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Partners with G-d: Perfection through Action
The Rambam (Maimonides) suggests that our character is not fixed, but that our actions shape our character. We have free will, and we choose what activities and actions we take. “Some traits are not innate but have been learned from other people, or are self-originated as the result of an idea that has entered the person’s mind, or because he has heard that a certain character trait is good for him and that it is proper to acquire it, and ...
The Sabbath of the Feast of Weeks
Shavuot, “the feast of weeks”, unlike all of our other festivals, is given no calendrical date; rather, we arrive at this holiday by counting “seven full weeks” from a particular starting time. But even the starting time is ambiguous: “From the day after the Sabbath”. Which Sabbath? And why is there a reference to a Sabbath at all? The previous passage in the Torah described Pesach, not the Sabbath. There has been ...
The Marketing of Earth Day
Over the weekend, I was watching a video on the computer, and the ad that played before the video was about purchasing new appliances in honor of Earth Day. We've done it. The epidome of reaching the social consciousness in America is the department store sales in honor of a calendar date or holiday. And we now have Earth Day sales. We can now feel good about buying more stuff because there's an environmental eco-spin that justifies why ...
Raising the Bar With More R’s: The Mitzvah of Spring Cleaning
Spring is the season when we start to see new life after the cold, dark winter months. Many start preparing ground for growing gardens while others begin rifling through closets to dispose of the clutter. Regardless of the task, we can use these seasonal projects commonly referred to as “spring cleaning” as a means to elevate our actions by expanding upon to a commonly info-graphic and connecting to the Jewish values inherent in mitzvot...
3 new R’s for this season: Renew, Restore and Reclaim
Hopefully we’ve all been recycling (or exposed to recycling) long enough to recognize the symbol that has become synonymous with the act: the triangle with the 3 arrows, moving in the same direction, creating a closed loop. Those 3 arrows actually stand for different acts, only one of which is recycle. This symbol is actually the graphic that was created for the 3 R’s: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. The order is important, as it is priori...
Sustaining Jewish Memory
I was recently speaking with a colleague about how much more green and sustainable we were in the “good old days.” Growing up in the Great Depression, many of our relatives integrated the lessons of conservation because economics dictated that they do so. How many of our bubbes would keep the house thermostat low in the winter and tell you to put on a sweater, reuse food containers for storage, darn socks or refurbish household items with ...
Auspicious Adar
Mi She Nichnas Adar, Marbim B’simcha! Whoever Ushers in (the month of) Adar, (Their) Joy Shall Increase! In just a week and a half we look forward to the jubilant holiday of Purim. Megilah, costumes, groggers, skits/shpiels, Purim baskets/mishloach manot – Jewish kids and adults alike look forward to letting loose and having fun on this day. And what a timely place for Adar in our secular calendar: engulfed in ...
The Added Value of Adopting Sustainability Best Practices
(adapted from an article written by Aleeza Oshry for the Baltimore Jewish Times) In my freshman year of high school, I remember this new sensation sweeping store shelves and crowding the airwaves and filling magazine ad space: Lunchables. Remember those? When every school kid who was “cool” toted one to the lunchroom. I never had one. Even before I kept kosher, my penny-pinching parents spit vitriol against the product ...
Make a difference, one office at a time
(reprinted from The Associated: Jewish Community Federation Sustainability TIPS) Did you know? One of the top categories of energy consumption in an office is from office equipment. What can you do? Although you may not control what kind of equipment is on your desk or in your office space, there are several things that you can do to reduce consumption and conserve resources. It’s as easy as changing a few settings! Computer ...
Sustainable living is more than the 3-R’s
Hopefully we’ve all been recycling (or been around recycling) long enough to recognize the symbol that has become synonymous with the act: the triangle with the 3 arrows, moving in the same direction, creating a closed loop, a cycle. Bonus points for those that know that each of those 3 arrows actually stand for different acts, only one of which is recycle. This symbol is actually the graphic that was created for the 3 R’s: Reduce, Reuse, ...
