The Thomas Berry Forum for Ecological Dialogue
and The Brother John G. Driscoll Professorship in Jewish/Catholic Studies at Iona College
is honored to host master teacher and eco-theologian
Rabbi Lawrence Troster

Reading the Whole Book of Life:
Ecclesiastes on the Search for Meaning

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2019 at 7:00 PM Burke Lounge 

The Book of Ecclesiastes (Kohelet in Hebrew) responds to the same spiritual and existential questions that many people face in their lives: what is the meaning of (my) life? Does God care about the world? Is there a pattern of existence or is everything random? Why do the righteous suffer? Is there some kind of existence after death?

While previous sacred texts like the Torah asserted that the world adheres to a pattern that is intelligible and moral, the author of Kohelet perceives no evidence of this.

Rabbi Troster's creative and original presentation uses a fictional narrative of the life of the author of Kohelet, set in the 3rd century BCE, as told after his death by his student Joshua Ben Sira incorporating many different texts: poems, songs, novels, philosophy, rabbinic literature, and biblical texts especially from the books of Kohelet, Job and Psalms.

Rabbi Lawrence Troster is one of this country’s leading Jewish eco-theologians and religious environmental leaders. He is the founder and coordinator of Shomrei Breishit: Rabbis and Cantors for the Earth and the Rabbinic Scholar-in-Residence of GreenFaith the interfaith environmental coalition in New Jersey and the former creator and director of the GreenFaith’s Fellowship program.

He is part of the leadership team  of Ourvoices.net a worldwide movement of people of all faiths advocating for a strong climate treaty. He is also the Rabbi-in-Residence at the Berry Forum for Ecological Dialogue at Iona College.

Directions and Parking:

Rabbi Troster, is the author of Mekor Hayyim: A Source Book on Water and Judaism. The Rabbinic Fellow for the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL), he has published numerous articles and has lectured widely on eco-theology, bio-ethics, and Judaism and modern science.   Rabbi Troster was honored by the Temple of Understanding, one of the oldest worldwide interfaith organizations, as an Interfaith Visionary.

Rabbi Troster has taught at Union Theological Seminary, Hebrew Union College, the Academy for Jewish Religion and Drew Theological School. He is married to author Elaine Kahn and has two daughters, two sons-in-law, three granddaughters, and one grandson.

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