Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life
New York, NY

General Support

Since its creation in 1993 as the Jewish arm of the National Religious Partnership on the Environment (NRPE), the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL) has pioneered a new area of Jewish engagement. It has involved thousands of Jews from across all denominations and age groups, affiliated and unaffiliated, religious and secular, in a Jewish response to the crisis in the relationship between humankind and the environment. Protecting the environment is about core Jewish values: tikkun olam-healing the world; l'dor v'dor-from generation to generation; tzedek-justice. And humility, kindness, respect, responsibility and community. COEJL is working to extend the traditional Jewish definitions of tikkun olam and social action to include the protection of both people and other species from environmental degradation.

Working both nationally and through regional affiliates, COEJL
--seeks to enact a distinctively Jewish response to the environmental crisis;
--seeks to address environmental degradation and the pain, suffering and illness that it causes; and
--seeks to strengthen Jewish continuity.

Our grant to COEJL will provide core funding as they make the transition from being a project of the NRPE to a permanent, independent institution, expanding their successful pilot projects to integrate environmental issues into federations, synagogues, schools, Hillels, JCCs, and camps.