Young Urban Moshav is thrilled to have the opportunity to create a demonstration garden at the JCC of the East Bay. The garden is intended to serve the after school program’s garden curriculum and to function as a Jewish outdoor learning center for the community. The project site design will integrate best urban garden practices with Jewish cultural items such as traditional holiday foods and the fruits of Israel. The space will accommodate groups of learners and holiday activities. Young Urban Moshav’s participatory approach includes support with community engagement, from communications content and crowdsourcing to strategic connections with other Jewish green initiatives.

Artisan Katherine Gulley of Raised Bedlam Woodworks (left), Green Educator Ezra Ranz (center), JCC East Bay Berkeley After School Director Cassie Brown (right) enjoy the new beautiful redwood garden furniture that arrived in November.

Young Urban Moshav, a new Jewish food start-up, has been accepted into the Hazon CSA network and aims to develop a residentially-based Community Supported Agriculture program. The JCC East Bay garden will be an example of garden design and implementation that Young Urban Moshav is offering for other institutions and private residences as it embarks on its goal to grow a system of interconnected urban agriculture sites across the East Bay.

In developing this exciting demonstration garden, Young Urban Moshav is sourcing labor and products from within the community whenever possible. As of the end of November 2014, exciting progress has been made. The garden has received its first major contribution from Katherine Gulley at Raised Bedlam Woodworks in Berkeley. A beautiful redwood table and bench, including end planters and a garden box, are already on site! Katherine makes custom outdoor and reclaimed furniture. She herself grew up in Berkeley attending the JCC and proudly claims that she was at her after school program at the JCC when the big earthquake of ‘89 hit.

Chuck Weis (left), Jory Gessow of Gessow Landscaping (center), and Garden Educator Ezra Ranz (right) scope out the site for grading upgrades.

The garden site, an alley between the southwest corner of the JCC building and the adjacent commercial CVS building, is being graded during the month of December so that the main area in use will be flat. Approval has been obtained for a retaining wall and ramp, to be constructed by community member Jory Gessow of Gessow Landscaping. You might recognize Jory from the annual Tikkun Leyl Shavuot events as he is an avid participant of many years!

JCC After School Director Cassie Brown has been overseeing the project. Green Educator Ezra Ranz has been coordinating between the JCC and Young Urban Moshav on a volunteer basis while already growing some starts with students in small boxes on location (pictured in the featured image of this article). Facilities Supervisor Chuck Weis is managing construction details regarding the building site. Front Desk Supervisor Selena Martinez has been filling an insightful and exemplary advisory role. The garden design has been developed by Young Urban Moshav volunteer Talya Ilovitz, who now is updating the drawings to include the newest developments.

Next major steps include construction of raised garden beds and installation of drip irrigation as well as a spiral herb garden and worm bin. Material contributions are being graciously accepted, from lumber to soil, garden equipment and planters to irrigation supplies, seeds, plants and even worms! Please contact youngurbanmoshav@gmail.com if you would like to contribute to this exciting Jewish community garden.

Cranberry Shabbat 

Saturday, October 25,  Raindate, November 1

Wachusett Reservoir, Boylston

Join us for our annual Cranberry Shabbat. We will intermix songs and prayers with wild cranberry picking, and share a picnic lunch at the end. Please bring something to share and your own drinks and utensils. (Warm soup sounds good for a picnic in October!) Also bring containers for the cranberries. Most of our pickings will be given to a homeless shelter for their Thanksgiving dinner. There may be muddy spots, so be prepared footwear-wise, and it could be windy and chilly along the water. Please RSVP to Ma’yan Tikvah for details.

contributed by all the organizations and initiatives on “the Map” http://jewcology.org/map-of-initiatives/

Here’s a quick bit of Sukkot Torah to start us off: “The four species of the lulav represent the four types of ecosystems in the land of Israel: desert (date palm), hills (myrtle), river corridors (willow), and sh’feilah, the lowlands (etrog). Each species has to be fresh, with the very tips intact – they can’t be dried out, because they hold the water of last year’s rain. Together, they make a kind of map of last year’s rainfall, and together, we use them to pray for next year’s rains.” I hope everyone enjoys the wonderful array of activities and ideas we are generating. We are a strong and beautiful network. Please add more to this list if you like: write to rebduvid86@gmail.com and I’ll update this page. I will also be updating the format and fixing the fonts — I don’t have time Erev Yom Kippur to do more than simply share this content. Thank you to everyone who shared, and g’mar chatimah tovah! Rabbi David Seidenberg, neohasid.org

Resources

from Judith Belasco, Hazon

http://hazon.org/educational-resources/holidays/sukkot/ Hazon also has an incredible array of resources on Shmita linked at: http://hazon.org/shmita-project/educational-resources/resource-library/

from the Religious Action Center

“Eco-Friendly Sukkot”  http://resources.rj.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=1369

“Table Texts about Food Justice” http://rac.org/pdf/index.cfm?id=23602

from Max Arad and Rabbi Carol Levithan, The Rabbinical Assembly

“The Sukkah as Shelter: A Source Sheet” http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/jewish-law/holidays/sukkot/sukkah-as-shelter.pdf See also: http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/jewish-law/holidays/sukkot

 from Jeffrey Cohan, Jewish Vegetarians of North America

“Sukkot, Simchat Torah, and Vegetarianism” http://www.jewishveg.com/schwartz/hlydysu.html

from Rabbi Katy Z. Allen, Ma’yan Tikvah

Ushpizin for an Ecological Sukkot by Laurie Levy https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzF1ISt_50TyVG9lWE0zOXJpd1k/edit

from Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Shalom Center

14 articles on Sukkot at: https://theshalomcenter.org/treasury/114 including “Reb Zalman’s Prayers for the Earth on Hoshana Rabbah” and “Spread over all of us a Sukkah of shalom, salaam, paz, peace!”   from Rabbi David Seidenberg, neohasid.org “How-to Build a Sukkah For Under $40” http://www.neohasid.org/sukkot/a_simple_sukkah/ more links at: http://neohasid.org/zman/sukkot/ including “Eco-Torah for Sukkot”, “Hoshanot, the Original Jewish Earth Prayers”, and “Egalitarian Ushpizin with a Prayer for the Earth”

 from Canfei Nesharim via Rabbi Yonatan Neril

resources can be found at http://canfeinesharim.org/sukkot/ and on Jewcology http://jewcology.org/resources/sukkot-shemini-atzeret-resource-and-program-bank/

 also from Rabbi Yonatan Neril, for Jewish Ecoseminars

http://www.jewishecoseminars.com/let-the-land-rest-lessons-from-shemita-the-sabbatical-year/

 from Nati Passow, Jewish Farm School

Two resource sheets for Shmita to be posted on Jewcology – look for them on Monday before Sukkot

 from Anna Hanau, Grow and Behold Foods

Recipes (meat): http://growandbeholdblog.wordpress.com/tag/sukkot/

Events

We have three big regional festival events going on, Sukkahfest, Sukkot on the Farm, and Sukkahpalooza, and lots more local events:

 from Judith Belasco, Hazon/Isabella Freedman

Oct 8-Oct 12, Sukkahfest at Isabella Freedman Retreat Center http://hazon.org/calendar/sukkahfest-2014/

 from Pearlstone

Oct 8-Oct 12, Sukkahpalooza http://pearlstonecenter.org/signature-programs/sukkot/

 from Sarai Shapiro, Wilderness Torah

Oct 9-Oct 12, Sukkot on the Farm, Green Oak Creeks Farm, Pescadero CA http://www.wildernesstorah.org/programs/festivals/sukkot/   local events and projects:

from Hazzan Paul A. Buch, Temple Beth Israel, Pomona CA

Our synagogue will break ground during Sukkot on a 1/2 acre urban farm on our property, in cooperation with a local NGO. The farm will be fully managed by the NGO at no cost to us, and all workers are paid a living wage. The produce grown will be available for purchase to our congregation and sold at farmers markets in the area. A portion will be dedicated to those who are food insecure. Question for everyone: Do you know of any other synagogues who have dedicated their land in a similar way?  Please note this is not an urban garden, but a functioning not-for-profit commercial project.

