Israel / Zionism / Middle East Subscribe
A selection of initiatives, blogs, resources and communities on Jewcology which focus on Israel, Zionism and the Middle East.
From the Blogs
A Black Day for the American Green Party: Why BDS is a Bad Move
- June 30, 2014
By Dr. Daniel Orenstein For most of my professional career, I have researched environmental issues in Israel. While issues of water scarcity and loss of open spaces loom large among the country’s problems, the more I study the more I’ve become convinced that many of its environmental problems are rooted in underlying socio-political problems. This could be direct — as when the inequitable distribution of land resources favoring Jews over Arabs leads to wasteful use of land resources — or this could be indirect, as when the ongoing conflict ...
GZA-Hechalutz FREE Birthright Trip to Israel in June
- March 30, 2014
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Interested in a FREE trip to Israel with a focus on the environment, this is the trip for you! The application deadline is today — Monday, March 31. Visit our website to for info on the application: http://www.greenzionism.org/greenisrael Select IsraelExperts as the Trip Organizer, June - Green Israel as the Trip Selection & enter Referral Code GZA30.
Uplifting People and Planet
- January 14, 2014
Exciting news! Just in time for Tu b’Shevat, Canfei Nesharim and Jewcology are proud to announce the launch of a new ebook exploring traditional Jewish teachings on the environment, Uplifting People and Planet: Eighteen Essential Jewish Lessons on the Environment, edited by Rabbi Yonatan Neril and Evonne Marzouk. This ebook is the most comprehensive study in English of how Jewish traditional sources teach us to protect our natural resources and preserve the environment. From food to trees, energy to water, wealth to biodiversity, the book studies eighteen ...
Hey American Rabbis: Wake Up and Smell the Cruelty
- November 20, 2013
From their perch in America, many Diaspora Jews look at the Orthodox Rabbinate in Israel as a bunch of Neanderthals who use clubs to beat back any modern innovation or progressive idea. No offense to any Neanderthals. But The Beet-Eating Heeb, for one, might have to revise his assessment of Israel’s Rabbinical leadership. On one issue that is near and dear to BEH’s heart, and probably to yours as well, the newly elected Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Israel recently made a very enlightened statement. And BEH is all for giving credit where credit is ...
Environment & Nature Tour of Israel
- October 16, 2013
Israel Naturally: Apr. 29–May 8, 2014 A UNIQUE ENVIRONMENT TOUR IN ISRAEL Connect to your roots through an active nature & eco-tour led by The Natural Bible author Baruch Sienna. Discover beauty and meaning through the lens of nature and the environment. Experience the interrelationship between Jewish spirituality, nature, the Bible, the Land of Israel, and the environment. Explore the Israel rarely seen by tourists. Highlights include: • ...
Making Dance Green
- August 13, 2013
By Stacey Menchel Kussell, director of Renewal: A Film About Art and Ecology Contemporary ballet and environmentalism are not topics that often go hand-in-hand. That is until you meet Israel’s Vertigo Dance Company. The dance group’s unique approach to ecological activism is the inspiration for my new film Renewal. Dance is one of Israel’s most impressive art forms, and it engages people worldwide regardless of language. Renewal is an opportunity for new audiences to learn about a unique and powerful aspect of Israeli culture, and gain new ...
Jewish Energy Guide – Renewable Energy Policy in Israel: Past and Present
- April 11, 2013
By Naomi Lipstein and Dr. Alon Tal The ability to harness energy has been essential to life since the start of humanity. This ability, of course, has come in many different forms and has gone through massive transformations over the centuries. In the 18th and 19th centuries, coal fired the steam engine — arguably the most vital technology of the Industrial Revolution. It was the discovery of oil that allowed the revolution to flourish even further in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in essence altering civilization. Today, there is little we do without ...
Green Your Conference
- November 14, 2012
Conferences offer the opportunity to meet new people, exchange ideas and learn about new developments in your fields. They also tend to be very wasteful of natural resources — but they don’t have to be. The following tips would help to green conferences of all sizes — even ones as large as the World Zionist Congress and the Jewish Federations’ General Assembly. Click here to continue reading this article.
Sandy, Noah, Abraham and Bibi Send a Message about Climate Change
- November 1, 2012
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In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, those of us who work at the Green Zionist Alliance from New York and New Jersey have been fortunate to have been able to move to safer ground. But in the wake of climate change, there is no other planet to which we can go. Yet if we succeed in what has been our communal effort at unintentionally warming our atmosphere, and thereby wrecking havoc on our climate, then Sandy is just the beginning — for New York, for Israel, and for the world. There is scientific consensus: To stave off the worst effects, we have to act now. ...
Green Israel Shabbaton: Canoeing and Camping in the Green Mountains
- August 1, 2012
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Canoe through the wilderness of Vermont's Green Mountains with the Green Zionist Alliance! When: Sept. 7 — 9, 2012 Where: The Green Mountains of southern Vermont, just ~3½ hours drive from New York or Boston Join us as we revel in the beauty of early fall in the Green Mountains of southern Vermont. Enjoy a Shabbat outdoors with warm days and cool nights. Learn about environmental challenges facing Israel as well as Jewish perspectives on global environmental issues. We will paddle to a secluded campsite on a mountain lake where we ...
