Culture Change – Page 3

Yom Kippur at the Lincoln Memorial

September 2, 2015 No Comments

YOM KIPPUR Day of Atonement/ At-Onement Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC September 22-23, 2015 Sundown to Sundown For more information, and to RSVP, please visit the Facebook event page: Yom Kippur 2015 at the Lincoln Memorial Kol Nidre 6:30pm to 8:30pm Morning Service with Yizkor 10am to 1:30pm Minchah/Neilah 5:00pm to 7:45 pm, concluding with shofar blasts followed by a multi-faith vigil Yom Kippur is the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, a fast day for seeking both Atonement and At-Onement. At this moment in history, we humans are in need of atonement for the ways in which we have desecrated the Earth; this desecration is the result of our lack of at-Onement – our separation from one another, from all living beings, and from the Earth. This year, Yom Kippur falls immediately prior to Pope Francis’s unprecedented address on September 24 to a joint session of Congress. We offer this Yom Kippur service as an invitation to the Jewish community, along with people of all faiths, to come together, acknowledging our profound need for interconnection and atonement. This service will be part of a series of faith-based events planned for the week of September 24 in support of Pope Francis. Why the Lincoln Memorial? The Lincoln Memorial is the pre-eminent American symbol of our collective responsibility to work for freedom and democracy for all people with “malice toward none, and charity for all.” It is where millions of Americans have gathered to stand for the dignity of each person. A Contemplative, Inspired Yom Kippur Service We will draw from the traditional liturgy of Yom Kippur and will also include chanting, contemplative practices, and opportunities for reflection and sharing. Words from Pope Francis’ Encyclical will be interwoven throughout the day, and faith leaders from other traditions will also offer reflections. This invitation to all people of faith is an acknowledgement that our world view is not particular to Judaism, or to Catholicism, or to any one tradition; and rather, together we will engage our hearts and spirits for this sacred moment in time. Please be aware: Yom Kippur is a day of fasting and we prefer that you not bring food or drink with you. If you need to eat or drink for health reasons during the service, please use discretion and step away from the congregation while eating or drinking. Many worshipers will wear white clothing to signify our intention to purify our souls and our lives. You are encouraged to: Invite friends, family and colleagues who may want to join us for any part of the Yom Kippur services. Bring a chair or a cushion to sit on. Wednesday night around 7:45PM: Conclusion of the Service Yom Kippur services will conclude when three stars appear in the sky on Wednesday night, a fitting affirmation of our interconnection with the movement of the universe. We will then join with the Franciscan Action Network and others for a multi-faith vigil in preparation for the Pope’s address. We will break our fast with people of faith who have been fasting for as long as ten days near the White House calling attention to the need for action the sake of life on Earth. Sponsored by the Shalom Center, in partnership with IMAC and MAC RSVP at the Facebook event page: Yom Kippur 2015 at the Lincoln Memorial

Earth Etude for Elul 11 – The Freedom of Dance; the Prayer of Protest

August 26, 2015 No Comments

by Maggid David Arfa Shalom Shachna, the son of Holy Angel, the grandson of the Maggid of Mezeritch, learned to dance from the Shpoler Zeide. For the rest of his life he would share with all who would listen how the Shpoler Zeide was a master of dance and able to achieve Holy Unifications with each step of his foot. Adapted from Tales of the Hasidim by Martin Buber. “For many of us the march from Selma to Montgomery was about protest and prayer….Even without words, our march was worship. I felt my legs were praying.” Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel Sometimes, when I can no longer stand my careless abuse of the Earth, I know I have to take a stand- In the streets with my neighbors. Teshuvah as protest. The power is in the action. My legs hold real power to help me remember what’s most important and start fresh. Amazingly, it used to be common knowledge that the power contained in our legs affects the cosmos. An ancient midrash says every commandment has a corresponding place in our body and day of the year. We are not only saying ‘As above, so below’, but also ‘As below, so above’ This teaching was carried forward into Medieval Kabbalah providing a unique form of empowerment. The Kabbalists actually taught that the cosmos needed our prayers and our actions for its own healing. The Hasidic creativity of the pre-modern world transformed this teaching applying it specifically to everyday dance ( song and story too!). Did you know the Shpoler Zeide continued to dance with the lightness of youth well into his old age? Once, a Jewish life was in danger. A giant cossack soldier was cruelly treating him like a cat treats a mouse. The giant declared that if anyone could out-dance him, then he would spare the life of this simple Jew. However, if not, than both dancer and hostage would die! Everyone was so scared. It was the Grandfatherly Shpoler Zeide who stepped forward. He danced the Bear-Dance with such focused power and vigor that the cossack was unable to keep up. He fell down laughing saying, ‘You win old man, you win’. For the Shpoler Zeide, dance was a superpower! Able to affect Teshuvah with a single bound. Reb Nachman of Bratzlav, actually prescribed dance as a remedy for the hopeless despair that prevents joy. He knew, the act of dance was enough to raise joy high in the saddest of souls. Dance as medicine. How’s that for creative health care! Now we come to Rabbi Heschel and his creativity. He’s not just protesting, he’s praying with his legs! This power still reaches us, like light from a distant star. It is testimony to Rabbi Heschel’s strong cosmic powers. How many of us are inspired to do more because of Rabbi Heschel? The power of praying legs in protest. This Elul, let’s bring all of the enchantment we can muster to our Teshuvah. Let’s add our modern awareness for the evolutionary miracles that allow legs to stand, ankles to rotate, and 26 humble bones in the foot that allow us to stand steady even on uneven ground. The spontaneous freedom of dance, the improvisational prayer of protest reminds us that we can choose a new path. We can alter the shape of tomorrow. As Emma Goldman said, “If I can’t dance, I don’t want your revolution!” Rally Ho! For additional background on the powers of dance see, “The Mystery of Dance According to Reb Nachman of Bratzlav” in The Exegetical Imagination by Michael Fishbane. Maggid David Arfa (Mah-geed; Storyteller) is dedicated to Judaism’s storytelling heritage and ancient environmental wisdom. He has produced two CD’s, “The Birth of Love: Tales for the Days of Awe”, and a light-hearted collection, “The Life and Times of Herschel of Ostropol: The Greatest Prankster Ever To Live”. His full-length performance, “The Jar of Tears: A Memorial for the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto” won the Charles Hildebrandt Holocaust Studies Award for artistic excellence, depth of vision and technical mastery. David’s workshop ‘Try Stories for a Change’ trains organizations to build volunteers and raise funds through authentic storytelling and listening circles. Other workshops explore the relationships between wonder, grief, hope and activism. David earned his MS in Environmental Education and degrees in Wildlife Ecology and Environmental Policy. He is now studying Clinical Pastoral Education and is the Director of Education for Congregation Beth Israel in North Adams. David lives in Shelburne Falls, MA. For more information see www.maggiddavid.net

