I watch our community and I see changes.

For decades, it has stood upon four pillars – Torah, Holocaust, Israel and fighting anti-Semitism – which have determined and shaped our decision making and programming. While the four are still the backbone of our lives, tikkun olam was added a while back as a fifth. A sixth pillar is slowly being added to our community agenda – the environment.

While Orthodox shuls are the slowest to adjust environmentally, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist synagogues/temples are going green at a respectable pace.

Torat Ha Teva is an organization promoting ecological awareness and is chaired by community activist Shai Spetgang. The organization notes, on its website, www.torathateva.org, that it has created an “inclusive and responsible” kosher food program in partnership with the First Narayever and Beth Radom congregations.

The food program includes seasonal fruit, vegetables, kosher organic meat, fish and fowl. It is a “shared option” co-op program, a way that people can buy in bulk together and save money.

The Danforth Jewish Circle, a non-denominational liberal congregation that holds its services at the Eastminster United Church, has taken the environmental challenge to the next level. Although the Danforth Jewish Circle and the church have had little interaction in the past, they are now coming together for the first-ever Danforth/Riverdale Multi-Faith Earth Day on May 4.

The event itself will be eclectic in nature, with the participation of a variety of shuls and churches. Some pretty funky stuff – artistic interpretations based on environmental and climate-change concerns – will take place. They include choir singing, dancing, storytelling, poetry readings, theatrical demonstrations and a performance by a youth group.

According to Danforth Jewish Circle member and event planner Sheila Goldgrub, the idea behind the Danforth/Riverdale Multi-Faith Earth Day event is to encourage places of worship to highlight the many concerns, challenges and creative solutions available in reference to the environment. “Our vision is to bring together the faith communities of the Danforth to explore our common humanity and role in caring for the Earth,” she says.

It’s interesting how the idea was born. Members of the Danforth Jewish Circle were asked, “What things keep you up at night?” The response, different from “the five pillars,” was diversity, youth, aging and the environment.  

In response to this call, Goldgrub and a group of congregants developed the “Green Bayit” (“house” in Hebrew) campaign, which has included selling and giving away energy-efficient light bulbs and sharing conservation tips in the shul’s newsletter, as well as researching alternatives to Styrofoam cups.

The genesis of the Danforth/Riverdale Multi-Faith Earth Day came from the Green Bayit group. Group members felt the two houses of worship – Danforth Jewish Circle and Eastminster United Church – could bring their congregants together, give their membership a sense of empowerment about fixing the environment and ultimately work toward saving the environment through the arts and through their respective history and traditions.

The members of both congregations “have high hopes for this small, fragile world of ours and encourage the hopeful to join up and give Mother Earth a collective kiss,” says event literature. “Protecting human health and the diversity of life is a Jewish value emphasized in the Torah, Talmud and Jewish teachings.”

I led High Holy Day services at the Danforth Jewish Circle and am proud of the membership’s work and character.

I encourage you to attend this event at the Eastminster United Church, 310 Danforth Ave. at Jackman Avenue, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. All are welcome.

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