Core Team
Rabbi Yonatan Neril founded and directs The Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development. 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.
Yonatan is coauthor of the bestselling book Eco Bible, published by ICSD, which shines new light on how the Hebrew Bible and great religious thinkers have urged human care and stewardship of nature for thousands of years as a central message of spiritual wisdom.
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, New York City, Washington D.C., and Atlanta. He is the lead author of three books on Jewish environmental ethics and also co-authored three reports on faith and ecology courses in theological education. He lives with his wife, Shana and their two children in Jerusalem.
The Rev. Dr. Leah D. Schade is Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship at Lexington Theological Seminary in Kentucky. An ordained Lutheran minister since 2000, Leah has served congregations in rural, urban, and suburban settings. She earned both her MDiv and PhD degrees from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (now United Lutheran Seminary).
Her publications include: Creation-Crisis Preaching: Ecology, Theology, and the Pulpit (Chalice Press, 2015); Preaching in the Purple Zone: Ministry in the Red-Blue Divide (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019); and Rooted and Rising: Voices of Courage in a Time of Climate Crisis, co-edited with Margaret Bullitt-Jonas with essays from a cross-section of faith leaders and activists offering their spiritual wisdom and energy for facing the difficult days ahead (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019). She has also written a Creation-centered Lenten devotional, For the Beauty of the Earth (Chalice Press, 2019).
Leah has served as an anti-fracking and climate activist, community organizer, and advocate for environmental justice issues and is the “EcoPreacher” blogger for Patheos.com. She began partnering with the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development in 2021 as their EcoPreacher Resource Development Consultant to create a monthly resource called EcoPreacher 1-2-3 for busy pastors wanting to address environmental issues in their sermons.
Deborah Lee Rose is an award-winning children’s author, science writer and editor whose books, many with environmental themes, are read around the world. They include The People Who Hugged the Trees, Into the A, B, Sea, Ocean Babies, Jimmy the Joey, Beauty and the Beak: How Science, Technology, and a 3D-Printed Beak Rescued a Bald Eagle, Scientists Get Dressed and Astronauts Zoom! She was also a senior science writer for UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science.
Deborah most recently edited Eco Bible and Plastic Sea: A Bird’s-eye View. She lives with her husband, Ken, an environmental health scientist, in Silver Spring, MD. (www.deborahleerose.com)
Pesach Chananiah is grateful to be involved with ICSD to transform the relationship between faith and ecology in Los Angeles and beyond. In the past, he has worked on a variety of social justice organizing campaigns, from interfaith capacity-building efforts in Las Vegas and Los Angeles to coalescing stakeholders to improve air quality in and around port communities. Pesach has also taught in a wide range of Jewish education contexts, including youth wilderness programs in New York, Beverly Hills, and the Bay Area. Most recently, Pesach completed his PhD in Community, Liberation, and Ecopsychology – and he brings to all of his work his training in tending of soul in and of the world. Additionally, Pesach is a trained yoga teacher and practitioner of mindfulness meditation. He lives in the Miracle Mile area of Los Angeles with his partner Kimeiko Rae and enjoys urban biking and cooking vegetarian meals.
Board of Directors
David is a native of Los Angeles and moved to Israel in 1978. Today he is responsible for Sustainable Technology Projects at the Yoyah Group, a company dedicated to effective strategic planning in times of uncertainty.
For twelve years he managed the US-Israel Science and Technology Commission, a unique bi-national initiative to foster high-level collaboration by and between government, academia and industry. He was part of the founding team of BrightSource Energy, a world-leading solar energy company. He served as board chair of the Heschel Center for Sustainability, was president of Jerusalem’s leading Reform synagogue, Kehilat Kol Haneshama, and served on the board of the Jewish National Fund for eight years.
Motivated by 22 years of professional relationship with Jerusalem, Rev. Leppäkari encourages people not to be afraid to build bridges of understandings through intercultural and religious dialogue: Rev. Dr. Leppäkari holds a Doctoral degree in Theology (2002) from Åbo Akademi University, Finland and is Docent (Adjunct Professor) in Comparative Religion. Her expertise spans from academic research to applied leadership. In September 2019 she was the first woman to be ordained Reverend in Jerusalem in the Arabic speaking congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL). She has published extensively on Jerusalem, and is best known for her book Apocalyptic Representations of Jerusalem. Her most recent book is Pilgrimage and Tourism to Holy Cities: Ideological and Management Perspectives, co-edited together with Dr. Kevin Griffin.
Website:
FELM Center Jerusalem
Wendy Sinton has been a community volunteer for over 30 years. She has served on the board of the Ecumenical Hunger Program (EHP) in East Palo Alto and has been active in the Palo Alto schools, Association for Senior Day Health, El Camino Youth Symphony and worked at Palo Alto High School as a Career Counselor. Wendy is a Trustee of the Sinton Family Fund. She is a member of Congregation Beth Am. Wendy has a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and a Teaching Credential from University of San Francisco. She enjoys spending time with her grandchildren who are scattered far and wide and wants to help preserve the planet.
Shelly Bengiat is founder and chairwoman of the Coralz, Envirotech Australian Group and Perfect Sea NGOs. Shelly is proudly leading research, development, export, and training of the first global Marine Habitat Conservation and Restoration technical vocational education and training accreditations under the Australian Qualifications Framework, that is a turn-key solution for partners to deliver our IP internationally.
