38 results for author: Aytzim: Ecological Judaism

Eco-Chalutzim and Eco-Tourism

By Noam Dolgin. When one thinks of the stereotypical Jewish Long Islander, one does not usually think “environmentalist.” But take 34 Jewish educators from Long Island to Israel — from a diverse array of backgrounds, from 20 years old to it’s-not-polite-to-ask — and you get a group of passionate, caring people who are looking at Israel through an environmental lens and generating amazing questions and solutions. That's what happened on the SAJES-sponsored visit to Israel that I accompanied in February 2008. Click here to continue reading this article

Green Your Home

By David Krantz. Maybe Kermit was wrong — maybe it actually is easy to be green. Or, at the very least, it is pretty easy to start being green. There are many projects that you can do that will not just green your home, but will keep the green in your pocket, too. Plant a garden There’s no better summer treat than fresh fruits and vegetables grown in your own backyard. And no plot of land is too small for a garden, even if that garden is only a few potted cherry-tomato plants on your windowsill. Plant trees As long as you’re planting, plant big! Trees around a home can help cool a house in the summer and keep a ...

Hopenhagen: A City in a Cloak of Hope

By Dr. Orr Karassin. COPENHAGEN (Dec. 14, 2009) — In honor of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, the city of Copenhagen had an especially optimistic ambiance. Despite the optimism, it could be said that the conference planners miscalculated in bringing the world's policy makers and the decade's most important conference on global warming to the Danish frost. Situating this conference in the Sahara desert may have resulted in a less amiable conference — but a more effective one. Click here to continue reading the article

Love Israel? Then Fight Fracking

By David Krantz. Moses took a wrong turn leading the Israelites out of Egypt, the old joke goes, and instead the Jewish people ended up in the rare spot in the Middle East without oil. As Arthur Herman noted recently in the New York Post, it’s now known that Israel has about as much oil as Saudi Arabia. Well, sort of. On his way to blindly embracing the thought of Israel as the world’s next oil superpower, Herman ignored details that make all the difference. Click here to continue reading the article

Yovel: Divine Sparks in New York

By Yael Schonzeit "One generation goes, another comes," reads Kohelet (Ecclesiastes), "but the Earth remains the same forever." The sun will rise, the wind will blow and the rivers will continue to flow into the sea, uncontrollable no matter what we do. As the most recent natural phenomenon of Sandy has shown us, nature is so much larger than us. The Earth is unpredictable and holds endless power and strength. We as humans tend to forget that we are partners with God in creation. Part of our role is to maintain the planet's homeostasis, to keep Earth healthy — because when the Earth gets sick, it affects us all. We ...

A Black Day for the American Green Party: Why BDS is a Bad Move

By Dr. Daniel Orenstein For most of my professional career, I have researched environmental issues in Israel. While issues of water scarcity and loss of open spaces loom large among the country’s problems, the more I study the more I’ve become convinced that many of its environmental problems are rooted in underlying socio-political problems. This could be direct — as when the inequitable distribution of land resources favoring Jews over Arabs leads to wasteful use of land resources — or this could be indirect, as when the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, and between Israel and Arab states deflects ...

Women and Climate Change

By Dr. Mirele Goldsmith When the Indian Ocean tsunami devastated the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in December 2004, women died, in part, because they could not swim, because they put the needs of their children first, and, most tragically of all, they drowned in their homes because they would not flee after debris had torn off their clothes. In the years since the tsunami, these shocking facts have motivated NGOs to develop programs to prepare women for the increasing number of disasters expected to result from climate change. Click here to continue reading this article

The Energy Cost of Food

By Manuela Zoninsein Attending Jewish sleep-away camp for nearly a decade’s worth of summers taught me some invaluable life lessons, such as how to sweep sand out of a craggy floored cabin, how to rap the Birkat HaMazon, and the value of tikkun olam — the Jewish commitment to repairing the world. I learned that we are all responsible for one another, even in a cabin with 14 girls hiding behind each other when “spin the bottle” took a turn for the worse. Click here to continue reading this article

The Balance of Creation

“Be careful not to spoil and destroy my world, for if you do so, no one will repair it.” — Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:13 After the Beginning — whether we call it a six-day Creation or a Big Bang — every creation embodies destruction and every destruction embodies creation. A sapling replaces a seed. A wildfire clears space for new growth. The world developed — whether by design or evolution — into a natural balance. As people, we are part of that balance, but we also have the power to upset it, to cause disproportionate destruction when we create. Click here to continue reading the article

Is it Jewish to be Green?

