Lee Zeldin, the first Jewish administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in May affixed a mezuza to the door frame of his executive office at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Zeldin commented to a gathering as he did that, he wanted, as The New York Times reported, “to offer others ‘a moment to take a break from their normal routine, and to reflect and think about other spiritual aspects of their day and life.’”

However, as the headline of the article on it by Lisa Friedman said: “E.P.A. Jewish Celebration Has Jewish Critics.”

It noted: “The obligation to repair the world, or tikkun olam, is a central concept of is Judaism. But in his position as leader of the E.P.A., Mr. Zeldin is overseeing a profound overhaul of the agency. He is seeking to reduce staffing to levels last seen during the Reagan administration and working to weaken or repeal more than 30 regulations—all of which are considered burdensome by oil, gas and coal companies—that protect the air, water and climate.”

The Times quoted Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, founder of the U.S. movement Dayenu: A Jewish Call for Climate Action, declaring: “His repealing dozens of environmental protections is an assault on Jewish values, and I would even say a desecration of Jewish values.”

Last month, Zeldin was a guest speaker at the Hamptons Synagogue in Westhampton Beach—Zeldin resides in the community of Shirley a dozen miles away on Long Island—and “was heckled and admonished by climate activists,” reported The East Hampton Star.

It quoted one person at the event standing and saying: “We are in a climate crisis caused by the burning of fossil fuels. And Mr. Lee Zeldin…is making it impossible syn these life-threatening emissions.”

Another tells Zeldin “you are destroying our communities and our lives. You think greenhouse gas emissions are not dangerous for us.”

These two are identified by The Star as young men and with a third were removed from the synagogue. The third protester, related newspaper, said: “The Torah commands us to be stewards of the Earth.” And as he was removed, yelled “This man is a monster! He hates the entire human race! History is going to remember you as a monster!”

Zeldin, said The Star, was “grinning broadly…‘Welcome to my world,’ he says.”

As a journalist based since the 1960’s on Long Island, living in a Congressional district previously represented by Zeldin in the House of Representatives, I have known and reported on Zeldin.

He was an unlikely nominee of President Donald Trump to head the EPA. It was established in 1970 with “Our Mission and What We Do” as it says on its website “is to protect human health and the environment. EPA works to ensure that: Americans have clean air, land and water; National efforts to reduce environmental risks are based on the best available scientific information; Federal laws protecting human health and the environment are administered and enforced fairly, effectively and as Congress intended,” and the list goes on.

The environment was never a major concern of Zeldin’s.

When Zeldin was nominated by Trump to be EPA administrator,........

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