72 results for tag: Supporting the Environmental Movement in Israel


Samar Gets Temporary Reprieve — Let’s Make it Permanent!

Israel's Samar sand dunes — and the unique animal species that live there — may be destroyed, unless we act now. (Photo courtesy of Taal Goldman of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies) NEW YORK (Nov. 14, 2011) — We are being heard: The Samar sand dunes have been granted a temporary reprieve from destruction! Although the bulldozers were scheduled to start mining the dunes weeks ago, work has been indefinitely postponed in the wake of our efforts and the protests conducted by our partner environmental organizations in Israel. Environment Minister Gilad Erdan arranged for the delay in conversa...

Almost Out of Time: Act Now to Save Samar

Israel's Samar sand dunes — and the unique animal species that live there — may be destroyed, unless we act now. (Photo courtesy of Taal Goldman of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies) NEW YORK (Oct. 12, 2011) — The bulldozers and dump trucks are getting ready. Without intervention, they will begin carting away one of Israel’s unique ecosystems, the Samar sand dunes, home to species that live nowhere else on the planet. And soon, at the government’s initiation, the sands of Samar in Israel’s Arava Valley will be turned into concrete. Eilat needs sand for concrete, ...

GZA Leads KKL-JNF Effort Against Fracking in Israel

NEW YORK (Sept. 16, 2011) — Hydraulic fracturing and in-situ retorting for oil in Israel should be banned in Israel pending further research into the environmental effects of the relatively new fossil-fuel extraction techniques, according to a new report issued by Israel’s Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael / Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) at the initiation of the Green Zionist Alliance. The report and its recommendations, which were drafted and approved unanimously by a KKL-JNF committee convened and chaired by Green Zionist Alliance representative Dr. Orr Karassin, constitutes the official policy of KKL-JNF according to the ...

Hydrofracking and the Book of Job

By Rabbi Lawrence Troster Most scholars believe that chapter 28 of the Book of Job is a later poetic addition into the text. The poem is nonetheless a beautiful hymn to Wisdom (Hokhmah) and a meditation on how to acquire it. The unknown Wisdom teacher who composed this poem is warning us that we cannot find wisdom in the ingenuity of human activity, which can even encompass the searching the depths of the Earth through the mining of precious metals and jewels. “Man sets his hand against the flinty rock and overturns mountains by the roots. He carves out channels through rock; his eyes behold every precious thing. He dams ...

The Israeli Summer: Tent Cities, Bombs, Boycotts and Herzl’s Dream

NEW YORK (Aug. 22, 2011) — If you thought Theodor Herzl’s dream was fulfilled with the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948, think again. Thousands are camping out in Israel’s cities, demanding social change. Thousands more around the world, angered by the Palestinians’ situation, seek to boycott Israel. Meanwhile, Egypt, Israel and Gaza volley bombs and rockets in escalating attacks and counterattacks. Which brings us back to Herzl. His dream wasn’t simply the creation of a Jewish democratic state, but the creation of a model state — a place that would protect its environment, a place powered by ...

Emerging Leaders Project

The Emerging Religious Leaders Sustainability Project brings together Muslim, Christian, and Jewish seminary students from Israel and the West Bank for a series of ten interactive seminars on human coexistence and environmental sustainability. The seminars, spread out over six months and centered in Jerusalem, will focus on how we live on the land (environmental sustainability) and how we live together (human sustainability). The seminars will incorporate sources of profound wisdom and teaching concerning harmony and balance with nature that have arisen in several religions across space and time. Five of the sessions will include experiential, ...

Lessons for Israel from Ghana

SEFWI WIAWSO, Ghana — About six years ago the Ghanaian government brought a delegation of Jews from the Israeli town of Dimona to Accra, Ghana’s capital, to speak about the importance of local agricultural production and consumption. But even though Ghana has a long way to go on its path to becoming a developed nation — becoming part of the so-called “First World” — there's a lot that Israel can learn from Ghana. For example, here in Sefwi Wiawso, a small town in southwestern Ghana near the country’s border with Ivory Coast, the synagogue — the only one in Ghana — is lit at night by ...

The Privilege of CBI

Two weeks ago I had the privilege of teaching my first class at Congregation Beth Israel’s (CBI) Hebrew High School in Charlottesville, VA. I say a privilege because the students at CBI are curious, enthusiastic, and intelligent, but that isn’t all. It is also a privilege to be sharing some of what I learned living and growing in Israel from 2006 – 2010 as the founder and executive director of Earth’s Promise. The class is part of a two sequence workshop entitled “Israel: Beyond the Conflict”, that Rabbi Tom Gutherz and I developed for the Hebrew High School. Given the complexity and richness of Israeli ...

Eco-Israel Spring 2011 Semester

Hi everyone, As a newbie to Jewcology I am just figuring my way around here so I'll make this brief and to the point. Hava & Adam Eco-Educational farm is gearing up for our sixth semester of Eco-Israel which starts February 21. We still have some spots left so if you know of anyone who wants to experience hands-on what it means to live more sustainability, to learn natural building methods, medicinal herbs, permaculture design, recycling, gray water and all that good 'ole ecological living send them to our website (http://eco-israel.org). Our program is 5 months and very reasonably priced and with potential Masa funding it's a ...

Trees: The Ultimate Environmentalists

15 Shvat, 5771 — Trees just might be the ultimate environmentalists. They provide shelter and food for animals large and small. They nourish the soil with their fallen leaves, and protect it with their strong roots. And trees not only pump oxygen into the atmosphere, allowing every animal on the surface of the planet to breathe, they also filter out greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, as well as precursors to acid rain, such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. How many other environmentalists can claim that? We can only aspire to help the environment as much as trees do. So perhaps one of the most import...

Introducing Teva Ivri

Hi all, We're very happy to join Jewcology :) Who are we? Teva Ivri - Jewish Nature is an NGO based in the Galilee (northern part of Israel). We're dedicated to create Jewish environmental responsibility, and to significantly join social values rooted in Jewish tradition with environmental values. What we do? We work within formal and informal education to promote social-environmental activism based on Jewish tradition We maintain an easily accessible online resource center in the field of Judaism and Environment (check out our materials in Hebrew at www.tevaivri.org.il We ...

After the fire: It’s time to help — and heal

An Israeli firefighter walks past the remains of a house in Yemin Orde. (AP, via Newsday) By David Krantz NEW YORK (Dec. 6, 2010) — 42 people dead. 250 homes ravaged. 12,300 acres razed. 5 million trees burned. In the aftermath of the worst natural disaster in Israeli history, we are left wondering how we can help Israel recover after the fire. Fortunately, many organizations are taking quick action, and there are many ways that you can help. Donations to any of these organizations will help fire-relief efforts. In terms of forest, there’s a lot of replanting to do. ...