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A Sacred Duty: Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal the World

A Sacred Duty: Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal the World was produced by the Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) and distributed by CLAL, though a gift from JVNA, this April. Directed by the highly acclaimed, multi-award-winning film maker, Lionel Friedberg, A Sacred Duty addresses the range of unprecedented environmental threats to our planet from a positive Jewish perspective.

The documentary features interviews with leading Israeli and American environmental, health, vegetarian and animal rights activists as well as Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, and secular leaders. Interviewees include: Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen, Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Haifa; Rabbi David Rosen, Former Chief Rabbi of Ireland and International Director of Interreligious Affairs of the American Jewish Committee; Dr. Yeshayahu Bar-Or, Chief Scientist: Israel Environmental Ministry and many other rabbis and Jewish leaders and activists. Biblical passages are read by the acclaimed Jewish star of Broadway and screen Theodore Bikel.

We at CLAL believe that if Judaism is going to be taken seriously by American Jews and for that matter by all Americans, Jewish wisdom needs to contribute to and to add value to the debates at the center of our culture and politics. This documentary - whether or not one agrees with every detail - is an important contribution to one of the critical public policy conversations facing this country and a serious example of taking Jewish wisdom public. Produced at a high quality, this documentary reminds us that it is our sacred duty to become aware of current threats and our responsibility to apply Jewish teachings to how we obtain our food, use natural resources, and live among other creatures whom God created. Not only does it offer simple, practical measures for reducing our impact on the planet, it shows how authentic religious responses melded with science can make a major difference in our efforts to reduce global climate change and other environmental threats. It also challenges people to consider the many moral issues related to our diets, including Torah teachings on how animals are treated on factory farms and the effects on human health and the environment.

Although it is primarily intended for a Jewish audience, A Sacred Duty speaks to people everywhere about the ethics of our relationship to the natural world in which we live.  We are honored that JVNA has made this gift possible.

   



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