On Yom Kippur, a Jewish case for fossil fuel divestment

October 10, 2024

by Sammy Roth for LA Times

“See, I have set before you this day life and death, blessing and curse — and [you should] choose life.”

So says Moses near the end of the Torah, reminding the Jewish people of God’s commandment to do good in the world. It’s an idea that will be front of mind for many Jews this weekend on the holiest of days, Yom Kippur.

Moses’ words should also serve as a powerful inducement to act on climate in the Hebrew year 5785.

Citing the commandment to choose life, the Union for Reform Judaism announced this spring that it would divest from fossil fuel companies, whose polluting products cause immeasurable death and destruction — making it the first large Jewish organization to do so. The union is also encouraging its 850 member synagogues to divest, or to engage in shareholder advocacy that pushes fossil fuel companies to cut their planet-warming emissions.

The union’s pledge was prompted in part by Dayenu, a Jewish climate advocacy group. In a 2022 report, Dayenu estimated that the biggest American Jewish institutions hold about $3.3 billion in fossil fuel investments.

“We should not, as a Jewish people, be investing our money in and perpetuating the fossil fuel industry when we know they are the bad guy,” said Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, Dayenu’s founder and CEO. “This is not who we are.”

….

More than 1,600 institutions with nearly $41 trillion in assets have pledged to take their money out of fossil fuel companies, according to the Global Divestment Commitments Database. Roughly one-third of those institutions are faith-based organizations, including the Church of England. So far, very few of them are Jewish.

“The Jewish community has been slower to adapt,” said Rabbi Jacob Siegel, Dayenu’s climate finance advisor.

Campaigners see fossil fuel divestment as a useful tool, not a comprehensive climate solution.

One desired outcome — if the movement were to gain enough support — would be to deprive big-time polluters such as BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Shell of the funds they need to keep investing in new oil and gas fields.

During an interfaith protest designed to put pressure on Wall Street, Siegel spoke outside Citigroup headquarters in New York in July. He and other religious leaders urged the bank to stop funding new fossil fuel drilling.

“We have moral clarity,” Siegel said. “We don’t need new coal, oil and gas. We have enough.”