God, Earth, and Earthling: 2 eco-theologies

May 8, 2015 No Comments

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow This past Shabbat, in the same mail–delivery to my door, there arrived both a copy of Rabbi David Seidenberg’s magnum opus Kabbalah & Ecology (published by Cambridge University Press), and the in-print Fall 2015 issue of Tikkun magazine, including an article of mine on “Prayer as if the Earth Really Matters. ” My article encodes into liturgy an explicitly unconventional eco-Jewish theology. It joins a series of articles in that issue of Tikkun that are a kind of anthology of eco-theologies in various traditions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and several strands of spiritually open secular thought. Rabbi Seidenberg’s book and my article (a distillation of much of my own eco-theology) present two new theologies, both rooted in Torah, looking at different aspects of Torah yet both reframing the relation of God to Earth and human earthlings. David’s work, as his title announces, draws chiefly on Kabbalah and addresses its way of understanding tzelem elohim, the Image of God. He brilliantly shows that many Kabbalists extended the sense of the Image not only to the human species but to the universe as a whole and therefore all the beings within it. And he wonderfully explores the implications of this finding — intellectual, spiritual, scientific. My work is much more rooted in Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible — as the spiritual explorations of an indigenous people of shepherds & farmers who are close to the land. To understand God at the heart of this, I hear— literally hear — YHWH as YyyyHhhhWwwwHhhh – the Breathing/ Interbreathing Spirit of the world — ruach ha’olam – and I hear the shmei rabbah / Great Name of the Kaddish as a Rabbinic continuation of this outlook — weaving together all the names of all beings, including galaxies and quarks, rabbis and rabbits. So it felt utterly fitting that on the day that they arrived in my mailbox was not only Shabbat but also the 8th day of Passover, Its fervently messianic Prophetic reading – “The wolf shall lie down with the lamb; in all my holy mountain nothing vile or evil shall be done; the intimate knowing of the Breath of Life shall fill the Earth as the waters cover the sea””) gives it the name of “the Passover of the Future.”. My outlook begins with the spiritual findings, parables, and teachings rooted in one people’s experience of one sliver of a multi-ecosystem land on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean, and I midrashically extrapolate from there/then to the planet as a whole in an era when what we extract and consume from the Earth is no longer only edible food but also burnable fossil fuels. Whereas the Image of God that draws David comes from the first Creation story, I focus on a crucial thread of Torah starting from the second Creation story –– adam birthed from adamah, and YHWH breathing life into the newborn human species as a midwife breathes life into the newborn human individual. (“Earthling” and “Earth” are the closest we can get in English to the richness of “adam and adamah” in Hebrew.) From there I see a crucial thread of concern for Earth-earthling relationship that runs through Tanakh — beginning with a parable of the disaster of failed adam/ adamah relationship in Eden, and then yearning toward a series of sacred efforts to repair the disaster: the parable of bountiful Manna that comes with restful Shabbat; the attempt to make shared bounty practical through the Sabbatical/ Shmita Year and its hope of the Jubilee/ Homebringing Year; and ultimately the vision of the Song of Songs — Eden once again, this time for a grown-up race of human earthlings and our well-beloved Earth. I am delighted that both these new Jewish theologies are emerging in response to the planetary crisis we are in. Indeed, they both point to the ways in which the world we actually live in, and the policies and practices we develop to address it, call us to re-imagine God –- that is, to create new theologies. I had time on this past Shabbos/ Yontif & Maimouna to begin perusing David’s book– which I had not been able to do in any thorough way via electrons. (My eye-brain connections still live in the 20th century.) I’m very impressed indeed. Extraordinary breadth of scholarship, both in Jewish texts and in ancillary readings on e.g. evolution and other related fields. And a strong thread of Akiba’s “Study is greater –– if it leads to action.” I was especially tickled to see David’s comments on the Great Chain of Being. (The “Great Chain of Being” is a theory of the world as a hierarchy from “inanimate objects” like rocks up to the Divine King and Lord.) In my Tikkun article I explicitly took on the GCB thus – It is both factually and theologically notable that this liturgical song [“We Have the Whole World in Our Hands”] transforms an older hymn in which the refrain was, “He has the whole world in His hands.” That assertion — He is in charge of the world — is closely related to a major traditional metaphor in most Jewish, Christian, and Muslim prayer. In that metaphor, God is King, Lord, Judge — above and beyond the human beings who are praying. In regard to the Earth, this metaphor crowned a series of hierarchies: The “Great Chain of Being” is a theory of the world as a hierarchy from rocks and rivers up to vegetation, thence up to animals and then to human beings and finally up to the Divine King and Lord. Today we know that the relationship between the human species and the Earth is ill described by these metaphors of hierarchy. Not only do we know that what we breathe in depends upon what the trees and grasses breathe out; now we know that within our own guts are myriads of microscopic creatures that occasionally make us sick but far more often keep us alive and healthy. … So those metaphors of ordered hierarchy are no longer truthful, viable, or useful to us as tools of spiritual enlightenment. If we are to seek spiritual depth and height, the whole framework of prayer must be transformed. I hope that many of us will read both David’s book and the whole issue of Tikkun. My own essay is also at —

Alon Tal tells why it is important to vote for Green Israel Now!

April 27, 2015 1 Comment

Last chance to help us make Israel a greener, environmentally healthier land: Until the end of April you can vote online for the upcoming World Zionist Congress. The results determine, among other things, the division of power at the Jewish National Fund’s international board. For the past decade I have sat on the JNF board, largely because of the support and intervention of the Green Zionist Alliance – a wonderful group of young environmentalists who decided to get involved and improve Israel’s environmental performance. This support has allowed me to represent them and pursue any number of important green initiatives which include: · creating new sustainable forestry policies for the JNF, · putting bike lanes on the organization’s agenda, · creating a brand new “affirmative action” program to systematically reach out to Israel’s Arab minorities to finance environmental projects, · increasing the organizational commitment to green building and solar energy, · leading the fight to prevent JNF funding over the green line, · expanding funding for forestry and agricultural research as well as river restoration projects, and · fighting for good government and transparency. There is a lot more that needs to be done. Whether or not I can continue depends on whether the “GZA” – or Aytzim as they call themselves these days gets enough votes. It only takes ten dollars to register and 3 minutes online to vote. (The polls close this Thursday April 30th). Here’s a link to Vote Green Israel: www.worldzionistcongress.org Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. And thanks to all of you who have already voted green for the support. – Alon Tal (Considered by many to be the leading environmentalist in Israeli history, Alon Tal is a co-founder of the Green Zionist Alliance)

My activities in Israel to increase awareness about climate threats and veg diets

