Dr. Jeremy Benstein

Jeremy Benstein, a native of Toledo, Ohio, moved to Israel over 30 years ago, with a dream of making Israel an inspiring society. That dream led to his co-founding the Heschel Center for Sustainability in Tel Aviv, working on issues such as strengthening Israel’s civil society, improving environmental quality, and promoting progressive Jewish values, such as social justice and the common good. Jeremy’s interests focus on the interplay of religion, culture and values with the environment, topics he has explored in his book The Way Into Judaism and the Environment (Jewish Lights, 2006). Jeremy holds a BA from Harvard, an MA in Judaic Studies and a PhD in cultural anthropology from the Hebrew University on social-environmental activism as a focus of shared citizenship between Jews and Arabs in Israel. Jeremy and his wife Prof. Annabel Herzog live in Zichron Yaakov, with two cats, some combination of their five children at any given time, and many books.