Topic: Sukkot

Hazon Detroit: Shake Local

By Hazon on October 7, 2020 in Climate Change, Detroit, Education, Holidays, Reflections, Sukkot

Dear Friends, Our rabbis say (Tosafot, Suk. 37b) that when we shake the lulav and etrog on Sukkot, “the trees of the forest sing with joy.” So that got us to wondering, what are the conditions that might allow the trees around us to sing with the greatest amount of joy during this holiday season that just passed? Every year on Sukkot, the US imports upwards of 500,000 lulavim from Israel and Egypt so that we can construct our traditional lulavim bundles using the familiar palm fronds, willow, myrtle, and citron. This combination of species has become so definitional that most of us probably don’t even consider that a lulav could be constructed any other way. But the original text is not so clear. In Torah (Lev 23.40), where we’re first told about the four species, the text simply says: לְקַחְתֶּ֨ם לָכֶ֜ם בַּיּ֣וֹם הָרִאשׁ֗וֹן פְּרִ֨י עֵ֤ץ הָדָר֙ כַּפֹּ֣ת תְּמָרִ֔ים וַעֲנַ֥ף עֵץ־עָבֹ֖ת וְעַרְבֵי־נָ֑חַל וּשְׂמַחְתֶּ֗ם לִפְנֵ֛י יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶ֖ם שִׁבְעַ֥ת יָמִֽים׃ On the first day you shall take the fruit of beautiful trees, fronds of palm-shaped trees, branches of woven trees, and valley-willows, and you shall rejoice before YHVH your God for seven days. Nowhere does it determine, at its linguistic core, the […]

Sukkahfest Reflections

By Hazon on November 27, 2019 in Reflections, Sukkot

By Toby Shulruff My family and I live in Portland, Oregon – which is both geographically and symbolically out on the edges of American Jewish life. My husband and I work outside of Jewish community. Our neighborhood is a little oasis of diversity in the very white northwest –our neighbors are from all over the world, often recent immigrants from Africa, Latin America, and South Asia. I love raising my kids to know all our neighbors, and at the same time, it makes our connection to Jewish life all the more precious. Finding a Jewish community for our family took a long time. Though Portland might sound like the frontier, it actually has more than eight shuls, a Jewish museum, and even an Unshul! But for my family, we want the Torah learning of the Chasidim, with the social justice of Heschel, with a heavy dose of Earth-based mysticism, gender equality and pluralism, interfaith connection, and lots of kids, all in an atmosphere of profound joy and ecstatic music. We have a hard time finding a home even when we are at home. Coming to Sukkahfest at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Falls Village, Connecticut is a return to […]

What Sukkahfest Means to Me

By Hazon on November 27, 2019 in Reflections, Sukkot

By Rhonda Greif Upon entering Isabella Freedman you are greeted by a warm welcoming wooden sign “We are blessed by your arrival.” This just about sums up the overall feeling of good cheer that surrounds Sukkahfest from beginning to end and stays with you long after you have physically left the grounds. Sukkahfest is truly a unique experience. After having just returned from #5, I’m excited to share what Sukkahfest means to me and my family. Five (5) focuses for Five (5) Sukkahfest celebrations: Sukkat Shalom. This is the focal point of the entire stay and is decorated simply but beautifully. From that first evening, you are enveloped by the soft lighting which invites you in and makes you feel right at home. Farm-to-Table. Food at Isabella Freedman is incredible. A delicious variety of meat, chicken and fish (and vegetarian), tons of amazing vegetables, great soups plus seemingly endless bottles of both red and white wines and yummy challah (don’t forget the honey). Fall Foliage. The natural beauty of the area enhances the Sukkahfest experience tenfold. One of my favorite activities is just walking on the road towards the Adama farm and the small quaint town nearby admiring the gorgeous […]

Listen Ya’ll! | D’varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

By Hazon on September 21, 2018 in Activism, Education, Farming, Food, Holidays, Jewish Texts, JOFEE, JOFEE Fellowship, Reflections, Resources, Shmita, Spirituality, Sukkot, Tzedek/Justice, Weekly Parsha

by Alex Voynow, Jewish Farm School Parshat Haazinu [NOTE: Applications for the next JOFEE Fellowship cohort are open now through October 5! Apply today!] In Ha’azinu, Moses sees the Israelites for who they are: humans, scarred by 40 years of impatient wandering and in no mood to listen obediently. Moses is 120 years old and holds so much wisdom; this is the last day before his death, and he has some things to say. He has the story of his life to tell, which in his epic personal union with the Israelite people is also the story of God. He needs them to understand, like the tender, concerned patriarch that he is, how to live in God’s favor so they can blossom into the promised land and not mess up this covenant (fast-forward: oops). What he has to say is so important that he does something that really resonates with me. Moses speaks language that heaven and earth themselves will understand, and in a language that will more likely move the people: in song. He launches into a 48-verse poem doing his damnedest to sum up his life’s spiritual learnings. I’m not going to get into it because it’s densely […]

