Experiential Learning Subscribe
A selection of initiatives, blogs, resources and communities on Jewcology which focus on experiential learning
Blogs
Earth Etude for Elul 14: Turkey Tails and Teshuvah
- August 21, 2021
by Rabbi Marisa Elana James In the park near my house is a large tree that fell last winter, the trunk slowly falling into decay thanks to four seasons of sun and rain and snow and wind slowly transitioning it back to the soil. When I pass it on walks, I always stop to see what’s new on the slowly-rotting trunk, because I’ve learned that it’s just as beautiful as the living, flowering trees that surround it. Mushrooms can grow incredibly fast, seemingly appearing from one day to the next, helping break down dead wood while taking nourishment from it. And ...
Earth Etude for Elul 7: Trees from my travels spell hope for civilization
- August 14, 2021
by Susie Davidson Desert trees in Los Cerillos, New Mexico Trees by the Mississippi River in Burlington IowaTrees with a red bush accent in Yorba Linda, CaliforniaTrees on a red rock in the American Southwest When people admire my frequent traveling, I always say yes, but it's budget travel. "But that's the best way to really see places," they usually respond. It's true. Not only do I get to mingle with locals and walk all over, but on buses and trains, you see the outer landscapes. You see the fields, the hills, the bodies of water, the crops and the ...
Earth Etude for Elul 6: I Am a Terrible Gardener
- August 13, 2021
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by Rabbi Megan Doherty I am a terrible gardener. But I garden anyway. I hate weeding. I water my plants too much, or too little. I don’t know from fertilizer, or mulch, or those fancy cages which keep out the deer and the birds. I live in rural Ohio, and when I look at the thriving mini-farms my neighbors create and tend, I want to throw my hands up in despair. But I plant. One year, my dad showed up at our house with a bunch of lumber and built raised beds in our backyard. The process was a beacon for awestruck kindergartners, who showed up with ...
Earth Etude for Elul 5: Choosing Life as Nerds for the Earth
- August 12, 2021
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by Harvey Michaels ~Moses’ final message from G-d: This day…I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. For millennia we have reflected on what it means to choose life; realizing that it is not always our life we’re choosing – our choices are more about our children and theirs; our communities, and our world. What does it mean to Choose Life for the Earth? In recent years, I’m privileged to ask this question to classrooms of talented young people, and learned that when ...
Earth Etude for Elul 3: Joining Fifty Years of Mystic River Watershed Environmental Advocacy
- August 11, 2021
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by Karen L. Grossman In 2009 I was invited to get involved with the Mystic River Watershed Association, established in 1972 with a long, hard mission of environmental advocacy. As a board member for 10 years, I was able to admire how we partnered with other groups to champion environmental changes for MA, pursuing concerns with land use and transportation, involving the location of the Alewife Red Line Station, a highway building moratorium, the Amelia Earhart Dam completion, and greenway connectivity into Boston. While tabling at events, I spread the word that ...
Earth Etude for Elul 1: Elul is here
- August 20, 2020
by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen I turned inward with the lockdown. I didn't want to go anywhere. My garden saved me. I worked outside almost every day. In early summer, I started again to lead outdoor services with small groups. But no walks on my own, in nature. After the depths of despair of Tisha B'Av, as the weeks of consolation began, knowing Elul was approaching, I started to turn outward. I spent a week of early mornings in a little-traveled conservation area, before the heat settled in. Reveling in the blooming flowers ...
Earth Etude for Elul 21 — A Little Omer on the Prairie
- September 20, 2019
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by Rabbi Margaret Frisch Klein ~ I live on the prairie. In the Prairie State of Illinois. On a summer’s day with large clouds towering over the cornfields, it is spectacular. Awe-inspiring. I remember to be grateful. For several decades, I have followed the practice of Rabbi Everett Gendler of planting winter wheat, rye or barley at Sukkot and harvesting it during the counting of the Omer, the 50 days between Passover and Shavuot. I have done this with generations of Hebrew School students and their parents. It roots the Jewish year in the agricultural cycle. ...
I want to invite you to BeLoved Shabbaton! Rosh Chodesh Elul Jerusalem Hills
- July 23, 2019
B"H Shalom I want to invite you to: The FIRST EVER BELOVED SHABBATON: A Shabbaton Experience: Celebrating SHABBAT & Commitment to the World! Environmentally Friendly : Vegan : Wholesome : Halachic Fresh Farm to Table an Enchanting Shabbaton to reconnect to our Beloved. a celebration of Eco Torah natural living, wellness, & sustainability For Families, Individuals Raw food foodies and vegan connoisseurs, meditators people who love praying, learning, holistic natural living Torah! Learn Pray Sing Dance Meditate Eat Wholesome Holy Food Prepared ...
The Dead Sea Revival Project
- May 7, 2019
Vision- Rehabilitation of the historical water flow to the Dead Sea from the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River. Purpose The Dead Sea Revival Project (DSRP) aims to become a leading NGO for environmental education and activism. We want to stimulate the growth of global support for “saving our water treasures” by exciting the imagination of individuals and groups. About The 'Dead Sea Revival Project has been recognized by CNN/VR, National Geographic, the Israeli mainstream news media in Hebrew and English, the Israeli Knesset’s “Committee for Saving the Dead ...
Gefiltefest: Pickle and sauerkraut making – fun with (lacto) fermentation
- December 24, 2018
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Like food? David Krantz will help you learn how to make and jar your own probiotic pickles and sauerkraut! No refrigeration needed. Ingredients will be supplied. Just bring yourself! The Limmud Festival 2018 (December 22 - 27 in Birmingham, UK) is one of the biggest celebrations of Jewish learning and culture in the world. David Krantz leads Aytzim (Jewcology, Green Zionist Alliance, EcoJews, and Rabbis and Cantors for the Earth) and serves on the boards of the American Zionist Movement and Interfaith Moral Action on Climate. He’s also a National Science ...