April 26, 2015 No Comments

Below is the April 24 Jerusalem Post ‘In Jerusalem’ article about my vegetarian/vegan activities in Israel followed by my Times of Israel blog with links to YouTube videos of my talks, interviews, and other veg activities there. Kol tuv, Richard ==== Apocalypse Cow Jerusalem Post article [In Jerusalem section] April 24, 2015 By Gavriel Fiske [Corrections in brackets [ ]] Reducing meat consumption could help avert a global disaster, according to Jewish vegetarian activist Richard Schwartz Octogenarian vegetarianism activist Richard Schwartz, an Orthodox Jew from Staten Island, New York, has for decades explored the connection between Judaism and vegetarian/vegan diets. He used his position as president of the Jewish Vegetarian Society of North America to promote the idea that, contrary to what one might experience at the table of a typical Jewish household on Shabbat or holidays, Jewish values and religious law can actually condone a meat-free diet. Now 81 and retired from his day job as a mathematics professor at the College of Staten Island and running the day-to-day operations of the Jewish Vegetarian Society, Schwartz, on a recent visit to Israel, told In Jerusalem that his focus has now turned to educating on how vegetarianism can help avert what he warned could be an impending environmental catastrophe caused by human-driven climate change. “Climate experts are predicting that everything has become hotter and drier,” Schwartz pointed out, and said that record heat waves and droughts, along with crazy weather all over the world, have become a new kind of normal. These weather changes are caused by accumulated greenhouse gases in the atmosphere; but what most people don’t realize, Schwartz said, is that “animal-based agriculture creates more greenhouse gases than is emitted by all the cars and airplanes and all other means of transportation worldwide combined.” [according to the 2006 UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report, “Livestock’s Long Shadow.”] “Greenhouse gases” is a catchall term for any gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect. According to reports cited by Schwartz, who recited from memory a dizzying number of studies and statistics to make his case, the gas produced by animal production – methane – stays in the atmosphere for only about 20 years. This means that if meat consumption could be reduced, the main greenhouse gas affecting global warming could also be reduced relatively quickly. Raising animals for food is also inefficient, he stressed, noting that “at a time when water is a precious commodity, it takes 14 times as much water to raise an animal than to raise [the equivalent amount of] plant food.” [Methane is not the main greenhouse gas (CO2 is), but it is significant because, during the 20 years it is in the atmosphere, it is 72-105 (depending on the number’s source) as potent per molecule as CO2.] [Also, the correct statement above is that the amount of water per person on an animal-based diet is as much as 14 times as much as for a person on a vegan diet.] Judaism, he maintained, has very strong teachings in regard to showing compassion for and proper treatment of animals, which he has cited and documented extensively during his career. Although it is “utopian” to think that every Jewish person will become a vegetarian, if people could cut back on eating meat for a few days every week, it could have a great effect. “I am basically arguing that Jews have a choice, and that choice should be made in light of Jewish values towards animal compassion,” he said. [I mentioned not only animal compassion, but also other Jewish teachings that should be considered in making dietary choices: preserving human health, protecting the environment, conserving natural resources, helping hungry people, and pursuing peace.] Although his focus is on Jews and vegetarianism, Schwartz has also been involved in interfaith efforts to highlight the religious roots of vegetarianism. Schwartz, an ardent Zionist, stressed that if one feels that climate change is an issue, one has to do something about it. “I just feel that there is an existential threat to Israel and to the whole world that is being overlooked, and diet changes can make a big difference,” he said. He also noted that “military experts think this could be a catalyst for violence, terror… a multiplier effect with refugees fleeing from climate change.” Of course, not everyone agrees with such dire predictions, and the debate on climate change, especially in the United States, is a fraught, politicized issue. However, Schwartz dismisses outright those who doubt the potential for environmental disaster, and notes that “97 percent of climate scientists and 99.9% of peer-reviewed papers on issue in respected scientific journals argue that climate change is real, is largely caused by human activities and poses great threats to humanity.” During his visit in Israel, Schwartz gave several lectures, and he filmed and uploaded to YouTube interviews with a number of experts, academics, politicians, activists and rabbis, including the director of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. “Pretty much everyone agrees that climate change is an existential threat,” Schwartz said. Israel, although it has a very high per-capita meat consumption, is also “a leader in terms of veganism and laws about animal compassion,” he noted, and called the country the “greatest place for activism.” Schwartz also praised the recent changes in the Knesset building, which have made it one of the “greenest” parliament buildings in the world. He also noted that Israel has banned the production and import of foie gras, a delicacy of engorged goose liver produced by force feeding the geese. In fact, Schwartz, who has two daughters and their families living in Israel, is now, along with his wife, “very seriously considering making aliya” and relocating to the Holy Land. “I am hoping to stay active, and there is no better place than in Israel and Jerusalem,” he said. But it might not be so easy. Besides the challenge of moving “after 55 years [actually 47] on Staten Island,” when he recently visited a

Adam Sandler’s New Shanda – Racism Against Native Americans – Is A Reminder For Jewish Justice Activists

April 26, 2015 2 Comments

by Wendy Kenin @greendoula News broke last week that a dozen Native Americans and a cultural consultant walked off the set of Adam Sandler’s new Netflix film under production because it was misrepresenting Apache culture and spouted derogatory lines about women and indigenous people. I stand with them! It gets personal for us Jews who are activists for social justice when successful Jewish business persons in the entertainment industry perpetuate racism in mainstream society. On the heels of a long term campaign which erupted last year to change the name of the football team that Dan Snyder owns from Redskins, Adam Sandler has thus far been silent while his name has trended on social networks over the Natives who walked off the set. Yet Deadline.com reported that Netflix actually jumped at the opportunity to defend Sandler and justify racism in the media by issuing a statement: “The movie has ‘ridiculous’ in the title for a reason –because it is ridiculous,” said a spokesperson for the streaming service Thursday. “It is a broad satire of Western movies and the stereotypes they popularized, featuring a diverse cast that is not only part of — but in on — the joke.” There’s nothing funny about racism and “ridiculous” is no excuse. The many Jewish activists who have been taking to the streets with the #BlackLivesMatter movement should be finding ways to educate others on the harmful ways Native Americans are depicted by the media and hold our Jewish brethren accountable. Newsweek interviewed actress Allie Young who walked off the set in protest with others, and gave some more insight into the horrific suggestions depicted in the film. The script posed more issues, including offensive names for indigenous women, like “Beaver’s Breath” and “Wears No Bra.” In one scene, a Native American women is passed out on the ground. A group of white men pours liquor on her, and she wakes up and starts dancing. “In Indian country, we’re battling that issue right now,” Young said. “It’s 2.5 times more likely for an indigenous woman to be raped or sexually assaulted. Movies like this perpetuate that and just add to the stereotypes of our native women.” Actress Allie Young has first hand experience with the social challenges that plague the original peoples of this continent as a result of historic and current policies, evidence of ongoing colonization. She echoes what the many campaigns to change racist school mascots around the country assert about the impact of these negative representations on the identity of Native youth. “I take this very personally because my little brother committed suicide when he was 17 because of racism,” Young said. “In his suicide note, he said, ‘It’s hard to stay alive when you’re brown and gifted.’ I want to take a stand for native and indigenous youth. I want them to see their people portrayed as something better.” American Jews who are aware of the continuing legacy of governmental forces continuing the historic theft of land against indigenous peoples deplore these evolutions of social oppression. This September, despite prostests the Pope is planning to canonize Junipero Serro, the friar who founded the mission system in California in the 1700’s which enslaved and brutalized the indigenous peoples of the West Coast – and celebrations have already begun among Catholic institutions. In the past month, the State of Michigan sold sacred, treaty-protected land to an internationally owned limestone mine in the largest public land deal in the state’s history. In December, Arizona’s Senator McCain buried a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act that gave sacred Apache land Oak Flats to an international copper mine. Over the past decade, the US federal government has militarized and confiscated historic indigenous lands for thousands of miles in constructing and securing the US-Mexico border wall. These new developments are just the latest while rape of the land affects indigenous peoples across the Americas from the Tar Sands to Patagonia. We must stand against antisemitism on college campuses and around the world. We must protect our sacred and burial sites in the Holy Land and everywhere that Jews have lived. We must protest institutional injustices, endorsement of abuses and military violence by our governmental, corporate and faith leaders. And we must call on Adam Sandler to apologize and join in solidarity against racism in the media. Whether it’s supporting the women on the front lines of indigenous struggles, endorsing campaigns to end racist mascots, becoming educated and sharing information with others about today’s plight for environmental justice or objecting to the bigotry that the media perpetuates in our society, American Jews and the organizations we are part of must increase our alliances with the indigenous peoples as they lead.