When a Donkey Speaks Truth to Power | D’varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

By Hazon on July 14, 2017 in Education, Farming, Food, Food Justice, Holidays, Jewish Texts, JOFEE, JOFEE Fellowship, Reflections, Resources, Spirituality, Sukkot, Teens, Tu B’Shvat, Weekly Parsha

by Hannah Slipakoff, Jewish Farm School, Philadelphia, PA Parashat Balak In this week’s Parasha, Balak (Numbers 22:2- 25:9), we read a tale about the ways in which kindness and gratitude contribute to justice and G-dliness, and an allegory relating systemic patterns of oppression to land: King Balak of Moab, a ruler whose name means devastator, empty, or wasting, desperately attempts to curse the Israelites. He despises the Tribe of Jacob so deeply, that he attempts to hire Balaam to damn the Israelites for him: There is a people that came out of Egypt; it hides the earth from view, and it is settled next to me. Come then, put a curse upon this people for me, since they are too numerous for me; perhaps I can thus defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that he whom you bless is blessed indeed, and he whom you curse is cursed. ~Numbers 22:5-22:7 Balaam mounts a literal WISE ass (inciteful female donkey) and sets out on his wicked task. The Divine however, has a different plan. G-d sends an armed angel to disrupt Balaam’s path, and each time the donkey attempts to avoid danger, Balaam fiercely beats her. […]

Old Stones, New Ripples – Reflections on the Close of JOFEE Fellowship Cohort 1 | D’varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

By Yoshi Silverstein on May 18, 2017 in Climate Change, Education, Events, Farming, Food, Food Conference, Food Festival, Food Justice, Hazon Seal of Sustainability, Holidays, Institutional Food Values, Jewish Greening Fellowship, Jewish Texts, JOFEE, JOFEE Fellowship, Newsletters, Opportunities, Reflections, Resources, Spirituality, Sukkot, Teens, Topsy Turvy Bus Tour

by Yoshi Silverstein – JOFEE Fellowship Director May 18th, 2017 | 22nd Iyar 5777 | 37th day of the omer | gevurah she’b’yesod 16 Organizations. 17 Fellows. Over 500 programs. An estimated 37,000 participants in Jewish Outdoor, Food, Farming & Environmental Education (JOFEE) programs across the country. These are some of the incredible numbers emerging as we look back at our first JOFEE Fellowship cohort, who completed their closing seminar and siyum last week at our sister JOFEE organization, the Pearlstone Center outside Baltimore, MD. Behind those numbers are thousands of people encountering – many for the first time – the incredible power of a Jewish tradition steeped in deep cultural and spiritual connection with the earth, with place, with human communities and our surrounding ecosystems, with our food, and with each other. A Jewish tradition that recognizes both the limits and abundance of the resources our home planet provides for us. A tradition that says this world is amazing – there is so much magnificence – and yet we have work to do – not to complete by ourselves, but neither to desist from doing our part. And wow did our JOFEE Fellows do their part! Here are a […]

In the Sukkah We Trust | D’varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

By Hazon on October 28, 2016 in Adamah, Animals, Climate Change, Events, Farming, Food, Food Justice, Holidays, Jewish Texts, JOFEE, Opportunities, Spirituality, Sukkot, Teens, Tzedek/Justice, Weekly Parsha

by Rachel Binstock, Urban Adamah, Berkeley, CA Parashat Breishit + Sukkot Editor’s Note: Welcome to D’varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog! Most weeks throughout the year, you’ll be hearing from the JOFEE Fellows: reflections on their experiences, successful programs they’ve planned and implemented, gleanings from the field, and connections to the weekly Torah portion and what they’ve learned from their experiences with place in their host communities for the year. Views expressed are the author’s and do not necessarily represent Hazon. Be sure to check back weekly! P.S. Interested in being or hosting a JOFEE Fellow? Applications for cohort two are now open for both prospective fellows and prospective host institutions! Priority Deadline is October 31! Of all the Jewish holidays, I learn most about trust on Sukkot. Why? you might ask. After the New Year and the Day of Atonement, is not Sukkot the holiday of celebration and happiness? Sukkot is about trust for a few reasons. We build ourselves sukkahs – impermanent booths in which we are commanded to dwell – and in so doing we find ourselves up-rooted. We create a new home susceptible to the elements and porous to the sky. The holiday necessitates a release of control, a faith […]

Sukkot, Market of the 4 Species at Bnei Brak by Flavio@Flickr

What happens to a lulav after Sukkot?

