14th July 2010 Dear All, Hazon is ten years old this year. We’re working hard in multiple ways to bring forth our vision – a healthier and more sustainable Jewish community, and a healthier and more sustainable world for all. We’re proud that our 45 Hazon CSAs (Community-Supported Agriculture programs) are now the largest faith-based system of CSAs in the country. This fall, as well as our 10th NY Ride and our 10th Israel Ride, we’re launching a new CSA Conference (at Isabella Freedman) and a Food Leadership Forum (at Walker Creek, in CA). We’re developing Makom Hadash, our shared-space for second-stage Jewish non-profits. We’re planning our second CA Ride – and a second Israel Food Tour, with the Heschel Center. Meantime, New York’s DOT is planning the protected bike lane in the Upper West Side that we organized for. The Alliance for Religions & Conservation is working on a Sacred Cities initiative that grew out of our Jewish delegation last year. And we’re proud of the extraordinary success of Wilderness Torah and Jewish Farm School, the two organizations that we’re fiscal sponsor to. JFS has established a new home at Eden Village Camp, one of the most remarkable new […]
Tag Archives | jewish cycling
Hazon Helps Bring Protected Bike Lanes to New York’s Upper West Side
A special report by Mara Friedman, Hazon Advocacy Intern Congratulations to the Upper West Side Community Board on a close 24-19 vote in favor of creating protected bike lanes on Columbus Avenue between 96th-77th street! The auditorium was packed with supporters sporting neon stickers that “Protected Bike Lanes Protect Everyone.” Among the speakers testifying were actor Matthew Modine, and New York Times columnist Randy Cohen, who spoke out in favor of the protected lanes. About a dozen people from Hazon were at the meeting, including Executive Director, Nigel Savage, who spoke on behalf of the Jewish community. Nigel extolled the social justice and environmental impact such bike lanes would have, not to mention the safety benefits. He spoke of the Jewish community’s interest in civil rights movements of the past, driving home the idea that protected bike lanes are not just a fringe issue but that they would be a positive addition to the Upper West Side (UWS) for all its residents. Additionally, Nigel reminded the board that Hazon has collected over 400 signatures of residents and letters of support from over a dozen kosher businesses and synagogues on the UWS. (more…)
Isaiah Berlin, Shavuot and the Rides
San Francisco, CA Monday 17th May 2010 48th day of the omer, 5770 Dear All, There is a notion in Jewish tradition of “hiddur mitzvah” – beautifying the mitzvah. It means something like “going above and beyond.” Hiddur mitzvah is the beautiful table cloth for Shabbat, the flowers, the fine china; also the freshest produce from your farmer’s market or your CSA, and the time spent cooking from first principles, rather than just buying something pre-cooked. The omer is a sort of rorschach process, in which we see in each day some reflection of our own life in the sefirot, and vice versa Hiddur mitzvah in relation to counting the omer means not merely counting – actually saying the bracha and counting each day, on the evening of the omer – but, coming back to it through the day; having a real sense of each day of the omer as distinct from each other day, and being conscious of it, and reflecting on it. (I’d add that there is a relationship, in some sense, with the evolution of the first 49 years of your life; each is distinct and, just as the omer culminates in Shavuot, I’d argue that the first 49 years of one’s life […]
2009 Fall Israel Ride: Reports from the Field
Day Six: Monday, November 9 Kibbutz Ketura to Eilat David Eisenberg Eilat, Israel, on the red sea. We’ve biked just shy of 310 miles since leaving Tzfat, everyone one of them fantastic. Robert Rosenbaum – Kibbutz Ketura to Eilat – 47 miles. We started out our final day climbing over 38 miles to Mt Hizkiyanu. We had a well deserved lunch on top of the mountain, where you can see Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Saudia Arabia. We then decended 5 miles (very steep) into Eliat. Relaxed at the Red Sea. Our closing banquet is this evening. Don’t want this to end! (more…)
Major Bike Legislation Changes A City
