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
Saving Samar: Together We Can Protect the Last of Israel’s Sahara
- May 26, 2011
Israel's Samar sand dunes — and the unique animal species that live there — may be destroyed. (Photos courtesy of Taal Goldman of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies) NEW YORK (May 26, 2011) — Picture a desert and you'll probably envision rolling hills of sand like those traversed by the nomadic caravans of the Sahara. Yet, even though the majority of Israel is desert, almost none of it is like the Sahara except for a small section near the southern tip of Israel in the Arava Valley: the Samar sand dunes. ...
A Sustainable Jewish Nation
- May 24, 2011
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This week we celebrated Lag B’Omer, the Jewish “bonfire” holiday. Many of my environmentalist friends oppose Lag B’Omer celebrations due to the heavy air pollution caused by the large and numerous bonfires. Yet I actually like this holiday, despite its negative environmental impact. I find great value in sitting together under the stars, around the fire, sharing song, food, and conversation. Perhaps it’s the proximity to natural warmth, or maybe it’s the essence of sitting together in a circle…but time after time, when I ...
“Eretz Israel sheli yafa vegam porachat”
- May 6, 2011
For those who did not learn that song when you were little kids at school, this song means “My Land of Israel is beautiful and blooming”. The reason I did not write last month’s blog is because I was pretty busy preparing for one of the most important steps in my life: I made aliyah! Just before Pesach. I came back to Israel just for aviv-spring time, the time of blooming. Being honest, one of the hard things of leaving Chile, was to leave its natural wonders (just to mention an example, from my window, I could enjoy the view of the Andes every ...
Israel: The New Saudi Arabia?
- May 1, 2011
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NEW YORK (May 1, 2011) — Together with large natural-gas reserves recently found off Israel’s Mediterranean coast, a new technology that may yield billions of barrels of oil in Israel may make the nation a global energy powerhouse. "Israel could attain energy independence," Dr. Yuval Bartov, chief technology officer and chief geologist at Israel Energy Initiatives — one of the companies pursuing oil in Israel — recently told The Jerusalem Report. But the potential oil rush is a mixed blessing for Israel: Although the ...
The Future of Nuclear Energy and the Threats of Coal & Natural Gas
- April 7, 2011
- 2 comments
Like most of the world, I have been giving a lot of thought recently to the question of nuclear energy. Just 4 weeks ago, before the Fukushimadisaster, I was asked a question about Nuclear energy while presenting at Tribefest in Las Vegas. I gave my standard answer, an answer that has been haunting me for weeks. “Unfortunately, while nuclear energy may have long term environmental consequences, the imminent threat of climate change and the economic realities of the energy markets make nuclear a necessity in the short term.” What is clear in my ...
Honey from the Rock: A Question
- March 31, 2011
Better Place, the brain child of Israeli born Shai Agassi, is making an impact worldwide, and that is even before one car has hit the streets. Better Place is the first company of its kind to develop an economically viable model to propagate the mass the production and purchasing of electric vehicles based on a subscription service. The subscription service, described as being similar to a cell phone subscription, means that the battery belongs to Better Place and depending on the package, the consumer will have various choices of charging and battery replacement ...
It’s time to increase our unity
- March 28, 2011
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First of all, I want to apologize, because I won’t write about any environmental topic. I just want to refer to the situation in Israel, that we have been living in the last couple of weeks. Our brothers and sisters that either were killed, or are suffering after the trauma, deserve this words. Every situation that we live has a meaning, an underline message. Of course there is no way to understand why that specific family (Z.L) from Itamar was brutally killed, or why the victims of the terrorist attack at the bus stop were there, but still, we must ask ...
Trees without Bulldozers: Environmental Justice for the Bedouin
- March 17, 2011
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NEW YORK (March 17, 2011) — When David Ben-Gurion envisioned making the desert bloom, bulldozing Bedouin villages to make way for new groves of trees is not exactly what he had in mind. But, in the name of environmentalism, that is exactly what Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael / Jewish National Fund did recently, bulldozing the village of al-Araqib for the 21st time since last July as part of its $600-million Blueprint Negev project. It gets worse: In order to plant the new grove of trees, KKL-JNF also bulldozed about 850 olive trees owned by the villagers of ...
Urban Crayola tools
- February 25, 2011
Oh wow..! What a day it was… we started early morn the truck arrives with trees and bougainvilleas in all rainbow shades that lift our hearts already. The new immigrants coming straight from Ulpan (Hebrew class) folding sleeves and starting to work the staff from Netafim (a big local-based and international irrigation company) that have been aiding us from day one and have agreed to come and pitch in. It’s happening at last – we are growing and will now be able to offer 30 more plots for growing vegetables in the middle of the urban prairie. This move is after ...
Topsy-Turvy World: Environmental Campaign Relaunched
- February 11, 2011
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GZA members enjoyed their tour of the Topsy Turvy Bus at the Green Israel Summit this past October. NEW YORK (Feb. 11, 2011) — Long past December, this year’s Chanukah miracle is that the oil is still burning. Fueled by cooking oil first used during the Green Zionist Alliance’s Chanukah party at Greenpoint Shul, the Topsy Turvy Bus begins its third Jewish environmental tour today in Raleigh, N.C. The GZA’s Chanukah oil alone, though, may not have gotten the bus past Delaware, and the miracle would have stopped ...