By Hazon on October 27, 2016 in Hazon Seal of Sustainability, Sukkot

Two weeks ago, right after Yom Kippur, families and communities began erecting beautiful Sukkot. Decorated with gourds, topped with bamboo, tree branches, or corn stalks, these sukkot have provided a temporary home for Jews across the world for eight days. That was yesterday. Today, those Sukkot are coming down– along with tons of schach, organic material that covers the top of the Sukkah. On the Upper West Side in New York City, twelve congregations, organized in partnership with Hazon Seal site B’nai Jeshurun, are doing good with their post-Sukkot waste. Through a unique partnership with the New York City Department of Sanitation, sites are composting schachs, lulavs, and etrogs– diverting literally tons of organic material from the landfill! Throwing organics into a landfill contributes to harmful methane gas emissions and increases our carbon footprint, while composting contributes to healthy soil and prevents the need for chemical fertilizers. What better way to end Sukkot than by re-affirming our commitment to a healthy and sustainable planet?

To See and Be Seen | D’varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

By Hazon on October 20, 2016 in Education, Events, Farming, Food, Food Justice, Jewish Texts, JOFEE, JOFEE Fellowship, Reflections, Spirituality, Sukkot, Tzedek/Justice, Weekly Parsha

by Liora Lebowitz, Jewish Farm School, Philadelphia, PA Parashat V’zot Haberachah + Sukkot & Simchat Torah Editor’s Note: Welcome to D’varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog! Most weeks throughout the year, you’ll be hearing from the JOFEE Fellows: reflections on their experiences, successful programs they’ve planned and implemented, gleanings from the field, and connections to the weekly Torah portion and what they’ve learned from their experiences with place in their host communities for the year. Views expressed are the author’s and do not necessarily represent Hazon. Be sure to check back weekly! P.S. Interested in being or hosting a JOFEE Fellow? Applications for cohort two are now open for both prospective fellows and prospective host institutions! Priority Deadline is October 31! Together with the holiday of Simchat Torah, V’zot Haberacha, the final parsha of the Torah, marks the transition from the end of a cycle to beginning anew. From beginning to end, the readings of Torah follow the Jewish calendar, and there are strong parallels between the cycle of the Jewish calendar and the corresponding seasonal and agricultural cycles of the year. During Simchat Torah, we ready ourselves to read the final parsha of the Torah – to celebrate our accumulated knowledge and […]

Listen and Gather: Jewish Rain Makers | D’varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

By Hazon on October 13, 2016 in Adamah, Climate Change, Education, Farming, Food, Food Conference, Food Justice, Holidays, Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, Jewish Texts, JOFEE, JOFEE Fellowship, Spirituality, Sukkot, Tzedek/Justice, Weekly Parsha

by Jessica Berlin, Hazon: Transformative Experiences, Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center – Falls Village, CT Sukkot and Parashat Ha’azinu Editor’s Note: Welcome to D’varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog! Most weeks throughout the year, you’ll be hearing from the JOFEE Fellows: reflections on their experiences, successful programs they’ve planned and implemented, gleanings from the field, and connections to the weekly Torah portion and what they’ve learned from their experiences with place in their host communities for the year. Views expressed are the author’s and do not necessarily represent Hazon. Be sure to check back weekly! P.S. Interested in being or hosting a JOFEE Fellow? Applications for cohort two are now open for both prospective fellows and prospective host institutions! On a hot summer day in late August, I led a group of young adults on a tour of the Adamah farm on BeeBee Hill at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center. The inscription above the gateway, “And God saw that it was good,” reminds us of a classic JOFEE interpretation of the Genesis creation story: that the interdependent relationships found in nature are fundamentally good; and that by emulating these relationships, humans can learn to create more sustainable relationships with one another and the land. […]

Choosing Life | D’varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

By Yoshi Silverstein on September 30, 2016 in Climate Change, Elul, Farming, Food, Food Justice, Holidays, Jewish Texts, JOFEE, Reflections, Spirituality, Sukkot, Tzedek/Justice, Weekly Parsha

by Yoshi Silverstein Parashat Nitzavim & Rosh Hashanah Editor’s Note: Welcome to D’varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog! Most weeks throughout the year, you’ll be hearing from the JOFEE Fellows (and staff): reflections on their experiences, successful programs they’ve planned and implemented, gleanings from the field, and connections to the weekly Torah portion or Holidays and what they’ve learned from their experiences with place in their host communities for the year. This one is from me, Yoshi, Director of the JOFEE Fellowship. Views expressed are the mine and do not necessarily represent Hazon. Be sure to check back next week for Zach Goldberg’s post on JOFEE and Yom Kippur! P.S. Interested in being or hosting a JOFEE Fellow? Applications for cohort two are now open for both prospective fellows and prospective host institutions! You all know the big one coming up this week: Rosh Hashanah. The Head of the Year, when we begin the High Holiday season full of heart-beatings and introspection, good food, wine, and cheer followed by the Yom Kippur fast. This week is also Parshat Nitzavim – the Torah portion from my Bar Mitzvah. Much of that weekend is a blur at this point, twenty years later (wow, that just sunk in […]

