Everett Gendler
Encyclopedia
Everett Gendler is an American rabbi, known for his involvement in progressive causes, including the American civil rights movement, Jewish nonviolence, and the egalitarian Jewish Havurah
movement. From 1978-1995, he served as the first Jewish Chaplain at Phillips Academy
, Andover. He has been described as the "father of Jewish environmentalism".
in 1928 to a religious Jewish family who moved to Des Moines in 1939. He earned a B.A. from the University of Chicago
in 1948 during the heyday of Robert Hutchins
’ leadership, and remained at Chicago until 1951 studying with such luminaries as Rudolf Carnap
. In 1957, he was ordained as a Conservative rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary
.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Gendler served as rabbi to a number of congregations throughout Latin America
, including the Beth Israel Community Center in Mexico City, Mexico (1957–59), the Associacao Religiosa Israelita in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1961), and the five congregations of Havana, Cuba (High Holidays and Passover, 1968–69). From 1962-1967, Gendler served as rabbi at the Jewish Center of Princeton, New Jersey.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Gendler, along with his wife Mary Gendler (born 1940) was involved in several alternative residential communities, including Ivan Illich
’s Centro Intercultural de Documentación in Cuernavaca, Mexico (1968-69) (alongside Harvey Cox
) and the inter-racial inter-religious living center Packerd Manse in Stoughton, Massachusetts (1969-71).
In 1971, Gendler became rabbi at Temple Emanuel of the Merrimack Valley and in 1977, Gendler was appointed by Ted Sizer
as the first Jewish chaplain at Phillips Academy, Andover as part of a Catholic-Protestant-Jewish “tri-ministry”. Gendler remained in his position at Phillips Andover, alongside his position at Temple Emanuel of the Merrimack Valley, until his retirement, at the age of 67, in 1995.
Since 1995, Gendler, along with his wife Mary Gendler, has been involved in community education work among the Tibetan exiles on Strategic Nonviolent Struggle http://www.youtube.com/user/tibetin49seconds. In 2007, they played a central role in the founding of the Active Nonviolence Education Center in Dharmasala, India.
He is the father of two daughters, Tamar Gendler
, who is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Yale University http://pantheon.yale.edu/~tgendler/TamarGendlerAbout.htm and Naomi Gendler Camper, who is Head of Federal Government Relations at JP Morgan Chase http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2005_June_7/ai_n13800594 .
to participate in the famous march from Selma to Montgomery (1965)
. Gendler was instrumental in arranging Martin Luther King’s important address to the national rabbinical convention on March 25, 1968, 10 days before King’s death.
Gendler was also an early proponent in Judaism of equal rights for gays http://velveteenrabbi.blogs.com/blog/2006/09/rabbi_gendler_o.html, women’s ritual participation, and Palestinian rights http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/071486/860714009.html.
and currently serves on the board of the Shomer Shalom Institute for Jewish Nonviolence. He has translated some of the nonviolent writings of Rabbi Aaron Samuel Tamaret into English.
, a founding member of the Alternative Religious Community in Marblehead, Massachusetts http://www.centerforjewishalternatives.com/aboutus/chronology.htm, and an important contributor to numerous progressive Jewish liturgical prayerbooks, journals and anthologies.
and Scott Nearing
, Gendler became involved in the conservation and environmental movements, and was an advocate and practitioner of organic farming
and vegetarianism
.
In 1978, he installed the world’s first solar-powered eternal light on the roof of his Synagogue in Lowell Massachusetts. Over the next 30 years, he published dozens of articles on Jewish environmentalism and gave hundreds of lectures on the topic. In 2008, he received a “Lifetime Achievement” award for his contributions to Jewish environmentalism from the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center
.
Havurat Shalom
Havurat Shalom is a small egalitarian chavurah in Somerville, Massachusetts that has 30 members in a large yellow house. Founded in 1968, it is not affiliated with the major Jewish denominations.- Further reading :Havurat Shalom Siddur...
movement. From 1978-1995, he served as the first Jewish Chaplain at Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...
, Andover. He has been described as the "father of Jewish environmentalism".
Biography
Gendler was born in Chariton, IowaChariton, Iowa
Chariton is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Iowa, United States. The population was 4,573 at the 2000 census. It is the primary distribution center for, and former corporate seat of, the Hy-Vee supermarket chain.-History:...
in 1928 to a religious Jewish family who moved to Des Moines in 1939. He earned a B.A. from the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
in 1948 during the heyday of Robert Hutchins
Robert Hutchins
Robert Maynard Hutchins , was an educational philosopher, dean of Yale Law School , and president and chancellor of the University of Chicago. He was the husband of novelist Maude Hutchins...
’ leadership, and remained at Chicago until 1951 studying with such luminaries as Rudolf Carnap
Rudolf Carnap
Rudolf Carnap was an influential German-born philosopher who was active in Europe before 1935 and in the United States thereafter. He was a major member of the Vienna Circle and an advocate of logical positivism....
. In 1957, he was ordained as a Conservative rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
The Jewish Theological Seminary of America is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism, and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studies.JTS operates five schools: Albert A...
.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Gendler served as rabbi to a number of congregations throughout Latin America
History of the Jews in Latin America
The history of the Jews in Latin America dates, according to some interpretations, back to Christopher Columbus and his first cross-Atlantic voyage on August 3, 1492, when he left Spain and eventually discovered the New World...
