112 results for tag: Holidays


This Year We Meditate

We've been building towards this event for a long time. On October 18th, in the year of 5772, we will have a different kind of Sukkot. We will be building a Sukkah on our organic fertile land, on the land that we cultivated in West Rogers Park, the land that has given us our strong backs. And we will be collaborating with the Center for Jewish Mindfulness and participating in a community meditation led by Rabbi Jordan Bendat-Appell. I know, I know, a Sukkah is meant to be dwelled in according to the mitzvot. But, I wasn't raised in a community that did that. Nor do I particularly want to spend the night outside in the ...

What’s this Rosh HaShanah thang?

Dear chevra, When the Talmud takes up Hanukkah, it begins, “Mah zot Hanukkah, What’s this Hanukkah, anyway?” The ancient Rabbis did not like its military overtones. But they took great delight in Rosh Hashanah. It’s more than a “new year”: “Rosh” means “head” or top,” but “shanah” is from a root that means both “change” and “repetition.” Only makes sense if you think of a spiral, where a new turning grows from an older reality. Transformation. We are gifted this year that just as Rosh Hashanah approaches, one of the key ...

Burning Bush Adventures: Wilderness Trips Good for the Body and Soul

Wilderness Trips Good for the Body and Soul Combining Judaism and Wilderness Camping since 1990 Burningbushadventures.com Burningbushadventures@gmail.com 413-652-7086 Wilderness Canoeing in the Northeast Dog Sledding in Maine Now Accepting Registrations for: Rosh Hashanah & Shabbat Shuvah in the Green Mountains: Sept. 28 - Oct. 2 & Sukkot on the Delaware River: Oct. 14 - 16

On Technology and Faith

I have worked myself up into a state of near-frenzy lately, driven by my concern for the state of the world and its inhabitants. Despite my best efforts to remain calm, it seems to me that Chicken-Little’s call of, “The Sky is Falling” rings truer every day. From widespread environmental destruction to pending economic collapse to illegal and unconstitutional U.S. military aggression, the future of the humanity is looking gloomier on a daily basis, headed, it seems, for a catastrophe of biblical proportions. This is perhaps an appropriate feeling for this time in the Jewish calendar, as we have just entered the period of ...

A Sense of Place

Modern American culture doesn’t have much to say about the importance of place. Of course, we have landmarks: the Statue of Liberty, the Washington Monument, Mount Rushmore, to name a few. But what is important about those places is what is there, or what once happened there. It’s not the place itself that claims us. It’s a combination of monument and memory. As Jews we are more likely to have a real sense of what place means. We’ve been to Israel, a land that has been a part of our history for millennia, and that today represents all sorts of dreams and magic and meanings. A land infused with holiness. ...

Teva Ivri Observes Passover with the Help of a Composter and some Happy Chickens

Pesach has passed, and in Israel everyone is recovering from a week of eating matzah and intensive family time. We are happy to share two recently published Passover-related ideas, both of which raise environmental awareness in the realms of general observance and Jewish law (halacha): Biur Chametz in a Composter – Removal of Leavened Products Before Passover Harav Yuval Sherlow, an active member of Teva Ivri’s steering committee and a well-known spiritual figure in Israel, issued an halachic (Jewish legal) ordinance stating that it is permissible to bury chametz in a composter three days before the holiday, in place of ...

Freedom Fruits

Are you feeling free? I am today cause it's my birthday and I'm feeling glad to be born and feeling too that this year it coincides with true growth. We are growing and I'm breathing more and taking time to look at the sky amidst the craziness, taking time to be disappointed and to smile through it. The sunshine came down in to our garden before Pessach with plenty dandelions all over part B of the Kalisher Community Garden (that’s in the works…) So many edible wild flowers – time for a grand feast! And so it was my friends, down came the wonderful master of wild edibles and spread his lovely stories ...

May It Be Enough

May It Be Enough I have always loved the part of the Pesach Seder when we go through Dayenu. I think the fact that the prayer is so fun for children who get to take their voices from a whisper up to a roar makes it one of those moments every year that brings years of Pesach memories flashing back. However, as I have grown older I tend to focus on the word itself: Dayenu. I think the idea of being thankful for every step that the Jews took as they were able to leave Egypt, make their way towards Sinai to receive the Torah, and then into the Promised Land where the Holy Temple was eventually built, is important. It is a great lesson ...

Think Globally, Act Locally, and Increase Happiness

Shalom Friends, The days approaching Purim are an auspicious time for increasing happiness. Happiness can be experienced in any number of ways. There are those who draw joy from observing our beautiful world alive with spring blossoms. Others find sparks of pleasure in the small details of daily life. And, of course, there are those who glimpse joy in the increasing social-environmental action in Israel and throughout the Jewish world. Recently, I have found great joy in a unique Teva Ivri activity – a joint seminar for the principals of Kiryat Bialik and Boca Raton schools on the topic of Judaism and the Environment. The ...

Raise Your Mask Purim – The Fountainheads

An a capella Purim music video parody by The Fountainheads. Graduates and students of Midreshet Ein Prat, Israelhttp://einprat.org/thefountainheads.php Based on Pink's "Raise Your Glass." All sounds made with voice and mouth. Vocals: Yoav Hoze, Shani Lachmish, Ayelet Beazley, Tamar Gur, and Noa Yammer. Choreography: Edeete Suher and Orna Pfefferman Produced by Shiran Yalovich, Smadar Tsook, Keren Apfelbaum, and Stav Taub. Film by Ben R. Lyrics by Ben R. and Ari L.: Here comes the story of Purim and it goes a little something like ...

Celebrate a Sustainable Purim!

Purim falls this year on March 20. Joyful and fun, the holiday also includes an opportunity to share your environmental commitments with your community. To help you save resources this Purim, Canfei Nesharim offers great ideas for healthy, beautiful, waste-free mishloach manot. Includes price-coded links for inexpensive and eco-friendly products that you might like to include in your mishloach manot package! You can also take advantage of our printable mishloach manot cards. Share your eco-commitment by dropping an eco-reminder into this year's mishloach manot. Your community members can learn tips to save resources from ...

Moving the Jewish Community Beyond Tu B’Shvat on Environmental Issues

As a freelance Jewish environmental educator, the 2 weeks surrounding Tu B’shvat might be considered my high holidays. This year I will be teaching in 4 cities, 3 synagogues, and 11 supplemental and day schools in just that window. Yet in the two months following I only have a few random teaching engagements. While those of us in the Jewish environmental field have moved beyond just Tu B’shvat as the core of our work, the remainder of the Jewish world continues to see this one day as their only opportunity to teach Jewish environmental values. So here is our challenge. To redefine the Jewish understanding of our connection and ...