The Yarkon Disaster: 15 Years Later
- August 1, 2012
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Fifteen years ago four Australian athletes died when the bridge they were crossing collapsed over the Yarkon River in Israel. But only one of them died from the fall. The other three were killed by something more unexpected: The river's pollution. Click here to continue reading this article.
GZA Fights Fracking Deregulation in Israel
- May 21, 2012
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The Israeli government’s Ministry of Energy and Water is trying to exempt oil-shale frackers from regulations, which might give oil companies free reign to drill throughout the Elah Valley. But the Green Zionist Alliance has joined with others to lead an effort to stop the exemptions and stop fracking in one of the last few open spaces left between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. NOW IN ENGLISH: The 36-page translation of the KKL-JNF report. The 34-page Hebrew-language KKL-JNF report. Letter from Dr. Orr Karassin of the Green Zionist Alliance to ...
Trees, Bikes and Nature on Yom Ha’atzmaut
- April 26, 2012
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NEW YORK (April 26, 2012) — Falafel fests, movie nights, dance parties — Americans celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut in many ways. But what do Israelis do on Independence Day? They head outdoors. Last year so many people jammed into the country’s de-facto national-park system, run by KKL-JNF, that parks were closed because they reached capacity. So, how many people was that, you ask? About one in every five Israelis — more than 1.5 million people — which is also about the same number of trees that have been planted in Israel since ...
Support the Shaar Hagai Kennels & the Canaan Dogs
- April 18, 2012
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This week I was alerted to an issue that resonated deeply with me. I was asked to sign a petition in support of the Shaar Hagai Kennels, who are facing eviction by the Israel Government Lands Authority. Tied up in this legal battle is the fate of the Canaan dog, a breed of dog most closely related to the dogs depicted in the bible. After reading of how the kennel owner moved to the desolate location 42 years ago as a Zionist seeking to settle the land and breed these dogs, my interest was piqued. Why was the Land Authority threating to evict them, and to what ...
Clean the Land: Love It. Live It. Clean It.
- April 17, 2012
It’s happened to each and every one of us. You’re at the beach in Tel Aviv, surrounded by white sand, blue sea, shining sun…and, of course, bronzed bodies. With the enthusiasm of a kid in a candy store, you run to the water and jump in. “This is just too perfect! This has to be a dream!” you think to yourself. You dip your head, envisioning yourself recreating one of those movie scenes where you emerge from the water with your hair slicked, basking in the Mediterranean sun. Unfortunately, when you break the ...
Breaking Free from the Fossil-Fuel Pharaoh
- March 29, 2012
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The photovoltaic solar-panel array at Kibbutz Ketura is the first and currently only of its kind in Israel. (Photo by David Krantz) KIBBUTZ KETURA, Israel — During the first ever Passover we left Egypt and slavery, celebrating our freedom in the wilderness. It’s easy to forget that back then this stretch of the Arava Valley, a half-hour up the road from the hotels of Eilat, wasn’t part of the biblical Promised Land. No, this part of southern Israel was wilderness — our ancestors wandered through here after the ...
Cleaning and Greening Our “House” for Passover
- March 27, 2012
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In the days before Passover, Jews around the world traditionally spend time cleaning and checking our homes for “chametz” – leavened foods forbidden during the holiday. It is also traditionally a time for soul searching, for clearing out old “stuff” and ways of doing things. During this season of renewal, we at Teva Ivri are finding ways to check not only our homes but also our “houses of prayer.” Along with the Council for a Beautiful Israeland Green Now, Teva Ivri has just announced the first “Greenest ...
Seeds Of Peace: Botanical Gardens To Connect Jews And Arabs
- March 4, 2012
Seeds Of Peace: Botanical Gardens To Connect Jews And Arabs By Hanna Szekeres The Botanical Gardens in Jerusalem, Israel is a 30-acre oasis where you can see, smell and even taste over 10,000 species of flowers from around the world. But the educational department of the gardens also focuses on another type of seed: “the seeds of peace.” Five years ago the department started a project called “Coexistence” that brings together nine- to 11-year-olds from the city’s Jewish and Muslim schools and teaches them about the production ...
Photo Slide Show of Samar Sand Dunes
- March 1, 2012
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SAMAR SAND DUNES, Israel — A barbed-wire fence runs along the edge of the dunes here, but it's not to protect them — it's to keep people from accidentally walking across the country's border with Jordan. Not that Samar hasn't needed the protection — the government was poised to raze the dunes and turn them into concrete for hotels and sidewalks. But barbed wire would not have been strong enough to hold back bulldozers. No, the bulldozers were stopped by something far more powerful: You. Thanks to the efforts of the ...
Fruit Trees
- February 21, 2012
(reposted from Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin's blog: http://blog.bjen.org/ dated February 17, 2012) I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Israel, which serendipitously coincided with the season of Tu B'shvat, the day that marks the new year of the trees. Since the times of the early rabbis, this holiday has been a sacred day on the Jewish calendar. In modern Israel, it is a day of joy, when school children go out into the fields and countryside to plant trees, put on plays and celebrate the glories of a returning spring. Friends and family visit each ...
