When did bike-riding as an adult become a “thing?” And what’s so Jewish about biking?
Topic: New York Ride
Bike the Berkshires!
Join us for our 12th Annual New York Ride to get in shape and get inspired! Prices rise May 5th.
If Moses Had a Bike…
Learn More Get Party details or buy your ticket Register for the 2012 New York Ride and Retreat Many thanks to Rachel Travis, New York Ride participant and steering committee member! Support her ride.
Introducing: the 2012 New York Ride Book Club
Participants this year’s Hazon New York Ride may join in our second annual book club. This year we’re reading the following: White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf by Aaron Bobrow-Strain Here’s a little about the book: How did white bread, once an icon of American progress, become “white trash?” In this lively history of bakers, dietary crusaders, and social reformers, Aaron Bobrow-Strain shows us that what we think about the humble, puffy loaf says a lot about who we are and what we want our society to look like. (more…)
The Year the Maple Trees Celebrate Purim
We’ve been tapping about 30 trees over the last three weeks, during this short late-winter maple syrup tapping season
New Kids on the Block at the Adamah Dairy
The Adamah Dairy in Falls Village, CT is home to a new family of goats and farmers.
Tour De Farm?
You may or may not have visited a farm, but have you ever biked to one?
The New York Ride and Retreat Returns to Isabella Freedman
This year, the New York Ride & Retreat will be hosted at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center! If you’ve never been to Freedman, you’re in for a treat! Home to the Adamah program, the sprawling site hosts an organic farm with orchards, permaculture planting, bees, chickens, and ducks. The dining hall prepares amazing delicious, local, sustainable kosher food — using pickles, jams, and goat cheese that are made on site, as well as produce from the farm. The center hugs a beautiful lake you can walk around and borders on miles of hiking trails in the rugged Berkshire hills. Day one of the Ride will explore farms and countryside in northern Connecticut. Day two will take us on rail trails into New York City. On both days, we’ll have a range of different route length options, as well as options for non-riding family members to participate on crew or to cheer from the sidelines. Registration is currently $175 for adult riders, but prices increase on February 15th. Learn more about Adamah, hosted by Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center.
Rider Spotlight: Maddy Yasner and Yossi Hoffman
When someone comes on a Hazon ride for the first time, it usually turns out that it’s just the first of many rides they will join us for, and often returning with friends and family. Maddy Yasner and Yossi Hoffman are a perfect example of how this happens. Maddy’s family loves Hazon – her father, Michael Yasner, did the Hazon Arava Institute Israel Ride in 2008, and her mother, Val, is Co-Chair of the Hazon CSA is South Jersey. In 2010, Maddy, her sister, and both their parents decided to do the New York Ride together. As part of their training over the summer, they rode Bike to the Beach, and convinced Yossi Hoffman, Maddy’s boyfriend, to come along. Yossi hadn’t been on a bike in quite some time, and even though they did the shortest 15 mile route, he found it to be difficult and challenging. After Bike to the Beach, he began to train with Maddy almost every weekend (renting a bike each time) and found that riding quickly got easier, and a lot more fun. After Maddy experienced her first New York Ride, which she found to be very rewarding, she and Yossi were both set on training […]
Grantee Spotlight: Yiddish Farm
One of the grant recipients of this year’s New York Ride and Retreat is Yiddish Farm, a program started this year with the goal of creating a pluralistic Yiddish-speaking community through farm-based programs. Yiddish Farm ran its pilot program this summer, with about 10 people who made up a Yiddish-speaking agricultural community on Kayam Farm, a sustainable farm in Maryland. In 2012, Yiddish Farm will move to a farm they have rented in Goshen, NY, which is not far from New York City, where they hope to eventually keep their community running year-round. Earlier this summer, The Jew and the Carrot interviewed Naftali Eidelman, who started Yiddish Farm along with Yisroel Bass. Here are some pieces of the interview that really give a sense of what Yiddish Farm is all about: (more…)
Rider Spotlight: The Jacoby Rosenfield Family
