5 results for author: Laura Ziporah Tenenboim


Ups and Downs for a Berliner Environmentalist Jew

This month I hit my lowest low. On of the leading Berlin newspaper's headline commented on my mood: "Berlin's Environmentalists Between Despair And Defiance". This month referendum about the ownership of the city's electric grid was rejected. The idea was to force the city's government to re-buy the grid that was privatised almost 20 years ago. A great idea actually since grid ownership comes with guaranteed returns. and the possibility t Along with a strong municipal utility it would have been possible to create a decentralised, ecologic power system under democratic control and with social responsibi...

A Brief Visit To The Israeli Youth Movement

Sunday morning: It is still dark when I dump my bag at the hotel's reception and head out for the beach. The sky turns purple and pink while the waves and the sand dig my feet deep into the ground. It has been so very long! I decide to take a walk to rediscover Tel Aviv. After all it will only be a few hours until the rest of the delegation will arrive. The Yemenite Quarter has been changing. Crazy all this construction work. The shuk is still closed up but when I close my eyes I can smell the spices and hear the chattering well hidden in my memory. I dander down King George and finally reach Rabin Square. In one week it ...

Sukkot Reflections

I love autum. A time in between. A time when the inner-city is reclaimed by those who live in it instead of the tourists. The drizzling rain washes the streets preparing the city for a fresh start into the new year. The leaves turn yellow and red reminding the local one last time of the colours of summer. Sometimes a golden sunray that found its way through a thick layer of clouds. It is the time when I feel most at home in Berlin. I love Sukkot as well. The great outdoors taking us out of our comfort zone (especially those of us who live in areas with a rough climate)! After all the soul searching of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur Sukkot asks of ...

Elections And The Dawn Of A New Society

For a few weeks now strangers have been ambushing me with polarising questions and smothering my son with balloons, for a few weeks now my inbox is overflowing. For a few weeks now I cannot get rid of this upset stomach... The symptoms are clear: Elections are coming up. On the 22nd September 2013 Germans are voting for parliament which elects the chancellor. 39 parties are running of which nine have a realistic chance winning seats in the national parliament. Still there is party, no candidate I really want to vote for. I do believe in the good of people and know a large number of politicians are truly striving to make a change. But I ...

German Jews Go Green

In 2007 I traveled around Europe to train and organise environmental youth groups, network, give lectures and plant a seed of action. One of the biggest events of that year was the bianual convention of the Evangelical Church in Germany. I was invited to co-deliver the sermon with the topic: Climate Change And Everyones Responsibilities To Protect G_d's Creation. Beside this certainly making the top of my list wired things i have done I was impressed on how a contemporary issue like environmental justice was discussed in this setting. So when I arrived back to Berlin I started researching on Judaism an d environmental issues. And I realis...