Author Archive | Hazon

By Zhanna Beyl, Director, Bukharian Teen Lounge, Jewish Child Care Association The youth at JCCA’s Bukharian Teen Lounge have not heard much about Greening before this year. In the Bukharian Jewish community, environmentalism is not yet the hot item on the agenda as there are many other challenges to overcome for this new immigrant group. Thanks to the Jewish Greening Fellowship, we were able to offer our teens a Teen ACTION Goes Green program that introduced environmental issues into our service-learning initiative. Meeting on Sundays at the Lounge, the teens learned about food ethics, waste management, ethical consumption, recycling, planting and beautifying while exploring powerful connections to Jewish teachings and participating in hands-on service activities. Naomi Krikhely, a social work intern from NYU was the enthusiastic facilitator who engaged the teens. An alumna of the Lounge herself, Naomi is a committed Jew and a passionate social worker. She was completely new to dealing with environmental issues. Naomi educated herself and inspired others to be mindful consumers and strong guardians of their community. Now that the teens at JCCA’s Bukharian Teen Lounge have begun their journey on the road to a healthier community, the adults ought to follow the example set […]

Do you need funding for an environmental justice project? Apply for a Jewish Social Action Month Grant from UJA-Federation of New York for a project to take place in Heshvan (October-November, 2014.) The deadline to apply is May 9, 2014. Chai Ve’Kayam Curriculum Guide from the Pearlstone Center features experiential lessons on the Jewish agricultural laws. It includes the Hebrew Calendar Garden, a dynamic outdoor Jewish experience of time, space, earth, and spirit. Thinking of planting perennial food plants this summer to prepare for the upcoming Shmita Year? Gotham Orchards helps organizations in NYC plant fruit trees in public spaces. Contact Erik Baard at gothamorchards@gmail.com. And check out videos and books on the subject of perennials from Chelsea Green. Many JGF organizations have hosted Bash the Trash, the group that builds musical instruments from ordinary stuff that you would normally throw away. Spanning genres as well as generations, Think Big is their first album, with songs and music written during 25 years of non-stop performing. Jess Gold’s Animated Earth Concert Tour is coming to the East Coast of the US from England in October, 2014. Check the video here, the website here, and multi-media school resource here. Jacob Siegel is […]

Wondering how you can green your lawn, save money, and build community, all at the same time? The Sounds and Smells and Costs of Urban Ecosystem Servicing will challenge you to think deeply about the possibilities. Attend the Just Food Conference, April 5-6 at Columbia University, to learn about national farm and food issues, CSA trends, and cooking and food preservation techniques, as well as ways to mobilize communities in order to increase access to farm-fresh, locally grown food. This June, 18-24 year olds can participate in a Green Israel Trip with Taglit-Birthright and the Green Zionist Alliance. Do you want to achieve zero waste? Collect hard-to-recycle items in a box in the lobby and ship them free of charge to Terracycle. They will upcycle or recycle them. Share this exciting report on the impact of Jewish Environmental, Outdoor, and Food Education with your leaders to help them understand the value of the hands-on, values-based experiences you are creating.

by Laura Landau, Revson Fellow for Community Organizing, Congregation Beth Elohim Park Slope In August, when I started my new job, my very first meeting was with two community members who were concerned that greening was getting lost in Congregation Beth Elohim’s long list of social justice initiatives. As an area of focus, this coincided well with my goals and values. I was eager to re-engage the community on this important issue, but was not so confident that I had the tools to do so on my own. That’s where the Jewish Greening Fellowship came in. Attending several JGF trainings has connected me with leaders who work in similar positions, and has given me the resources to begin to build a new Green Team at CBE. We’ve built on the progress that CBE had already made in environmentalism, and have begun to look at ways that we can get involved as activists in the fight for environmental justice. One of my goals with the new Green Team is to emphasize the importance of environmental advocacy as a method of social change. Too often when we think of greening, we forget to think of the communities that are most affected. To engage […]

Melanie Cooperman, Cantor and Greening Fellow, and Irene Lustgarten, Executive Director, Community Synagogue of Rye Community Synagogue of Rye places a high value on environmental stewardship. The motto for our green team is from Kohelet: ‘One generation goes, another generation comes. The earth remains forever.’ As a member of the Jewish Greening Fellowship, the synagogue has reviewed and updated its energy audit with the NYS Energy and Research Development Authority, and received a grant which has been used to upgrade energy efficiency, increase recycling, and create a nature trail for educational programming. We also accepted the invitation to participate in the JGF Solar Energy Community Purchasing Project. We are very proud to report that Community Synagogue of Rye will be installing solar panels on the roof over the next 6-8 months with the goal of generating clean energy and reducing the amount of pollution. The solar panels are expected to reduce our energy costs by about 15% and the cost for the solar energy will always be less than the cost of purchasing the same amount of energy from ConEd. As a not-for-profit, Community Synagogue of Rye cannot directly take advantage of the tax credits offered for solar. The solar […]