Hazon Educational Library: B'nai Mitzvah

Before the flood while Noah was readying the animals, a midrash says his wife Naamah was collecting seeds and plants. Through this lens, we'll explore plant life cycles, seed saving, and Jewish ideas of sustainability.

This is a program that is intended to serve a large audience with a wide age range and little or no experience in the natural world or with nature-based Judaism. It is a stations-based program in which small groups (in this case, groups of 4-8) travel from activity to activity on a rotation, spending about twenty minutes at each station. In order to serve such a wide age range and interest/experience level, the stations are diverse in topic and activity, with the intention that all participants will find themselves challenged and engaged in at least a few of the activities, if not all.

This program is a hands-on workshop focused on cultivating joyful connections between participants while upholding sentiments of empowerment and spiritual reflection. Emphasizing sustainability, self-care, and political resistance, participants will have the opportunity to share holiday memories, learn about chanukah and other earth-based Jewish winter rituals, and create their very own set of hanukkah candles.