The Dream and Its Interpretation

April 22, 2015 No Comments

Excerpt from “The Dream and Its Interpretation,” by A. D. Gordon, translated by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen A. D. Gordon (1856-1922) was an early Zionist and pioneer in the Land of Israel. His words, written 100 years ago in totally different circumstances, resonate today when we read them through the lenses of climate change and environmental degradation. We dreamed, you and I, my brother and my sister, interpreter it has none, an ancient dream it is, as the days when we went forth from exile, but you forgot it or did not elucidate it for yourselves, and I did not recount it to you. Grand is the dream, vast like the void of the universe, and we long for it with our souls, but I will not remind you of it this time, except for a small fragment/excerpt. Now, please hear, my brother, please hear my dream, my sister, and remember that you also dreamed as I did. In my dream–and here it is, I arrive at the land. And the land is neglected and desolate and is in the hands of foreigners, and the destruction darkens the light of her face and destroys her spirit, and an alien government corrupts her. Distant from me and strange to me is the land of my ancestors, and I, too, am distant from her and a stranger to her. The single connection that ties me to her, and the lone memory that reminds me that she is my mother and I am her son, is–because my soul is also desolate like her, for it, too, fell into the hands of foreigners, to destruct it and destroy it. I feel the destruction and I ponder the ruins with all my soul and with every ounce of my being, and a divine voice goes forth from the ruins and declares, “Mortal! Consider these ruins, and consider them once again, turn not a blind eye to them. And you shall know and gain insight to what you already understand, that the destruction is the destruction of your soul, and the destroyer is the destroyer in your life, in the midst of which you lived in foreign lands and which clung to you until this time. Remember this, for your redemption requires this! And as you continue to ponder and to dig deeper, you shall see that from below the ruins an orphan cinder still whispers, saved by hiding from the spirit of that life, and the spirit of the land breathes upon it to bring it to life. And when it totally abandoned that life, which others created, when you left their land and arrived here to create a new life for yourself, your life– then cinder smoldered and lived, glowed and brought forth its flame, and you returned and lived, and your people and your land returned and lived. Rabbi Katy Allen is a board certified chaplain and serves as a Nature Chaplain and the Facilitator of One Earth Collaborative, a program of Open Spirit. She is the founder and rabbi of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope, which holds services outdoors all year long. She is a co-convener and coordinator of the Boston-based Jewish Climate Action Network.

Eden Village is hiring farm educator apprentices for 2015 growing season!

January 26, 2015 No Comments

Eden Village Camp is Hiring! Submit Your Application About Eden Village Camp: Eden Village Camp aims to be a living model of a thriving, sustainable Jewish community, grounded in social responsibility and inspired Jewish spiritual life. By bringing the wisdom of our tradition to the environmental, social, and personal issues important to today’s young people, we practice a Judaism that is substantive and relevant. Through our Jewish environmental and service-learning curricula, joyful Shabbat observance, pluralistic Jewish expression, and inspiring, diverse staff role models, we foster our campers’ positive Jewish identity and genuine commitment to tikkun olam (healing the world). Our 3 acre educational farm and orchard are based on principles of permaculture, sustainable and organic farming. We produce annual vegetables, perennials, and tend educational gardens as well as animals. About the Farm Educator Apprenticeship: This is a paid six-month apprenticeship for young adults seeking hands-on experience. In the Spring build your knowledge based on agriculture, farm-based education and Jewish community. In the Summer, work at our 8-week intensive summer camp as Jewish Farm Educators. In the fall, take ownership and integrate your new skills by diving deeper into independent projects. Live on-site at our beautiful camp, one hour north of New York City. By joining the farm staff at Eden Village, apprentices will hold two main responsibilities – tending our growing spaces and educating in our all of our programming through the spring, summer and fall. Apprentices will also have an opportunity to dive deeper into one of four focus areas: perennials, annuals, animals, and educational gardens. In these specialties apprentices will gain a deeper understanding of certain aspects of farming and will take on leadership and special projects to booster their learning and the learning of campers and program participants. Details: April 14th, 2015 – October 22nd 2015, Apprentices receive full room and board at Eden Village, as well as a modest stipend. Extensive experience is not necessary but experiential curiosity is required. We recommend you explore our website thoroughly to get more information about our apprenticeship, farm, camp, and more at Eden Village Camp. More questions? Explore the FAQ page. For all other questions, contact

Hanukkah 5775 – Night 4 Re-Dedication Meditation

December 19, 2014 No Comments

by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen On this fourth night, half way through Hanukkah, we light four candles, continue the “Litany of Harm” and the “Call to Action,” and consider a fourth way to move our lives forward in a way that adds goodness to the world. Hanukkah Night 4: The Litany of Harm: For all those in island nations, where rising sea levels and superstorms threaten their very existence. We stand in witness! For all coastal cities and villages, where storm swells and flooding put lives and homes at risk. We stand in witness! For all those who suffer from tropical diseases, and those at risk from spreading diseases and heat waves. We stand in witness! For farmers and all who eat, as droughts ruin crops, incomes, and food supplies. We stand in witness! For people of color around the world, who are at risk from climate change and environmental injustice. We stand in witness! For the human populations, plants, and animals who are losing or have lost access to enough fresh water. We stand in witness! For the countless animals who suffer in factory farms, in a system that causes misery and carbon pollution. We stand in witness! For all the habitats already lost and which are disappearing. We stand in witness!* The Call to Action: We’re ready to act because we have a favorite place on Earth that we want our great-grandchildren to experience. With love in our hearts, Compassionate One, move us to action. We’re ready to act because somewhere we heard John Muir’s voice, reminding us that in the beauty of nature we see the beginning of creation. With beauty in our hearts, Creator, move us to action. We’re ready to act because someone in our life once shared something with us – something we needed; something we could not live without – and we want to do the same for the next generation and beyond. With generosity in our hearts, Holy One of Blessing, move us to action. We’re ready to act because we’ve read texts we consider sacred, and they make clear that the Earth is a gift, and we are stewards of that gift. With responsibility in our hearts, G!d of Judgment, move us to action.** We add a fourth promise to ourselves. For the fourth night, we consider our finances. Where do you spend your money and how? What does the cost of an item say about the wages of the people who made it? What resources went into making it? If you have money invested, do you know how it is being used? How does your bank use your money? Are the ways your money is invested consistent with your values? (Click here for some resources with changes you might make.) Here are my thoughts for this fourth night of Hanukkah: Eloheinu v’elohei avoteinu v’imoteinu, Our G!d and G!d of our ancestors, give me strength on this fourth night of Hanukkah, and help me to re-dedicate myself to remembering that I am created in the image of the Holy One of Blessing, to eating organic, local food, to speaking out about racism, and to maintaining my values in my finances. What do you feel moved to add to your list tonight? Chag Urim Sameach – Happy Hanukkah, Rabbi Katy * by Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman ** by Rev. Jim Antal

Hanukkah 5775 – Night 2 Re-Dedication Meditation

December 17, 2014 No Comments

by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen On this second night of Hanukkah, we continue to increase in holiness by lighting two candles and by adding to the “Litany of Harm” and the “Call to Action,” and by adding a new action to our personal list of ways in which to re-dedicate ourselves. (See Night 1 for a full introduction.) Hanukkah Night 2: We continue the Litany of Harm: For all those in island nations, where rising sea levels and superstorms threaten their very existence. We stand in witness! For all coastal cities and villages, where storm swells and flooding put lives and homes at risk. We stand in witness! For all those who suffer from tropical diseases, and those at risk from spreading diseases and heat waves. We stand in witness! For farmers and all who eat, as droughts ruin crops, incomes, and food supplies. We stand in witness!* We continue our Call to Action: We’re ready to act because we have a favorite place on earth that we want our great-grandchildren to experience. With love in our hearts, Compassionate One, move us to action. We’re ready to act because somewhere we heard John Muir’s voice, reminding us that in the beauty of nature we see the beginning of creation. With beauty in our hearts, Creator, move us to action.** And we add to our list of actions to which we re-dedicate ourselves. For the second night, we focus on food. What are the ways in which you are prepared to change your eating habits to better protect the Earth and farm workers? What can you give up or what can you take on that will make your food healthier for both you and the planet? Here are my thoughts for this second night of Hanukkah: Eloheinu v’elohei avoteinu v’imoteinu, Our G!d and G!d of our ancestors, give me strength on this second night of Hanukkah, and help me to re-dedicate myself to remembering that I am created in the image of the Holy One of Blessing and to eating organic, local food. What will you add to your list tonight? Hanukkah Sameach – Happy Hanukkah, Rabbi Katy * by Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman ** by Rev. Jim Antal