A Heart to Know, Eyes to See, and Ears to Hear | D’varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog

By Hazon on September 22, 2016 in Elul, Farming, Food, Holidays, Jewish Texts, JOFEE, Resources, Shavuot, Sukkot, Weekly Parsha

by Danielle Smith, Eden Village Camp, Putnam Valley, NY Parashat Ki Tavo Editor’s Note: Welcome to D’varim HaMakom: The JOFEE Fellows Blog! Most weeks throughout the year, you’ll be hearing from the JOFEE Fellows: reflections on their experiences, successful programs they’ve planned and implemented, gleanings from the field, and connections to the weekly Torah portion and what they’ve learned from their experiences with place in their host communities for the year. Be sure to check back weekly! P.S. Interested in being or hosting a JOFEE Fellow? Applications for cohort two are now open for both prospective fellows and prospective host institutions! In this week’s Torah portion, Ki Tavo, Moses speaks reflectively and instructively to the Israelites as they approach the Promised Land, finally nearing the end of their forty year journey through the wilderness. Here at Eden Village Camp, we may not have spent forty years wandering the wilderness of Putnam Valley (though sometimes the packed days and weeks at camp can feel almost as long #jewishcamptime), but the transition into the fall season is the perfect time for deep reflection and exhalations. It was a fast leap from summer into the slower pace of the fall, and after two months of […]

From Shmita to Hak’hel: Assembling on October 4

By Hazon on July 3, 2015 in Activism, Shmita, Sukkot

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow In the last several years, many societies and cultures have been stirred by the sense of a great planetary crisis caused by human action to overwork the earth — – the burning of fossil fuels scorching our global ecosystem, the human gobbling up of eco-space bringing on the extinctions of many other species, widespread deforestation weakening the Earth’s ability to absorb the overproduction of CO2, human behavior poisoning rivers and oceans and exhausting many watersheds. For some, these events have stirred two biblical memories and midrash: the identification of corporate “Carbon Pharaohs” that profit from bringing plagues upon the Earth; and for the first time in Jewish history, a serious exploration of how the Torah of the Shmita/ Sabbatical Year of rest for the land might be applied outside the Land of Israel –- indeed, universally. The realization of this powerful biblical way of understanding and addressing our generation’s crisis came soon enough before the Shmita year of CE 2014-2015 to stir rich discussion, but not soon enough to make the year a time of public transformative action — a real Shmita. As our present Shmita dwindles down, what can we do now, to keep our planet livable? Facing this crisis, 380 rabbis from every stream of Judaism have signed the Rabbinic Letter on the […]

Sukkah Bike Hop “the Coolest!”

By Becky O'Brien, Director, Hazon Boulder on October 26, 2012 in Colorado, Cycling, Holidays, Rides, Sukkot

“This was the coolest!” enthused Jillene Moore of Loveland, when asked about her experience cycling the Sukkah Bike Hop. Marv Goldman of Denver summed up his biking experience, “The ride immeasurably added value to the holiday: being outdoors, exercising, chatting, and eating with not only fellow cyclists and Jews, but also having the hospitality of families along the way.” Eighteen riders came together at the Chabad of NW Metro Denver in Westminster as the starting and ending spot for the three routes. Riders of all ages came from Boulder and across the Front Range, and from different Jewish backgrounds and cycling experiences. Read more at Boulder Jewish News. Click here for more pictures from the 2012 Sukkah Bike Hop.

Party in the Sukkah!

By Hazon on September 27, 2012 in California, Sukkot

Enjoy fun activities and delicious holiday-inspired treats in the Pottruck Family Atrium and in our rooftop sukkah at the San Francisco JCC! Sample and purchase fresh fruits and vegetables at our mini-farmers’ market. Learn environment-saving techniques from Hazon and EcoJews of the Bay and plant crops with the JCCSF’s resident gardener. Join the PJ Library for story time in our Little Library Sukkah. Free. Presented in partnership with Hazon, EcoJews of the Bay, PJ Library and Capay Organics. For more information, go to www.jccsf.org/sukkot

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