Rabbi Carter to Deliver a Lecture on Social Justice, Sustainability, and Stewardship During Shmita or the Sabbath Year
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
The lecture is sponsored by the Department of Religion (as part of its efforts to foster dialogue between the Abrahamic traditions), and co-sponsored by the Departments of Political Science and English, and the Environmental Studies Program. Funding for the lecture has been provided by the Dean’s Office of the College of Arts and Sciences and the President’s Advisory Council.
About the Lecture:
Shmita—the Sabbatical Year of Release described in the Hebrew Bible—is the final year of a cycle in which the land of Israel lies fallow. Debts are forgiven and a number of other economic and agricultural adjustments are made to help create a renewed and just society. In this lecture, Rabbi Carie Carter will explore how this ancient tradition of shmita or "release" might inform our modern works. What does it have to say about our relationship to the land, about economic equality, about environmental responsibility, personal rejuvenation, or social justice across the board? To extend this exploration further, how might we harness the power of "shmita" to transform our present-day society and our own lives?
About the Speaker
Rabbi Carie Carter has served as rabbi of the Park Slope Jewish Center for the past 14 years. Prior to that, she worked as Director of Cleveland Hillel. She is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Judaism and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Rabbi Carter is deeply committed to helping people who are searching to engage Judaism in their own way, recognizing that “there are many roads to the palace” of Jewish living. She is dedicated to creating inclusive communities filled with exploration and creativity in which human dignity is honored and celebrated. A life-long Midwesterner, Rabbi Carter is thrilled to have found a wonderful community in Brooklyn in which these ideals are lived out each day.