Hanukkah 5775 – Night 1 Re-Dedication Meditation

December 16, 2014 No Comments

by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen Why don’t we light eight candles on the first night of Hanukkah, and work our way down to one? Why do we start with one candle and work our way up to eight? So familiar are we with our traditional way of lighting the candles and increasing the light, that imagining doing it the opposite way is almost impossible. Reduce the amount of light each night? No way! Yet, in ancient times this custom seems to have been practiced. In the Talmud, the School of Shammai said, “On the first day eight lights are lit and thereafter they are gradually reduced,” but the School of Hillel said, no, no, no! “On the first day one is lit and thereafter they are progressively increased.” We all know who won that argument! Hillel’s reasoning? “We increase in matters of holiness but we do not decrease.” (Shabbat 21b) Thus, we learn from Hanukkah – the festival of re-dedication – that in regard to holiness, we are never to decrease, only to increase. So, this is what happens when we light the Hanukkah candles – we increase the light, the holiness, the positive energy, the goodness, in the universe. I think of that game, “I’m going to my grandmother’s and I’m taking with me…” Each person “takes” their own new item, but also all those named previously, so that the list grows longer and longer and longer. This is what happens with increasing holiness. Each night we bring into the room, into the universe, into our lives, all the goodness and holiness of this particular candle-lighting, as well as the goodness and holiness from each previous one. This week, we will post a bit of holiness for you to bring to your candle-lighting, and each night we will add a new bit, eight pieces of a puzzle to fill in and create something whole over the eight nights of Hanukkah. Each night we will add two verses from a “Litany of Harm” to the planet, written by Rabbi Shoshana Meira Freidman, to help us stand in witness and solidarity with all those who are being harmed by climate change. It will also include one verse from “A Climate Change Call and Response to Action” written by Rev. Jim Antal. And at the end of each of these sets of verses you will find ideas and questions to help you decide to what to re-dedication yourself that night. Each day will provide a different theme. I invite you to keep adding on, as we do with lighting the candles and with the “I’m going to my grandmother’s…” game, so that on the 8th day of Hanukkah, you read the entire Litany of Harm, the entire Call to Action, and re-dedicate yourself to all of your actions. Hanukkah Night 1: We first the candles and recite the traditional blessings. We then begin the Litany of Harm to our Planet: For all those in island nations, where rising sea levels and superstorms threaten their very existence. We stand in witness! For all coastal cities and villages, where storm swells and flooding put lives and homes at risk. We stand in witness! We begin our Call to Action: We’re ready to act because we have a favorite place on Earth that we want our great-grandchildren to experience. With love in our hearts, Compassionate One, move us to action. We start to act: For the first night, we focus on the spiritual. What are the ways that you want to re-dedicate yourself to your spiritual life? How do you want to continue to strength and deepen your relationship with the Holy One? Prayer? Meditation? Spending time outdoors? What will enrich your spiritual life the most? You may want to consider these questions alone, or discuss them with those lighting candles with you. Here are my thoughts for tonight: Eloheinu v’elohei avoteinu v’imoteinu, Our G!d and G!d of our ancestors, give me strength on this first night of Hanukkah, and help me to rededicate myself to remembering that I am created in your image, in the image of the Holy One of Blessing. What are your thoughts? For the last part of tonight’s Hanukkah meditation, put your intention about spiritual re-dedication into words and share it with those around you. Chag Urim Sameach – Happy Hanukkah,

Start-Up Moshav: Growing our Demonstration Garden in Berkeley, California

December 2, 2014 No Comments

by Wendy Kenin, Young Urban Moshav Founder Young Urban Moshav is thrilled to have the opportunity to create a demonstration garden at the JCC of the East Bay. The garden is intended to serve the after school program’s garden curriculum and to function as a Jewish outdoor learning center for the community. The project site design will integrate best urban garden practices with Jewish cultural items such as traditional holiday foods and the fruits of Israel. The space will accommodate groups of learners and holiday activities. Young Urban Moshav’s participatory approach includes support with community engagement, from communications content and crowdsourcing to strategic connections with other Jewish green initiatives. Young Urban Moshav, a new Jewish food start-up, has been accepted into the Hazon CSA network and aims to develop a residentially-based Community Supported Agriculture program. The JCC East Bay garden will be an example of garden design and implementation that Young Urban Moshav is offering for other institutions and private residences as it embarks on its goal to grow a system of interconnected urban agriculture sites across the East Bay. In developing this exciting demonstration garden, Young Urban Moshav is sourcing labor and products from within the community whenever possible. As of the end of November 2014, exciting progress has been made. The garden has received its first major contribution from Katherine Gulley at Raised Bedlam Woodworks in Berkeley. A beautiful redwood table and bench, including end planters and a garden box, are already on site! Katherine makes custom outdoor and reclaimed furniture. She herself grew up in Berkeley attending the JCC and proudly claims that she was at her after school program at the JCC when the big earthquake of ‘89 hit. The garden site, an alley between the southwest corner of the JCC building and the adjacent commercial CVS building, is being graded during the month of December so that the main area in use will be flat. Approval has been obtained for a retaining wall and ramp, to be constructed by community member Jory Gessow of Gessow Landscaping. You might recognize Jory from the annual Tikkun Leyl Shavuot events as he is an avid participant of many years! JCC After School Director Cassie Brown has been overseeing the project. Green Educator Ezra Ranz has been coordinating between the JCC and Young Urban Moshav on a volunteer basis while already growing some starts with students in small boxes on location (pictured in the featured image of this article). Facilities Supervisor Chuck Weis is managing construction details regarding the building site. Front Desk Supervisor Selena Martinez has been filling an insightful and exemplary advisory role. The garden design has been developed by Young Urban Moshav volunteer Talya Ilovitz, who now is updating the drawings to include the newest developments. Next major steps include construction of raised garden beds and installation of drip irrigation as well as a spiral herb garden and worm bin. Material contributions are being graciously accepted, from lumber to soil, garden equipment and planters to irrigation supplies, seeds, plants and even worms! Please contact if you would like to contribute to this exciting Jewish community garden.