from Becky O’Brien, Boulder Hazon

Oct 6, at 5:30 pm, family sukkot program, in partnership with the south Denver JCC Oct 12, at 4:00 and 7:00 pm, screenings of “Road to Eden”, co-sponsored with the Boulder JCC Oct 16, Sukkot Mishpacha, a program for young families at a local organic farm Rabbi Julian Sinclair stopped in Denver/Boulder on his recent book tour promoting Shabbat Ha’aretz; we hosted five programs with him earlier this month. We are leading a shmita hike for local staff of Jewish organizations to help them decompress from the hectic time of the high holidays. We expect that many shmita-related programs will arise throughout the year but we don’t yet know what they will be.

from Helen Bennet, Moishe Kavod House

Fri Oct 10, Shabbat in the sukkah Tues Oct 14, Sukkot Festival dinner, co-hosted with Ganei Beantown (Leora Mallach). Moishe Kavod is planning to run a series of learning and DIY sessions on shmita starting in November, with focuses on economic justice, food and ag system, and chesed/caring community principles.

 from Gail Wechsler, St. Louis Jewish Environmental Initiative (JEI)

Sun Oct 12, 4-6 PM, screening of the film “Fire Lines”, about joint Israeli and Palestinian fire fighting efforts during the Carmel fire of December 2010. The film includes environmental themes as part of the reason for the fire was overforestation of the affected area. The director, Avi Goldstein, will speak after the film.  In partnership with the Jewish Community Relations Council, Webster University and the JCC.

followed by:

Sun Oct 12, 6-7:30 PM, organic potluck Sukkot dinner. In partnership with the JCC and its Garden of Eden, a community garden that grows organic fruits and vegetables to benefit the clients of the nearby Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry. Both events at the Jewish Community Center Staenberg Arts & Education Building.

from Michael Rosenzweig, Boulder JCC

We have a great event each year called Sukkot Mishpacha, where we partner with a local farm so the children and families can learn about environmental issues, do fun arts and crafts projects, and pick their own gourds. http://www.boulderjcc.org/events/2249/2014/10/14/boulder-jcc-events-calendar/sukkot-mishpacha/ Note: I have not included narrative detail in general here, but I found Rhonda Ginsberg’s description so delightful to imagine and I just didn’t think I could condense it. So here is what she wrote to me, with some minor editing:

from Rhonda Ginsberg, teacher, Carmel Academy, Greenwich CT

For Sukkot we do a 4 year rotation focusing on different aspects of the holiday.  The first year of the cycle we invite the ushpizin and have the 7 species at a festive meal.  The second year we look at wind with kite flying as a major activity, the third at rain and water, and the last year at stars and shade. Each exploration is done both from the Judaics side with text study and from the science/experiential side. This year we are looking at water.  For the K to 3rd graders, teachers act out the story “Why Does it Rain on Sukkot”, MS. Frizzle (science teacher) comes to teach about rain & why it’s needed, then students rotate through stations that are led by 4th graders and teachers.  At the stations they investigate kosher tops for pipework sukkot, create rain sticks, have various water activities & races, sing songs & learn the dance “Mayyim”.  For the 5th to 8th graders, they start with an appropriate text study.  Then, the 6th through 8th graders become the instructors teaching the other grades about the aspect of water that they researched and created a project for.  6th graders look at the water cycle, which they present through posters, dioramas, etc.  They also perform a song and skit on the water cycle.  7th graders research water pollution – causes, effects, and possible solutions.  8th grade engineering students investigate flooding – causes, effects, how engineers have created solutions.  8th grade honors biology students investigate droughts, concentrating on trouble spots in the Western US, Israel & the Middle East, and Africa.  They also look at causes, effects, & possible solutions.  Then we have a Simchat Beit HaShoava – the biblical Water Libation ceremony which took place during Sukkot in Temple times, with students singing, dancing, juggling, filling pools with golden pitchers, etc.

Outdoor High Holiday Services with Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope

Rosh HaShanah Day 1, Thursday, September 25, 9:30 AM, Cedar Hill Camp

265 Beaver Street, Waltham, (accessible by MBTA bus)

Click here to carpool to this service.

Rosh HaShanah Potluck Dinner and Shmita Seder, Thursday, September 25, 6:30 PM, Location TBD, in Wayland

Rosh HaShanah Day 2, Friday, September 26, 10 AM, Greenways Conservation Area, 60 Green Way, Wayland

Kol Nidre Service, Friday, October 3, 6:45 PM, Church of the Holy Spirit, 169 Rice Road, Wayland

Click here to carpool to this service.

Yom Kippur Morning, Saturday, October 4, 9:30 AM, Cedar Hill Camp, 265 Beaver Street, Waltham, (accessible by MBTA bus)

Click here to carpool to this service.

Neilah Service and Break-fast, Saturday, October 4, 6:30 PM, Church of the Holy Spirit, 169 Rice Road, Wayland; Break-fast will be at a nearby private home

Ma’yan Tikvah celebrates the High Holidays in the woods with morning services on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur as well as Kol Nidre services on Erev Yom Kippur. The services are led by Rabbi Katy Allen and are a combination of traditional and nontraditional; they are informal and participatory for those who wish to add their voices. Morning services are held outside, or if the weather requires it, under an outdoor pavilion. There is time to sing, to appreciate the natural world around us, to meditate and pray, to read and discuss the Torah portion, to hear the sound of the Sofar on Rosh HaShanah, and to remember our loved ones during Yizkor on Yom Kippur. On the first day of Rosh HaShanah, our services are followed by a pot-luck lunch and then tashlich.

We will have a very different service on the second day of Rosh HaShanah – a hike interspersed with meditations, prayers, discussion, and the blowing of the shofar, and the day will include a picnic lunch – bring your own. We will through the fields and woods and end with a picnic near the Sudbury River.

Our Kol Nidre service is mostly indoors, but if weather permits we go outside for part of the service. We will also have a short Neilah service at the end of Yom Kippur followed by a pot-luck break-fast. All are welcome, including families with children. The sites for the first day of Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur are handicap accessible.

For more information or to register, go to www.mayantikvah.org and click on Shabbat, Holidays, and Classes, or call 508-358-5996 or email rabbi@mayantikvah.org.

There’s a precious community garden nestled between buildings on a crowded cobblestone street high up in the city of Tzvat, Israel. It began 18 years ago as a memorial community garden, in memory of a son who passed too soon, and it became a city landmark. Today this sacred place, enjoyed by and open to all, is receiving loving support toward renewing the shared space.

