Hazon Educational Library: Crafting + DIY

As we learn from our tradition, we have a responsibility to care for the trees we have and to plan trees for the future. Recycled papermaking is a way of making new paper without needing to harvest more trees.

Our tradition teaches that Shmirat HaGuf (care of our bodies) is important so that we can do good work in the world. To love ourselves we need to take care of our mind, body, and spirit. Using natural products with simple earth-based ingredients is a way of taking care of our bodies and gifting to others.

Betzalel's Workshop involves creating and working with ritual objects from local, organic, ethically sourced, and recycled materials, participants will learn both the centrality of environmental responsibility to Jewish life, as well as a sense of ownership and pride over their participation in Jewish ritual. We feel that, by creating the basic object of a ritual, with all its flaws, character, and uniqueness, children are drawn closer to ritual. By creating an alternative to mass-produced, store-bought Judaica, we create an avenue towards creative, participatory Judaism.

In the Garden of Eden, Adam named all the creatures in the garden and looked into their souls, basing their names on their essence. Here in a small way we have the opportunity to create and name pipe cleaner creatures. There is amazing diversity of life on the planet. What animals do you interact with and what are their needs?

In Judaism, treating animals with respect and kindness is very important. Some of our most important biblical heroes, like Jacob and Moses, were shepherds who treated their animals with love and care. Rebecca was known for her significant kindness to animals. Use a combination of recycled and natural materials to make a take-home bird feeder for your local feathered friends!

In Judaism, treating animals with respect and kindness is very important. Some of our most important biblical heroes, like Jacob and Moses, were shepherds who treated their animals with love and care. Rebecca was known for her significant kindness to animals. Use a combination of recycled and natural materials to make a take-home bird feeder for your local feathered friends!

Three-fold workshop, which involves delving into the history of dairy on Hanukkah, making cheese and butter, and a discussion about the dairy industry and striving towards greater ethical consumption under capitalism, under the lens of our environmental crisis.

Allow intuition to guide you. Explore what resonates for you. Leave behind what does not resonate. Ultimately, the oracle cards are you ? your connection, intuition and interpretation.

This curriculum has instructions for how to whittle a yad, and is introduced with education about how a Torah is made.

Traditionally, weaving has deep roots in the Jewish culture. The craft of weaving is one of the 39 crafts that the Jewish people used to create the Mishkan (tabernacle) in the desert. Weaving, and many of the actions associated with weaving are mentioned specifically in the 39 Melachot, the list of labor forbidden on Shabbat. Although many of the traditional Jewish weaving techniques have been lost to exile, modern day ritual objects are often still made from woven materials, including challah covers, kippot and tallis. Looking back, history shows us that the nomadic Israelites used what fibers they had on hand, such as camel, goat, and sheep, to create their clothing and dwellings. These ancestral methods were simple. Using this simplicity as inspiration, the loom for this project is crafted from sturdy cardboard, the warp is made using cotton string, and the weft consists of long pieces of recycled fabric. Simplicity is often key in introducing new textile art projects to preschool age children. These projects are multifaceted and engaging to young minds, integrating core skill sets such as language and literacy development through oral storytelling, problem solving, pattern recognition, and fine motor development.