 2013). He lives in Brockley, southeast London, with his wife and son.
Robin Clark
Robin has worked for some of the world's largest retailers and food technology businesses. He grew up as a retailer, running commercial categories for both M&S and Tesco. Recently, he worked for Just Eat Takeaway.com setting up and running large global marketing organisations covering sports sponsorship, buying and sourcing, partner marketing, commercial marketing partnerships and the first sustainability team in the industry.
Here he helped to develop the world's most sustainable food packaging and published and set the industry’s first impact report and carbon targets.
He now works as an adviser to sustainable food and packaging businesses as well as investors in this sector.
Much more importantly, he lives in North London with his wife, three children and Australian shepherd dog…if they haven't exhausted him then the endurance sports usually do.