Hazon Blog

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FUNdraising Tip #3: Spread the word

July 20th, 2018

Watch this short video from 2017 NY Ride honoree Ruth Messinger for some fundraising encouragement! Although fundraising may seem intimidating at first, you probably know more people than you realize. To start your fundraising, you need to first make a list[...]

FUNdraising Tip #2: Personalize it

July 20th, 2018

This is an easy one and only takes 5 minutes: personalize your fundraising page with a photo and text about why you're riding. Putting in a little bit of effort shows your donors that you're serious about what you're fundraising[...]

FUNdraising Tip #1: Set a Goal

July 20th, 2018

Every Rider has a fundraising minimum, but we encourage you to aim higher. The higher your fundraising target, the more generous your supporters will be. When you are close to meeting your target, consider setting a higher one. Need some extra incentives? Take a look at[...]

Choosing our History | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

July 19th, 2018

Henry Schmidt - Shalom Institute Parshat Devarim The Torah may be our past, but Devarim, the shared name both for this week’s Torah portion and for the fifth book of the Torah, is our history. What is the difference between past[...]

Why Do We Wander? | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

July 13th, 2018

Eliezer Weinbach - Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, Hazon Parshat Maasei Earlier this year, Isabella Freedman hosted a Moishe House retreat called “Wandering Jews.” Led by New York Times contributor Eli Reiter, twelve people in their twenties and thirties got together to[...]

What are we to do?

July 12th, 2018

by Nigel Savage Thursday, July 12, 2018 | 29 Tammuz 5778 This is a fresh attempt to explicate the seeming tension between the “Jewish” impact of our work and the “environmental” impact of our work. The question is: “What is the purpose of[...]

Death & life; a cemetery; eating animals...

June 29th, 2018

by Nigel Savage Thursday, June 28, 2018 | 15 Tammuz 5778 Dear All, Monday I went to see Eating Animals. Tuesday I went to a (quite moving and inspiring) funeral. Tonight I’m off to England. Then this Shabbat it’s the 17th of Tammuz. But we don’t fast on Shabbat, so this[...]

Fear and Donkeys | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

June 28th, 2018

Henry Schmidt - Shalom Institute Parshat Balak I thought Balak was a story about a donkey. That is to say, when I sat down to write this blog post, I expected to write about the talking donkey we’ll soon meet. Understandably, a talking[...]

Mayim Chayim and Honoring our Mother | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

June 21st, 2018

Alex Voynow - Jewish Farm School Parshat Chukat In Chukat, our mother dies. “Miriam died there [at Kadesh] and was buried there. The people were without water and they joined against Moses and Aaron.” ~Numbers 20.1-2 Miriam's death gets one line, and then the[...]

Korach: Disruptive Visionary or Disgruntled Rabble-Rouser? | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

June 14th, 2018

Eliezer Weinbach - Hazon, Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center Parshat Korach וַיֵּרְדוּ הֵם וְכָל-אֲשֶׁר לָהֶם, חַיִּים--שְׁאֹלָה And they and all their belongings went down, alive, into Sheol Numbers 16:33 I was traveling once, and my tour guide, a wizened Arab, asked me if I wanted[...]

The 12 Spies: What Went Wrong? | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

June 8th, 2018

Mollie Sharfman - GatherDC Parashat Shlach We put the twelve spies on trial on my Chumash/Bible class in my Jewish Day School when I was thirteen. My friend Leah Estreicher and I were appointed lawyers for the defense team. We studied the[...]

Hazon: The Jewish Lab for Sustainability...

June 7th, 2018

by Nigel Savage Thursday, June 7, 2018 | 24 Sivan 5778 Dear All, This week we were gratified to be listed in the Slingshot guide, the annual compilation of the most inspiring and innovative organizations and programs in the North American Jewish community. We’re proud[...]

To Kvetch or Not to Kvetch? | D’Varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

May 31st, 2018

Parshat Behaalotecha Frances Lasday - Hazon: Teva What strikes me most about this week's parsha, Behaalotecha, is the kvetching. The parsha (Torah portion) spends an entire chapter retelling several instances where the Jewish people complained endlessly. So, what can we[...]

A real gift / pass this on...

