Seasons of Responsibility: Interreligious Conversations on Environmental Justice and Repair
Seasons of Responsibility: Interreligious Conversations on Environmental Justice and Repair
Mondays, February 2, 9, and 23; and March 2, 9, 16, 23, 2026
Online
1:00–2:15 p.m. ET
Across Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Hindu traditions, the early spring season is a shared period of reflection, renewal, and ethical clarity. While rooted in different stories and practices—from Tu Bishvat to Lent and Easter, from Ramadan to Holi and Passover—these holidays collectively invite communities to consider how human choices shape the world we inhabit.
This series brings together people to explore questions of responsibility, agency, and repair in the face of urgent ecological challenges. Each session will examine pressing environmental issues through an interreligious lens, highlighting how wisdom traditions can inform ethical action and public leadership.
The series uses the spring season as a narrative frame: a moment when many communities turn inward, commit to repair, and seek renewal. Through interreligious dialogue, we aim to illuminate how diverse traditions encourage accountability, resist misinformation, and nurture hope and collective responsibility in a rapidly changing world.
Organized by the JTS Division of Lifelong and Professional Studies and Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue
Session Topics and Faculty
February 2, 2026
The Gifts of Tu Bishvat: A Springtime Conversation
With Nigel Savage, Founding CEO, Jewish Climate Trust, and Rabbi Ayelet Cohen, Pearl Resnick Dean of The Rabbinical School and Dean of the Division of Religious Leadership, JTS
February 9, 2026
Indigenous Leadership and Ecological Responsibility
With Roberto Múkaro Borrero, Human Rights Defender, Cultural Consultant, and Kasike (chief) of the Guainía Taíno Tribe, and Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay, Associate Dean, The Rabbinical School, JTS
February 23, 2026
Law, Agency, and Ecological Responsibility: A Catholic–Jewish Conversation Drawing on the Book of Esther
With Dr. Endy Moraes, Director, Institute on Religion, Law and Lawyer’s Work, Fordham Law School, and Rabbi Jan Uhrbach, Director of the Block / Kolker Center for Spiritual Arts, JTS
March 2, 2026
Between Fast and Feast: Hindu and Jewish Perspectives on Restraint and Responsibility
With Gopal Patel, Co-Founder & President, FutureFaith; Co-Chair, UN Multi-faith Advisory Council, and Dr. Benjamin Kamine, Lecturer, Rabbinic Literatures and Cultures, JTS; Assistant Teaching Faculty, Interreligious Engagement, Union Theological Seminary
March 9, 2026
Seasons of Reckoning: The Practice of Moral Accounting
With Karenna Gore, Founder and Executive Director, Center for Earth Ethics; Teaching Professor, Practice of Earth Ethics, Union Theological Seminary; and Dr. Burton L. Visotzky, Nathan and Janet Appleman Professor Emeritus of Midrash and Interreligious Studies, JTS
March 16, 2026
Relationships and Commitments: Land Beyond Ownership
With Hussein Rashid, PhD, Founder, islamicate, and Rabbi Gordon Tucker, Vice Chancellor for Religious Life and Engagement, JTS
March 23, 2026
From Liberation to Responsibility: Passover and the Earth
With Rabbi Laura Bellows, Director of Spiritual Activism & Education, Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action, and Joe Blumberg, Rabbinical Student, JTS
If you have previously registered for another session in this series, your registration admits you to all sessions in the series, and you may attend as many as you’d like.
The Zoom link for all sessions in the 2026 Winter/Spring Learning Series will be in the confirmation email that you receive after you register.