The Jacoby Rosenfield family first came on the New York Ride and Retreat three years ago, when Paul was looking for a way to get more involved with exercise, and biking seemed like a good option. Rachel is very involved in the Jewish environmental community, and works as the director of the Jewish Greening Fellowship at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center. The New York Ride seemed like the perfect way to bring together the family’s passion for the environment and Paul’s desire to get back into biking. Paul rode that first ride on an old bike (that he had had since high school!) and loved every second of it. Rachel and their kids, Maayan, 11, and Yonah, 8, attended as part of the Ruach (Spirit) Crew, and Rachel and Paul were both amazed at the community and environment the ride created (dynamic and pluralistic, in Rachel’s words), and how much their family enjoyed being a part of that community. After the family’s first ride, Paul bought a new bike, and they have attended the ride every year since. Last year, Paul completed the century ride for the first time, a huge accomplishment! The whole family has made friends that they […]
Retreat Highlight: Eden Village Camp
After a weekend retreat spent on the historical grounds of Camp Kinder Ring, New York Ride and Retreat participants will spend Sunday biking from Kinder Ring to Eden Village Camp. Much, much younger than our other host camp, Eden Village Camp was founded in 2008, and ran its first summer program just last year. The camp was founded by Vivian and Yoni Stadlin, who imagined a Jewish overnight environmental camp. In their mission statement they explain, “Rooted in the Jewish vision of creating a more environmentally sustainable, socially just, and spiritually connected world, Eden Village Camp is dedicated to providing campers with an incredible summer experience while empowering them to promote a vibrant future for themselves, their communities, and our planet.” (more…)
Grantee Spotlight: AmpleHarvest.org
For the first time this year, Hazon is excited to offer a grant from the proceeds of the New York Ride to AmpleHarvest.org, an incredible organization whose work fits very well with the theme of this year’s weekend retreat: “Food Choices: Why what we eat matters.” In 2008, Gary Oppenheimer became the director of a community garden in his hometown of West Milford, New Jersey, and quickly realized that many of the plot holders were growing more food than they could possibly eat, save, or give to friends, and so were leaving a lot of their produce unharvested. He formed a committee to gather the extra produce and deliver it to local food pantries, and was struck by how difficult it was to find food pantries, as many were unlisted, and did not have websites. Gary knew that nationally, more than 50 million Americans live in food-insecure homes, and more than 40 million Americans grow their own produce, oftentimes more than they can actually use. In 2009, Gary started AmpleHarvest.org to be the link between these two groups – encouraging home gardeners to donate their excess produce to people in need in their communities, and connecting them to local food […]
New York Ride & Retreat Shabbat Schedule Announced
The educational theme of the New York Ride‘s Shabbat Retreat is “Food Choices: Why What We Eat Matters,” and we are promising participants a fun, relaxing, engaging, and informative weekend at the beautiful Camp Kinder Ring. The schedule for the weekend has now been finalized, so check it out to learn about all the exciting activities, workshops, services and meals – all keeping with the theme of food choices – offered throughout the retreat weekend. Join us for the Shabbat retreat, and here’s what your weekend might look like: After you arrive on Friday afternoon and settle into your cabin, you might choose to learn a bit of Yiddish in an introductory class: Yiddish on One Foot. If you’re more excited by food, you can learn some DIY kitchen skills by attending workshops on pickling, challah baking, and making homemade salad dressings. Or maybe you’ve really been looking forward to the Ride, and will want to learn a bit of bike maintenance in the flat changing workshop. You can choose how you would most like to welcome in Shabbat as there will be several different service options, and we will all join together to light the candles, and to share […]
Grantee Spotlight: Teva Learning Center
The New York Ride is Hazon’s longest-running program, and will take place for the eleventh time this Labor Day weekend. Each year, the Ride is an opportunity for Hazon to connect with and support new organizations that are doing work we are excited about, and over the years we’ve been able to support upwards of 80 different organizations. Just as importantly, the Ride has allowed us to build continued, long-lasting relationships with several organizations that we have been involved with from the very beginning, and whose goals and visions are similar to our own. There are several organizations that have received grants from the New York Ride for many years, but only the Teva Learning Center has been a grant recipient for every one of the New York Rides, 2001-2011. (more…)