May 17th, 2018

By Nigel Savage Thursday, May 17, 2018 | 3rd Sivan 5778 | 47th day of the omer | Hod she’b’Malchut Dear All, This email is intended to be a gift, a series of gifts. I offer you – variously – the chance to get in better[...]

A Remarkable Four Days

May 3rd, 2018

by Nigel Savage Thursday, May 3, 2018 | Lag B’Omer 5778 | hod she’b’hod Jerusalem Dear All, How would it be if we only ate food that made us feel bad, day after day? And then only very occasionally ate food that was actually good for[...]

70 photos of the Empire State Building

April 19th, 2018

by Nigel Savage Yom Ha’atsma’ut 5778 | Hod she’b’Tiferet | 19th day of the Omer | 19th April 2018 Dear All, Something I read somewhere, recently: Every book begins with a thought. Every company begins with a thought. Every building begins with a thought. Every political[...]

Sustaining Together: How and why communities are the building blocks of sustainable living

April 12th, 2018

By Aharon Ariel Lavi Somewhere in the early 90’s, when I was in 5th grade, I remember watching a TV show describing what might be the consequences of what was then known as Global Warming and the Ozone Layer Hole. Don’t[...]

Be nice to your rabbi...!

April 5th, 2018

By Nigel Savage Thursday 5th April | 5th Day of the Omer | Hod she’b’Chesed Dear All, Disclosure: It is true that some of my best friends are rabbis. But this email is all my own work, and I didn’t discuss it beforehand with[...]

Not just “Counting the Omer;” also making it count…

March 30th, 2018

By Nigel Savage Friday, March 30, 2018 | 13 Nissan 5778 Dear All, Sefirat Ha’Omer – the counting of the Omer – is rooted in the Biblical mitzvah of counting the 49 days between the Jewish holidays of Pesach and Shavuot, when the first sacrifices[...]

Four Real Questions

March 22nd, 2018

By Nigel Savage Thursday, March 22, 2018 | 6 Nissan 5778 Dear All, Here are four questions in the lead-up to the Pesach Seder. Feel free to think about these yourself, and/or discuss at the seder table. What’s the relationship between getting rid of “chametz”[...]

Hadar Chooses Higher Welfare

March 13th, 2018

by Jenny Koshner, Program Coordinator, Hadar Institute Hadar empowers Jews to create and sustain vibrant, practicing, egalitarian communities of Torah, Avodah, and Hesed. They are a Hazon Seal of Sustainability site based in New York, NY. This past year at Hadar has been a transformative year[...]

Trusting the tradition? / Remembering Naomi Rabkin, z”l

March 8th, 2018

Thursday, March 8, 2018 | 21 Adar 5778 Naomi Rabkin funeral and shiva: The funeral will be on Thursday, March 8 at 1:00 PM at El Camino Memorial Park chapel followed by burial at El Camino (5600 Carroll Canyon Rd, San Diego,[...]

A sharp pepper and a basket of pumpkins…

February 22nd, 2018

by Nigel Savage Thursday, February 22, 2018 | 7 Adar 5778 Dear All, First up: space is filling up quickly for Pesach at Freedman. We still have some slots for the middle days and second days. It’s a beautiful time of the year. Do come. Similarly:[...]

Shemesh and Service Work: Igniting Holiness Through our JOFEE Work | JOFEE Fellowship Cohort 2 Reflections

February 7th, 2018

We were pleased and proud to graduate the second cohort of JOFEE Fellows last month at our closing seminar at the brand-new Urban Adamah farm and community center in Berkeley, CA. With this cohort’s sixteen fellows, we have now graduated[...]

Rise to the Challenge – Every Month!

February 6th, 2018

To start off the secular new year with sustainability in mind, the Hazon Seal launched its first monthly sustainability challenge! Open to everyone, participants are given the opportunity to challenge themselves to bring sustainability into their lives in engaging, creative[...]

Hakhel, Heathlands, Jewish Community Farming...and the evolution of "community" in the 21st century

January 25th, 2018

by Nigel Savage Thursday, January 25, 2018 | 9 Shevat 5778 Dear All, I and we struggle to explain what Hazon is and why we do the things we do. Partly this is our fault, and we must try to fix that; we’re working on[...]

