The Song of Songs is among the most accessible of all biblical books. It is also the most deeply ecological text of the canon, yet few people are aware of its ecological message. The intention of Toward a Holy Ecology is to illuminate that message.
Today there is such urgency around our many earth crises—so much brokenness—that we need a vision of wholeness and an ecological language that can help inspire, soothe, and reinvigorate us, and bring us together regardless of our various affiliations and ideologies. The Song offers both ecological language and a vision.
It sets the natural world before us with intensity and beauty, bidding us to savor it with all of our senses so that we may return to the world with the renewed clarity, love, and energy necessary to work toward a healthy future for the earth and all her inhabitants.
What happens when a rabbi with an expertise in biology reads the holiest and most sensuous book of the Bible? A fresh and arousing reading springs forth! This inspired ecological reading of the Song of Songs that will (re)kindle the reader’s love affair with the earth. Bernstein’s writing is as rich as the Song is evocative. Her interpretive insights reflect a deep engagement with the Song’s poetic nuances. Cultivating an eros for creation, Rabbi Bernstein’s interpretation is exactly what is needed for continuing the hard work of shalom-justice for the world. Call it ‘Fifty Shades of Green.’
—William P. Brown, The Seven Pillars of Creation: The Bible, Science and the Ecology of Wonder
Ellen Bernstein brings a unique voice that skillfully weaves scholarly and poetic insight. A rich and illuminating commentary. Accessible for everyone interested in how this iconic text carries deep ecological wisdom.
—Mary Evelyn Tucker, Co-director, Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology
Ellen Bernstein’s masterful commentary reveals the Song’s profound vision of ecological wholeness and revives an embodied and earth-honoring tradition that is vitally needed today. This is an important, timely and beautiful book that deserves your attention.
—Rabbi Rami Shapiro, Judaism without Tribalism