The Garden Seeds: Untimely death of a son, grief of a mother, new friendship

First, a mother was seeking a way to honor her son who was killed by cancer as a teenager 20 years ago this past spring. Shirel Levine was considering planting a tree in his memory as she was grieving over her tremendous loss, as an American living in northern Israel. She met the wife of her doctor, and this righteous woman Tamar Bittelman (of blessed memory) expressed a deep compassion with Shirel for the loss of her son. Within 10 minutes of their first encounter, Tamar suggested a garden, and she offered to help set it up.

Steven’s Garden in Tzvat was first established with much communal involvement. The grand opening involved the unveiling of a mural, live music, food and celebration. Tamar and her husband Noach built the first garden beds and then weekly taught local children how to plant and grow food there. The garden lived on, and has been maintained over the years at a low-cost for the benefit of the community.

The author’s daughter from California visits the lemon tree that her kindergarten class donated to Steven’s Garden in Tzvat, Israel.

Somehow Steven’s Garden reached me throughout the years as I reside in the Western US. When I lived in Tucson in the 1990’s, I knew Steven’s sister and so our mutual friend Susan Silverman – also a gardener – ecstatically informed me about this sweet community garden when she visited Tzvat some years later. I personally met Tamar Bittelman in 2004 when I moved to the East Bay in California where she was teaching kindergarten. It wasn’t until 2010 that I discovered Tamar was a founder of Steven’s Garden, when my daughter’s kindergarten class at Oakland Hebrew Day School raised funds as a tzedaka project for Steven’s Garden, and purchased a lemon tree that was planted there. I visited Israel in 2011 for the only time ever with my children, and we visited the tree. Several young yeshiva bochers were enjoying the garden, sitting with their siddurim and chatting reclining on the bench under the mural. It was a joy to finally see this garden for myself, right across the street from the famous Kabbalah artist David Friedman’s studio.

Tamar Bittelman Tzeddekes: The Garden Founder’s Legacy

Tamar Bittelman was not only a kindergarten teacher but was also a co-founder of the Beit Midrash Ohr HaChaim, a unique unaffiliated independent Torah-learning center located in Berkeley, California from 1998 – 2012 under the spiritual guidance of Rabbi Herschel Yolles, the Samborer Rebbe z”l. Tamar started numerous gardens during her life, including a garden adjacent to Congregation Beth Israel in Berkeley before its renovation in 2004.

Tamar’s Tzvat garden legacy is an echo of the story of her grandmother, Esther Beker Reinin of the pioneering Sturman family who was part of Hashomer, an original Jewish defense organization in Palestine first established in 1909. Beker Reinin was part of the historic security organization, serving on horseback protecting the sprouting Jewish settlements. She was also involved in an agricultural school in Israel. Every year at the Beit Midrash Ohr HaChaim in Berkeley, Tamar would sponsor a kiddush to honor the anniversary of her grandmother’s passing, and she would retell stories. There was even a story of when Tamar was walking along a road in a kibbutz in Israel, and a some old-timers walked by her and stopped, and told her, “You look just like Esther Beker Reinin.”

Many of today’s Jewish environmentalists have met Steven’s Garden’s founder Tamar Bittelman. Tamar attended the 2011 Hazon Food Conference in Davis, California where her husband Noach Bittelman the Acupuncturist presented on Jewish health and spirituality, the Earth, and the Holy Land. One year after we attended the Food Conference, Tamar edited my first blog article for Times of Israel, where I recounted a special woman’s circle that we held at the Hazon event, in the broader context of women’s central role in redemption of the world according the Jewish tradition.

Tamar and Noach Bittelman moved back to Northern Israel from California in 2012. During her last visit to Berkeley one year ago, Tamar was excited to learn of my newest project, a Hazon CSA which is in its inception stages and includes in its food security concept residential and communal gardens, and a pop-up kosher vegan soup and salad restaurant. She made an extra call to me during her trip to share her enthusiasm for Young Urban Moshav, and agreed to serve on the Board of Directors.

Sadly, and to the shock of many who have declared her righteousness, Tamar passed away unexpectedly after returning to Israel, on a holy Shabbos during daavening 24 Shvat 5774 (January 25, 2014.) Tamar’s family has set up HaMorah Tamar Kindergarten Fund at Oakland Hebrew Day School in her memory. Tamar is buried in Tzvat, the same city in Israel where Steven’s Garden, which she founded 18 years ago, continues to grow.

The Memorial and the Garden Renewal

Steven’s mother described on Radio Free Nachlaot in August 2014 how others recount to her that they feel Steven’s beautiful energy in the garden. A memorial garden is an example of the environment as habitat outside our bodies for our emotion, spirituality, and communal sharing. It is a place of comfort and healing.

Steven’s Garden holds the empathy of a woman hearing another woman grieving for her lost son, the generosity of creativity that builds and enriches the community, and comfort for mourners. It is a legacy of a grandmother and then granddaughter who loved, guarded and nurtured Eretz HaKodesh and the people of the land.

Community gardens can serve many functions, and Steven’s continues to hold potential for many possibilities. With financial support from the people who cherish this special urban garden in Tzvat, Israel, Steven’s Garden can be renewed with new benches, upgraded irrigation and maintenance, and a new sign that will include Tamar Bittelman’s name as founder of Steven’s Garden. Contributions can be made through the end of this year’s high holiday season through the crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo – click to learn more and contribute.

My compost bins are so much more than just a place where compost happens. The area beside the three wire and wood bins is place where I often feel my father’s spirit – he was raised on a farm, and though he became a professional, gardening was in his blood, and he spent much of his spare time in his garden and his orchard.
 

Yet, it is not just the reminders of my father or the sense of his hovering spirit that gives meaning to my compost bins. They are symbolic of so much – which may be more the truer reason that I think of my father whenever I take out the compost.

We gardeners deposit plant food wastes, garden trimmings, and chopped up leaves into our compost bins. We let the rains come to add water, and from time to time we add a bit of soil. Then we let nature take its course, and before too long, all of that “waste” has turned into dark, crumbly humus that will enrich the soil of our garden. The leaves, the banana and orange peels, the corn husks – all this and so much more has been transformed from something seemingly useless, a by-product, into something good, useful, and enriching.

And when my heart is feeling heavy, and I sit quietly beside my compost bins, I, too, get transformed. The grief and sadness in my heart are lifted, and I find myself once again able to be useful, to myself and to others. I am able to forge ahead into new territory. My relationship with the Holy One of Blessing has deepened.

This, in essence, is what teshuvah is about, turning the excess materials of our hearts and souls – those feelings of sadness, anger, jealousy, and more – into a deeper and closer relationship with G!d – re-turning to G!d – and in the process finding ourselves enriched.

It has been, I believe, through my connection with my father, who passed away almost 40 years ago, that I have learned to grieve. But grief is complex, it is not a one-time endeavor, it is a mosaic, and it returns, often when we least expect it. It shows up in new ways in response to new losses, so that frequently throughout our lives, something new and different needs to be transformed.

Thus it is for all of us, and thus it is in life. And so, our tradition provides the vehicle of the month of Elul leading up to Rosh HaShanah and all the days of the High Holidays, to give us the opportunity to let our compost be transformed, let our grief, fear, and despair be released, and let our hearts open wider, in an ever deepening relationship with the Mystery That Is.