Tu b'Shvat is not just for kids

January 18th, 2018

by Nigel Savage Thursday, January 18, 2018 | 2 Shevat 5778 Dear All, Tu b'Shvat is “the new year for trees.” But, above and beyond the history – the tax year in temple times; the kabbalists in Safed; the JNF; the contemporary Jewish environmental movement[...]

American Distinctiveness…

January 11th, 2018

by Nigel Savage Thursday, January 11, 2018 | 24 Tevet 5778 Dear All,I begin with condolences and congratulations.Condolences: We join with many others in mourning the tragic loss of Hannah Weiss, z"l, and her family. Hannah's memorial service took place this week. Although I had[...]

Reb Zalman z"l and the Tree of Life

December 27th, 2017

by Nigel Savage Wednesday, July 9, 2014 | 11 Tammuz 5774 Dear All, As the week goes on, and despite events in Israel and so many other things, I remain profoundly aware of the death of Reb Zalman, may his memory be for a[...]

The Miracle of Chanukah: A Lesson on Longevity

December 12th, 2017

Wondrous as it is, the miracle of Chanukah, in which an oil flask meant to last one day instead lasted eight, seems dwarfed in today’s world of everlasting products: plastic bottles, diapers, aluminum foil, electronics, to name a few. But[...]

Wrestling With Darkness | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

December 7th, 2017

Jacob Weiss - Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center Parshat Vayishlach This week’s Torah portion — Vayishlach — is jam packed with complex and significant plot lines that the reader can surely glean valuable lessons from. The parsha opens up with Jacob preparing himself and his[...]

Why go on a Jewish meditation retreat?

December 6th, 2017

by Rabbi Jay Michaelson Wednesday, December 6, 2017 | 18 Kislev 5778 In large part, the answers are the same as to why one would go on a meditation retreat in general: greater awareness of how we thrive and how we suffer, recharging the mind[...]

3 Good Things...

November 30th, 2017

by Nigel Savage Thursday, November 30, 2017 | 12 Kislev 5778 Dear All,Last week I shared Shawn Achor’s superb TED Talk.Part of his punchline is that if you journal three different good things that happen to you each day, over time that starts to cause you actually[...]

A gratitude video that's laugh-out-loud funny - and helpful, too...

November 22nd, 2017

by Nigel Savage Dear All, Last week, I sent to all of our staff, what I think is the best – and more significantly the most useful – TED Talk I’ve ever seen. It’s from a few years ago, by a fellow called Shawn[...]

Fear and light

November 16th, 2017

by Nigel Savage Thursday, November 16, 2017 | 27 Cheshvan 5778 Dear All, It’s Rosh Chodesh Kislev this weekend. Light in the darkness. I say: Bring it on. That was my first thought. And my second was: What’s the line between cliché and language that is[...]

"Down To Earth" Judaism | D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

November 16th, 2017

Chayei Sarah Darya Watnick | Edlavitch DC JCC - Washington, DC This week’s Torah portion is Chayei Sarah, literally “The Life of Sarah.” The title is a bit of a misnomer, as Sarah dies in the second verse. This portion instead focuses[...]

Parasha Vayeira - D'varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

November 9th, 2017

By: Brittany Feldman - Hazon - Detroit, Michigan This week's Torah Portion, Vayeira, discusses circumcision, birth, destruction, disobedience, and devotion. With so many themes in one portion, I’m choosing to focus on one that stood out to me the most, disobedience. In[...]

The Ceremony of Innocence

November 2nd, 2017

by Nigel Savage November 2, 2017 | 13 Cheshvan 5778 Dear All, I rode into work the day before yesterday, as I do many days of the year, on a beautiful bike path on a beautiful day. Hazon worked quite hard, for several years,[...]

Ten New Sites Get the Green Light!

October 31st, 2017

A warm welcome and mazal tov to the Fall 2017 Seal of Sustainability Cohort! We are excited that these 10 new sites - from the east coast, west coast, and in between - are joining the Seal Network on a[...]

Unique Boulder Collaboration Leads to Big Food Rescue Wins

October 24th, 2017

The juxtaposition of the Jewish community's commitment to addressing hunger issues and the reality of literal tons of prepared foods being wasted after events was too much for Hazon's Boulder Director, Becky O'Brien, to handle. She observed that the Jewish[...]