Rabbi on a Roof

In the Jewish tradition, come and listen to a question: On the hottest day of the century thus far, when the northeast electrical grid was, hour by hour, in danger of collapse, what was Rabbi Jon-Jay Tilsen (back left in photo) doing on the roof of his synagogue Beth El-Keser Israel (BEKI) at Whalley Avenue and Harrison?

Was he bathing in the sun’s heat that had already risen near 90, and it was only ten in the morning? Certainly not. Was he helping his strapping son Tsvi Benson-Tilsen (lower left in the photo) overcome a fear of heights? Certainly not. Answer: He and Tsvi were working with Paul Israel (center in photo) and his crew from the Sunlight Solar Energy company to install the first of forty-eight solar panels on the roof of BEKI. It was the fulfillment of an enlightened (pun intended) and entrepreneurial bar mitzvah project initiated by Tsvi in the autumn of 2005 (click here). When all the panels are installed, in what the Tilsens and IsraeI call an elegant solution, with no penetration of the roof by nails or bolts, the photovoltaic array will produce from 10,000 to 12,000 watts of electrical power, the equivalent of what’s required by a modest house in Connecticut. The total cost was $77,000, two-thirds of which came from grants from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF), a grant from the Legacy Heritage Innovation Project, a Jewish organization, and the balance from some 150 individual donors who responded to Tsvi’s impassioned fundraising. ​“It is to Tsvi’s great credit,” said Israel, ​“that he sees what a critical part of the energy solution solar is. The beauty, of course, is not only that solar works best when it’s hot like this and will eventually provide the synagogue, on a day like today, 100 percent of its needs, but, even more, it will send back into the grid excess electricity to be used elsewhere. I’ve seen that meter spin in reverse, and that’s beautiful.” Just how did young Benson-Tilsen and the synagogue and community his father serves become such leaders in what can only be called progressive Jewish environmentalism in Connecticut? To answer that question, your reporter and the principals climbed down the ladder, wiped their brows, and entered the rabbi’s (modestly air-conditioned) study for a breather, and brief interview: Independent: So, Tsvi, where did this interest come from? Tsvi: I’m an avid reader of science fiction, Isaac Asimov and others. There’s obviously a lot in there about the future of civilizations, and it’s not all pretty. When it came time to choose a traditional bar mitzvah project, I wanted to do something, to take some kind of tikkun olam action (ed: repair of the world) that would be a kind of transition to benefit civilization in the future. Independent: Any other motivating factors? Tsvi: Around this time, at my school, the Ezra Academy in Woodbridge, we were having a problem with a huge power line out in the area near the athletic fields. We weren’t allowed to play near it because of the radiation. There was some activity on the part of the parents to have the line moved. I got the idea that if houses and schools decentralize, and each unit is responsible for generating some of its own electricity, the need for these huge towers and lines will diminish. So that was part of it to. That’s the subject I delivered my bar mitzvah sermon about. The line wasn’t moved, I don’t think, but many of the people involved were among those who sent in contributions for the grid on BEKI​’s roof. Rabbi Tilsen: We’re going to use the installation to jumpstart a real campaign at BEKI to make people aware of how much they can do, by doing the little things, and how easy it really is to reduce power consumption. Tsvi’s project is part of an ongoing effort here in many little but important ways. One small example: We had 15 small ​“Exit” lights, each using 15 watts; that’s not a lot, but they are on all the time, 365 days a year and it adds up. Plus custodial staff had to keep changing them. We shifted recently to LED (Light Emitting Diode) bulbs, which draw only a third of the power, and they last 100,000 hours, not the 1,000 hours of a typical bulb. We save several hundred dollars, plus we don’t have the labor of changing them. That’s a small example, but, jumping off from what Tsvi’s done, we’re going to see this thing like an anti-smoking campaign, or a wear-your-seat belt campaign. It’s the Jewish thing to do because it’s a violation of Jewish law to waste resources. Independent: Are you taking it beyond the synagogue community? Rabbi Tilsen: In December we’re meeting with two synagogues from the Hartford area and with Rodeph Sholom in Bridgeport to pool ideas, and we have interfaith meetings on tap as well. Doing these small things are all of great consequence and are all connected: by the solar installations, we reduce pollution, we reduce dependence on dirty oil, on unfriendly and unstable governments in the Middle East. In every way we benefit, as human beings and as Jews. Independent: How do you feel about finally seeing the installation, about having done so much? Tsvi: I feel good. I don’t know if kids will treat me any differently —” school’s out, so they’re not around. But I am optimistic about the future, as a result of this Outside, Tsvi and Paul Israel were unloading some more of the panels and getting them ready to be hoisted onto the roof. Israel, a passionate advocate for solar technology, added, ​“In this business we have a saying: You’ve got to eat your conservation veggies first (change your light bulbs, update your HVAC systems) before you have your photo-voltaic (solar panel) dessert. Today, here, the dessert’s on the roof.” When one is ready, Israel advises that CCEF is the place to start, for it provides significant rebates. A further inducement, he adds, might include the mayor’s canceling the several thousand-dollar fee for each installation. The message of the new solar power at BEKI is that if a splendid bar mitzvah boy can show the way, many of the rest of us can follow.