Shomrei Adamah

Keepers of the Earth

Archives

BEGINNINGS

Shomrei Adamah was founded In 1988 by Ellen Bernstein. Shomrei Adamah’s inaugural event was a seder/ritual for Tu B’Sh’vat, the Jewish New Year for the Tress. The ecologically oriented seder was held in one of Philadelphia’s iconic boat houses and was open to the public. It featured several beloved Philadelphia artists and musicians and attracted 200 seekers, artists, nature-lovers and environmentalists and the attention of National Public Radio.

MISSION

Shomrei Adamah's mission was to illuminate and make accessible the ecological roots of Jewish tradition and to inspire Jewish individuals and institutions to care for the earth and act on her behalf.

WORLDVIEW

Shomrei Adamah recognized that the environmental crisis is a spiritual crisis. It is a reflection of a fundamental breakdown in the way we treat each other and the earth. And since it is a spiritual crisis, it only makes sense that our religious traditions must take responsibility for helping us navigate the troubles we are facing. When we dig more deeply into out religious roots, we find ancient wisdom that can draw us closer to God’s green earth, cultivate in us a generosity toward all beings and steer us on paths of justice and righteousness that will insure a healthy future for the earth and all of us. Religious traditions offer invaluable wisdom and practices—gleaned over thousands of years—that can help all people learn how to live more harmoniously with the earth.

PUBLICATIONS

Shomrei Adamah laid the foundation for Jewish ecological thought and practice through its comprehensive curriculum, Let the Earth Teach You Torah (1992), its books Ecology and the Jewish Spirit (1996), and its Tu B’Shvat haggadah (ritual guide), A New Year for the Trees (1988). Shomrei Adamah also produced a lively and engaging quarterly newspaper, Voice of the Trees, modeled after the Whole Earth Catalogue.

HOLY DAYS

Shomrei Adamah maintained that Jewish ideas and practices could serve the wider world and Shomrei Adamah’s holiday events took place in the public square and welcomed all peoples.

Shomrei Adamah held that holiday celebrations could provide opportunities for educating and organizing masses of people to care for the earth. Shomrei Adamah developed the original Tu B’Shvat seder —first conceived by the Kabbalists in the 1600s—into a deep ecological arts and nature festival and popularized Tu B'Shvat as a Jewish Earth Day. The Tu B'Shvat seder became emblematic of the integrated work that Shomrei Adamah produced.

In 1990, Shomrei Adamah produced an All Species Parade, the kick-off event for the city of Philadelphia’s Earth Day celebration, that attracted tens of thousands of onlookers. A thousand children from around the city spent months learning about species and making recyclable costumes, representing their favorite species and ecosystems. They led the parade around the Philadelphia Zoo and through the streets of Philadelphia.

OTHER WORK

Shomrei Adamah created a national speakers’ bureau, made presentations at hundreds of synagogues and universities, produced conferences on Judaism and ecology, and ran week-long educational wilderness trips, teacher-training programs and leadership retreats. Shomrei Adamah spawned 10 local chapters and had a membership of 3000 people and institutions.

ENDINGS

While Shomrei Adamah, the organization, closed in 1996, it touched the hearts and minds of tens of thousands of people, and its message continues to reverberate through its books and educational materials, and through the work of a new generation of Jewish educators, naturalists, environmentalists, farmers and artists.