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Rainbow Day is coming! Celebrate, learn, create!
I'm so excited to let people know about Rainbow Day – the 27th of Iyyar, and the 42nd day of the Omer.
For a few years now I've been working to make Rainbow Day a reality in the Jewish world. Rabbi Arthur Waskow first came up with the idea of using the dates of the flood story in 1981. But now I think we (the Jewish world) are ready to make it happen. I've been collecting prayers and rituals, lesson plans about seed-saving and hydrofracking, learning from Hoshea and Ezekiel, from Kabbalah and midrash, and project ideas that you can use to celebrate Rainbow Day and to ...
Teva Shabbat Retreat June 3-5
May 15, 2011 | Iyyar 11, 5771
Hi Teva Friend,
Teva invites you to join us for the First Ever Teva Seminar Shabbat Retreat in Nature from June 3rd through June 5th, 2011. Come celebrate creation and community with inspiring prayer and learning. Register now and save $50! Click here to learn how.
Delve into the ecological dimensions of Shabbat and Jewish cycles of work and ...
The Smaller Stories
Please Read First:
1. Diabetes is a Time Bomb in the Arctic Research Shows Pollutants linked to Type 2 Diabetes http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/06667_diabetes_is_a_time_bomb/
2. New Study Warns of Arctic Mercury Pollution: http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5g1c7x73hsUhq24krg1-3ceMSkLVg
3. Environmental Illness in Kids Costs Billions: http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/EnvironmentalHealth/26306
So I know the above request seems like I am providing you a homework assignment, but these articles help give a ...
Honey from the Rock: Righteous Foundation
Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah 248:1(Code of Jewish Law)
“Everyone is obligated to give Tzedakah. Even people supported by tzedakah must give from what they receive. Anyone who refuses to give tzedakah or gives less than what he should give, the court pressures him until he gives the amount he has been assessed. The court may confiscate his possessions and deduct from them the appropriate amount (for Tzedakah).”
How can a court force someone to give tzedakkah? Tzedakah is commonly translated as charity which is given in a non-coercive manner. ...
Teva Seminar – 66% Discount through the Jewish Education Project!
May 12, 2011 | 8 Iyyar, 5771
Hi Teva Friend,
The Teva Seminar on Jewish Environmental Education is one of the best professional development opportunities for meaningful, inspirational, experiential Jewish education. Each year the Seminar provides educational directors and teachers dozens of amazing new ideas, lessons, and techniques to take home to their own school or instituion. And this year, the Jewish Education Project (JEP) ...
Jewish Farm School Intensive! Natural Building and Herbal Medicine
These four-day hands-on workshops will take place simultaneously with the Jewish Farm School on the Farm at Eden Village. Come learn and work with the earth's medicine and nature's building materials. Enjoy the beuaty of Eden Village's 250 acres in the Hudson Valley. Food will be mostly organic, vegetarian and cooked by our fabulous chefs.
Monday, June 13th - Thursday, June 16th
Start and end time at 12pm
25% discount is you mention Jewcology
Please register here
Pick a track!
Natural Building with ...
Teva’s Roots – Camp and Wilderness at the Seminar
Shalom!
Today is 17th day of the omer, Tiferet of Tiferet, or Compassion in Compassion, with only 33 days until Shavuot. Is your compassion for the earth beautiful? If so, you should know of another great countdown - the countdown to the Teva Seminar. There are only 25 days left until the Teva Seminar, the greatest opportunity for you to connect your compassion for the earth with Teva at its roots in the Camp & Wilderness track.
This year, veteran Teva educators Mollie Andron, ...
Question of the Week #20
David Marks, co-director of Teva Learning Center, asks "What environmental Torah portion has the biggest impact on addressing global climate change, and why?"
Environmental Tip of the Week: Apology and a short tip for this week
Cross posted in Environmental Tip of the Week
Apology and a short tip for this week
Things have been crazy for me for awhile and I didn't post here!
Here's a short tip, as I'm running late now:
It's still a bit chilly at times here in Seattle. Next time you're tempted to turn up the thermostat, try grabbing a sweater instead. You'll save energy, and cut down your bill, too!
Green is still a color – 2
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Green is still a color
Today I received a letter in the mail addressed to "Green Bubbie(TM)" You know, even a great idea is only an idea. Even if you write about it, you need to see if it resonates with others outside of your own head. Do other people ever know what you are imagining? As a 'visionary' thinker, I can tell you that there is nothing more exciting then to see/know that your idea is understood by others, and used by them.
