I couldn’t help but wonder, as I turned into the Seven Mile Market parking lot, how a semi-retired Hopkins nephrologist morphed into an environmental ecologist. Dr. Devorah Rivka Gelfand is not only passionate about her newest life calling; she has inspired others to jump on the bandwagon. The goal of “Cherish the Earth-Bal Tashchis” (www.cherishtheearth-baltashchis), the non-profit organization she founded, is education about and promotion of Torah-based environmental conservation to the Baltimore Jewish community.
When I arrived at the “Cherish the Earth” Environmental Expo booth outside Seven Mile Market on November 3, I was greeted by Jonathan Libber and Dr. Gelfand’s husband Shlomo. It was one of three such booths around town. The others were in front of Market Maven and Shoppers.
Prior to my arrival, Yona Openden, program coordinator of the Baltimore Girls’ Chesed League, had provided two groups of teens who were enthusiastically involved in this project, along with their chaperones, Yael Shmuel and Abby Weinstock, and many dedicated community volunteers. The booths were manned by (in addition to Mr. Gelfand and Mr. Libber) Dr. Janice Freedman, Yael Friedman, Sheina Kestenbaum, Malka Sara and Baruch Levine, Jane Menchel, Naomi Miller, Ruth Shane, Yedida Sloan, Dr. Janet Sunness, and Nechy Zehnwirth. They focused on one important issue: the problem with single-use plastics.
My curiosity about Dr. Gelfand’s newfound inspiration would have to be settled when Dr. Gelfand returned to the booth. In the meantime, I spoke with Jonathan Libber and Shlomo Gelfand.
“We are educating the public about using paper and cloth instead of plastic,” said Mr. Libber, a Baltimore-based attorney, as he handed me an informational brochure. “We are also selling reusable grocery bags and large paper leaf bags, and demonstrating other products that are replacing plastics, such as these resealable sandwich bags and a biodegradable version of Saran Wrap, so that you don’t have to use plastic. These things have a positive effect on the environment, which is the main reason we’re doing this.”
Mr. Gelfand elaborates: “Plastic bags, which are now getting banned in places, take 500 years to decompose; they don’t degrade as these paper products do. Since chemicals leech out and get into the food chain, fish have been found to have these chemicals in them. So, when we eat a piece of salmon or tuna, we might very well be eating some of these chemicals.”
Adds Mr. Libber, “You also get a lot of pollution that goes along with producing plastic bags. Hopefully, that is more controlled compared to the old days, but there is still pollution. The less plastic we use, the better off we are going to be.”
The two point out that there is actually a movement to ban plastic bags in Montgomery County. Effective January 1, 2012, Montgomery County’s Carryout Bag Law mandated that all retail establishments in Montgomery County that provide customers a plastic or paper carryout bag at the point of sale are required to charge five cents per bag. The revenues collected are deposited into the County’s Water Quality Protection Charge (WQPC) fund, helping to shift the burden of litter cleanup costs from public taxpayers to consumers who have the option of avoiding the five-cent charge by bringing reusable bags.
Giving Back
I was finally able to learn more about Dr. Gelfand upon her return. “If you were born in Utica, New York, raise your hand!” she quipped in response to my initial question of her origins. “Probably not many hands will be raised in Baltimore,” she said, “but it was a wonderful place to live after the Second World War. There was a warm Jewish community with the kind of conservative family values we cherish. I graduated from Barnard and the New Jersey College of Medicine and came to Baltimore for a Johns Hopkins residency in internal medicine followed by a fellowship in nephrology. Maryland has been home for decades, and I’ve lived in Baltimore for over 15 years. The frum community is fantastic, and our family loves it. We belong to Shomrei and enjoy close relationships with other shuls, especially the Agudah of Greenspring.”
After over 40 years of practicing medicine, Dr. Gelfand (under her professional name, Dr. Donna Myers) finished her career at Hopkins, retiring to take care of her grandchildren and also to return to playing the cello, which she loves. Now that her grandkids are grown and in school, she returned to Hopkins part-time. She covers the Baltimore jail infirmary on weekends and volunteers at Shephard’s Clinic, a MedStar free clinic.
“One of the reasons I entered medicine was to give back, to contribute to the society in which I live and from which I’ve benefited,” said Dr. Gelfand. “Little did I know at the time that the midda of chesed is a foundation of Judaism and that the prohibition against bal tashchis (wanton destruction) is halacha.”
“The notion of giving back, when I was secular, spilled over into other issues that some people consider ‘liberal’ causes,” continued Dr. Gelfand. “But caring for the world that Hashem entrusted to us and raising gashmius (physicality) to ruchnius (spirituality) is not a political issue but the core of who we are as a people. I became a vegetarian decades ago for health reasons and also because of how animals were treated. From my perspective, taking care of ourselves, our families, our friends, and our environment is what Hashem expects of us – and for me it’s a natural extension of my identity.”
With so many priority issues facing klal Yisrael today, environmentalism seems far from many people’s minds, notes Dr. Gelfand. Yet it was on the forefront of Dr. Gelfand’s mind when she founded “Cherish the Earth – Bal Tashchis,” and she discovered that it is just as important to Rabbi Binyamin Marwick, Rav of Shomrei Emunah. In fact, he has agreed to serve as rabbinic advisor, offering invaluable guidance.
Learning About the Environment, Hands-On
Realizing that people learn in many different ways and that hands-on experiential learning can educate and change behavior more easily than other methods, Dr. Gelfand creates projects that have a learning component and are also fun. And she always tries to involve younger people.
“My first project focused on composting,” said Dr. Gelfand. “We produce an enormous amount of food garbage that ends up down the disposal or in the garbage, but it can be put to productive use in a compost heap. About 20 families with young children received everything needed to collect compostable food for six weeks, and learned how easy it is to make a positive contribution to the environment.”
Concludes Dr. Gelfand, “The Expo was an opportunity to help the frum community understand just how much our environment is harmed by plastic. It’s ubiquitous and very convenient, but it takes 500 years to decompose, and the chemicals in plastic leach into many parts of the food chain. When people know this, they are happy to adopt the alternative of cloth bags. This problem is the driving force behind local governments banning plastic bags. It’s not a liberal issue or a conservative issue or a convenience issue – it’s about caring for Hashem’s world, which is our world, too.”
Anyone eager to learn more about “Cherish the Earth –Bal Tashchis” or get involved is welcome. If each of us does a little, it will add up to a lot, and we will be partners with Hashem in caring for the Bri’a (Creation). The next project is in the planning stage so stay tuned! www.cherishtheearth-baltashchis.com
