Rabbi Lev Herrnson, 2014 Israel rider, explores his experience on the Israel Ride and his connection to the wilderness of Israel’s south.

Rabbi Lev Herrnson, 2014 Israel rider, explores his experience on the Israel Ride and his connection to the wilderness of Israel’s south.
Marcy Perlman Tardio rode on the 2014 Arava Institute & Hazon Israel Ride. She is a mother, grandmother, and homebirth midwife living in Brooklyn. This piece was originally published online at Haaretz.com on December 1st, 2014. Many within my multi-cultural circle of family and friends refused to support my participation in a charity bike ride in Israel, an ‘oppressor’ and ‘colonialist’ state. The year following my kidney transplant, over a decade ago, I rode in the Hazon charity bike ride in New York. I rode then to honor my older son, who had gifted me the kidney, and to celebrate my new-found health. Through the organizers I learned of a counterpart ride that took place in Israel; several weeks ago, I returned from the Hazon-Arava bike ride, where I completed 230 miles from Jerusalem to Eilat. Despite the challenges of the heat and the terrain, my most unexpected difficulty had emerged before I even sat in the saddle: Persuading my peers to donate to a charity effort that would take place in Israel. At the time of my first ride I had joined a synagogue. My younger son already attended Jewish day school. I, the daughter of culturally Jewish, left wing, secular […]
Rabbi Steve Golden reflects on his experience of riding on the 2014 Arava Institute & Hazon Israel Ride in memory of his friend, with inspiration from Israel and the Torah portion.
Jon Harris-Shapiro, two-time Israel rider, talks about going on the Israel Ride for an adventure and returning with that – and so much more. Jon will be on the 2014 Israel Ride in November.
Falynn Schmidt will be riding on her third Israel Ride in the fall. You can read this post and others on her blog “Baynim“ This year is auspicious, although I probably said that last year too. Last year my Gregorian calendar (May 26) and Hebrew calendar (Sivan 16) birthdays aligned, which only happens once every 19 years (auspicious, right?). I am announcing the auspiciousness again because this year is my last in this most memorable of decades. [1] I am not quite ready to head into the next 10 years, however I, please G/d, plan to use the next 12 months to prepare myself. To celebrate my birthday, I hope to do what I have done for the past three years, which is to ride my bicycle several hundred miles over the course of several days. It is this most childish of sports, indeed the only sport I learned to do in my childhood, that sustains my physical and mental health, makes me feel (and I dare say look) younger than my years, and gives me a grand goal of riding 400 miles. I will picture myself, wind in my pigtails, tush on a banana seat, turquoise tassles streaming from […]
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Hazon means vision and Hazon’s vision is to create a vibrant, healthy Jewish community in which to be Jewish is to help create a more sustainable world for all. So what is your vision for how we can repair the earth and how do you play a role in that?
One of the reasons that I think it’s so hard for people to live sustainably is cost and convenience. Mostly convenience. But also cost. It’s just really, really convenient to get disposables and get things to go and most of the things that you have access to are disposable or just not good for the environment. I think that making sure that we have more sustainable options available is important. Obviously, it would be optimal if we got to a point where there were more sustainable options and not unsustainable options, but if there’s at least a comparable amount of both I think that is something that would make a huge impact.
Also, a huge thing that we do is equity and being sustainable can be really expensive.
Finding biodegradable or compostable cutlery or plates is a lot more expensive than buying a bajillion solo cups. So then obviously with the access and the process there’s a certain amount of privilege to being able to live sustainability. So I think that working with other companies and organizations, and helping them make more sustainable choices will end up having ripple effects. And I think that my role is, it’s actually interesting, because I read this article recently that was saying how someone living a low waist life is potentially not as impactful as living a regular waist filled life and reaching out to large companies who generate a lot of waves is important and actually asking them to make changes. I don’t know whether or not I agree with that, but it’s definitely something I’ve been thinking about. I try myself to live as minimally wasteless as possible. But something that I definitely want to work on is reaching out to different companies and organizations that are widespread or that have an impact on me and seeing if they can make more sustainable choices.
What role does tikkun olam play in your life and how is that connected to the Brit Hazon?
So many ways. One of the things that I love about Hazon is our three things that we call out for what we want for this world. We want a healthy, sustainable and equitable world. And I think that a lot of the different ways that we practice and improve and incorporate health, sustainability and equity is a form of tikkun olam. Making sure that animals are treated fairly and in doing so, doing away with factory farming, which is kinder to the earth, and abolishing all of these terrible practices, making the norm be ethical practices that would lower the cost of things. And I just think that it’s all tied together so that we’re helping the planet and animals and humans all be able to have the same access to live a healthy, sustainable and equitable life.
Hazon means vision and Hazon’s vision is to create a vibrant, healthy Jewish community in which to be Jewish is to help create a more sustainable world for all. So what is your vision for how we can repair the earth and how do you play a role in that?
One of the reasons that I think it’s so hard for people to live sustainably is cost and convenience. Mostly convenience. But also cost. It’s just really, really convenient to get disposables and get things to go and most of the things that you have access to are disposable or just not good for the environment. I think that making sure that we have more sustainable options available is important. Obviously, it would be optimal if we got to a point where there were more sustainable options and not unsustainable options, but if there’s at least a comparable amount of both I think that is something that would make a huge impact.
Also, a huge thing that we do is equity and being sustainable can be really expensive.
Finding biodegradable or compostable cutlery or plates is a lot more expensive than buying a bajillion solo cups. So then obviously with the access and the process there’s a certain amount of privilege to being able to live sustainability. So I think that working with other companies and organizations, and helping them make more sustainable choices will end up having ripple effects. And I think that my role is, it’s actually interesting, because I read this article recently that was saying how someone living a low waist life is potentially not as impactful as living a regular waist filled life and reaching out to large companies who generate a lot of waves is important and actually asking them to make changes. I don’t know whether or not I agree with that, but it’s definitely something I’ve been thinking about. I try myself to live as minimally wasteless as possible. But something that I definitely want to work on is reaching out to different companies and organizations that are widespread or that have an impact on me and seeing if they can make more sustainable choices.
What role does tikkun olam play in your life and how is that connected to the Brit Hazon?
So many ways. One of the things that I love about Hazon is our three things that we call out for what we want for this world. We want a healthy, sustainable and equitable world. And I think that a lot of the different ways that we practice and improve and incorporate health, sustainability and equity is a form of tikkun olam. Making sure that animals are treated fairly and in doing so, doing away with factory farming, which is kinder to the earth, and abolishing all of these terrible practices, making the norm be ethical practices that would lower the cost of things. And I just think that it’s all tied together so that we’re helping the planet and animals and humans all be able to have the same access to live a healthy, sustainable and equitable life.