My Oh Mayim: Rethinking Water Usage in a Land Flowing with Milk and Honey, but Little Water.
- February 9, 2011
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Ushavtem mayim b'sason.Draw water in joy. A classic song of joy danced to at every celebration by millionsof Jews worldwide. Jews sing and dance about water at every proayer service and celebration. Through our prayer, song and dance, we hope that Israel willhave enough water for the coming year. The last couple of years have seen the harshest drought to hit the region in decades. Demand for water is high and continues to grow as population expands, therefore Israel's fresh (sweet) water resources are quickly drying up, and Israelis know it. Israeli ...
Power to the People? Energy Battle in Israel Pits Firms vs. Public Interest
- February 4, 2011
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NEW YORK (Feb. 4, 2011) — This month, the Knesset will make one of the most important votes in its history. After all, it’s not every day that a country has the opportunity to revolutionize life for its people. Of course, it’s not every day that a country discovers more than $300 billion in the ground. But after finding some of the largest natural-gas deposits in the world just off of its coast, that’s the situation in which Israel finds itself. The Tamar and Leviathan gas fields can change life for every Israeli. Currently, Israeli ...
Eco-Israel Spring 2011 Semester
- January 23, 2011
Hi everyone, As a newbie to Jewcology I am just figuring my way around here so I'll make this brief and to the point. Hava & Adam Eco-Educational farm is gearing up for our sixth semester of Eco-Israel which starts February 21. We still have some spots left so if you know of anyone who wants to experience hands-on what it means to live more sustainability, to learn natural building methods, medicinal herbs, permaculture design, recycling, gray water and all that good 'ole ecological living send them to our website (http://eco-israel.org). Our program ...
Trees: The Ultimate Environmentalists
- January 20, 2011
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15 Shvat, 5771 — Trees just might be the ultimate environmentalists. They provide shelter and food for animals large and small. They nourish the soil with their fallen leaves, and protect it with their strong roots. And trees not only pump oxygen into the atmosphere, allowing every animal on the surface of the planet to breathe, they also filter out greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, as well as precursors to acid rain, such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. How many other environmentalists can claim that? We can only aspire ...
An Unexpected Connection
- January 5, 2011
- 1 comment
What do Jerusalem and Charlottesville, Virginia have in common? Each has a highly successful pedestrian mall designed by Lawrence Halpin. Jerusalem has Rechov Ben-Yehudah (Ben Yehudah Street). Charlottesville has the Downtown Mall. You might be wondering what the significance of all this is, but all that will get cleared up momentarily. Pedestrian malls as well as highways, rail lines, suburbs, and cities are all human artifacts. Designed by landscape architects, architects, and urban planners, these spaces at their best are a reflection of the culture and ...
Sharing God’s Green Earth: Planting a Green World by Engaging the Greater Community
- December 23, 2010
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NEW YORK (Dec. 23, 2010) — On the eve of the eve of the most widely celebrated Jewish baby’s birthday ever, a holy day for billions of Christians around the world, it’s important to remember that we Jews only make up about two tenths of one percent of the world’s population. So if we’re going to green the world, we can’t do it alone. We need to engage with our brothers and sisters of all faiths. In Israel, that means that we need to work with Christians and Muslims, both within Israel and in Israel’s neighboring lands as ...
Think Israel, Act Local
- December 15, 2010
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Most of us know by now that our personal actions have global consequences. What and how much we drive, fly, eat, and shop, contributes to a litany of global environmental challenges, topped by climate change. The mantra, ‘Think global, act local’, was adopted in the 1980s as a rallying cry for personal responsibility in a global age. Environmental concerns to this point had primarily been local; however a new generation of global environmental challenges were forcing people to look beyond their home communities. Unfortunately, this new global vision ...
After the fire: It’s time to help — and heal
- December 6, 2010
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An Israeli firefighter walks past the remains of a house in Yemin Orde. (AP, via Newsday) By David Krantz NEW YORK (Dec. 6, 2010) — 42 people dead. 250 homes ravaged. 12,300 acres razed. 5 million trees burned. In the aftermath of the worst natural disaster in Israeli history, we are left wondering how we can help Israel recover after the fire. Fortunately, many organizations are taking quick action, and there are many ways that you can help. Donations to any of these organizations will help ...
Come pray for Rain! ????? ????? ??? ??? ?????
- December 5, 2010
Come Join (and bring) children from all religions to join in a prayer for rain at Ein Chiniya spring. Monday, December 6th, there will be a musical gathering at Ein Chiniya (just past the checkpoint by Ein Yael, southwest Jerusalem) with musicians Ehud Banai, Shlomo Bar and Khalil al-Mustafi. All are invited, perhaps Hashem will have compassion in the merit of the voices and prayers of our littlest humans, perhaps in the merit of the children Avraham being together, The gathering will start at 11:00am, ,11:15 will be drums and prayers, and at ...
Chanukah: The Holiday of Energy Conservation
- December 2, 2010
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NEW YORK (Dec. 2, 2010) — Chanukah isn’t just our Festival of Lights — it’s our Holiday of Energy Conservation. And the Maccabees are the answer to climate change. Think about it: They made one day’s worth of oil last for eight days! If we conserved energy like the Maccabees did, we could put OPEC out of business. The Maccabees did it with a miracle; we can do it through small changes. The Green Zionist Alliance is working to conserve Israel’s energy through transitioning buildings to energy-efficient lighting and agency ...