Reject Keystone XL

December 2, 2014 No Comments

Dec. 2, 2014 Thirteen Jewish organizations, under the umbrella of the Green Hevra, have issued the following joint statement today publicly calling on the U.S. government to reject the Keystone XL pipeline: It has become abundantly clear that we are consuming far too many fossil fuels. In this Sabbatical/Shmita year, when the Torah calls for deeper gentleness toward the Earth, we are especially conscious of the dangers to the Earth from the drilling, transporting and burning of tar-sands oil. The resources that would be devoted to the Keystone XL pipeline should be devoted instead to initiatives in clean energy, a fast-growing field in which we hope the United States will take a leading position. Climate change, worsened by burning more and more oil that the Keystone XL pipeline would permit, poses a grave threat to the security of the United States, Israel and the world. Jewish tradition is not monolithic, and the issues around the pipeline are complex. But the Jewish community has consistently sought to take a stand in favor of creating a better world for all. It is hard for us to believe that building the Keystone XL pipeline could possibly do so. This is not the first time that Jewish organizations have taken a stand against Keystone XL and we call upon fellow Jewish leaders to join us in encouraging President Obama and Congress to reject the Keystone XL pipeline. Signed by the following members of the Green Hevra: Amir Aytzim: Ecological Judaism Eden Village Camp Energiya Global Habonim Dror North America Hazon Jewish Climate Action Network Jewish Farm School Jews Against Hydrofracking NeoHasid.org Reconstructionist Rabbinical College / Jewish Reconstructionist Communities The Shalom Center Shoresh Jewish Environmental Programs

Out of the ark and into the garden: The story of Noah in the Sabbatical year

October 24, 2014 No Comments

There are three places in the Torah which talk about human beings and the animals – including wild animals – sharing one food supply. In Eden, in the ark during the flood, and in the Sabbatical year or Shmita. There’s a lot more to these stories, but you don’t really need to know much more to understand the basic message of the Torah. We lived with the wild animals once, rather than carving out separate spaces for us and our domesticated fellow travelers. According to the Torah, that is the real truth, and all the owning and property and buying and selling is an illusion. We can return to that truth during Shmita, when we get to root ourselves in a real way in the land – not by owning it by being with it. Not by fencing it but by taking down fences. Not by hoarding but by sharing everything, with all the creatures. Here are the relevant verses about eating: In the garden of Eden, “God said: Here, I have given to you all every plant seeding seed which is on the face of all the land and every tree which has in it tree-fruit seeding seed, for you all it will be for eating, and for every wild animal of the land and for every bird of the skies and for every crawler on the land in which there is a living soul (nefesh chayah), every green plant for eating. And it was so.” (Genesis 1:29–30) In the story of the flood, “God said to Noah: …from all life from all flesh, two from all you will bring unto the ark to keep them alive with you, male and female they will be. From the bird by their species and from the animal by her species from every land crawler by their species, two from all you will bring unto you to make them live. And you, take for you from all the food which is eaten, and gather unto you, and it will be for you and for them for eating.” (Genesis 6:19–21) And in the laws of the Shmita or Sabbatical year, it says, “YHVH/Adonai spoke unto Moshe in Mt. Sinai, saying: You all will come into the land which I am giving to you, and the land will rest, a Shabbat for YHVH/Adonai…And the shabbat-growth of the land will be for you all for eating: for you and for your male servant and for your female servant and for your hired worker and for your settler living-as-a-stranger with you; and for your animal and for the wild animal which is in your land, all of her produce will be to eat.” (Leviticus 25:6–7) There is a debate among the the earlier rabbis, about whether the tree fruit in Eden was just for the human beings and the grass for the animals, or whether it was all for all of them. Nachmanides says that humans dined separately, but Rashi says that it truly was one family sharing one food supply. As for the ark, according to the midrash Noah had to create one great store of every kind of food, because each animal needed its own sustenance, and Noah and his family had to spend every hour of the day feeding the animals, since some ate at dawn and some during the day, some at dusk and some at night. After the flood, in between the ark and Shmita, comes the tragedy of human history. The wars and usurpations, enslavements and empires, the amassing of gold and land by some and the impoverishment of others. And in between the two are also the tragedies of our relationship to the wild animals: not just using but abusing, extinguishing whole species, and losing touch with our own wild selves. That’s reflected in the flood story: when Noah and family emerge from the ark, they are told that “a terror of you and a dread of you will be over every wild animal of the land and every bird of the skies, everything which crawls the ground and all the fish of the sea, into your hands they are given. All that crawls which lives, for you it will be for eating – like green plants I have given all to you all. Just don’t eat flesh with its soul, its blood.” (Genesis 9:2–3) This is no blessing but a curse. And it is no dominion: according to one interpretation, the meaning of dominion in Eden was that when Adam would call to the animals, they would come to him. Now it would be the opposite – they will run away in terror. (“Rashi” on B’reishit Rabbah 34:12) One question for us today, in this year of Shmita, is: how can we get ourselves back to the garden? Back before our fellowship with the animals was lost? That can’t mean turn the hands of the clock back on history. Shmita answers a slightly different question: how do we get back to the garden as grownups, after having eaten from the tree of knowing good and evil? It’s not about feigned or renewed innocence, but rather about knowing our power to destroy, and not exercising that power. It’s about finding fellowship with the land and the other animals. And above all, it is about finding rest – rest from ourselves, and rest with each other, with all the other ones that inhabit the land. A midrash says that during the twelve months in the ark, Noah “did not taste the taste of sleep, not in the day and not in the night, for he was busy feeding the souls that were with him.” (Tanchuma Kadum Noach 2) Another midrash, says that when God was setting up the world, the earth heard God say, “It’s not good, the human being alone” and she realized this meant that human beings would begin to reproduce. Then the earth “trembled and quaked”, saying, “I do not have in me the strength to feed

Making our Confession Real: Tools for On-going Teshuvah – Part 1

October 23, 2014 No Comments

by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen Just before Yom Kippur, I posted Al Chet – Confessional for the Earth. So many are the deeds, misdeeds, and non-deeds in relation to the Earth for which we must confess, and then, hopefully, do teshuvah. With this post I begin a series of suggestions for how to implement changes that can help to make our confessional meaningful beyond its words, into actions. I begin with a response to this phrase: For the sin we have committed against You by believing we are doing enough. Do you believe you are doing enough? I think many of us feel we are not. Maybe we even have in our heads ideas of what we should be doing, but we have a hard time getting motivated. Maybe we are scared, or just stuck, or overwhelmed by the many options running through our heads or coming at us in email blasts and other social media. How do we find our own path? For it is our own path we must follow – the on-going process teshuvah is a very individual one, and that is what we are talking about – re-turning to G!d in a way that really alters our actions. So I offer for you a meditation to help you solidify your understanding of your way forward to a more complete relationship with the Holy One of Blessing and the Earth. Meditation for a Stronger and More Active Earth Connection Step outside. Make yourself comfortable in a comfortable place. Give yourself a few minutes to settle in. Relax your breathing. Breathe in deeply. Breath out, slowly exhaling. Repeat, using the breathy word Yah – G!d – the Breath of Life. Now feel the Earth beneath your feet. Focus on the connection between your feet and the ground beneath. Feel your connection to Earth flowing up from below. Then feel the Earth’s connection to you flowing downward from yourself. Return to a few breaths of Yah. Look upward at the sky. Feel your connection to the heavens – the Sun, the stars, the Moon. Focus on that connection. Allow the energy of your connection to the heavens to flow down from above. Then feel the sky’s connection to you flowing upward from yourself. Breathe deeply. Close your eyes. Visualize your connection to beloved places, to important people in your life, to other living things. Allow their connection to you to flow inward to your heart. Allow your connection to them to flow outward in return. Breathe deeply. Use your own language and images. Feel a sense of gratitude. Ask G!d for strength and direction. Hold the silence. Hold the stillness. Hold the strength. Let the answers come. Breathe deeply. When you are ready, open your eyes. Feel yourself blessed and energized. When you are ready, move onward to what is next. You may wish to repeat this, to modify and make it your own. Perhaps you want to add words – or a word – of prayer. Play with it until you feel a new sense of resolve and strength and courage to move forward. Remember that the Confession for the Earth ends with these words:”we are the ones we have been waiting for.” You can do it. I can do it. Together, we can do it. And we will. Rabbi Katy Z. Allen is the founder and leader of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope in Wayland, MA, and a staff chaplain at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She is the co-convener of the Jewish Climate Action Network, a member of the Jewcology.org editorial board, a board member of Shomrei Bereishit: Rabbis and Cantors for the Earth, and the co-creator of Gathering in Grief: The Israel / Gaza Conflict.

