Noam Dolgin
Featured Causes: Teva Learning Alliance, Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, Green Zionist Alliance
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1200 Jewish Young Adults Walk Into a Casino…
From March 5-8, I had the pleasure of participating in the first ever Tribefest, at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. This fantastic event put on by the Jewish Federations of North America, brought together 1200 young adults from across North America to ‘Connect, Explore and Celebrate’ their Jewish identity, culture and community. While not particularly an environmental friendly event (judged by the location, quantity ...
Generation of Change: How Leaders in their 20s and 30s are Reshaping American Jewish Life
In September 2010, the Avi Chai Foundation put out a report “Generation of Change: How Leaders in their 20s and 30s are Reshaping American Jewish Life.” The report elicited responses from 4,466 Jewish leaders of all ages, myself included, and after thorough analysis of the data came up with a range of interesting results that I believe relate directly to our work as Jewcologists. The survey divided respondents into a number of catego...
My Oh Mayim: Rethinking Water Usage in a Land Flowing with Milk and Honey, but Little Water.
Ushavtem mayim b'sason.Draw water in joy. A classic song of joy danced to at every celebration by millionsof Jews worldwide. Jews sing and dance about water at every proayer service and celebration. Through our prayer, song and dance, we hope that Israel willhave enough water for the coming year. The last couple of years have seen the harshest drought to hit the region in decades. Demand for water is high and continues to grow as population ...
The Inspiration of Engaging Judaism
As a Jewish environmental educator, people often ask me if my work more Jewish or more environmental. I usually refuse to answer the question in the simplistic form in which it’s asked, and instead offer an answer about the complete interconnectedness of the material... But, today, just for you, Jewcology readers, I will answer the original question with a little secret. While at my core, the cause I am working toward is environmental ...
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 ...
Chochma & Bina, Wisdom & Understanding
This week my wife and I are on Hornby Island, on the coast of beautiful British Columbia. It’s here, on the edge of the Pacific Ocean that I feel most in awe of the natural world and all its creatures. A walk on the beach is a lesson in nature’s complexity. Whitecaps give way to waves churning onto the shore, where winter storms have deposited a year’s worth of driftwood and sea weed. Seals and sea lions maintain an ongoing ...
Think Israel, Act Local
Most of us know by now that our personal actions have global consequences. What and how much we drive, fly, eat, and shop, contributes to a litany of global environmental challenges, topped by climate change. The mantra, ‘Think global, act local’, was adopted in the 1980s as a rallying cry for personal responsibility in a global age. Environmental concerns to this point had primarily been local; however a new generation of global ...
Hanukah 2010, A Re-Dedication to Social and Environmental Change
Hag Urim Sameach! Happy Holiday of Lights! Hanukah is upon us once again, this wacky annual celebration that we don't exactly know how to celebrate. It's not biblical, so we don't have the traditional holiday structure, and it's up against Xmas, so there is lots of pressure to give gifts. So how can we make this Rabbinic holiday relevant to the world of today? Easy! Go back to the core of this holiday, make this Hanukah a celebrat...
All this Pollution is Making me to Schvitz!!
All this Pollution is Making me to Schvitz!! by Noam Dolgin So everyone is talking about Climate Change, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gases, Shifting Climate but what does this all mean. What is really happening and why? What can we do to make a real difference? The Greenhouse Effect. If it wasn’t for the Greenhouse effect, the Earth’s average temperature would be 9 degrees Fahrenheit, way too cold to support life as we ...
Congrats to the entire Jewcology team!
Mazel Tov!!! Well done to everyone who got Jewcology up and running. The site looks great and I can't wait to see what we are all able to do with it. Hats off (but not the kippah) to you all!