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Chickens and Jews
Chickens and Jews
By Jessica Nordell
The sky was gray and feathery white the morning of the Backyard Chickens workshop with the Jewish Farm School, an ag-education organization that offers classes on the Farm at Eden Village near Cold Spring, north of New York City. The workshop had attracted a motley crew-- a homeschooling family from Jersey, a young couple from the Bronx, a woman who'd acquired some land that "came with chickens," and me, a city visitor up for the weekend to breathe clean oxygen. I'd spent that morning watching the ...
Preparing for Leadership Training #2!
Hi everyone, and chag sameach! I hope you are having a lovely Passover, and enjoying the spring weather.
We're getting prepared for the second Jewcology leadership training, which will take place at the Teva Seminar on June 2. I hope you can join us!
To give you a sense of the training and to whet your appetite for an engaging opportunity, I've posted the participant guide from our first leadership training on March 14. You can find it in the Leadership Trainings Community and can be downloaded from there.
I hope you will join us for the trainin...
Environmental Tip of the Week: Celebrate Earth Day! :)
Earth Day is today!!!!! I'm not going to write my own tips this week; just check out this info about Earth Day 2011 that has plenty of info! :)
Freedom Fruits
Are you feeling free?
I am today cause it's my birthday and I'm feeling glad to be born and feeling too that this year it coincides with true growth.
We are growing and I'm breathing more and taking time to look at the sky amidst the craziness, taking time to be disappointed and to smile through it.
The sunshine came down in to our garden before Pessach with plenty dandelions all over part B of the Kalisher Community Garden (that’s in the works…) So many edible wild flowers – time for a grand feast!
And so it was my ...
Holy! Healthy! Omnipresent! (H20)
Yesterday marked the transition in our annual cycle where we switched from praying for rain to praying for dew during the amidah. This ritual act, in combination with the two washings of our hands during the seder got me thinking about water, H2O.
We have lots of prayers In Judaism for rain or other forms of precipitation, daily in the amidah and on special occasions like the 1stday ofpesach andhoshanah rabbah. We often recite al netilat yadiyah, the prayer said when ritually washing our hands, however, al netilat yadiyah does not mention water at all. In fact, ...
kosher crew atlanta
Today, to mark Global Youth Service Day, members of Kosher Crew Atlanta teamed up with Park Pride Atlanta and the Friends of Little Nancy Creek for a restoration project in the Buckhead section of Atlanta. A significant amount of invasive species were removed making way for a trail in the deep section of the park. Thanks to all who participated! Please check out the photos from today project on the Kosher Crew Atlanta Facebook Page
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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...
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 ...
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 ...
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?
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Green is still a color
This resource's content is attached.
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 ...
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:
Call: 413-652-7086
*In business ...