Religious Environmentalists

October 14, 2014 1 Comment

This month I want to highlight the various groups that continue to do amazing work throughout the various faith communities. Coming together as Jewish environmentalists to collaborate and share ideas is crucial, but I am also a strong believer in working with other faith communities, especially when it comes to advocacy. The following are several groups I think do fantastic work and can be excellent partners and/or resources in connection with environmental learning and activism: GreenFaith (http://greenfaith.org/): GreenFaith has an amazing fellowship program for faith leaders and certification program for houses of worship. As they state on their website, “The GreenFaith Fellowship Program is the world’s only comprehensive program to prepare lay and ordained leaders from diverse religious traditions for religiously based environmental leadership.” I highly recommend both the fellowship and certification program and encourage you to click on the link to learn more. GreenFaith also took a leadership role in the recent People’s Climate March in NYC, an event which garnered international attention. Interfaith Power and Light (http://www.interfaithpowerandlight.org/): A national organization that has chapters in many states. Generally the various state chapters are very interested in collaboration and can be a wonderful resource in connection with environmental advocacy and education. The Forum on Religions and Ecology (http://fore.research.yale.edu/): An excellent resource for both materials and learning opportunities. As stated on the website, “with its conferences, publications, and website it is engaged in exploring religious worldviews, texts, ethics, and practices in order to broaden understanding of the complex nature of current environmental concerns. The Forum recognizes that religions need to be in dialogue with other disciplines (e.g., science, economics, education, public policy) in seeking comprehensive solutions to both global and local environmental problem.” Evangelical Environmental Network (http://creationcare.org/blog.php?blog=1): This group termed the phrase “Creation Care” which I personally love. Although the group is mostly focused on Evangelical Christians, the blog link I provided can be a good resource as the blog is updated and conveys various events taking place through the EEN. Green Muslimes (http://www.greenmuslims.org/about/): Mostly active in the DC area, this is a great website to learn how the Muslim community is addressing environmental issues.

Earth Etude for Elul 29- Shanah Tovah

September 24, 2014 No Comments

photos by Gabi Mezger text by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen May you find yourself in the new year constantly in motion… surrounded by love like a seal in water… reflecting light visible even in the light of those around you… moving slowly when necessary, yet always steadily… raging ferociously against the ills and injustices of the world… with unending energy, unceasing in your efforts like the constantly moving waves… zeroing in on what is most beautiful and most nourishing… spreading your wings as wide as possible… leaping as high as the highest waves… picking yourself up after the inevitable falls… soaring with grace and beauty… at times alone, but always in the direction that is right for you… traveling often in the company of others… treading gently when you must… and always remembering who and what you are. Wishing you shana tova – a good year – from the bottom of our hearts. Rabbi Katy and Gabi

A Green Opportunity to Share Love with Israel – Steven’s Garden

September 23, 2014 3 Comments

Founded by Tamar Bittelman z”l, memorial community garden in Tzvat reaches its “chai” birthday and new generations. There’s a precious community garden nestled between buildings on a crowded cobblestone street high up in the city of Tzvat, Israel. It began 18 years ago as a memorial community garden, in memory of a son who passed too soon, and it became a city landmark. Today this sacred place, enjoyed by and open to all, is receiving loving support toward renewing the shared space. The Garden Seeds: Untimely death of a son, grief of a mother, new friendship First, a mother was seeking a way to honor her son who was killed by cancer as a teenager 20 years ago this past spring. Shirel Levine was considering planting a tree in his memory as she was grieving over her tremendous loss, as an American living in northern Israel. She met the wife of her doctor, and this righteous woman Tamar Bittelman (of blessed memory) expressed a deep compassion with Shirel for the loss of her son. Within 10 minutes of their first encounter, Tamar suggested a garden, and she offered to help set it up. Steven’s Garden in Tzvat was first established with much communal involvement. The grand opening involved the unveiling of a mural, live music, food and celebration. Tamar and her husband Noach built the first garden beds and then weekly taught local children how to plant and grow food there. The garden lived on, and has been maintained over the years at a low-cost for the benefit of the community. Somehow Steven’s Garden reached me throughout the years as I reside in the Western US. When I lived in Tucson in the 1990’s, I knew Steven’s sister and so our mutual friend Susan Silverman – also a gardener – ecstatically informed me about this sweet community garden when she visited Tzvat some years later. I personally met Tamar Bittelman in 2004 when I moved to the East Bay in California where she was teaching kindergarten. It wasn’t until 2010 that I discovered Tamar was a founder of Steven’s Garden, when my daughter’s kindergarten class at Oakland Hebrew Day School raised funds as a tzedaka project for Steven’s Garden, and purchased a lemon tree that was planted there. I visited Israel in 2011 for the only time ever with my children, and we visited the tree. Several young yeshiva bochers were enjoying the garden, sitting with their siddurim and chatting reclining on the bench under the mural. It was a joy to finally see this garden for myself, right across the street from the famous Kabbalah artist David Friedman’s studio. Tamar Bittelman Tzeddekes: The Garden Founder’s Legacy Tamar Bittelman was not only a kindergarten teacher but was also a co-founder of the Beit Midrash Ohr HaChaim, a unique unaffiliated independent Torah-learning center located in Berkeley, California from 1998 – 2012 under the spiritual guidance of Rabbi Herschel Yolles, the Samborer Rebbe z”l. Tamar started numerous gardens during her life, including a garden adjacent to Congregation Beth Israel in Berkeley before its renovation in 2004. Tamar’s Tzvat garden legacy is an echo of the story of her grandmother, Esther Beker Reinin of the pioneering Sturman family who was part of Hashomer, an original Jewish defense organization in Palestine first established in 1909. Beker Reinin was part of the historic security organization, serving on horseback protecting the sprouting Jewish settlements. She was also involved in an agricultural school in Israel. Every year at the Beit Midrash Ohr HaChaim in Berkeley, Tamar would sponsor a kiddush to honor the anniversary of her grandmother’s passing, and she would retell stories. There was even a story of when Tamar was walking along a road in a kibbutz in Israel, and a some old-timers walked by her and stopped, and told her, “You look just like Esther Beker Reinin.” Many of today’s Jewish environmentalists have met Steven’s Garden’s founder Tamar Bittelman. Tamar attended the 2011 Hazon Food Conference in Davis, California where her husband Noach Bittelman the Acupuncturist presented on Jewish health and spirituality, the Earth, and the Holy Land. One year after we attended the Food Conference, Tamar edited my first blog article for Times of Israel, where I recounted a special woman’s circle that we held at the Hazon event, in the broader context of women’s central role in redemption of the world according the Jewish tradition. Tamar and Noach Bittelman moved back to Northern Israel from California in 2012. During her last visit to Berkeley one year ago, Tamar was excited to learn of my newest project, a Hazon CSA which is in its inception stages and includes in its food security concept residential and communal gardens, and a pop-up kosher vegan soup and salad restaurant. She made an extra call to me during her trip to share her enthusiasm for Young Urban Moshav, and agreed to serve on the Board of Directors. Sadly, and to the shock of many who have declared her righteousness, Tamar passed away unexpectedly after returning to Israel, on a holy Shabbos during daavening 24 Shvat 5774 (January 25, 2014.) Tamar’s family has set up HaMorah Tamar Kindergarten Fund at Oakland Hebrew Day School in her memory. Tamar is buried in Tzvat, the same city in Israel where Steven’s Garden, which she founded 18 years ago, continues to grow. The Memorial and the Garden Renewal Steven’s mother described on Radio Free Nachlaot in August 2014 how others recount to her that they feel Steven’s beautiful energy in the garden. A memorial garden is an example of the environment as habitat outside our bodies for our emotion, spirituality, and communal sharing. It is a place of comfort and healing. Steven’s Garden holds the empathy of a woman hearing another woman grieving for her lost son, the generosity of creativity that builds and enriches the community, and comfort for mourners. It is a legacy of a grandmother and then granddaughter who loved, guarded and nurtured Eretz HaKodesh and the people of

Earth Etude for Elul 21- What Does Atoning and Returning to God Mean?