Compost happens. May our transformation also happen.

Rabbi Katy Z. Allen is the founder and leader of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope in Wayland, MA, and a staff chaplain at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She is also the co-convener of the Jewish Climate Action Network and the co-creator of Gathering in Grief: The Israel / Gaza Conflict.

The meteorologists predicted a possible heavy rainstorm and suggested bringing an umbrella to work.  But as I drove home from an interfaith conference, I got a call from my husband announcing: “ You’ll have to swim home – everything is flooded here.” My heart stopped beating for a minute when I heard this, realizing that all my rabbinic books and papers, many photograph albums including those from my parents’ lives in pre-Holocaust Europe, all our children’s albums and  memorabilia, my father’s award-winning black and white mounted photos, and beautiful maple wood furniture which pre-dated me – all that was DOWN THERE!

But for now, I had to focus on getting home somehow – and indeed, the roadblocks on the main streets and highways were everywhere, with 12 feet of water at a nearby highway underpass near our home. Parking the car at a school several blocks away, I trudged through knee-deep water, only to find my husband standing waist-deep  in the middle of the lake created on our street, valiantly trying to hold back the debris so the storm sewers could drain in front of our house.  All the basements in our small suburb and several other surrounding ones had flooded with 3-5 feet of contaminated water. The irony of it all only hit me two days later when the curbsides where piled high with water-logged garbage – our community was nationally  known for being a leader in recycling ! – yet now was contributing to a huge increase of  landfill acreage with all these destroyed belongings.

Like Noah, I looked for signs of a renewal of life and dry land. This morning I found my “white dove” in the shape of the humongous white hydrangea trees and bushes and the fragrant white lily hostas blooming expansively in front of my house. Our garden did remind me that life  goes on and there is beauty and hope to be found around us, in just letting things go naturally.

As we enter the month of Elul, reflecting on what this all means and where we can improve our lives – and also entering the year of Shmita, of releasing the land to rest – I find several clear messages coming through:

First: Live simply and examine  what you are “attached” to.

Second: We have had an Oral Tradition accompanying our Written Law – perhaps it is time for us to focus on this in a new way, relying on our memories to tell the stories, archiving what is really important on computer memory sticks, and relying on the vast internet libraries instead of creating our own paper jungles at home.

Third: Thank and show appreciation for our neighbors, friends, and families for whatever ways they support us; be on the lookout constantly for  ways to help others, quietly and in advance of a request.

Fourth: While we never can fully understand the ways of God, we  know that if we truly rely on God’s help and direction, it will come; let us be patient and trusting as our ancestors were when they could not plant for an entire year. We will survive – and even prosper!

I resonated deeply with a spiritual writing that described the personal journey of a young man who made meaningful contributions to help alleviate suffering, first locally and then he volunteered in Peru with a health organization performing basic life-saving measures for the most needy. He realized that he could not SAVE them all, that whatever he does is a small amount given the needs and intensity of the impoverishment and sickness of those in dire circumstances. And his conclusion is similar to mine—that one cannot effect major changes, but we can become more aware that individuals in pain and need require compassionate responses. He called it a “ministry of silence”—being there, being present. I was motivated anew and started to participate in healing services for homeless people in my community in order to be a witness to their lives, to their small steps to heal, to be present as they were receiving some comfort and momentary relief during the service in which I participated. One homeless woman said to me — “it mattered to me that you were here” — that comment committed me to be there regularly.

My involvement with a Jewish inmate (writing him for 9 years of his incarceration) meant helping him in a variety of ways in his re-entry into society after years of extreme deprivation of basic human decency, civility and concern, and consequently, he lacked the life skills that would enable him in succeeding. Being his “big sister” and listening to him and his travails and providing some financial assistance gave him an opportunity to acclimate somewhat to life on the outside (“I am physically out of prison but my mind is still shackled from the abuses”). There are few Schweitzers and Paul Farmers capable of performing their amazingly impactful service to humanity but there are endless opportunities to alleviate the hopelessness and abject suffering of individuals in our midst. We can offer a smile, and heartfelt caring that expresses joy when good things happen to them and offering advice and empathy when the challenges cannot be faced alone– communicating that “I am here now with you on your journey as you face and cope with life’s extreme difficulties.”

Participating in a weekly Buddhist meditation group adds to my sense of teshuvah, as it prepares me to practice deep listening, offering new ways to respond with compassion and kindness and caring by being mindfully present. My deep seated Jewish values and traditions inform how I address the pressing societal ills and illusive peace as I learn again and again to be present a little more each year.

Maxine Lyons, retired community educator, is currently CMM (Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries) board member and co-chair of CMM’s RUAH Spirituality Programs, active participant in the ALEPH prison pen pal program (“connecting Jews on the outside with Jews on the inside”), member of Temple Beth Zion, Brookline, and joyful wife of 37 years and mother of two accomplished and wonderful thirty somethings.

The world seems a little topsy turvy these days. A plane missing. 223 girls kidnapped in Nigeria. 3 teen agers kidnapped and murdered in Israel. A plane shot out of the sky. Israel in Gaza. Rockets in Israel. Too many children killed in the streets of Chicago. Too many deaths. When does it stop?

In the Fox River Valley, Illinois, after a punishing winter of epic proportions, it is nice to be outside. Six congregations, part of the nascent Prairie Jewish Coalition, sponsored the Topsy Turvy bus.

What is a topsy turvy bus? It is a school bus, bright yellow, with half of another school bus on top, welded together and running entirely on used food oil. It is a project of Hazon to draw attention to climate change.

Draw attention it does. You have never seen anything like it. Part school bus, part RV, part camper, five  people (and two support staff) are driving this bus from Colorado to Isabella Friedman Retreat Center in Connecticut.  Inside the bus there are sleeping quarters, a kitchen, storage space and even a library!

Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s commissioned the bus. The first tour raised awareness of wasteful spending at the Pentagon. Maybe this Topsy Turvy bus can bring peace! The second tour promoted the White House Organic Farm project. So it makes sense that on a sunny, Sunday afternoon, my congregation, Kneseth Israel, and Pushing the Envelope Farm have come together to host this event.

The residents, drivers, educators engaged all ages who turned out. There were yummy blueberry smoothies made by a bicycle blender. Even better vegan chocolate chip cookies made with three different models of solar cookers. This led to an interesting debate about whether you could use a solar cooker to cook a chicken for Shabbat.

The solar cooking and the bicycle smoothies remind me that I want to install a solar ner tamid, eternal light at our synagogue.  The brainchild of Rabbi Everett Gendler, one of the first Jewish environmentalists, Temple Emanuel of the Merrimack Valley installed the first one in 1978. It raises awareness about the power of the sun and the need to protect our environment, to be caretakers with G-d, in this glorious creation..

People could tour Pushing the Envelope Farm, owned by Rabbi Fred Margulies and his wife Trisha who built the farm from spare acreage on their Continental Envelope Company land in Geneva, IL. They are using it primarily as a teaching farm, with programs for schools, synagogues, churches and scout troops. With 14 acres, there is an organic CSA, various crops and farm animals.  A portion of everything they grow goes to the nearby Northern Illinois Food Bank.