So, imagine my delight when during my recent visit to my grand ...
Green is still a color
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Green is still a color
Today I received a letter in the mail addressed to "Green Bubbie(TM)" You know, even a great idea is only an idea. Even if you write about it, you need to see if it resonates with others outside of your own head. Do other people ever know what you are imagining? As a 'visionary' thinker, I can tell you that there is nothing more exciting then to see/know that your idea is understood by others, and used by them.
So, imagine my delight when during my recent visit to my grand daughter's kindergarten, I was asked by the teacher ...
“Eretz Israel sheli yafa vegam porachat”
For those who did not learn that song when you were little kids at school, this song means “My Land of Israel is beautiful and blooming”.
The reason I did not write last month’s blog is because I was pretty busy preparing for one of the most important steps in my life: I made aliyah! Just before Pesach. I came back to Israel just for aviv-spring time, the time of blooming. Being honest, one of the hard things of leaving Chile, was to leave its natural wonders (just to mention an example, from my window, I could enjoy the view of the Andes every ...
Three (Jewish) Communal Actions with Impact!
Fair Food Network is excited to be partnering with Hazon on the following three calls to action. You can learn more about all of these issues by reading Oran Hesterman’s Fair Food: Growing a Healthy, Sustainable Food System for All. Together, we can move from being conscious consumers to engaged citizens and transform our food system!
The first call to action is in your kitchen. Make a commitment to spend an additional $10 per week on food the source of which you can trace and trust. It may be $10 at the farmers’ market where you’ve just had a ...
A People of Two Lands
The Jewish people were, for much of the last century described as “a people without a land,” but that is not totally accurate. Many would say that in fact that many Jews were and continue to be “a people of two lands.” Even before the founding of the modern State of Israel, Jews around the world found themselves with torn allegiances. As Diaspora Jews we have always found ourselves with emotional, spiritual and historic ties to the land of Israel, while simultaneously possessing physical, economic, and societal ties to our resident countries ...
Spring reflections from one of Eden Village’s farm interns, Faryn Hart…
As Spring settles in and the new growing season is well on its way in the Hudson Valley, we at Eden Village Camp and the Jewish Farm School have begun cultivating the fields and planting seeds in the thawed soil and in the eager minds that have joined us for our Spring programs.
Arriving onsite as a farm apprentice just a few weeks ago, I was beyond excited to get my hands dirty again growing the food that will feed us this season, and helping create programs to energize and educate people of all ages through the Spring, Summer and Fall.
It was inspiring noticing which ...
Reflections on a Religious School year almost past
It seems hard to believe, but with the Pesach holiday having past, there are only 2 weeks of classes remaining in my Religious School calendar. This being my 6th year teaching a Jewish / Environmental education curriculum to 6th graders, I feel I have developed a pretty good set of teachings which I have presented & discussed with my class. However, I can’t avoid the feeling that there is still so much left to teach these students that we haven’t yet had time to cover. With only 2 classes left, I am faced with the decision of how best to spend the ...
Question of the Week #19
Lauren Freedman, board member of the Green Zionist Alliance: The Grassroots Campaign for a Sustainable Israel asks the Jewcology question of the week: What do you think is the most important environmental challenge today?
Teva Rocks All Ages – Teva Seminar 2011
May 3, 2011 | 29 Nisan 5771
No matter what your age, Teva is going to kick-start your summer at this year's Teva seminar. Our Congregational Education programs from "Nurturing Connections - Spirituality in the Early Childhood Classroom" to "Lech Lecha - Bringing up a Congregation to Raise Jewish Youth" for B'nai Mitzvah teens, to "Geshem - The Eco-Orientation of Prayer" for those of us young at heart will engage and energize all ...
Israel: The New Saudi Arabia?
NEW YORK (May 1, 2011) — Together with large natural-gas reserves recently found off Israel’s Mediterranean coast, a new technology that may yield billions of barrels of oil in Israel may make the nation a global energy powerhouse.
"Israel could attain energy independence," Dr. Yuval Bartov, chief technology officer and chief geologist at Israel Energy Initiatives — one of the companies pursuing oil in Israel — recently told The Jerusalem Report.
But the potential oil rush is a mixed blessing for Israel: Although the ...
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 ...
