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Congregation Beth Israel Celebrates
Chanukah by Conserving Energy
T hey call Chanukah the “Festival of
Lights,” commemorating the time in
the Temple when oil that was supposed
to last for just one night lasted for eight.

But at 5 p.m. on Dec. 18 — just before
the menorah is lit to signify the start of
Chanukah — Congregation Beth Israel
of Media will celebrate a diff erent festi-
val of lights of sorts.

Th e synagogue will dedicate 62
recently installed solar panels on its roof
that will save energy and help deal with
climate change. Rest assured, the panels
will last much longer than eight nights.

“I love the message of Chanukah,”
said Beth Israel Rabbi Nathan Martin,
who, in conjunction with fellow Rabbi
Linda Potemken, has spearheaded the
eff ort over the past few years. “It talks
about having the light you’re using last
longer. It’s a great energy effi ciency hol-
iday — this notion that celebrating light
and connecting to that fi ts nicely.”
For Martin, this is the culmination of
a decade-long project that began aft er he
took a training session with GreenFaith,
a worldwide organization that encour-
ages religious institutions to combat
climate change. But the biggest obstacle
faced was a lack of funding and getting
the same kind of fi nancial incentives
and tax breaks as fossil fuel companies.

Th at changed with the passage of
the Infl ation Reduction Act in August,
which provides a 30% tax credit for
families installing solar panels while
providing other ways for private institu-
tions to take advantage.

“Th e synagogue had explored solar
options before,” said Martin, who’s been
at Beth Israel since 2015 aft er grow-
ing up in San Diego. “Th e challenge
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Solar panels on the roof of Congregation Beth Israel of Media
has been [that], until the passage of
the Infl ation Reduction Act, nonprofi ts
were not eligible for federal tax credits.

“Th at made it trickier to fi gure out
how to move forward. What we’ve have
done is create an LLC (limited liability
company) who bought the panels on the
synagogue’s behalf. Th e synagogue pays
them for a certain number of years from
electricity saving it gets, and eventually
it transfers back to the LLC, who’s able
to get the tax credit.”
Money aspects aside, the bigger picture
has to do with Beth Israel and other syn-
agogues in the area “going green,” part of
the tikkun olam repair the world credo.

“It’s a way that we can do our part,
even if only in a small way, to help
reduce global CO2 emissions,” Martin
said. “Th at’s critical for much of the
planet if we are to avoid the worst
impacts of living in a warmed world.

I also hope that this work continues
to inspire us to work and advocate for
communities facing immediate impacts
of global warming and most aff ected by
fossil fuel infrastructure.

“Installing solar panels should be one
of the many actions that hopefully is a
natural expression of our Jewish identity.”
GreenFaith leaders said there’s still
opposition to the idea, some of which is
political, some that is based on corpo-
rate greed and some due to ignorance.

“Th ere’s not so much climate change
denial,” said Rev. Fletcher Harper, exec-
utive director of GreenFaith, which
advised Beth Israel. “Just general skepti-
cism on political ideology. Folks realize
it’s a slow end for fossil fuels. It’s import-
ant because it helps accelerate cultural,
moral and political momentum. People
see this can be done and should be done.”
It didn’t get done for Beth Israel until
Martin saw the response to a presenta-
tion by a representative from St. Paul’s
Lutheran Church in Ardmore.

“Th e other kippah I wear is head of the
board of Pennsylvania Interfaith Power
and Light, which is not a utility com-
pany,” he said. “I came across a woman
who was helping her church purchase
and install solar panels. She did a pre-
sentation to the folks on the board, and
it got the wheels turning again.”
Getting the job done required people
with technical skills, as well as someone
who could handle complicated fi nancial
issues. But eventually, the $70,000 proj-
ect, consisting of 62 panels, the major-
ity of which are 3-feet-by-5-feet, were
installed and activated.

Before that, Beth Israel implemented
two other energy-saving measures,
beginning in 2007, which the rabbi esti-
mates have saved $16,000 a year. First,
the synagogue switched from oil to gas
to make the building’s lighting system
more effi cient. Th en it did the same with
the heating and cooling system.

Now it’s the solar panels, which
Martin believes will save another
$5-10,000 annually and can lead the
way for others.

“We’ve had talented volunteers familiar
with building operations working at this
incrementally for 10-15 years,” he said.

“But congregations can start anywhere.

Th ere’s still more work to do. … My hope
is this will build energy and inspire people
in the synagogue to take it into their own
homes. Th e bottom line is we all need to
be moving in a direction to cut down our
carbon emissions.” JE
Courrtesy of Congregation Beth Israel of Media
JON MARKS | SPECIAL TO THE JE