Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener

WEST HARTFORD – Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener of West Hartford has been named recipient of the 2011 Local Activist Award by the Muslim Coalition of Connecticut for her environmental  work, it was announced recently by an organization spokesperson.  Cohen-Kiener is receiving the award in recognition of her work to promote a healthy environment. The award will be presented to her at the organization’s Green Banquet to be held on Sunday, Oct. 30 at the Hartford Marriot in downtown Hartford.  The theme of the dinner is “Sacred Earth: Islamic Environmental Responsibility.”
Cohen-Kiener, who is spiritual leader of Congregation Pnai Or of Central Connecticut, is a past director of the Interreligious Eco-Justice Network, Cohen-Kiener is author of “Claiming Earth as Common Ground: The Ecological Crisis Through the Lens of Faith.”  She is a delegation leader, lecturer and trainer for the Compassionate Listening Project and an instructor at the Academy for the Jewish Religion in New York City.  From 1990 to 1997, she was director of Midrasha, which served, at the time, as greater Hartford’s supplementary Hebrew high school. The author of several books, she is also a frequent contributor to various magazines and newspapers.
“It is delightful for me to be honored by the Muslim Coalition for this work,” she said. “The environmental challenge confronts all of us and reminds us of our common human heritage.”
Cohen-Kiener received her rabbinical ordination in 2001 from the Aleph Ordination Project, a project of the Alliance for Jewish Renewal.  She received a Bachelor’s degree in Hebrew literature from the University of Minnesota.