The kids who came loved playing with the chickens and the goats. They loved making their own smoothies and solar cooked cookies. I loved seeing the signs in English, Hebrew, Spanish. And while the bees are critically important, to sustainability and our celebrations of Rosh Hashanah, I gave them a wide berth as I hiked by.

But maybe what I loved most is how this Topsy Turvey bus got all of us—from six congregations and from two years old to eighty, outside on a beautiful, summer day. It would seem that the world is not so Topsy Turvey. Maybe there can even be peace.

Rabbi Margaret Frisch Klein is the rabbi of Congregation Kneseth Israel in Elgin, IL, and the author of A Climbing Journey Toward Yom Kippur. She blogs as the Energizer Rabbi, at http://www.theenergizerrabbi.org.

A memory: Our newborn is up again. I turn to the clock. It’s 4:25 am. Less than three hours since she last awoke. My husband and I are exhausted, and we lie quietly for a few moments, willing our daughter back to sleep. But her cries are persistent. Who knows if she’s hungry, cold, or simply distressed and looking for comfort?

Regardless, we’ve reached our “give-her-a-moment” limit; there’s only so long one can ignore an infant baby’s cries. My husband grabs for his glasses, makes his way to the

nursery, and returns with our loosely swaddled howling bundle. He lays her beside me and her whimpers subside. She begins to nurse. We are calmed. At that moment, there is no more peaceful sound than the blissful rhythm of our baby sucking.

­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐

The calf is born. Cold and disoriented, its mother nestles close to provide warmth; she guides her baby’s mouth toward her udders. The calf suckles and then falls asleep by its mother.

The mother and child remain this way, comforted, nurtured by each other’s presence. The calf awakes and drinks more of the colostrum, or early milk, from its mother. This liquid gold is rich in antibodies, essential for the health and growth of the baby calf, but not fit for human consumption. Within 24 hours, the calf has done its job, drunk all the colostrum. The cow’s milk fills her udders. This milk, unlike the colostrum, is valuable and will be collected for humans.

It is time; a farmhand waits until mother and baby are sleeping side-by-side, lifts the baby to its feet and nudges it away. The unnecessary cost has been removed; this calf, like all the others on this farm, is separated permanently from her mother. This calf will never again drink its mother’s milk.

Neighbors awake. They hear strange noises: indescribably, inhuman, and unrecognizable. The sounds are clearly coming from creatures in distress. Between midnight and 7:00 am, at least four neighbors alert the police. Officers are dispatched to the dairy farm to investigate the source of the eerie, troubling sound. Assurances are given that all is well.

This is just business as usual. The calf must not drink the profits. The cow and calf’s time together has ended. But maternal-child bonds are not easily broken. The separation causes extreme anxiety and suffering. The bellows emanate from the mother cow lamenting the separation from her baby. Gates will be check to ensure she is securely penned. It is not uncommon for a mother cow to trek for miles in search of her calf. Sadly, this pregnancy, birth, separation, commercial milk production cycle which is forced upon the cows continues. Lactation will not occur otherwise.

Dairy products are suffused with the suffering of a mother and a child separated and unable to soothe one another. I hear their cries and cannot ignore them.

Diana G. is a plant based nutrition/cooking teacher with a BA in nutritional sciences from Cornell, and an MA in Education from Harvard. She is a mother of three and an animal rights advocate. Her article was inspired by this article and this book.

Reisterstown, MD – May 5, 2014 — Pearlstone Center is holding its 4^th annual Nevatim-Sprouts Conference, Sunday, July 13^th through Wednesday July 16^th. This professional development conference brings together early childhood, day school, and religious school educators from around the country for training in Jewish garden and environmental education. Participants learn the basics of educational garden design, share lesson plans and Jewish, environmental curricula, tour the state’s premier outdoor classrooms, harvest and prepare farm to table meals, and walk away with the tools, resources, and professional network needed to develop Jewish, environmental programming at their schools.

This year, in response to past participant feedback, an additional day was added to the conference to provide more opportunities for interactive lesson-plan modeling and group brainstorm. Hands-on sessions explore how to integrate an educational garden into your institution and bring the outside into the classroom to teach about the Jewish calendar, social justice, stewardship and responsibility, among other Jewish values. Pearlstone’s skilled staff utilize the center’s 4-acre organic farm, small animal pasture and trails throughout the conference. Continuing education credits (CEUs) from the Maryland Department of Education are available to participants.

Conference partners this year include RAVSAK, Pardes Institute, The Jewish Montessori Society, United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism, Schechter Day School Network, Early Childhood Educators of Reform Judaism, PARDeS Day Schools of Reform Judaism and the Louise D. and Morton J. Macks Center for Jewish Education. “This opportunity to partner with such a diverse and impressive list of Jewish networks and institutions of Jewish education speaks to the impact this conference makes on educators and their schools. Participants arrive with challenges and questions and leave inspired and excited to ignite passion in their students for Judaism and our relationship with the land,” reported Neely Snyder, Pearlstone Center’s Director of Signature Programs and Nevatim Conference organizer.

4^th Annual Nevatim-Sprouts Conference
July 13-16, 2014
Pearlstone Center, Reisterstown, MD

For additional information, visit pearlstonecenter.org/nevatim

The Pearlstone Center ignites Jewish passion. Our retreat center, farm, and programs enable and inspire vibrant Jewish life. Engaging Jewish, faith-based, and secular organizations, individuals, and families, Pearlstone serves all ages and backgrounds throughout Baltimore, the Chesapeake region, and beyond.

It’s the kind of thing that makes you proud.

I especially wanted to share about a recent event that I attended, the dedication of the new Vera Lieber Memorial Garden.

Vera Leiber was the preschool director at the school, in addition to other roles in the school, in the community, and in our county educational system. (She and her husband, Tsvi, were also supporters of Canfei Nesharim.) When Ms. Leiber died five years ago, she left behind so many people who loved and missed her. Now, her memory can be honored continually, through the dedication of Tsvi and his family and the hard work of staff at the Hebrew Academy, with a beautiful garden for preschool students.

Nancy Moses, the garden designer for the project, explained how the plan was made. The goal was to remove the candy-colored plastic play objects and create a multisensory environment for small children to interact with natural objects, learn where food comes from, and engage in creative play. Five new trees were planted ceremoniously in the garden. Artistic decorations in the garden were also made by the children.

The garden includes specific creative activity “rooms,” including a salad table, arbor, performance area, boulder areas for jumping and climbing, and an edible garden with herbs. The teachers can also integrate lessons about science, planting, and healthy nutrition in the garden.

At the dedication, educators showed a video of the children interacting in this new play area. A fallen tree had been transformed into play logs for the children to sit on, but because they were moveable, they became an active part of the children’s play.

Part of the stated goal of the garden is to help the children appreciate G-d’s world and the miracles of creation.

When I founded Canfei Nesharim more than ten years ago, the myth in the Jewish environmental world was that Orthodox Jews would never care about the environment. But things change. Now we see communities popping up with all kinds of creative and meaningful ways to educate themselves and their children about our connection to land, food, energy and the environment. It’s so rewarding to see!

Kol haKavod to the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy and the entire Lieber family.

Although these pictures were taken on a chilly autumn day, you can still see the beautiful flowers and the natural surroundings of this garden. May the garden grow, and may we see other versions of this model in Orthodox Jewish day schools across the country and the world!

