Birkat HaHammah

Excerpt:

On April 8, 2009, Jewish communities around the world will participate in a unique ritual that occurs only once every 28 years. Together, we will celebrate the return of the sun to its original place in the heavens at the precise time and day of creation by reciting Birkat HaHammah, a blessing on the sun.

Here are some tools and resources to help you plan your celebration:

• COEJL's Bless the Sun Website
  Find an overview of Birkat HaHammah, advocacy resources, news articles and links to local events happening throughout the Jewish community.

• The Shalom Center's Green Menorah Covenant articles:
  Blessing of the Sun: Looking Backwards: April 8, 1981
  Blessing of the Sun: Looking Forward: April 8, 2009

Learn more at http://urj.org/green/judaism/holiday/birkat_hahammah/index.cfm?.

Green Glossary

Excerpt:
Just what is sustainability? What is organic? Do I have a carbon footprint? And what exactly does it mean to be green?

Alternative Energy: Usually environmentally friendly, this is energy from uncommon sources such as wind power or solar energy, not fossil fuels.

…Yarok: The Hebrew word for the color green

Many of these definitions are adapted from glossaries produced by the Environmental Protection Agency, Energy Star and the United States Department of Agriculture.

Learn more at http://urj.org/green/101/glossary/.

Purchasing

Excerpt:

Consider the environmental impacts of your everyday purchases from office and classroom supplies to products used for Jewish celebrations and lifecycle events.

Green Giving Guide
The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life helps you "think outside the standard gift box" with these Fair Trade and ethical gift suggestions.

Eco-Shabbat Candle Project
Did you know soy candles burn cleaner than traditional paraffin wax and support American farms? Consider purchasing soy Shabbat candles for your home or synagogue.

Learn more at http://urj.org/green/building/purchasing/.

Eager to learn how you can help? This guide contains the following sections:

• Conserve Energy
• Conserve Land and Curb Consumption
• Eco-Friendly Food, Cleaners and Other Products
• Reduce Paper Wastage
• Reduce Pollution
• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
• Save Water

Learn more at http://urj.org/green/building/checklist/.

• Architecture: Greening the Building
• Bathroom: Greening the Bathroom
• Classroom: Green Learning
• Commuting: Driving to Greener Pastures
• Green Gardens: Eco-landscaping
• Kitchen: Eco-Kosher
• Office Space: Greening Your Work

Learn more at http://urj.org/green/building/checklist/.

Greening Your Building

Excerpt: When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, so that you do not bring bloodguilt on your house if anyone should fall from it. (Deuteronomy 22:8)

Energy Audit
Conducting an energy audit is an important first step toward greening your congregation and is a great way to engage your youth group in eco-friendly behavior. Plus, implementing changes after your audit could save households almost $400 a year!

Learn more at http://urj.org/green/building/.

An energy audit is the first step in understanding the current energy consumption in the synagogue facility (or home) and how to improve upon its efficiency. Energy audits can be conducted by professional engineers and participating local utility companies; or you (and members of the congregation) can do it yourselves.

…Here are some other additional energy saving suggestions from www.stopglobalwarming.org:

• Insulate your water heater and turn the thermostat down to 120 degrees – save 1500 lbs of CO2 and $70 per year.
• Plant a tree – trees suck up CO2 and provide oxygen for us to breath – save 2,000 lbs of CO2 per year.
• Talk to your administrator about buying recycled paper and products with less packaging – save 1,000 lbs of CO2 a year.
• Change your synagogue's AC filter – save 350 lbs of CO2 and $150 per year.
• Raise money to replace old appliances – the older an appliance is, the less energy-efficient it is and the more pollution it emits.

Learn more at http://urj.org/green/building/audit/.

Summary:

Incorporate envrionmental awareness into your holiday celebrations with these holiday guides for Shabbat, the High Holidays, Sukkot, Chanukah, Tu B'Shevat and more. The guides also cover secular celebrations including Thanksgiving and Fair Trade Month.

Excerpts:

Chanukah

• Commission on Social Action Chanukah Guide
• COEJL: Green Gift Guide
• COEJL: Gift Wrapping
• COEJL's Program Bank listings
• Sustaining the Light: Green Programming for Chanukah
• Union for Reform Judaism's Chanukah Page

Purim

• Fair Trade Mishloach Manot
• COEJL's Green Gift Guide
• COEJL's Program Bank listings
• Union for Reform Judaism's Purim Page

Earth Day (April)

• Earth Day official website

Mother’s & Father’s Day (May, June)

• COEJL's Green Gift Guide
• COEJL's Gift Wrapping

Learn more at http://urj.org/green/judaism/holiday/.

To help you find exciting and delicious alternatives to red meat, we've pulled together a few great non-meat recipes from Entrée to Judaism: A Culinary Exploration of the Jewish Diaspora and Chocolate Chip Challah and Other Twists on the Jewish Holiday, two wonderful cookbooks published by the URJ Press.

Learn more at http://urj.org/life/food/?syspage=document&item_id=27464.

Explore ways to reconnect your eating to your Jewish values by setting aside time to celebrate your food with the traditional Jewish food blessings.

Learn more at http://urj.org/life/food/?syspage=document&item_id=27462.

Learn more at http://urj.org/life/food/?syspage=document&item_id=27463.

Excerpt:

Engaging young people – who are ready to think critically and Jewishly about their food decisions – in our discussions on ethical eating is a critical piece of [The Green Table, Just Table] initiative. To help facilitate this discussion, we've created a short template program for youth groups or religious school students to visit a local farm, learn about Jewish values around eating and food systems, and engage in social action projects by 'gleaning' from local farms for those in need.

Learn more at http://urj.org/life/food/?syspage=document&item_id=27141.

