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DATE: Monday, October 21 at 7pm ET / 4pm PT
LOCATION: Live on Zoom
On Sukkot, Jews gather under the shade of a simple structure with a roof made of plant material such as branches or corn stalks that offers enough shade to keep the sun off your head but also lets you see the stars at night. This offers an opportunity to reflect on what we really need and what really gives us security: material products or close, trusting relationships?
In this interfaith panel featuring Professor Amy Erickson, Rabbi Natan Margalit, Rabbi Or Rose, and Derrick Weston, we will explore how our choices as consumers can affect the health of the planet, our society and our bodies.
Meet the panel
Amy Erickson is Professor of Hebrew Bible at the Iliff School of Theology. She has a BA from Bates College, an MDiv from Columbia Theological Seminary, and a PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary. Erickson teaches a range of courses in biblical interpretation, including The Body and Sexuality in the Hebrew Bible, The Hebrew Bible and Ecology, and Jonah and Its Afterlives. Her research interests include Hebrew poetry, poetic and mythological texts in ancient West Asian literature, and the Hebrew Bible’s history of interpretation. She has recently completed a commentary on the book of Jonah and its history of interpretation entitled Jonah: Introduction and Commentary (Illuminations; Eerdmans, 2021), and has written articles on Job, Jonah, the Psalms, Zechariah, and Amos for academic journals and edited volumes.
Rabbi Natan Margalit was raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. He received rabbinic ordination at The Jerusalem Seminary in 1990 and a Ph.D. in Talmud from U.C. Berkeley in 2001. He has taught at Bard College, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. Rabbi Natan is Founder of Organic Torah, a non-profit which fosters holistic thinking about Judaism, environment and society. Natan is a member of the Va’ad (steering committee and core faculty) of the ALEPH Ordination Program. He lives in Newton, MA, with his wife, Ilana, and their two sons.
Rabbi Or Rose is the founding Director of the Betty Ann Greenbaum Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership of Hebrew College. Before assuming this position in 2016, he worked in various administrative and teaching capacities at Hebrew College for over a decade, including serving as a founding faculty member and Associate Dean of the Rabbinical School. Rabbi Rose was also one of the creators of CIRCLE, The Center for Interreligious & Community Leadership Education, cosponsored by Hebrew College and Andover Newton Theological School (2007-2017). In addition to his work at Hebrew College, Rose has taught for the Bronfman Youth Fellowships, The Wexner Graduate Fellowship, Me’ah, and in a variety of other academic, religious, and civic contexts throughout North America and in Israel. Rose is the co-editor of Speaking Torah: Spiritual Teachings from Around the Maggid’s Table (Jewish Lights), and the award-winning anthology, My Neighbor’s Faith: Stories of InterreligiousEncounter, Growth, and Transformation (Orbis). His most recent publication is the anthology Words To Live By: Sacred Sources for Interreligious Engagement (Orbis 2018). In 2009-2010, he was selected as a member of the Shalom Hartman Institute’s inaugural North American Scholar’s Circle. In 2014, Northeastern University honored him for his interreligious educational efforts.
Derrick Weston is the theological education and training coordinator for Creation Justice Ministries, an ecumenical organization helping Christian churches, denominations, and individuals live in right relationship with God’s Creation. He is a podcaster, filmmaker, and author of the recently released book “The Just Kitchen: Invitations to Sustainability, Cooking, Connection, and Celebration”. He and his wife Shannon have four children and live outside of Baltimore, Maryland.