"Cultivating Hope in a Time of Conflict: Building the Foundation for a Future of Peace"

With Rabbi Michael Cohen of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies & Friends of the Aravah Institute

Come listen, learn, and discuss.

For 30 years, the Arava Institute in southern Israel has brought Israelis and Palestinians together through environmental science and environmental diplomacy, using shared learning and projects to build trust and promote climate resilience.

Since it opened in 1996, Rabbi Michael M. Cohen—rabbi emeritus of the Israel Congregation in Manchester Center, Vermont—has split his time between Vermont and the Institute's campus on Kibbutz Ketura. He will share stories and insights from three decades of work with Israelis, Palestinians, Jordanians, Moroccans, and Americans, showing how the environment can unite people across political divides.

He'll also speak about his experience at the Institute on October 7th and in the difficult year that followed with Israelis and Palestinians together.

Rabbi Michael M. Cohen is a faculty member of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and at Bennington College. He teaches courses on conflict resolution, the Bible, and the environment.

Rabbi Cohen has been a Policy Advisor to the U.S. Department of State, Office of the Special Envoy for Middle East Peace, and a Speechwriter Adviser to the White House. He also sat on the Advisory Board of the Middle East Peace Partnership (MEPPA) of USAID established by Congress.

*This program is sponsored by Pettee Memorial Library