Save Energy, Save Money, Protect the Environment! Fact Sheet
Canfei Nesharim is proud to present our fact sheet on energy for Chanukah. The "Save Energy" side of the fact sheet explores ideas for saving energy, and explain some of the challenges of our current energy situation. The other side features a Torah teaching on "The Wisdom of Olive Oil."
We offer two versions of the fact sheet: a beautiful color version which can be posted in your synagogue's website or shared via email, and a simpler print-friendly version which can be ...
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Save Energy, Save Money, Protect the Environment! Fact Sheet
Canfei Nesharim is proud to present our fact sheet on energy for Chanukah. The "Save Energy" side of the fact sheet explores ideas for saving energy, and explain some of the challenges of our current energy situation. The other side features a Torah teaching on "The Wisdom of Olive Oil."
We offer two versions of the fact sheet: a beautiful color version which can be posted in your synagogue's website or shared via email, and a simpler print-friendly version which can be ...
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By Devorah Serkin
The whirlwind of holidays is upon us again. Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkos, Shemini Atzeres, and Simchas Torah falling one right after the other is extremely hectic, and sometimes the meaning of all the yom tovim gets a little lost between all the cooking, cleaning, eating, building, decorating, buying new clothes, shaking the lulav, dancing with the Torah. With all the festivity, we can lose our focus as to why we are coming together.
Sukkos is when the Jews who lived in the times of the Beit Hamekdash would travel to ...
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Intended audience:
Children 12 and under (young children)
What to Provide:
• Old magazines and newspapers
• Crayons and/or markers
• Glue
• Scissors
• Tape
• Construction paper or reused (scrap) cardboard
• Hole punch
• String or yarn
• Any other ‘crafts’ materials such as glitter, tissue paper, etc.
• Optional:
o Sponges
o Bowls with water
o Water sign templates (included), photocopied.
o Laminator
Introduce the activity as follows:
Every single ...
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What to Provide:
Copies of text study materials from the Compendium of Sources in Halacha and the Environment (available for purchase on Canfei Nesharim's website), articles on pages 45-53 and Hebrew texts on 74-75. Try to copy the text study materials on recycled paper.
The two articles express a makloches between two different positions about use of water for netilas yadayim. The first article suggests that we reduce our use to the minimum amount of water required (a rivies). The second article encourages washing with abundance but encourages reduction ...
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Set up:
Buy a Brita Filter, a Pur Filter, and a 3 gallon jug of commonly-used bottled water. You will also want to use tap water from your synagogue sink, unless there is a health-related problem with that water.
Set large pitchers with water from each of the four sources on a table. Each pitcher should have a notecard with a letter (A, B, C, D) written on one side and the source of the water written on the other side. Tape the cards to the table, in front of the pitchers, with the letter side up.
Have different members of the community taste each of the ...
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Visit Canfei Nesharim.org for some great ideas for Sukkah decorations!
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Intended audience:
Children up to 12 years old.
What to Provide:
Water to drink- preferably in reusable cups.
Have participants sit in a circle and share the following with them:
“All the streams flow to the sea yet the sea is never full. From the place in which water comes, there it returns.” (Koheles 1:7)
Explain that the above is an interesting quote from Koheles (Ecclesiastes), one of the books in the Tanach which is read on Sukkos. Ask participants: What do you think this passage means?
If the participants are very young or ...
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Intended audience:
Children 7 and up.
What to Provide:
1 large bucket filled with water
1 large empty bucket
One large glass or clear plastic cup or jar (at least 1/3 quart capacity).
One common plastic washing cup (32 oz.) or, preferably, a metal cup of about the same size.
Share the following with the participants:
In the Simchas Beis Hashoeva during the time of the Beis Hamikdash, many Jews, led by a Cohen, would walk together to the banks of the Shiloach, a spring that runs outside of the Old City. They would collect what the Torah calls 3 ...
