Almost 10 years ago, when Yossi Abramowitz, his wife, Rabbi Susan Silverman, and their five children moved from Newton, Mass., to Kibbutz Keturah in the Negev Desert, solar energy was not foremost on their minds. But when the Jewish educator and social activist realized that the year-round sun was not being harnessed as a power source in an area where, “God could not have invented a better place to do solar power,” he teamed up with a businessman from the Kibbutz and an investor from New Jersey to build Israel’s first commercial solar field.
That was only the beginning. Abramowitz believes that, “Israel has the potential to be a superpower of goodness in the world, since we excel at water technologies, agriculture and green energy.” This is the vision that fuels the work of Gigawatt Global, a solar company founded by Abramowitz and Chaim Motzkin in 2010, whose tagline is “It takes a Global Village” to raise a solar revolution.
In the upcoming Martin Kace lecture on April 6, 7:30 p.m., at Hebrew College, Abramowitz will share his unconventional journey from Boston Jewish educator to Israeli solar impact investor. Abramowitz has been from the Negev to the heart of East Africa and attended the 2015 Paris Climate Conference as a member of the Israeli Delegation. He will discuss how being an observant Jew and human rights activist were central to broadening his vision and expertise as an Israeli solar investor.
An Israeli Vision for Fighting Climate Change
An Evening with Solar Revolutionary Yosef Abramowitz
Wednesday, April 6, 2016 at 7:30 pm $10 | Purchase Ticket
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