Rabbi Ellen Bernstein began pursuing studies in both environment and religion in high school and graduated from one of the first programs in environmental studies in the US at U.C. Berkeley in 1975. A pioneer in the field of religion and ecology, she founded the first national Jewish environmental organization, Shomrei Adamah, Keepers of the Earth, in 1988. She has written numerous books and articles on Judaism, Bible and ecology including most recently, The Promise of the Land: A Passover Haggadah (Behrman House, 2020). Ellen's work on the Bible and ecology has appeared in The Green Bible (Harper One, 2008) and is featured in The Oxford University Press Handbook on the Bible and Ecology (2022). She continues to teach widely on Bible and ecology, and is an advisor to the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, a steering committee member for the Third Act/faith, and an advisor to the Green Sabbath project.

"The Song of Songs is among the most accessible of all biblical books. It is also the most deeply ecological text of the canon, yet few people are aware of the Song's ecological message. The intention of Toward a Holy Ecology: Reading the Song of Songs in the Age of Climate Crisis is to illuminate that message. Today there is such urgency around our many earth crises-so much brokenness-that we need a vision of wholeness and an ecological language that can help inspire, soothe and reinvigorate us, and bring us together regardless of our various affiliations and ideologies. The Song offers both ecological language and a vision. It sets the natural world before us with intensity and beauty, bidding us to savor it with all of our senses so that we may return to the world with the renewed clarity, love and energy necessary to work toward a healthy future for the earth and all her inhabitants. The Song is a particularly powerful book since it never utters the name of the divine, yet is a deeply spiritual work that may reach people who are interested in matters of the sacred, but prefer to steer clear of God language and conventional religious ideas. In both the Jewish and Christian worlds, where many people are disengaging from religion altogether, the Song-with its universal themes of love, justice and the integrity of nature-may help open the door to the possibilities which religion has to offer. Toward a Holy Ecology: Reading the Song of Songs in an Age of Climate Crisis seeks to engage a wide readership including all people who love the earth and its inhabitants, outdoor enthusiasts, spiritual seekers, poets, feminists, and students of the humanities, religion and ecology"