I’m not a gardener. When I was a kid, my mother (a teacher) would keep plants on her windowsill all year long, and when they were wilting would give them to a co-worker to nurse them back to health over the summer. She would say things like “I don’t have a green thumb,” and my experience showed the same – whenever I tried to take care of a plant it died. (My mother outgrew this perspective; when she retired she had a beautiful sun room of plants which thrived in her care.) But I have stayed away from plants, feeling that they are better off without me.

But the Jewish environmental movement has a way of pulling you in to the special grace of planting. Two weeks ago I had the privilege of planting some beautiful little sprouts while at a meeting at Isabella Freedman Retreat Center in Connecticut. Fingers in the rich soil, tiny little plants in my fingers. It was a precious experience.

I kept asking, am I doing this right? Afraid to make a mistake. Hasn’t that been the story of my life! I realized that whenever people garden or farm, they learn as they are doing. They make mistakes. Maybe I’ve avoided plants because I was afraid of failing them, of failing myself.

As with most situations, being afraid to risk failure can keep you from learning anything at all.

My eight year old son is undaunted. He’s spent this year at his Orthodox day school, learning how to plant a garden in his science class. (How proud I am of our local Orthodox day school!) Once he told me that he didn’t learn much in science that day, because “he was working in the garden.” I said, “Weren’t you learning how to plant things and how to make a garden?” He said, “I've already learned that.”

I said, “Well, maybe you were getting the chance to practice.”

Indeed, it was true. When we got to the backyard with our tools and our grass-covered plot of land, he knew better than me what he was doing. Together with my husband, we turned the ground and removed the rocks and weeds, smashing up the hard clumps of soil under his instruction. A few hours, and we had our first little garden – with a few rows of cucumber and green bean seeds planted.

As we continued digging, I heard him saying to himself, “I’m so excited! I’m so excited!” He had been trying to get us to plant this garden for several years already.

I’ve warned him that I don’t know what’s going to grow in this garden. Will all of our sprouts be eaten by weeds and/or pests? Will anything come out of the ground at all? We can’t know.

That’s the thing about life. You have to plant without knowing how it’s all going to come up.

My son doesn't seem nearly as worried about this as I am. It's one of the many things that he is teaching me.

So, we made our first effort. Undaunted by the fear of failure, pushing past my desperate need to get it right, we’ve planted. Whatever comes of this garden, we will learn. And we will continue. As I’m learning, that’s life.

Although Tu b’Shevat is already over for 2013, here is a great activity we thought up on the farm that you can use for 2014! This activity is adapted from The Lookstein Center’s “Tu B’Shvat Seder for Young Children.”

Make a birthday cake for trees! The activity involves making a large batch of air-dry salt clay in several different colors: brown, green, red, etc. On a very large surface, make a tree shape out of the brown dough. Then, each participant can come and help to make the leaves and fruits to add to the tree, to show how it grows in spring. When the tree is done “growing,” you can add candles to it, and sing a happy birthday song (or any other song), then blow out the candles as a group! That can be the end of the activity, or you can have a separate fruit cake which can then be served in honor of the tree’s birthday, and you can discuss all of the delicious and yummy fruits we get from trees.

Add-ons: you can also read the book, “Honi’s Circle of Trees,” plant your own tree seeds, or make dried fruit shish-kabobs to be eaten at the party.

The directions for how to make air-dry salt clay are below. Use regular food dye to create different colors.

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

1 cup hot water

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (this makes the texture smoother)

Mix the Clay

1- Combine flour and salt in a large bowl.

2- Add hot water and oil – mix thoroughly.

3- Allow to cool.

4- Knead for about 6 minutes- the dough should become smooth and workable.

5- Create artwork!

Happy Tree B’Earthday!

Pushing the Envelope Farm

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 of spices, olive oil and herbal remedies in the gardens.

The project consists of 10 sessions throughout the school year and ends with the children visiting at each other’s schools and planting trees, symbolizing the fruits of their cooperation and mutual learning.

“Nature is everybody’s and nobody’s,” says the project director, Leah Gerson. “The Garden serves as a neutral ground, as a charming atmosphere with wonderful tasks that allows room for openness and listening.”

Due to the language barrier, the teachers act as translators for the children and bridge the gaps between the sides. “My initial fear was for nothing,” says Gerson, “because the children found their own ways to communicate, as children do.”

In the past year alone the project has brought together 160 Jewish and Arab children for combined studies. “We have the largest collection in the country and are a living showcase for biodiversity,” says Sue Surkes, director of development. “We translate the plant biodiversity into trying to encourage human diversity as well.”

Coexistence is just one of several programs blossoming at Israel’s largest botanical garden, adds Surkes.

To reach broader audiences, including Christians and Muslims, the JBG is also opening a newly upgraded Bible Path, complete with new plantings, outdoor classrooms, interpretational aids and innovative programming.

This article appeared on www.nocamels.com

We love this time of year. The opportunity to share special moments with family, lighting candles, eating latkes, and sharing special community celebrations. As we come together to celebrate happy moments, Chanukah is a great time to share Torah learning and to remember to be mindful of our energy actions.

Chanukah reminds us that even when things may seem dark, there's light. To share the light this year, Canfei Nesharim's website features the following resources:

• The Miracle of the Vessels, a Torah teaching to learn with your family and community, with source sheet and discussion questions.

• The Wisdom of Olive Oil, a printable fact sheet with energy facts and Torah teachings about our use of oil.

• Songs and kids' activities to brighten your Chanukah party.

• And much more!

Check out all of our Chanukah resources today!

(Hint, hint… all we want for Chanukah is a successful 2012! Give a Chanukah gift to support Canfei Nesharim here.)

Psst! We wanted to remind you that Tu b'Shevat is just 6 weeks after Chanukah! This year, the Jewish "New Year of the Trees" falls on Tuesday-Wednesday February 7-8.

Now is the time to start thinking about preparing your own community projects for Tu b'Shevat. It's time to build your planning committee and put your event on the community calendar. Just think of us as a "little birdy" (or maybe an eagle) calling to remind you.

Looking for ideas and resources? Great materials available on our Tu b'Shevat Site! Stay tuned for more updates coming soon.

Don't miss this great opportunity to learn and educate your community about our Jewish responsibility to protect the environment!

Wishing you a joyous and bright Chanukah!

Connecting traditional Torah texts with contemporary scientific findings, Canfei Nesharim educates and empowers Jewish individuals, organizations and communities to take an active role in protecting the environment, in order to build a more sustainable world.

Reproduction of this material is encouraged so long as the footer and header information remains intact.

Environmental Responsibility at School *

by Hadas Yellinek, Coordinator of the Community and Nature Program at Teva Ivri

* Hebrew Version Produced by Teva Ivri – Jewish Nature

English Translation Courtesy of Jewish Agency for Israel – Partnership2Gether

Target Population: Elementary School

Noah lived in a period in which he was required to assume responsibility, listen to the voice of God and save the various species. Each of us should assume Noah’s role. Each of us is responsible for the environment in which he lives. In this lesson, we will learn about man’s responsibility for the world’s existence and how each of us can reduce our negative impact on the environment at school.

