Published: 7 July 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
THE CLIMATE MOVEMENT in the United States has grown increasingly diverse in recent years, with young people and front-line communities leading the way. But what has been missing, according to Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, is a strong Jewish mobilisation effort at the national level.
Rosenn's newly launched organisation, Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action, wants to change that.
The Hebrew phrase "dayenu" is well-known among Jews. It's the title of a popular song communities have sung at Passover celebrations for a millennium now. In English, dayenu is typically translated as "it would have been enough," reflecting gratitude for all of God's gifts.
But there is another possible translation, rooted more in urgency than thanks, that Jewish environmentalists say speaks to the current moment.
"'We've had enough,'" Rosenn, Dayenu's founder and CEO, said in a telephone interview. "It's time for us all to act. We've had enough with the climate changing and there not being robust enough action."
Rosenn is a long-time leader in the Jewish social justice movement. For more than two decades, she's led Jewish not-for-profits and worked on issues including the global refugee crisis and empowering women in Israel.
In April, Rosenn teamed up with a veteran climate organiser to launch Dayenu and start building a national movement of American Jews to confront the climate crisis with, according to its website, "spiritual audacity and bold political action."
FULL STORY New organisation Dayenu seeks to mobilise US Jews for climate action (NCR)
Photo: Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, founder and CEO of Dayenu in a demonstration on the National Mall in Washington, DC (Courtesy, Religious Action Centre of Reform Judaism)