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What to Provide:
Chocolate, cakes, and other delicious treats
Mezonos so that people can make a “leshev basukkah” bracha
Water to drink (the water should be served in pitchers rather than in bottles – if you must buy bottles, buy 3 gallon jugs of water; serve in paper cups, not plastic)
After the group has settled in and had the chance to eat, quiet the group for a brief discussion. It is ideal if they can sit.
Share the following with your audience:
Talmud Bavli Sukkah 51 a+b
He who has not seen the rejoicing at the place of the ...
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Click here for a printable version of this page.
Learning Objectives:
· The connection between Sukkot and water and that water is a gift from Hashem
· The importance of water in our lives and our responsibility to help conserve water
Materials:
· Foods or objects that relate to water or plants like Swedish fish, fruits and vegetables, fruit flavored/shaped candy, paper, wood carvings, etc.
Facilitator Notes:
· The following activities each have suggested time ...
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Jewish Food Movement
The new Jewish Food Movement: (draft) 7-year goals
Over the past few years, a growing number of Jewish foodies, farmers, rabbis, chefs, teachers, students, families and many others have brought meaning to the words new Jewish Food Movement, asking why and how one can eat in a way that is both deeply Jewish and deeply sustainable.
It is time to ask a new question: where will this movement be in 7 years? Last Rosh Hashanah ended the last shmita (sabbatical year) cycle, and we’ve begun the countdown to the end of the next shmita ...
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Check out The Jew & The Carrot’s green resource ideas – for holidays, simchas, families, your table, and life!
Pages in this section:
Kosher Sustainable Cheese List
Kosher Sustainable Chocolate List
Kosher, sustainable meat
Kosher Organic Wine List
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Tuv Hashavua
The Hazon CSA Newsletter
Each week, Hazon CSA members pick up a Tuv HaShavua (the “best of the week”) newsletter with their vegetables.
With recipes, and articles about Judaism, food, and environmental issues, Tuv HaShavua is a key way to educate members. It is also a valuable tool for informing members about important dates and events. Finally, it connects them with their farmer, their host synagogue and JCC, and Hazon.
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Min Ha Aretz Student Curriculum
An 18-lesson curriculum for students with family education programming that weaves together Jewish tradition and contemporary food issues.
Questions? Contact us at foodeducation@hazon.org or 212-644-2332 ext 316
Click here for a sample lesson.
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Excerpt from Hazon's Manual on running a Tu B'shvat Seder:
What is a Tu Bishvat Seder?
In the Middle Ages, Tu Bishvat was celebrated with a feast of fruits, in keeping with the Mishnaic description of the holiday as a "New Year." In the 1600s, the mystic kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria, of Sfat, and his disciples instituted a Tu Bishvat seder in which the fruits and trees of Israel were given symbolic meaning. The main idea was that eating ten specific fruits and drinking four cups of wine in a specific order while reciting the appropriate blessings ...
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Daniel Weber, Ph.D, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
The Dead Sea level is dropping by approximately 1 meter a year as Israel, Jordan and Syria are unsustainably redirecting the water that once flowed into the Dead Sea. In addition, the Dead Sea Chemical Factory on the Israeli side and its Jordanian equivalent are responsible for dropping the sea level by 25% due to the evaporation ponds that are used to extract the chemicals. Our science committee has evaluated a major article that appeared in the international edition of the Jerusalem Post that details the ...
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I heard about dangers from drinking tap water in America, but then I heard bottled water can be just as bad. What is the best way for my family to enjoy safe and healthy water?
The following article is referring to tap water and bottled water in America. The content and conclusions of this article may not hold true for other countries.
Many Americans hear negative things about tap water and start using bottled water more. But which is really better?
Bottled water companies spend a lot of time and money marketing their product as safer, cleaner, and better ...
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Is your bottled water really safe? A new fact sheet from Canfei Nesharim. On the front side is a teaching about Shemini Atzeres and tefilas geshem (prayers for rain). On the back is a fact sheet with information about bottled water that may surprise you.
This content originated at Canfei Nesharim.org.
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Find more tips for saving water on at Canfei Nesharim.org.
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