If you have the opportunity to spend time in Amsterdam, Chicago, Copenhagen, Portland, or Bogota, you will witness the possibilities of the bicycle as a main source of transportation. A transportation system in Amsterdam where almost 40 percent of all trips are made by bicycle evolves through a combination of economic necessity, bike friendly policies, a strong integrated public transportation system and a vocal community of cycling advocates. Recently, the New York City Council took a step toward making the city more bike friendly. They passed two pieces of bike friendly legislation that will greatly reduce the biggest deterrent to bike commuting: bike theft. Intro. 0780-A (Koppell) – bicycle parking in garages and parking lots. This bill will require the operator of every garage and parking lot with a capacity of one-hundred or more cars to provide and maintain parking spaces for bikes. The law mandates one bike spot for every 10 motor vehicle spots. Prices for the new bike parking will be left up to the garage owners to decide. According to DOT Commissioner Janet Sadik-Khan’s estimates, the law will eventually create more than 20,000 new bike parking spaces in nearly 1,700 locations, mostly in Manhattan. Intro. 0871-A (Yassky) […]
2008 Israel Ride Official Blog
We did it! – David Eisenberg – Monday, November 17 We did it! It is hard to believe that it is only six days since we cycled out of Jerusalem — five days of cycling, a wonderful, relaxing Shabbat in Mitzpeh Ramon, and, today, 282 miles later, we pedaled into Eilat! I still owe some details on the past few days, each of which had it’s own unique and special character. Even though this was my third Israel Ride, it was still a remarkable experience. (more…)
PEDALING FOR PEACE: 350 Miles (even more than I expected!!), Jerusalem to Eilat
By Rachel Brandenberg Back in Jerusalem after a week in the desert, having successfully completed 350 miles of bike riding through the southern half of Israel, I am sitting at the table in my apartment looking at and listening to a light rain through open windows, appreciating the cool breeze and pitter-patter of the water on my mirpeset (balcony). With great thanks to all of you who have supported or intend to support me, the Arava Institute and Hazon in this endeavor, I offer here a taste of the Israel Ride 2007 experience in stories and pictures. For more footage (still and video), reports from the ride, and/or to help me reach my fundraising goal, lots of great information is still available at www.israelride.org. After meeting the Arava Institute staff and students, visiting their facilities and hearing more about their work, as well as riding through much of the territory they study and work to preserve and develop, I can say with full confidence that I am happy to have embarked on this adventure and do all that I can to offer them my support. (more…)
Grueling Desert Biking in Israel: Breaking out of the Comfort Zone, for a Cause
By Andy Katell “The hill is your friend,” Howie Rodenstein declared as he tried to brace 180 Americans, Australians and Israelis for what was to become the bicycle climb of their lives – 4,100 feet up from the lowest point on earth. Later, while trudging up yet another massive hill en route from the Dead Sea to Eilat, I learned that what Howie, a founder of the annual Arava Institute Hazon Israel Ride, probably really meant was that the downhill is your friend. (more…)
Daniel C – From Jerusalem to Eilat, The 2007 Arava/Hazon Israel Ride
Practicality flooded my realm today. Waking to find forty others gathered together for prayers overlooking Jerusalem, in its waking hours with its cars and lights, hitting 50 mph on the speedometer along the 20 mile downhill stretch outside of the ancient city, suffering the ogre belches of 18-wheeler’s exhaust pipes and trekking a good 50 miles under the desert’s 100 degree sun. We had a police motorcade. There was a point when our cop friends slowed down traffic enough (around 30 mph) for me to have a slight chance to catch up to the cars. I did. Three cheers! (more…)
IsraelRide 2007 for Environmentalism and Peace: Jeff Borkan – Sharon, Massachusetts
