Kabbalah and Ecology: God's Image in the More-Than-Human World

Description

Kabbalah and Ecology is a groundbreaking book that resets the conversation about ecology and the Abrahamic traditions. David Mevorach Seidenberg challenges the anthropocentric reading of the Torah, showing that a radically different orientation to the more-than-human world of nature is not only possible, but that such an orientation also leads to a more accurate interpretation of scripture, rabbinic texts, Maimonides and Kabbalah. Deeply grounded in traditional texts and fluent with the physical sciences, this book proposes not only a new understanding of God's image but also a new direction for restoring religion to its senses and to a more alive relationship with the more-than-human, both with nature and with divinity.

David Mevorach Seidenberg received his doctoral degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary for his work on ecology and Kabbalah and was ordained by both the Jewish Theological Seminary and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. He also studied physics and mathematics at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, educational philosophy at Harvard University, Massachusetts, and social ecology at the Institute for Social Ecology, Vermont. He teaches Jewish thought in Europe, Israel and throughout North America, in communities and universities, and through his organization, neohasid.org, focusing on ecology and spirituality, Talmud, Maimonides, Kabbalah and Hasidic thought; on embodied Torah, dance and nigunim (Hasidic song); and on ecological and environmental ethics. In addition to scholarly articles, he was a contributing editor of the Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, and his writing has been featured in The Jewish Daily Forward, Huffington Post, The Times of Israel, and the Los Angeles Jewish Journal.

'This book will be of interest in numerous disciplines, including Jewish studies, conservation and environmental studies, and religion. Recommended for all Jewish libraries.' David B. Levy, Association of Jewish Libraries News