Part 1 – We’re All in the Same Boat – Story and Discussion

The teacher will open with the following story based on the Midrash in Vayikra Raba 4:

This is a tale of a group of people sitting on a ship. One of them took a drill and started drilling a hole in the bottom of the ship. His friends said to him: “What are you doing?” He said to them: “What does it matter to you! I’m only drilling under where I’m sitting.” They said to him: ‘The water is rising and flooding us all. We are all in the same boat!”

Comment: You can ‘add’ color to the story and lengthen the text and add descriptions. It can also be dramatized together with the students. The ship represents the planet Earth. The group of people represents all inhabitants of the Earth. The moment I understand that my actions have an impact on the entire world, my behavior will change.

Part 2 – You and I Will Change the World – Group Activity

The teacher will divide the class into 4 groups. Each group will discuss one of the following topics (2 groups will discuss each subject). Afterward, each smaller group will present its conclusions to the entire class.

The Way to School

Conduct a Class Survey – How do you get to school?

Walking

By bike

By public transportation

School bus

Carpool

My parents drive me to school

Points for discussion and activity

· What are the environmental consequences of driving one’s car rather than taking public transportation?

· What is better for the environment? Parents dropping the student off? Traveling by bus, bike, or walking? Which is healthier?

· How can we influence more students to get to school using healthy and environmentally friendly ways?

Trash at School

It is recommended to run this activity during the lesson that follows the morning recess.

Check the classroom trash can and fill in the attached table:

Type of Trash

Quantity (A lot, average, small amount)

There is a recycling can at school or in the area

Organic waste (leftover food)

Plastic (bags, bottles)

Paper

Cardboard

Styrofoam

Glass

Metal (cans)

Points for Discussion and Activity

· What is the source of the trash in the can?

· What could be reduced and how? (For example, reusable food boxes instead of bags, recycling paper instead of throwing into the can…)

· Which trash can be recycled at school?

· How can you encourage classmates to recycle?

To expand upon the subject: Study about the time span it takes for materials to decompose, how compost is made, and what happens to trash in the landfill.

Part 3: Who Knows Noah – A Call to Action

Do you know the story of Noah?

The teacher will tell the story of Noah in brief and will ask the children – “What is the connection between Noah and the process we learned about today?” “If Noah was alive today, what issues would he be required to deal with?”

Now after we understand the consequences of our various actions, there is a need to adopt responsible behavior for our world, our resources and the coming generations.

Teacher: There is an opportunity to leverage the activity into an annual project that the class will lead.

Now hold a vote regarding which subject the class wishes to focus on – and make a change.

The change can be for an individual class experience or for the entire school.

Select a committee to promote this subject, which will approach the principal, parents’ committee, etc. in order to involve the school’s decision makers in the process.

Good luck!

Appendix – Walking Together to School

In the not too distant past, walking was the common way of getting to school. Today, fewer and fewer children come to school on foot and they increasingly choose to travel to school by private car. This behavior has implications in many spheres – health, road safety, environmental protection, community life and quality of life in general. Walking to school contributes to the student’s health and welfare and improves the quality of life in the residential neighborhood, in the following ways:

Improves Health and Physical Fitness and Reduces the Risk of Chronic Diseases

Many studies have found evidence regarding the significant contribution of physical activity in preventing disease and promoting health. Among other things, physical activity helps prevent obesity, which is a global epidemic with far reaching health implications, primarily in children. Regular physical activity, such as walking to school on a regular basis, contributes to maintaining proper weight and protecting the health of the cardiovascular system and other body systems as well.

Adopting Physical Activity Practices During Leisure Time

As opposed to competitive sports, every student can enjoy and benefit from walking, because walking does not require athletic ability and it appeals to a wider range of students. Studies have found evidence that children who come to school on foot tend to take part in more physical activity in their leisure time. This is particularly significant in our time, in light of the spread of the sedentary behavior among children.

Increasing Pedestrian Safety in the School Vicinity

There is a good reason that pedestrians and cyclists in Israel are known as ‘vulnerable road users’. It is because they make up over two-thirds of all victims and fatalities in road accidents. In this regard, many studies indicate that the larger the number of pedestrians in a given place, the smaller the chances of them getting hurt in a road accident. Traffic hazards near the school are related to the large number of private vehicles that drive to the school in a short span of time. In most cases, the school vicinity is not prepared for the intake of the incoming vehicles, the children who are dropped off or parking spaces for this large number of vehicles. Therefore, encouraging walking instead of coming to school by private car will contribute to the safety of the school vicinity.

Improving Air Quality

The many vehicles starting up their engines and driving very slowly near the school, emit increased air pollutants. Driving a distance of 1 kilometer by car emits a half of a kilogram of pollutants from the vehicle (the amount of pollutants emitted when starting the engine is greater). Children are more vulnerable to the air emitted from vehicles because they are shorter. Replacing these car rides with walking to school will reduce the environmental hazards caused due to the traffic jams during peak hours at the school.

Conserving Energy and Returning the Urban Space to Pedestrians

In the short run, less cars arriving at the school’s vicinity each morning will reduce the burden and the traffic jams and allow for a great savings in energy. In the long run, the transition from transportation by car to walking to school will return the municipal space to pedestrians and protect open public areas.

Empowering the Student and Developing Social Relationships

Walking to school contributes to the development of social relationships, helps develop independence and improves self-image. Studies indicate that walking to school is a habit that creates and fosters social relationships, and the chances that the student will walk to school increases if other students are also walking. These findings stress the importance of organized walking groups which encourage walking to school.

The project encourages daily walking to and from school, with the cooperation of parents and people in the community. In participating countries, the activity begins at the start of the school year and includes a variety of lessons, such as integrating walking in subjects such as geography, arithmetic, art, social studies, mapping walking routes near the school and organizing walking groups.

Yesterday, while staking the pepper plants growing in our garden, I for the first time, started to understand Rav Soloveitchik’s z’l comparison between man and plant. Maybe it was the morning of dealing with homesick campers, but I began looking for meaning and support from the earth. I was able to prevent the plant, weighed down by a small green pepper, from toppling over with a two inch piece of twine. Just as sometimes all a homesick camper needs is an arm around the shoulder or someone to toss a Frisbee around with, we are all capable of helping the world by small actions. This is not to say that small actions are all that is needed. We need massive social change in order to become a world free of suffering. Still, we all need a place to start. Having campers connect with living plants and nurture them to maturity is an amazing teaching opportunity to illustrate that, through acts of caring and loving kindness, we can all have a profound impact on the world around us.

The Torah teaches us that no place is devoid of G-d’s beauty. We learn in Kohellet Rabbah that, when Hashem spoke to Moshe, it was not through a substance that many of us would deem to be beautiful. Rather, it was not a calm river or a serene sunset; rather it was a thorn bush. Yet this medium was holy enough for G-d, that he used it to change the course of Jewish history. Through hard work and teaching, I am hopeful that campers and staff alike will find holiness in the flowers of the watermelon plant, the worms crawling through the dirt, and the sweat of their brows as we continue to inspire change the world through gardening. Campers must learn that everything, like the thorn bush, is holy, Devine, and important.

