Rachel Jacoby Rosenfield

Whether it's with a group of 20, or 200, Rachel Jacoby Rosenfield is one of those rare leaders who can empower communities to turn a challenging vision into an unbelievably successful reality.  Leading with determination, kindness and boundless optimism, Rachel has helped her congregation and the wider community to take their environmental efforts to great heights.

In January 2009, with the generous support of the Commission on Jewish Identity and Renewal (CoJIR) of the UJA-Federation of New York, the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center launched the Jewish Greening Fellowship and hired Rachel as the Program's coordinator.  The 18-month Fellowship helps twenty Jewish community centers and camps to green their facilities, operations and programs, by providing on-going training, consultation and direct financial support.  The commitment of the Fellows and of Rachel as their leader is tremendous; each of the Fellows must dedicate 4-6 hours per week to hands-on greening work, such as energy audits, forming green task forces, and creating Jewish environmental programs for their members, and they must attend several retreats. Rachel leads monthly meetings for the group, and coordinates experiential learning trips where Fellows visit green buildings, community gardens, environmental justice communities, and other sites of green innovation.

From energy audits and green cleaning, to solar panels and community-wide eco fairs, the successes of the agencies in the Fellowship have been far reaching.  In support of these successes, the Program was recently refunded by UJA-Federation of New York, allowing a second cohort of Jewish agencies to join.

Soon after taking on the Fellowship, Rachel brought her synagogue--Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale in the Bronx, NY--into the GreenFaith Certification Program.  Leading a congregation through any new effort can often be a challenge, but Rachel has managed to galvanize the entire synagogue around a shared vision and set of 'green' goals.  From facilities maintenance personnel and members of the social action committee, to much of the sisterhood and teen leaders, Rachel has gathered together a dynamic, diverse and large green team that has accomplished a great deal:

• Held outdoor Kabbalat Shabbat services
• Planted several new trees around the synagogue as part of the million trees project
• Completed a NYSERDA energy audit
• Changed most of the synagogue's light bulbs to CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs)
  
• Co-sponsored Riverdale's first annual Riverfest event (3,000 people attended!) to raise awareness for the need for access to the Hudson River
• Rachel delivered an inspirational and beautiful sermon on the spiritual value of time spent outdoors

The synagogue has nearly crossed the finish line with switching to Fair Trade coffee, adding programmable thermostats to better regulate temperature in the building, and switching from Styrofoam to recycled paper plates.

For its global climate healing Shabbat program (corresponding with 350.org), kids at CSAIR helped to weed non-native plants so that new indigenous seedlings can grow in a local forest.

In the near future, CSAIR is hoping to install a bike rack, switch to green cleaners, and use reusable dinnerware in place of disposables.  They are also planning a forum on food justice issues, will be taking part in a global climate healing shabbat, and the Hebrew school will be a doing a park cleanup alongside a nearby church. 

All of these successes in one year's time-- imagine the accomplishments that lie ahead for the Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale!

Rachel was recently given the Hazon (vision) award by her synagogue, for envisioning CSAIR's role in a more sustainable world.  Congratulations Rachel to an award well deserved!