My Teacher Podcast

Remembering Rabbi Everett Gendler, 1928-2022, and his environmental activism

Episode Summary

An interview with Rabbi Everett Gendler, founder of modern Jewish environmentalism, recorded in May, 2012. Rabbi Gendler died April 1, 2022 at the age of 93.

Episode Notes

Rabbi Everett Gendler (August 8, 1928 - April 1, 2022) was an American rabbi, known for his involvement in progressive causes, including the civil rights movement. He has also been widely referred to as the founder of the Jewish environmental movement. About ten years ago at the Rabbinical Assembly Convention in Atlanta, he recorded a conversation with Rabbi Ed Bernstein on Jewish environmentalism. At the time Rabbi Bernstein was Spiritual Leader of Temple Torah, now Temple Torat Emet, of Boynton Beach, FL. Rabbi Bernstein was experimenting with podcasting and recorded interviews with various thought leaders that were then published on Temple Torah’s podcast. That feed is no longer online. Rabbi Bernstein's interview with Rabbi Gendler from that series is presented here. 

A transcript of Dr. King’s public dialogue at the RA Convention with Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and Rabbi Everett Gendler was published in Conservative Judaism Journal, 22:3, 1968, pp. 1-19. This was one of Dr. King’s final major public appearances prior to his assassination ten days later on April 4.