Chief Rabbi stresses need for young Jews to tackle climate change

The Chief Rabbi has reaffirmed his commitment to encouraging activism among young Jews to address the greatest challenges facing the planet.

His comments came during an address to Limmud at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole, where 1400 attendees gathered over five days in the first return to in-person programming for two years.

Ephraim Mirvis was accompanied by two of the 60 graduates of his Ben Azzai Programme for social responsibility and activism.

Both Dan Amroussi and Asher Levy are former JFS students. Inspired by a trip to Ghana with the Azzai programme, they established Young Social Enterprise, a UK-wide competition encouraging Jewish secondary school students to be the next generation of activists.

The Chief Rabbi said: “The beauty of the Ben Azzai is its ripple effect. We need to be mindful of the responsibility as Jews; not just to ourselves, not just to the State of Israel, but to everyone on earth, far and wide, and all generations to come. It needs to be a partnership. Hashem looks to us to be his partners.”