Earth Etude for Elul 26 – Returning to The Trees of Life
- September 5, 2018
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by Rabbi Margaret Frisch Klein~ I am a tree hugger. From long ago. I have planted trees, hundreds of them. I have celebrated Arbor Day as a Girl Scout. I have hiked in the woods from the time I was little. There is a tree that grows in the center of the Merritt Parkway on the way into New York. I passed this tree every week on my way to rabbinical school. It is a beautiful tree with many strong, curved branches coming out of the central trunk. It looks like a menorah. There is another tree like that, a very old tree on the Marginal Way in Ogunquit, ME. Over a ...
Elul: A Time to Start Shifting Our Imperiled Planet Onto a Sustainable Path
- September 19, 2017
by Richard Schwartz~ Elul is here. It represents an opportunity for heightened introspection, a chance to consider teshuva, changes in our lives, before the “Days of Awe,” the days of judgment, the “High holidays" of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The shofar is blown every morning (except on Shabbat) in synagogues during the month of Elul to awaken us from slumber, to remind us to consider where we are in our lives and to urge us to consider positive changes. How should we respond to Elul today? How should we respond when we hear reports almost daily of severe, ...
Eden Village is Hiring Farm Educator Apprentices
- November 29, 2016
Eden Village Camp is Hiring! Submit Your Application About Eden Village Camp: Eden Village Camp aims to be a living model of a thriving, sustainable Jewish community, grounded in social responsibility and inspired Jewish spiritual life. By bringing the wisdom of our tradition to the environmental, social, and personal issues important to today’s young people, we practice a Judaism that is substantive and relevant. Through our Jewish environmental and service-learning curricula, joyful Shabbat observance, pluralistic Jewish expression, and inspiring, diverse staff ...
Throw Out the Cookie Jar …. And Save the Planet
- July 7, 2016
As a lifetime Weight Watcher, I have learned a few tricks. The most helpful to me was this one: Banish red light food from your home...and keep healthy food cut up and ready to eat at the front of your refrigerator in plastic see-through containers. Now what does that have to do with saving the planet? Well, a whole lot. Fracked gas is not healthy for people or the climate. Neither is nuclear-powered electricity. These are red-light energy products, the healthy alternatives being solar and wind energy. Even knowing this, companies profiting from red light dirty ...
The Rainbow Connection: Rainbow Day and Creation
- June 3, 2016
Millennia before Kermit sang about the Rainbow Connection, the very first Rainbow Day marked the connection between God and all animals. The biblical flood began on the 17th of the second month, exactly one lunar year and 10 days (= one solar year) before Noah, his family, and all the animals that were with them left the ark, on the 27th day of the second month. But just before they left, God made a covenant with them that there would never again be a flood of water to destroy life on Earth. And just as today we sign contracts with our signatures, God signed our covenant ...
We’re doing it again… Israel Underwater Birthright
- February 14, 2016
We're doing it again. Registration is now open for this summer's Israel Underwater Birthright Trip 2016. If you are (or know someone who is) Jewish, a certified scuba diver, between the ages of 18-26, and have not been to Israel since you began college, you're eligible for this once in a lifetime opportunity. In addition to touring Israel (Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Tzfat, Masada, and the Dead Sea), we will dive in the pristine waters of the Red Sea in Eilat, the underwater archaeological excavations in the Mediterranean Sea at Ceasaria and more. We will be joined by ...
Eden Village Camp is hiring a Farmer/ Educator
- September 10, 2015
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Eden Village Camp is Hiring! About Eden Village Camp: Eden Village Camp aims to be a living model of a thriving, sustainable Jewish community, grounded in social responsibility and inspired Jewish spiritual life. By bringing the wisdom of our tradition to the environmental, social, and personal issues important to today’s young people, we practice a Judaism that is substantive and relevant. Through our Jewish environmental and service-learning curricula, joyful Shabbat observance, pluralistic Jewish expression, and inspiring, diverse staff role models, we foster our ...
Free Eco Israel Birthright Trip with URJ Kesher
- June 1, 2015
This June 1-11 join Taglit-Birthright Israel and URJ Kesher on a unique program. The Eco Israel bus will explore and discover, up-close, the remarkable variety of environmental initiatives in Israel, through the lens of ecology and environment WITHOUT missing out on all of the highlights of a classic URJ Kesher Birthright tour. During the tour, the group will visit four main regions in Israel: North, Centre, Jerusalem, and South. In each region, you will encounter local community members, and will gain hands-on experience volunteering with local Israeli activists who are ...
Hazon Philadelphia’s Ride the Pines
- May 31, 2015
We are excited to announce Hazon Philadelphia’s Ride the Pines - Sunday, May 31st, at the JCC Camps in Medford, NJ. Ride the Pines is a fully-supported bike ride and community experience for people of all cycling levels and ages, bringing together organizations like ours from across the Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey Jewish communities. Join friends for routes through pine forests, farmland, and local villages, culminating in a barbecue lunch of kosher, pasture-raised meat from Grow and Behold, followed by an interactive marketplace of local, ...
Vote for Green Israel in the WZC Election before April 30th!
- March 27, 2015
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You can support the Israel you want to see. All American Jews can vote in the World Zionist Congress election going on right now. One of the most common questions, we get is why it costs $10 to vote. As Mirele Goldsmith, a Green Israel slate member answers: "The American Zionist Movement has contracted with an independent company to run the online election. This is to insure that the election is fair. The registration fee is being used exclusively to pay for the election. It is not a donation to the WZO. I wish there was no fee, but it is a small price to pay ...