Celebrating Nigel Savage

Pardes alumni are making an incredible impact on our world.

They are leading and creating organizations and businesses of all kinds, responding to humanitarian crises, writing novels, educating at all levels, creating works of art, and so much more! In celebration of Pardes’s 50th, we are highlighting 50 standout alumni whose accomplishments exemplify the rich texture of the Pardes community worldwide.

Nigel Savage at a climate march NYC Nigel Savage

Meet Nigel

Nigel Savage founded and led Hazon for twenty years and is now Hazon’s “Global Ambassador.” He’s now spending more time in Israel – writing, teaching, consulting, coaching and working, in various ways, to strengthen Israel, the Jewish community, and a range of environmental projects.

What did you do for the first time at Pardes?

Mark Barnett invited me on a sea-to-sea hike – Achziv to the Kinneret. I loved learning Torah at Pardes; but that one hike ended up having a bigger effect on me than anything else I did that year.

What is your favorite Pasuk, passage or text?

The famous teaching of Reb Simcha Bunim of Peshischa: that we should each have two pieces of paper in our pockets. One saying: “I am dust, and will return to dust….” And one saying: “for me the world was created….”

What was your favorite class at Pardes?

Learning Masechet Ta’anit with Gary Shapiro. In the same way (l’havdil?) I studied Hamlet for A-levels in England – and Hamlet is still my favorite Shakespeare play; so too Ta’anit remains my favorite masechet of the Talmud. I’m still learning it in a long ongoing chevruta with one of my friends from Pardes.

What are you most proud of in your work?

I continue to be frustrated that I haven’t done more. That said, I have played some small role in shifting, however slightly, the nature of what it means to be Jewish, so that to be Jewish is necessarily to work for a more sustainable world for all.

Nigel Savage Naftali Bennett NYC Nigel Savage

If you could have any Shabbat guest, who would it be?

An ancient radical rabbi, for whom I would have so many questions – Jesus Christ…

How does Pardes continue to affect you today?

I have no idea where I’d be today, had I not gone to Pardes; but Pardes led me, directly and indirectly, to all that I have done since.

What does the jewish world need most right now?

It needs us to come together in new and profound ways to address the climate crisis; and, in the course of doing that, to strive to build relationships across differences: between Israelis and the Diaspora, between Haredim and secular Jews, and between liberals, Israelis & Palestinians.