Pushing the limits: wondering how and if my leg muscles will keep the spindly wheels turning, as another of the countless hills is attempted, heat rolls over my back, and the desert spreads out before me in a vista of earth tones and sky. A major part of the theme of the ride was to further appreciate Israeli desert ecology as one pedals through it. There is also the conscious effort to promote thinking more broadly than just the ecology of Israel, as “the environment knows no national borders”. The 6 day trek of 178 riders took each of us beyond our individual capacities, created community, raised both ecological awareness and nearly $1m for worthy environmental causes, and left (except for the flights to the country), a fairly small carbon footprint. (more…)
Shabbat Hazon 2006
Friday July 28th 2006 / 3 Av 5766 Dear All, This Shabbat is Shabbat Hazon, which you would think would be the sort of time I ought to write something to our list. But then one recalls that Shabbat Hazon is not about “hazon” – vision – in a positive and inspirational sense (which is largely why Hazon is called Hazon) but rather about a prophecy of destruction and despoliation, especially in Israel. And then I think: well, perhaps I should indeed write something… (more…)
2005 New York Ride Keynote Address
by Ariana Silverman This summer, my uncle, a middle-aged working father of three, volunteered to be a Little League Umpire. As many of you know, the difficulty of this particular job is not the physical exertion, or the danger of being confronted by a player, or even that there are that many pitches that are too close-to-call, but having to face the genuine wrath of a parent who feels that his or her child, or even his or her child’s team, has been wronged. During one particularly heated game, my uncle’s calls were repeatedly followed by yelling from an offended mother in the stands. Trying to keep his cool, when, in the middle of the forth inning, she asked for the count, he obligingly held up his hands . My uncle was stunned by her temporary silence, and then it came: “Ump, you’re gonna hafta yell-out the count-I don’t have my glasses on!” Tonight I invite you to join me in a conversation about seeing. Our Torah portion this Shabbat begins with the command to see: Re’eh. Re’eh Anochi Notein L’ifneicheim HaYom Bracha U’klalah. See, this day I set before you blessing and curse (Deuteronomy 11:26). This theme is not […]
2004 Israel Ride – Letter from Nigel
New York 34th day of the omer 5764 Monday 10th May 2004 Dear All, This time last week I was one of more than 100 riders cycling on a spectacular road, down into Eilat, from the red mountains of the Israel/Egypt border. We were ending the six-day, 300-mile, Arava Institute Hazon Israel Bike Ride: Cycling for Peace, Partnership & Environmental Protection. The Ride was a remarkable experience, for me inspirational and thought-provoking. In quite a number of senses, as well as the most literal, we got to see Israel from an unusual perspective. In this email I want to give a flavor of what we did and some of what I thought about as we did it. This is a long email: feel free to print this and read it at your leisure later on. (more…)
2003 Israel Ride – Letter to Donors
Dear Donors, What an Incredible Way to See Israel !!! Thanks Again for helping to make my dream a reality !!! You all knew I had high had expectations for this Ride And it exceeded every single one of them !!! (more…)
2003 Israel Ride – Letter from Nigel
New York Yom Ha’atsma’aut 5763 / 7th May 2003 Dear All, I’m back in New York after the first-ever Arava Institute Hazon Israel Bike Ride. I’m jetlagged and sunburned and, courtesy of my first-ever downhill mountain-biking, bearing one or two scars. But I had a wonderful time, and I’m delighted to report that (minus the injuries) so did the rest of our riders. I got an email yesterday from Rosie Sharabhani which was typical of people’s responses: “I’ve been to Israel over a dozen times, but this has definitely been one of the most memorable trips I’ve ever had – from biking across the desert and feeling the utter beauty of the land in a more intimate way than ever before, to bonding with Jews from different backgrounds and ages who I would otherwise never have crossed paths with, and meeting Israelis who were so gracious and welcoming, and who shared with us their commitment and incredible contributions to this country. I’ve come out of this trip feeling a deeper love and connection to the miracle of Israel, and really look forward to build upon the community/family that was formed on this bike trip!” (more…)