The following two text studies link specific passages from the Torah to contemporary environmental issues with sample discussion questions following each text. Both texts focus on "Ecology, Judaism and Tikkun Olam."

Excerpt:

Environment and Social Justice: Caring for the Land

Participant's Materials
…Shabbat and the sabbatical year afford the land the ecologically sound practice of taking a rest. Now we turn to the idea of the jubilee as a time of release of all debts.

1. In ancient Israel, at each jubilee year, land was re-distributed, so that anyone who had accumulated large parcels of land over the past fifty years had to return it to its original “owners” (tenants, actually, since God is the real owner).
   • Why do you think there was a need for this law? How might some individuals have accumulated large parcels of land?
   • What do you think happened to the former “owners” who were “bought out”?
   • Do you think this was just?
     
2. How might the principles of this law be applied today?

Environment and Social Justice: Environmental Legislation

Leader's Materials
Carcasses, cemeteries and tanneries must be kept at fifty cubits’ distance from a town. A tannery can only be set up on the east side of a town [because the east wind is gentle and will not carry the fumes to the town.] Mishnah, Baba Batra 2:9.

The connection between this text- which legislates the location of cemeteries and tanneries- and social justice is less obvious than with previous texts. The link becomes clear only when we consider whom the legislation is designed to protect. Those with sufficient resources can easily choose where they wish to live, thereby avoiding hazards to environmental and physical health. This law acts as a shield for those who lack such resources.

Learn more at http://urj.org/green/judaism/education/textstudies/.

Tu Bi'Shevat

Learn more at http://urj.org/green/judaism/education/livingtalmud/.

Environment
What does Judaism teach us about the environment?

Learn more at http://urj.org/green/judaism/education/livingtalmud/.

Learn more at http://urj.org/life/food/?syspage=document&item_id=27460 .

Background Information

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The first step towards a healthier, greener planet is an educated community that understands the issue and is empowered to act on this knowledge. Use this primer to learn the basics on climate change and what you can do about it.

Sections Include:

What is Climate Change?
Future Impacts and the Global Poor
The Clean Energy Solution
Three Terms to Know Before You Start
How To Take Action

Jewish Text Quotes

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The following environmentally-themed Jewish passages can be used as the basis of a text study, a starting point for discussion or included on a page of Living Talmud about contemporary environmental issues. In addition, clergy and lay officiants can use these resources to emphasize the Jewish nature of environmental responsibility.

Caring for the Earth

• “Have dominion over the fish of the sea…” Rabbi Hanina said, “If humanity merits it, they will have dominion; while if they do not merit it, they shall descend.” (Midrash, Genesis Rabbah 8:12)
  

The World Belongs to God, All Creation is Holy

• Humankind was not created until the sixth day so that if pride should govern, it could be said: “even the tiniest flea preceded you in creation…” (Leviticus Rabbah 14:1; Tosefta Sanhedrin 8:4)

Bal Tashchit (Do Not Waste)

• Whoever breaks vessels, or tears garments, or destroys a building, or clogs a well, or does away with food in a destructive manner violates the negative mitzvah of bal tashchit, do not destroy or waste (Kiddushin 32a).
  

Environmental-Themed Meditations

• Master of the Universe, grant me the ability to be alone. May it be my custom to go outdoors each day among the trees and grass, among all growing things. And there may I be alone in prayer, to talk with my Creator, to express everything in my heart. And may all the foliage of the field awake at my coming, to send the power of their life into the words of my prayer, so that my prayer and speech are made whole through the spirit of all growing things. (Meditation of Reb Nahman of Bratslav)

Learn more at http://urj.org/green/judaism/jewishquotes/.

Congregational Best Practices

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Use these successful and replicable congregational programs to engage your community in environmentally responsible behavior. Search for other "green programs" by logging on to Communicate! and searching the keywords "greening", "environment" and "tikkun olam."

First LEED Certified Congregation
Congregation Beth David, San Luis Obispo, CA
…The building includes excellent use of skylights and windows to maximize natural daylight, motion detector light switches to save energy when rooms are unoccupied, landscaping with native plants that require minimal water and the use of non-toxic, recycled finishing materials throughout the building.

Other Examples Include:

Living Green
Temple Emanuel, Kensington, MD

Roxbury Farm Partnership (Community Sustained Agriculture)
Congregation B'nai Yisrael, Armonk, NY

Sustainable Living Torah Gardens
Temple Israel, Tallahassee, FL

Learn more at http://urj.org/green/programs/casestudies/.

Why is Greening Jewish

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Among the many insightful Jewish environmental quotes and ancient teachings, these are some of the most poetic texts dealing with environmental integrity and eco-justice:

Genesis 9:9-10: "As for Me, I am going to establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, and with every living being in your care – the birds, the beasts, and all the land animals in your care – all who have gone out of the ark, all earth’s animals."

Exodus 23:6: "do not subvert the rights of your needy"

Leviticus 19:15: "do not favor the poor or show deference to the rich"

…

“It is not required of you to complete the task but neither are you free to desist from it.” ( Pirkei Avot 2:21)

Learn more at http://urj.org/green/aboutus/whygreen/.

Topics covered:

• Is environmentalism a Jewish issue?
• Where do I start?
• What are CFL bulbs and why should I use them?
• Which is better and what's the difference: Local vs. Organic foods?
• Farm raised, free-range and cage-free: So many labels, what do they all mean?
• How can I measure my efforts?
• How can I solicit support for congregational greening efforts from my board?
• Is there funding available?

Is environmentalism a Jewish Issue? Yes! Our story of peoplehood begins: “The Lord God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden, to till it and tend it.” (Genesis, 2:15)

Learn more at http://urj.org/green/101/faq/#jewish.