To many this may seem to be a stupid, or rather a redundant question: Should Jews support democracy, freedom of speech and freedom of worship? I am sure that no one will dispute the fact that climate change, alongside the dwindling of the world's resources, constitutes one of the burning issues of our time. So let me rephrase the question: Should we be committed environmentalists because we are Jews, and does our faith and its practices prescribe our undertaking to address these issues, as part of our obligation to repair the world? Click here to continue reading the article

Coal: The Dirtiest of Fossil Fuels

Depending on how much pressure and temperature to which it has been subject, coal is a sedimentary or metamorphic rock comprised mostly of carbon. Coal is a fossil fuel used primarily in the generation of electricity. To turn coal into electricity, the rock is pulverized then combusted in a furnace, the heat from which converts water into steam used to spin turbine blades to create electricity. Click here to continue reading this article

GZA-Hechalutz FREE Birthright Trip to Israel in June

Interested in a FREE trip to Israel with a focus on the environment, this is the trip for you! The application deadline is today — Monday, March 31. Visit our website to for info on the application: http://www.greenzionism.org/greenisrael Select IsraelExperts as the Trip Organizer, June - Green Israel as the Trip Selection & enter Referral Code GZA30.

Sandy, Noah, Abraham and Bibi Send a Message about Climate Change

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, those of us who work at the Green Zionist Alliance from New York and New Jersey have been fortunate to have been able to move to safer ground. But in the wake of climate change, there is no other planet to which we can go. Yet if we succeed in what has been our communal effort at unintentionally warming our atmosphere, and thereby wrecking havoc on our climate, then Sandy is just the beginning — for New York, for Israel, and for the world. There is scientific consensus: To stave off the worst effects, we have to act now. Click here to continue reading this article.

Green Israel Shabbaton: Canoeing and Camping in the Green Mountains

Canoe through the wilderness of Vermont's Green Mountains with the Green Zionist Alliance! When: Sept. 7 — 9, 2012 Where: The Green Mountains of southern Vermont, just ~3½ hours drive from New York or Boston Join us as we revel in the beauty of early fall in the Green Mountains of southern Vermont. Enjoy a Shabbat outdoors with warm days and cool nights. Learn about environmental challenges facing Israel as well as Jewish perspectives on global environmental issues. We will paddle to a secluded campsite on a mountain lake where we will relax, reflect, study and pray. Click here for more informatio...

The Yarkon Disaster: 15 Years Later

Fifteen years ago four Australian athletes died when the bridge they were crossing collapsed over the Yarkon River in Israel. But only one of them died from the fall. The other three were killed by something more unexpected: The river's pollution. Click here to continue reading this article.

Meet GZA Co-Founder Dr. Alon Tal in New York and California

The acute deterioration in Israel's environmental condition is only part of the social agenda that brought one million Israelis to demonstrations this past summer. Are we seeing a change in the Israeli political map and the public's ecological awareness? What policies are needed to address the steady damage to Israel's open spaces, biodiversity loss and the disappearing Dead Sea? Green Zionist Alliance Co-Founder and Green Movement Co-Chair Dr. Alon Tal, recognized by Haaretz as Israel's leading environmentalist, will present a new green agenda for Zionism and consider scenarios for progress in Israel. ...

Hydrofracking and the Book of Job

By Rabbi Lawrence Troster Most scholars believe that chapter 28 of the Book of Job is a later poetic addition into the text. The poem is nonetheless a beautiful hymn to Wisdom (Hokhmah) and a meditation on how to acquire it. The unknown Wisdom teacher who composed this poem is warning us that we cannot find wisdom in the ingenuity of human activity, which can even encompass the searching the depths of the Earth through the mining of precious metals and jewels. “Man sets his hand against the flinty rock and overturns mountains by the roots. He carves out channels through rock; his eyes behold every precious thing. He dams ...

After the fire: It’s time to help — and heal

An Israeli firefighter walks past the remains of a house in Yemin Orde. (AP, via Newsday) By David Krantz NEW YORK (Dec. 6, 2010) — 42 people dead. 250 homes ravaged. 12,300 acres razed. 5 million trees burned. In the aftermath of the worst natural disaster in Israeli history, we are left wondering how we can help Israel recover after the fire. Fortunately, many organizations are taking quick action, and there are many ways that you can help. Donations to any of these organizations will help fire-relief efforts. In terms of forest, there’s a lot of replanting to do. ...