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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 ...

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A Green Omer Counter

During the 49 days between Passover and Shavuot, we count the Omer, an opportunity to elevate ourselves spiritually and acknowledge the agricultural realities of the land of Israel. The mitzvah is to count each day on its day. An Omer Counter can support you in remembering which days you've counted so far. If you're like me, it goes like this: Every year I plan to count the Omer with an actual Omer Counter. I will check off the boxes every day so that I never lose track of what day it is, or forget to count a single day. Then, I spend weeks upon ...

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Fracking Up Passover – The First Plague

Courtesy: Jim Lando, Dor Hadash Social Action Committee seder supplement 2011/5771 We offer this reading and letter writing opportunity for you and your guests this Pesach. Hag Sameach! The First Plague And the fish that were in the Nile died and the Nile stunk, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile, and the blood was in all the land of Egypt. – Shemot (Exodus) 7:21 The Nile was a miraculous source of life for the Egyptians. Worshipped as a God, it has no tributaries for its final 900 miles. It was the water of the Nile that drew ...

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When Pesach & Earth Day Coincide

Dear chevra, On Monday night exactly one week before the first Pesach Seder, The Shalom Center sponsored an Interfaith Seder for the Earth. It was held at Mother Bethel AME Church in Philadelphia, the first independent Black church in American history. The weave of blessings, poetic texts from several religious and secular-ethical traditions, bursts of song, excellent vegetarian food, and activist letter-writing to several crucial Federal and state officials about fracking and the climate crisis was very powerful, and joyful rather than a “downer.&rdquo...

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Hamakom (The Place), Public Space, Property, and Ownership

How might we better understand climate change, social inequality, and the sense of personal isolation that pervade much of modern society? In a metaphoric and material sense I believe the answer lies in societal conceptions of public space, property, and ownership. These elements are hallmarks of industrial society and in many ways define the boundaries and context of personal, corporate, and governmental relationships – temporally as well as spatially. The parceling out of land (the Dawes Act in the US, the Inclosure Acts in England, and many more) for ...

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Tell the E.P.A.: No more methyl iodide

Cross posted in Environmental Tip of the Week and Foodiscovery I did not write this message; it's just the copied and pasted "email your friends" message from after signing a petition of sorts. Dear Friend, Methyl iodide is a nasty chemical. It is a known neurotoxin and endocrine disruptor, and scientists in labs handle only small amounts using special protective equipment because it is so toxic. But do you know where else it is used? As a pesticide on strawberries and other food crops. The battle against methyl iodide is ...

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Question of the Week #25

Seth Fineman, an intern for the Green Zionist Alliance: The Grassroots Campaign for a Sustainable Israel, asks the Jewcology question of the week: About what environmental topic do you want to learn more?

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Register for Leadership Training at Teva!

Jewcology Public Narrative Leadership Training, June 1-2 (at the Teva Seminar on Jewish Environmental Education, May 31-June 3) Are you educating the Jewish community about protecting the environment? Have you faced challenges with motivating people to move beyond intellectual knowing and into action? Have you struggled with inspiring Jews who don’t have the same values as you? Or have you felt limits in your ability to engage those with environmental values into a place of activism and shared commitment? Jewcology is pleased to announce a new ...

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Get early bird tickets today for EcoJews of the Bay’s 4 (Sustainable) Cups event 4/11

EcoJews of the Bay proudly presents: The 4 (Sustainable) Cups ~An EcoJews Fundraiser~ at ThirstyBear Brewing Company In preparation for Passover, celebrate Jewish sustainable values in brewing, distilling, winemaking & roasting at this unique panel discussion and tasting. L'chaim! http://4sustainablecups.eventbrite.com/ The evening's program will include: * A panel discussion with Stephen Ashton of Ashton Vineyards, Ron Silverstein of ThirstyBear, Paul Katzeff of Thanksgiving ...

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Hazon’s Kosher Meat Survey: We Want to Hear from You!

At the 2006 Hazon Food Conference, we posed two key questions: 1. If you’re a meat eater, would you continue to eat meat if you had to kill it yourself? And 2. If you don’t currently eat meat, but could be involved in the process of raising and slaughtering the animal, would you? People's responses varied, but it was clear that the issue was important to nearly everyone in the room. Since 2006, the world of kosher sustainable meat has seen the Agriprocessors scandal, the rise of several kosher sustainable meat businesses and hands-on kosher slaugher ...