, including the Beth Israel Community Center in Mexico City, Mexico (1957–59), the Associacao Religiosa Israelita in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1961), and the five congregations of Havana, Cuba (High Holidays and Passover, 1968–69). From 1962-1967, Gendler served as rabbi at the Jewish Center of Princeton, New Jersey.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Gendler, along with his wife Mary Gendler (born 1940) was involved in several alternative residential communities, including Ivan Illich
Ivan Illich
Ivan Illich was an Austrian philosopher, Roman Catholic priest, and "maverick social critic" of the institutions of contemporary western culture and their effects on the provenance and practice of education, medicine, work, energy use, transportation, and economic development.- Personal life...
’s Centro Intercultural de Documentación in Cuernavaca, Mexico (1968-69) (alongside Harvey Cox
Harvey Cox
Harvey Gallagher Cox, Jr. is one of the preeminent theologians in the United States and served as Hollis Research Professor of Divinity at the Harvard Divinity School, until his retirement in October 2009...
) and the inter-racial inter-religious living center Packerd Manse in Stoughton, Massachusetts (1969-71).
In 1971, Gendler became rabbi at Temple Emanuel of the Merrimack Valley and in 1977, Gendler was appointed by Ted Sizer
Ted Sizer
Theodore Ryland Sizer was a leader of educational reform in the United States, the founder of the Essential school movement and was known for challenging longstanding practices and assumptions about the functioning of American secondary schools...
as the first Jewish chaplain at Phillips Academy, Andover as part of a Catholic-Protestant-Jewish “tri-ministry”. Gendler remained in his position at Phillips Andover, alongside his position at Temple Emanuel of the Merrimack Valley, until his retirement, at the age of 67, in 1995.
Since 1995, Gendler, along with his wife Mary Gendler, has been involved in community education work among the Tibetan exiles on Strategic Nonviolent Struggle http://www.youtube.com/user/tibetin49seconds. In 2007, they played a central role in the founding of the Active Nonviolence Education Center in Dharmasala, India.
He is the father of two daughters, Tamar Gendler
Tamar Gendler
Tamar Szabó Gendler is a Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science at Yale University, and Chair of the Yale University Department of Philosophy. Her primary interests include metaphysics, epistemology and philosophical psychology....
, who is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Yale University http://pantheon.yale.edu/~tgendler/TamarGendlerAbout.htm and Naomi Gendler Camper, who is Head of Federal Government Relations at JP Morgan Chase http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2005_June_7/ai_n13800594 .
Civil Rights Work
Gendler became involved in the American Civil Rights movement in the mid-1950s, sparked by his involvement in the American Jewish Society for Service 1955 summer institute at the Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, Tennessee. During the 1960s, he played a pivotal role in involving American Jews in the movement, leading groups of American Rabbis to participate in prayer vigils and protests in Albany, Georgia (1962), Birmingham, Alabama (1963) and Selma, Alabama (1965), and persuading Abraham Joshua HeschelAbraham Joshua Heschel
Abraham Joshua Heschel was a Polish-born American rabbi and one of the leading Jewish theologians and Jewish philosophers of the 20th century.-Biography:...
to participate in the famous march from Selma to Montgomery (1965)
. Gendler was instrumental in arranging Martin Luther King’s important address to the national rabbinical convention on March 25, 1968, 10 days before King’s death.
Gendler was also an early proponent in Judaism of equal rights for gays http://velveteenrabbi.blogs.com/blog/2006/09/rabbi_gendler_o.html, women’s ritual participation, and Palestinian rights http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/071486/860714009.html.
Jewish Nonviolence
Gendler advocates the position that religious nonviolence is as much a part of Judaism as it is of other religions. His most widely distributed article on this topic is "Therefore Choose Life" anthologized in Roots of Jewish Nonviolence and The Challenge of Shalom. Gendler has served on the board of the Jewish Peace FellowshipJewish Peace Fellowship
The Jewish Peace Fellowship is a nonprofit, nondenominational organization set up to provide a Jewish voice in the peace movement. The organization was founded in 1941 in order to support Jewish conscientious objectors who sought exemption from combatant military service...
and currently serves on the board of the Shomer Shalom Institute for Jewish Nonviolence. He has translated some of the nonviolent writings of Rabbi Aaron Samuel Tamaret into English.
Egalitarian Judaism
Gendler was an early member of Havurat ShalomHavurat Shalom
Havurat Shalom is a small egalitarian chavurah in Somerville, Massachusetts that has 30 members in a large yellow house. Founded in 1968, it is not affiliated with the major Jewish denominations.- Further reading :Havurat Shalom Siddur...
, a founding member of the Alternative Religious Community in Marblehead, Massachusetts http://www.centerforjewishalternatives.com/aboutus/chronology.htm, and an important contributor to numerous progressive Jewish liturgical prayerbooks, journals and anthologies.
Jewish Environmentalism
During the 1960s and 1970s, inspired in part by the work and writings of his friends and mentors HelenHelen and Scott Nearing
Helen Knothe Nearing and Scott Nearing were well-known American back-to-the-landers who wrote extensively about their experience living what they termed "the good life".- Philosophy :...
and Scott Nearing
Scott Nearing
Scott Nearing was an American radical economist, educator, writer, political activist, and advocate of simple living.-The early years:...
, Gendler became involved in the conservation and environmental movements, and was an advocate and practitioner of organic farming
Organic farming
Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm...
and vegetarianism
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat...
.
In 1978, he installed the world’s first solar-powered eternal light on the roof of his Synagogue in Lowell Massachusetts. Over the next 30 years, he published dozens of articles on Jewish environmentalism and gave hundreds of lectures on the topic. In 2008, he received a “Lifetime Achievement” award for his contributions to Jewish environmentalism from the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center
Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center
Originally incorporated in 1893 as the Jewish Working Girls Vacation Society, the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center was established as a summer camp offering Jewish working women, primarily immigrants in the New York garment industry, an affordable vacation. The camp paid for their vacation...
.