The group builds communities capacity for sustainable blue economy development, by project-oriented training in a range of blue carbon and biodiversity seascapes, across hundreds of micro-credentials, in marine habitats, aquaculture, and sustainability, from schools, to universities and marine industries.
Since developing the first international marine habitats conservation and restoration technical vocational accreditations IP, the Envirotech and Coralz group deliver Government funded contracts, in Australia, especially with Indigenous Islanders and coastal communities, and the group are yearly receivers of excellence awards such as recent Indigenous Student of the Year in Queensland, trainers, innovators of the years in various states, and winners of Australian national export and sustainability awards.
Website URL: https://www.peacedepartment.global/about-us
Financial Board of Oversight
David has degrees in economics and engineering science from Cambridge UK and Rochester USA. Before entering the technological world, he was a development economist working on UN and World Bank projects in Africa. He has since built a number of technological enterprises in the industrial field with three successful exits.
For the past twelve years he has been building start-ups in the renewable energy space including PV, lithium battery, wastewater treatment, and tidal energy and now concentrates on energy efficiency. He is presently CEO of Elencon Energy Efficiency, Venture Partner at OurCrowd Investments, Chairman of Contronics UK and Chairman of South West Energy UK.
Yannai worked for the Israeli Ministry of Health and pursued a PhD at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Health Systems Management. He served on the Nachlaot Community Council, and previously worked for Jewish Climate Initiative.
Board of Advisers
Rabbi Rosen, former Chief Rabbi of Ireland, is a past chairman of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations. He also serves as the Adviser on Interreligious Affairs to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel; is a member of the Chief Rabbinate’s delegation for Interreligious Dialogue; and serves on the Council of the Religious Institutions of the Holy Land. He is the only Jewish member of the Board of Directors of the King Abdullah International Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, established by the King of Saudi Arabia together with the governments of Austria and Spain. In 2005, Pope Benedict XVI made Rabbi Rosen a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great for his contribution to promoting Catholic-Jewish reconciliation; and in 2010 H.M. Queen Elizabeth II made him a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) for his contributions to interfaith relations.
For videos of Rabbi Rosen on religion and ecology, see: On Love of the Divine and God’s Creation (four minutes) On Judaism, Ecology, and Global Responsibility (eight minutes)
Dr. Dajani is a Weston Fellow at The Washington Institute, founded the Wasatia movement of moderate Islam and previously worked as a professor of political science at al-Quds University in Jerusalem. A Jerusalem-born scholar and peace activist, Dr. Dajani holds doctorate degrees from the University of Texas and University of South Carolina. He is the founding director of the Jerusalem Studies and Research Institute, chair of the board of directors of the House of Water and Environment in Ramallah, and a member of the board of directors of the Jerusalem International YMCA. He has written extensively on Arab culture and politics, including an International Herald Tribune op-ed.
The Julia Burke Foundation is based in the United States and has wide-ranging projects on five continents. Marilyn is a long-serving board member of The HALO Trust, an humanitarian organization that removes landmines and other explosive remnants of war throughout the world. Marilyn also served for four years as a member of the Board of Directors of The Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of San Francisco, and lives in California and Hawaii.
Pankaj Jain is an internationally recognized academic leader in Sustainability, Jain Studies, Film Studies, and Diaspora Studies. He is the Head of the Department of Humanities & Languages and the Chair of The India Centre at FLAME University. Earlier, he was the founding co-chair of India Initiatives Group and Associate Professor in the Departments of Philosophy & Religion and Anthropology at the University of North Texas. He is currently co-editing the Encyclopedia of Hinduism and a volume on Indian and Western Philosophical Concepts in Religion. He is also the author of the award-winning Dharma and Ecology of Hindu Communities: Sustenance and Sustainability and Science and Socio-Religious Revolution in India: Moving the Mountains.
Most Rev. Bishop Shomali was born in Beit Sahour (Palestine) in 1950. He earned a B.A. in philosophy and Theology and was subsequently ordained as a priest in Jerusalem in 1972. He earned a Doctor of Divinity degree, and served as professor of liturgy, vice-rector and dean of studies at the Faculty of Philosophy and Theology of the Major Seminary of Jerusalem. In 2005 he became Rector of the same seminary. In 2009, he became Chancellor of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. In 2010 he was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as Titular Bishop of Lydda and Patriarchal Vicar for Jerusalem and Palestine on April 7, 2010; and ordained Bishop on May 27, 2010 in Bethlehem. On February 4, 2017 he was nominated as Patriarchal Vicar for Jordan.
UN/NGO Representative of the International Council of Jewish Women and Member-at-Large of the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development.
UN/NGO Representative of the International Council of Jewish Women and Member-at-Large of the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development.
Dr. Lurie is a physicist and business development consultant living in New York City and dealing with applications of satellite imagery and technology transfer. Her current interests include using satellite imagery to study the environment and the assessment of sustainable development projects. At the United Nations she represents the International Council of Jewish Women, and is a member of the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development where her work emphasizes the relationship between women’s rights and sustainability.
Dr. Lurie is a physicist and business development consultant living in New York City and dealing with applications of satellite imagery and technology transfer. Her current interests include using satellite imagery to study the environment and the assessment of sustainable development projects. At the United Nations she represents the International Council of Jewish Women, and is a member of the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development where her work emphasizes the relationship between women’s rights and sustainability.