Local Leader Spotlight

This local leader is using Jewish teachings to guide her environmental work

Rabbi Dr. Laura Duhan-Kaplan is an award-winning teacher of philosophy and religion with a deep love for wildlife and companion animals. She is author of Mouth of the Donkey: Re-imagining Biblical Animals (Cascade). After ten years as Director of Inter-Religious Studies at the Vancouver School of Theology, and ten years as Rabbi of Or Shalom Synagogue, Rabbi Laura will take over as Dean of ALEPH Ordination Programs, the Jewish Renewal Seminary. She is based in B.C., where she can continue to study and support our province’s unique ecosystems.

Read on to learn more about Rabbi Dr. Laura Duhan-Kaplan and how she became involved with this work. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Rabbi Dr. Laura Duhan-Kaplan is an award-winning teacher of philosophy and religion with a deep love for wildlife and companion animals. (Photo by Jenn Fontaine).

How did you first get involved in environmental work?

I am a teacher and a writer—that’s how I influence people. So, of course, I teach and write about environmental issues. My mother was my first mentor. She was a great animal lover, and a supporter of conservation organizations. About ten years ago, I took a course called “The Land is Our Mother” with my Indigenous colleague Dr. Ray Aldred. There I began to learn that justice and human rights depend on a mindful relationship with the land. Last year, I participated in Sierra Club BC’s Mother Tree Local Leaders Program. Facilitators Ascher and Mahalia taught that it’s easy to deepen our activism. We simply use our skills and networks to foster love, respect, and care for the land.

What is a Jewish teaching that guides your environmental work?

The biblical Creation story calls to me all the time. If you read the original Hebrew, you see human life is described as a small part of our planet’s ecosystem. We are one among many creatures, including sky, land, plants, stars, and animals. As God creates, God talks directly to each creature, and gives them a specific mission. For example, God asks the land to bring forth plants of all kinds. Humans are created last, because we cannot survive without all the creatures that come before us. We are interdependent.

Unlike many other pieces of modern Jewish writing, in your work you have centered the voices of animals and other living entities. What inspired you to write your book “Mouth of the Donkey”? What did you learn from writing this book that you did not know before?

My husband Charles and I took a trip to Nova Scotia, Mikmaq territory, where we experienced something new every day—dinosaur fossils, lush hemlock forests, crows speaking full sentences in their language. So I started writing sermons about the trip. And then I realized that biblical writers understand the lives of their local animals. They know, for example, that farmers and miners trust their donkeys. That’s why so many characters ride out on their donkeys to solve problems! And that’s why the donkey in the Bible is actually an archetype of wisdom.

What is a project you are currently working on that you feel excited to share?

I am writing a book about Perek Shira, Song of the Land, a mystical Jewish text where animals, plants, and features of the land each sing a unique song. It is so interesting to learn about each creature from both science and sacred story.

Rabbi Dr. Laura reccommends for anyone looking to take action, “Seek out likeminded people and see how you can work together to support each other’s projects. Sierra Club BC has a great network to draw on!” (Photo by Mya Van Woudenberg).

How do you work towards a reciprocal relationship with the non-human world?

One way: I try to learn about fellow residents of our city—crows, bees, coyotes. What is their form of life? How do they see the world? And what do they need from us?

How have environmental groups like Sierra Club BC / programs like Mother Tree Local Leaders Program helped or supported you?

Sierra Club BC helps me, as a newcomer to this land, learn to adapt to our ecosystems and hopefully make a contribution to it. The Mother Tree Local Leaders Program teaches that there are many ways to contribute—as many ways as there are colleagues in the learning cohort.