Making the Case for Dedicated Sustainability Staff in Jewish Non-Profits
(excerpt from draft article by Aleeza Oshry, Manager of the Sustainability Initiative for THE ASSOCIATED: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore) The mission-vision-values statements of our non-profit organizations focus on the necessity to provide for the welfare and needs of those in our community. Rarely do our organizations actively focus on the need to recruit and expand the internal talent to make the organization successful. ...
Kindling
(reposted from Rabbi Nina Beth's blog dated November 9, 2012: http://blog.bjen.org/) It is a ritual this time of year - I walk around the yard and pick up kindling that is strewn here and there. The ground is yielding a particularly rich harvest this year, what with the derecho and Sandy. For most of the year, though, I ignore the fallen twigs, sticks and woody debris that lay scattered on my lawn. At best I would trip over them, or find ...
Eden Inside
(reposted from Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin's blog dated Oct. 4, 2012: http://blog.bjen.org/) If ever there were an opposite of Eden it would be the Wilderness - the desert of Sinai. Eden is a world of lush greenery, radical abundance, food for the picking, a thousand-fold return for a modicum of work, good weather, beauty all around, unity of body and spirit in a bounded place. Wilderness is barren landscape, scratchings of life, threat of ...
SHAKE and FOLD! Are you a practitioner of conservation?
(From The ASSOCIATED: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore Sustainability TIPS Newsletter, June 2012) Shocking statisticsA recent issue of National Geographic reports that only 1% of the world’s water is both fresh and accessible. In the big picture, fresh water is a precious and finite resource. WHY CONSERVE Marylanders have access to an abundance of water much of the time, and we’re accustomed to having water ...
What Will Drive Tomorrow’s Economy?
(reposted from Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin's blog, dated March 22, 2009) Here is my dilemma: Today's economic engine is fired by stuff. It is the production, manufacturing, and distribution of stuff that keeps our marketplace humming. That is what this economic downturn is reminding us. When we stop buying, the economy starts tanking. But to buy more stuff degrades the environment. More stuff equals more mining, more manufacturing, more ...
Eliminating Plastic Bags and Water Bottles
A casualty during Maryland’s Legislative session was the Community Clean Up and Greening Act (HB1247/SB511), commonly known as the “Bag Fee bill.” This bill would have established a five-cent fee for plastic and paper carryout bags with the proceeds split among the retailers, the Chesapeake Bay Trust, and the counties. Most proceeds would go to the counties for environmental cleanup, restoration of impaired waterways, and public ...
How Many Old Gadgets Do You Have In Your Drawers?
You’re not the only one eyeing the newest gadgets and looking to trade in last year’s model: According to the latest data from Recon Analytics, Americans top the international charts in frequency of switching cell phones at every 21.7 months. And in an on-line survey* from December 2011 by phonearena.com, when asked: “How often do you change your phone?” the responses indicate that there is a significant population who ...
Getting From Here to There
(reposted from Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin's blog:http://blog.bjen.org/ dated May 2, 2012) Quote of the week: "We are a Star Wars civilization [with] Stone Age emotions, … medieval institutions… and god-like technology. And this god-like technology is dragging us forward in ways that are totally unpredictable." E. O. Wilson in an interview with Grist.org. Not a bad assessment. We know our emotions and our ...
Earth Day 2012
(reposted from Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin's Blog: http://blog.bjen.org/, dated April 22, 2012) Below is the talk I had the privilege of delivering today at the Maryland Presbyterian Church on Providence Road, in honor of Earth Day. Hope you all are celebrating - the earth is, with all this wonderful rain. “Midrash” is the ancient rabbinic technique of taking tantalizing verses in the Bible and creatively ...
Rethinking Chametz
(reposted from Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin's Blog: http://blog.bjen.org/ dated April 4, 2012) We often hear that hametz - the puffed up, leavened food that we banish from our homes on Passover - represents the less attractive parts of being, our puffed up egos that slowly bloat the boundaries of self and ooze onto the protected space of others. Or the encrusted coating of pride or psychological armor that builds up over time to protect our ...