Hazon Educational Library
Curricula, sourcebooks, and other educational resources from and for the field of Jewish Outdoor, Food, Farming & Environmental Education
This open source collection includes resources produced by individuals and organizations throughout the JOFEE field. Our Educational Library, like our community, celebrates the diversity of religious observance and thought and we make every effort to accommodate the breadth and diversity of the Jewish community in our programs and curricula. We hope you will take and use what is appropriate for you and invite others to do the same.
While this resource will continue to grow and evolve, it currently includes:
• Hazon’s Publications (available online and in print)
• Curricula produced by JOFEE Fellows during their Fellowship year
• Curricula and resources shared from partner JOFEE organizations
All materials are available for free download. Most are available for use and adaptation under creative commons license. Please cite authors and organizations on any materials used or adapted from these resources.
Use the filters in the bar below to narrow your search.
Divine Dyeing: How to harness the holiness of color through natural dyeing
This program is an interactive color exploration through natural dyeing. Participants will learn about the symbolism and holiness associated with certain colors in Judaism, specifically the blue of tekhelet that is found in Tzitzit. They will also learn how to harvest and use different parts of plants to create their own dye and take home a self-dyed bookmark.
Sukkot, the Jewish Earth Day
This program is designed to engage families with young children with the holiday of Sukkot and the festival's connection to nature and the environment. Through stories, activities and arts & crafts, families will begin to develop a relationship to the rituals and traditions of Sukkot and think about their own connection to the natural world.
Sacred Time and Space: A Stone’s Text Application
This program is an activity meant for a Shabbaton retreat to get people ready spiritually for shabbos and invoke deep questioning.
Age(s): Adults, Young Adults
Oneness: All Camp Evening Activity
This is a one hour program designed for campers ages 8-15 to run around, have fun, and start to think about how there are so many different people in the world, but how we are one in harmony. Oneness is a central theme in our religion and allows us to see things from different perspectives. Campers will be put to the test to work together to unlock the answers to where the most strength and power exists in the universe. Through overcoming challenges placed before them, campers will ultimately understand that we have the most strength and can make the biggest changes in the world when we put our differences aside and work together.
Degel – What we stand for
Everyone has things they stand for and qualities they value. Grounding ourselves in the Biblical texts about Tribal flags the Midrash there, we will use flags as an opportunity to think about what symbols we can use to describe ourselves and what we value. Participants will learn about themselves and get to make their own flags that serve to unify what they stand for with where they came from.
Alef Elul: Jewish New Year for Animals
During this program participants will celebrate this holiday through hands-on crafts, a ritual and by learning about heritage breed chickens. The final portion of the program is written here as a panel discussion but can be any type of learning relevant to your organization and audience
Young Adult Tu B’Shvat Seder
A Tu B'Svhat Seder is a fun experiential way to connect to a little known Jewish holiday, bringing to life ecological teachings, enjoying fruit from around the world, drinking good wine and of course fostering social connections. This year, with the help of the JCC Rabbi, the Mayerson JCC hosted their first Tu B'Svhat Seder for Young Adults.
Age(s): Young Adults
Throwing Stones or Throwing Flowers: Exploring Our Relationship with the Public Domain
This program presents students with the opportunity to delve deeply into the hidden messages of verse 50b of the Bava Kama (the stones text). Through text study, discussion and a hands-on activity, students will explore their relationship with the public domain. After investigating the myriad ways in which we might violate the public domain, students will actively nurture the public domain through shared intentions for community prosperity hidden inside a seed ball or planted beneath a tree.
Early Childhood Learns about composting!
Through a small discussion and watching a Curious George video, the children will learn about how everyone produces trash and ways to keep said trash out of the landfill. The children will learn about composting and how it will benefit their garden. Each child will then get a piece of trash to separate into a trash bin, recycling bin or composting bin. While they are separating trash into the compost bin they will be making their own composter out of a soda bottle to keep for their classroom and watch the compost turn to fertilizer. We will then gather together for a wrap up where they will see some broken down compost and hear what they will keep from their class to put in the composter outside.
Age(s): Early Childhood
Day of Awe-some: A Rosh Hashanah Family Program
This program is an opportunity for families with young children to engage in the Jewish rituals and traditions surrounding the holiday of Rosh Hashanah. They will be able to meet families like themselves while spending the morning creating a meaningful and educational connection with a Jewish holiday.
Age(s): Early Childhood
Beginnings: Exploring the beginning and connections between the plant cycle and Torah
This individual lesson will be exploring the beginning of creation, both in our Jewish tradition and in the lives of plants. It will be covering text from Breisheit and the connections to food/farming found in the text. This lesson will also cover hands-on experience with planting seeds and a basic knowledge of seed/plant evolution and the concepts of seed saving.
Age(s): Teens
Inclusivity: an Exploratory Conversation for JOFEE Organizations
Although most JOFEE (Jewish Outdoor, Food, Farm, and Environmental Education) organizations weren't born of a mission to tackle them head on, we encounter questions of social justice in our work every day. While our programs may be boiled down into descriptors like ?outdoor education,? ?pickling workshop,? or ?holiday retreat,? JOFEE organizations exist within a broader world of Judaism, human socialization, and all their globalized complexities.
Age(s): Adults
Food Systems and Jewish Values
In this program participants have the opportunity to think beyond their own garden and analyze two food systems at play in the world--local and global.Once students grasp these two simplified food systems that represent how our food is currently produced, they will explore which system aligns best with Jewish values.
Todah-Giving: Garlic Gratitude
This program reclaims our American holiday of Thanksgiving by transforming it into an opportunity to embrace HaKarat HaTov (recognizing the good, or gratitude) during a quiet time on the Jewish calendar. As the farming season winds down, this program invites participants to transition into a reflective season while literally and figuratively planting gratitude for what the growing season has brought us and what is to come in the next year. Through personal reflection, exploration of the Jewish and growing calendars, and garlic planting, participants will build connections to the earth and Jewish values
Seed Stories
This program uses storytelling as an introduction into the importance of seeds and the connections foods play to different people and cultures. Participants will have the opportunity to connect with a specific seed/plant and learn how plants and the foods created from them, can act as a living conduits for these stories. It is also an opportunity for participants to see the connection between their Judaism and a specific plant/food, or create their own new and important connection. Lastly, using seed stories as a framework within the garden offers the opportunity to create a sense of connection and continuity between multiple groups of campers.