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The Future of Nuclear Energy and the Threats of Coal & Natural Gas

Like most of the world, I have been giving a lot of thought recently to the question of nuclear energy. Just 4 weeks ago, before the Fukushimadisaster, I was asked a question about Nuclear energy while presenting at Tribefest in Las Vegas. I gave my standard answer, an answer that has been haunting me for weeks. “Unfortunately, while nuclear energy may have long term environmental consequences, the imminent threat of climate change and the economic realities of the energy markets make nuclear a necessity in the short term.” What is clear in my ...

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Green is still a color

This resource's content is attached.

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Famine in Egypt — Parallels to Today

With Passover approaching, the themes of freedom and liberation from bondage tend to be in the front of our minds. However, any true analysis of liberation must first ask the question of how and why we were put into the state of bondage in the first place. In order to be truly free, we must consider not only our current state of subjugation, but come to understand the causes of that subjugation in order to reconcile the exile and not repeat the same mistakes again in the future. Chapter 47 of Genesis, which describes the Children of Jacob settling in the land of ...

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Wilderness Canoe Trip For Jewish Educators, Camp and Youth Group Leaders

* Backcountry Camping Skills * Jewish Eco-theology * Integrated of Jewish Wilderness Experience Sign up now, this is a trip not to be missed! When: June 23 - 27, 2011 Where: Adirondack National Park, NY How Much: $650.00 Co-leaders: • Rabbi Howard Cohen, founder and senior guide for Burning Bush Adventures* • Noam Dolgin, a leader in Jewish environmental education (www.noamdolgin.com) For more info: www.burningbushadventures.com Email: burningbushadventures@gmail.com Call: 413-652-7086 *In business ...

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Question of the Week #18

Ilana Krakowski, intern at Hazon, asks Jewcology's question of the week. What are you growing this year?

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Help us choose a winner!

Announcing the finalists in the Environment Art Contest sponsored by BabagaNewz and Jewcology! BabagaNewz.com teamed up with Jewcology.com to spread the word about Jewish environmentalism. We asked students in grades 3-8 to create print or multimedia artwork based on a relevant Jewish text about preserving the environment. See the finalists in each category--print and multimedia--at http://babaganewz.com/envirocontest. Vote for your favorite in each category by May 23, 2011 and help us determine the grand-prize winners. Finalists will each receive a water-...

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Jewish Environmentalists Explore Purpose, Community and Action

Who are you? Who is your community? And what do you need to be doing now? These fundamental questions are key to making change in any community. Yet many leaders spend little time focusing on them, or identifying how to communicate them to their audiences. Last year, I helped organize a leadership training for lay leaders seeking to make environmental change in their Jewish communities. One of the focuses of the discussion was inviting people to state their purpose. I was surprised how many of these active Jewish environmental leaders could not clearly explain ...

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Environmental Tip of the Week: Try to avoid disposable eating utensils!

Cross posted in Environmental Tip of the Week from Maxistentialism on Tumblr So what happens to plastic utensils when you're done with them and you throw them out? "According to the Clean Air Council, enough paper and plastic utensils are thrown away every year to circle the equator 300 times. It is estimated that close to 40 billion individual plastic utensils—meaning 14 and 18 billion plastic spoons—are produced each year, and with such low rates of reuse and recycling, most of ...

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Exciting Environmental Event in Philadelphia!

Looking to take your religious environmental leadership to a new level? Register NOW for: Ground for Hope-Philadelphia – an exciting interfaith environmental education and training event! Join GreenFaith and other local environmental and religious organizations on April 10th and 11th – you’ll get lots of tools to help your faith community create meaningful, effective environmental programming. Click below for a full event description and schedule: http://greenfaith.org/programs/ground-for-hope/ground-for-hope-ph...

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Honey from the Rock: A Question

Better Place, the brain child of Israeli born Shai Agassi, is making an impact worldwide, and that is even before one car has hit the streets. Better Place is the first company of its kind to develop an economically viable model to propagate the mass the production and purchasing of electric vehicles based on a subscription service. The subscription service, described as being similar to a cell phone subscription, means that the battery belongs to Better Place and depending on the package, the consumer will have various choices of charging and battery replacement ...

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