September 15, 2014 1 Comment

by Rabbi Judy Weiss Ps. 27:1 “The Lord is my light and my rescue. Whom should I fear?” For an entire month before Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we focus on atoning and returning to God. But what exactly, in real life terms, does atoning and returning to God mean? We plan our path to return by adding Psalm 27 to our daily prayers. This psalm repeatedly affirms hope in God. It ends with: Ps 27:14 “Let your heart be firm and bold, and hope for the Lord.” As Robert Alter comments, the Psalm opens and closes with the same sentiment “It begins by affirming trust in God and reiterates that hopeful confidence, but the trust has to be asserted against the terrors of being overwhelmed by implacable enemies.” The psalm focuses on hope, but what does hope have to do with High Holiday atonement? We all have some circumstance that destabilizes us, quashes our hope, fosters procrastination, apathy, or alienation. As you think about your issue, consider the possibility that one type of sin is succombing to despair, and for this sin, returning to God is pushing despair away and holding on firmly to hope. My issue is climate change activism. I’m regularly filled with despair that my children and grandchildren won’t be safe, and that it is already too late to help them. Greenland’s ice sheet is melting faster than predicted. So is the West Antarctic icesheet. I steer clear of this, my worst fear, I turn towards hope that humanity will eliminate carbon emissions and will stabilize the climate relying on the fact that 8 of the 10 largest world economies are already charging for fossil fuel emissions. China has six operating regional cap and trade initiatives, plans to start a national system for pricing emissions soon, and will prohibit coal powered electricity generation in Beijing by 2020. Yet, very often I veer again into despair. The Beijing coal plants will be converted to natural gas which is no better for climate change than coal Missouri has 21 functioning coal plants, Kansas just issued permits for a new coal plant, and Florida’s Governor and Junior Senator deny anthropogenic climate change is happening. Seas are rising rapidly in the area. Some Miami streets flood with sea water and sewage during high tides. Residents will experience trouble flushing toilets as water level rises. Ludicrously, Miami construction continues as if it is a gigantic Ponzi scheme to maintain real estate prices. Climate change denial also props up real estate values in coastal North Carolina. Religiously, I redirect myself towards hope. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) routed an extremist primary opponent. Alexander’s victory is a hopeful sign because, during the campaign season, he toured a solar factory, acknowledging anthropogenic climate change, acknowledging the need for emissions-free energy (solar, nuclear, bio), and acknowledging the need to eliminate fossil fuel companies special tax breaks (above and beyond the breaks that all other corporations receive). I commonly do penance for despair by reading a few more articles, writing several more letters to the editor. Did you know that Senate candidate Gary Peters (D-MI) is running on climate change? Peters pressed his opponent (Terry Lynn Land) to affirm climate change is caused by humans and requires action. He trailed by 3 points six months ago, but is now up by 7. His campaign emphasizes Land receives campaign funding from Koch industries, the same Koch industries that stores piles of petroleum coke near residential Detroit neighborhoods. Voters seem to be responding to the health risks from exposure to petroleum coke dust, and to Peters’ calls for climate action. When the Koch brothers are a liability to the Republican party, strong Republican leadership will be able to reassert traditional Republican environmental values. I see hope here, opportunities for people to learn and connect, improve their situation and steward the world. Despair furtively makes me forget hope. Climate change deniers caused Congress to waste decades. In 1988 Dr. James Hansen testified before Congress about climate change. Since then, climate change progressed faster than scientists had warned based on almost every measure. Deniers persistently bombard the public with propaganda, destroying resolve, undermining hope. Ps 27:3 says “Though a camp is marshaled against me, my heart shall not fear.” What is this military camp? Although the psalm means external enemies, rabbinic commentators suggest the enemy camp could be internal, our internal evil inclination. As some shun murder, adultery and swearing, I cold-shoulder despair. I reposition towards hope with the knowledge that Dr. Hansen left NASA to advocate full time for climate action. Despair, a weapon of the evil inclination, can be rebuffed. To this climate change activist, atoning and returning mean defending against despair. Surrendering to the idea that it’s too late for climate action, cannot lead to a good outcome. Devoting oneself to hope that there is still time allows advocacy and anger, curbs apathy, prevents hatred towards deniers, and ends alienation from people and nations who are in worse straits than we are. Whatever your source of despair, whenever your heart shrinks from bold, firm action, remember atonement and returning to God means affirming hope. Remember the old joke about the man on the roof during rising floodwaters? Drown fear, squelch everything you know, grab the helicopter ladder, and be rescued. Rabbi Judy Weiss lives in Brookline, MA with her husband Alan. She teaches Tanakh and volunteers with Citizens Climate Lobby.

Why Jewcology Matters

September 10, 2014 No Comments

It feels good to be back blogging on Jewcology after a 6 month hiatus. During this period, my wife gave birth to a baby boy and we moved from NYC to Maryland. Although it has been a very hectic time, as those with children or nieces/nephews know, the birth of a child changes one’s perspective on the world. I have been involved with Jewcology since its inception and think it serves a very important purpose. I am thrilled that a new group of individuals has become involved, breathing a new sense of energy into the movement, including the launching of the redesigned website. When asked to continue on as a blogger for Jewcology, I did not hesitate to say yes because I think Jewcology presents a vital forum for Jewish environmentalists to interact with each other and share ideas. Jewcology was initially born out of the realization that there was an extraordinary amount of activity taking place worldwide in connection with Jewish environmentalists, but often very little sharing of ideas or coordination. Please note that I use the word environmentalist in the broadest sense, which is one of the major points I want to convey about Jewcology. I hope that people come onto Jewcology, not only to share ideas about Jewish teachings, advocacy, or programming, all of which should be shared and are a huge part of what makes Jewcology amazing. But I also hope people will share and discuss experiences and interactions they have with nature, such as a hike, or even just pictures of nature that have meaning to the person sharing. Jewcology should be a place for sharing ideas, but also a place to inspire each other, which sometimes only requires a photo. Here are a bunch that I came across and happen to love: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/12/50_best_photos_of_the_natural.html I started with Jewcology while working with an organization called Faiths United for Sustainable Energy, which unfortunately had to close its doors a few years back. Though that organization I was able to meet a wide range of people affiliated with various religious organizations who cared deeply for the environment. Through FUSE, individuals from different religious backgrounds were able to come together and collaborate in an effort to be good stewards of the planet. I think the same applies to Judaism as, which is a very large tent containing a wide range of viewpoints. If we as Jews can come together in order to share and exchange ideas, thoughts, and experiences in connection with environmental advocacy, activities, events, and Jewish teaching, we can create an even stronger Jewish environmental movement, in hopes of passing down a more sustainable world to the next generation, like my new son. Please feel free to comment on this post or send me emails directly and I am always happy to discuss. After all, that is the entire purpose of Jewcology. I wish everyone a happy and sweet New Year.

Home of the Jewish-Environmental Movement

Tag: Culture Change