Shavuot

Keynote Speaker – Rabbi Shaul Robinson

Rabbi Shaul Robinson took up the position of Senior Rabbi at Lincoln Square Synagogue on September 1, 2005. Rabbi Robinson was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1967 and earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Economics and Political Science at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland. He was also awarded a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) with Distinction from the University of Nottingham, England. His MBA focused on the management of Not-for-Profit institutions and his dissertation was titled “The Working Lives of Rabbis”.

9.15pm – 10.15pm

Rabbi Jonathan Neril

A Jewish Approach to Climate Change

Raised in California, Yonatan completed an M.A. and B.A. from Stanford University with a focus on global environmental issues, and received rabbinical ordination in Israel. He has spoken internationally on religion and the environment, including at the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, the Fez Climate Conscience Summit and the Parliament of World Religions. He co-organized ten interfaith environmental conferences in Jerusalem and the United States. Yonatan is the lead author and general editor of two publications on Jewish environmental ethics including Uplifting People and Planet: 18 Essential Jewish Teachings on the Environment. Yonatan also co-authored three ICSD reports on faith and ecology courses in seminary education in Israel, North America, and Rome.  He is currently working on publishing an ecological commentary on the Hebrew Bible. He is a member of the Faith-Based Advisory Council of the UN Interagency Task Force and the advisory board of the Alliance For The Care Of Our Common Home: A Joint Initiative of the Pontifical Universities in Rome. He lives with his wife, Shana and their two children in Jerusalem.

10.30pm – 11.30pm

Rabbi James Kennard

 Judaism and Science – Discord or Harmony?

Rabbi James Kennard (born 24 June 1964) is an educationalist in the Australian Jewish community.^[1] He was previously headteacher of King Solomon High School in Barkingside, London, and as of 2018 is principal of Mount Scopus Memorial College^[2].

He was educated at St Paul’s School in London and read mathematics at New College, Oxford. While at Oxford in 1984, he took part in the British televised quiz-show University Challenge.^[3] He received rabbinic ordination in Israel in 1989. What is more, Rabbi Kennard was brought up in Muswell Hill Synagogue and had has barmitzvah there!

11.45pm – 12.00am

A final word