For decades, Fred Scherlinder Dobb has been a rabbi with the Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation, a Jewish community in Maryland.
As a rabbi, he draws on Jewish teachings to advocate for climate action – to help protect the well-being of future generations.
Dobb: “Judaism has this expression we use all the time, “l’dor vador,” from generation to generation – it is ultimately about sustainability.”
For Dobb, embodying this philosophy means taking action both in his own community – for example, by installing solar panels on the synagogue roof – and more broadly.
Dobb: “So much of the work that we do is in tandem with people of other faiths. We are deeply in it together.”
So Dobb serves on the board of the Interfaith Power and Light Network, which brings people from different religious backgrounds together to advocate for environmental policies.
And he calls on people of faith to be good ancestors to future generations.
Dobb: “To my mind, faith and environment are inextricably connected. If we show that we love God, we act it out by caring specifically for the most marginal among us, specifically for the web of creation of which we are a part, and specifically for our own descendants.”
Reporting credit: Ethan Freedman / ChavoBart Digital Media
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