It has been three days of hard work, blisters, and buckets of sweat, but it is almost time to sprout, literally. Next week, the campers of Young Judea Sprout Lake in upstate New York will arrive. For this eight-week summer, I have one goal in mind, to make clear the intimate connection our tradition has with the earth. As staff has slowly trickled in from across Israel, Canada and the United States, I am impressed by the continual excitement when they meet “the Garden Guy”. The desire to dig, plant and labor is ever present. I believe this spirit is driven by the idea of A.D. Gordon, a leader of labor Zionism, who coined the phrase, “To build and to be built.” If this camp experience is representative of a cultural change spreading throughout the youth of America, we may be able to break through the environmental barriers done by the generations past. I hope that we may have finally returned to a time where reward is not determined by ease and money, but rather one in which joy is found in a sore back, muddy boots and a ground tilled, planted, and alive.

We must be willing to get dirty. We must remember our roots— both literally and figuratively. Our roots as a people are tied to the earth. Regardless of personal Israelis politics and viewpoints on current events, to me it is clear that our religion and culture is tied historically to the land of Israeli. Our ancestors were able to make a desert flower, a wasteland grow. They were willing, driven and committed to getting dirty. Through working the land they were transformed into a people continually pushing past adversity, for they recognized that life is not easy, and it is not meant to be. We, as global citizens, Jews, humans, are meant to be challenged. Through challenge we grow as individuals. So too through toil do we make the land grow. As Jews we are must join together and remember that we are united by much more than we are divided. We must remember our roots, and we must plant them in fertile soil prepared by the sweat of our brows.

Psalm 126, which is traditionally said in the grace after meals, teaches us “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.” I pray that these tears are neither of hardship nor pain, but rather of hard work and determination, for only than may be truly build ourselves into the Chosen People.

If a tree can grow in Brooklyn

If a tree could grow in Brooklyn, certainly a garden could grow in a New York school yard.Returning to the kindergarden, the Green Bubbie was thrilled to see the progress of the seeds she had planted with the children. They were eager and curious how a garden could grow in their playground.
We built a "raised bed" a 3×3 foot wooden ' box' used lanscape fabric on the bottom and filled it with gardening soil. We planted the peas and zuchinni which we had grown from seeds and some additional lettuce and flower seedings. The children loved learning how to hoe, to shovel, to dig an adequate hole and of course, watering the garden.
For over 2 hours over 30 children were transformed into urban gardeners!
and now, a vegetable garden grows on a city play ground!
The miracle of growth can happen anywhere you are willing to take root.

For BEST PRINT ENTRY (with 4,345 votes):
Adi Gloger
Myrtle Beach, SC
6th grade
Chabad Academy

For BEST MULTIMEDIA ENTRY (with 664 votes):
Allison Schachtel
Essex Fells, NJ
4th grade
Congregation Agudath Israel Religious School

All finalists will receive a water-powered alarm clock. Grand-prize winners Adi and Allison will receive, in addition, a backpack with a solar panel to recharge electronic devices. We hope that these prizes will serve as constant reminders to our students to think about the environment and the world around them through a Jewish lens.

Remember the Rainbow Covenant on Shabbat Noach, Shabbat Behar and Rainbow Day!

Celebrate Rainbow Day and the Rainbow Covenant with all life!

In the Rainbow Day curriculum, you’ll find Torah, prayers and liturgies, midrashim about rainbows, lesson plans about seed-saving, learning from Hoshea and Ezekiel, Kabbalah and midrash, and project ideas—40 in all—that you can use to celebrate the Rainbow covenant onShabbat Behar and on Rainbow Day (both fall on the same day this year outside of Israel, May 15-16, 2015), and on Shabbat Noach (Oct 16-17 in 2015), and every week. The Rainbow Covenant with all life is the first covenant of the Torah. (You can download in-depth study sheets on the connection between the Rainbow covenant and the Sinai/Shmitah covenant with the land that is found in that week’s parshah here. Go to the Shmita Project to learn more about Shmita.)

Download the Rainbow Day curriculum. It includes: Rainbow and Shmitah covenant Torah texts, poetry for kids, liturgy and midrash, frogs, mikveh, the dangers of triclosan (found in anti-bacterial soap), hydrofracking in Israel, and much more. A table of contents with a list of all 40 modules, along with the ages each is appropriate for, can be found below. Many individual modules have study sheets, articles, and lesson plans that you can download directly below. You can add your ideas to this curriculum too: write to R’ David Seidenberg of neohasid.org (rebduvid86 at gmail.com). Every year we add a link to one of the issues found in the curriculum here: Learn about fracking in Israel. New to this year’s download: all the url’s are live links that you can click. Lastly, don’t leave this page without listening to the Brit/Hoshea song — scroll to the very bottom and hit the play button!

What is Rainbow Day?

On the 27th day of the second month, Noah, his family, and all the animals that were with them left the ark (Genesis 8). Exactly one lunar year and ten days before—one complete solar year—the flood began on the 17th of the second month, the day before Lag B’Omer. When Noah, the animals and his family went out from the ark, God made a covenant, with all the animals and the people, that there would never be again be a flood of water to destroy life on Earth. Rainbow Day is always the 42nd day of the Omer, the day after Yom Yerushalayim. Other days connected the Rainbow Covenant include Shabbat Noach and Shabbat Behar.

Why is the Rainbow Covenant important?

The Rainbow Covenant is a time to celebrate the diversity of life on Earth, and to remember our role in God’s covenant with all Creation. It is a time to remember that the first covenant was not with human beings but with all living creatures. It is a chance to reflect on the deep spiritual and religious meaning of diversity, creation, and our role as part of creation and partners with God.

What is the message of the Rainbow Covenant?

The Torah teaches that God has promised never to flood the Earth again. But that doesn’t mean humanity can’t “flood the Earth” and harm life. We live in a time when many species have gone extinct or are threatened with extinction. Our civilization is using so much of the world’s land and resources that we don’t always leave room for the other creatures. And the climate is changing. As the African-American spiritual goes, “God gave Noah the Rainbow sign, no more water, the fire next time!” The story of Noah and the Flood teaches us that we have a responsibility to care for all creation and all creatures, and that caring for all species is a mark of righteousness.

What can you do to celebrate the Rainbow Covenant?

The resources here will include ideas for teachers and educators, for kids and adults, for rabbis and prayer leaders, gardeners and meditators, for Torah study, science study, and for action. Find a venue where you can make a difference and use one of these modules. We suggest that you leave a few moments after whatever activity you use for teaching the traditional blessing for seeing a rainbow:

Blessed be You YHVH, our God. . .who remembers the covenant.

Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha`olam zokher et habrit.

You can use also these materials on Shabbat Noach, Shabbat Beh!r, or other days!

Download the Rainbow Day curriculum!

You can also incorporate ideas you’ll find here into the observance of Yom Yerushalayim, or as part of Lag B’Omer or for anytime of the Omer, etc. Or use them in religious schools in the week following Shabbat Behar or anytime. Whether you do something in a group, a synagogue, with friends or on your own, make Rainbow Day special.

Here is a prayer that you can use for Rainbow Day (longer version with vowels is found below, and this version with vowels is found in the curriculum as well):

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אל מלא רחמים God full of compassion,

זכור בריתך עמ כל החיים remember Your covenant with all life,

ברית מי נח the covenant of the waters of Noah.

ופרוש סכת רחמיםושלום Spread a Sukkah of compassion & peace

עלינו ועל כל מיני החייםover us, over all Life’s species.

הקיף כלם יוחסינו Surround all our relations

בזיו השכינה with Shekhinah’s radiance,

בנחל עדניך תשקם Water them with Your river of delights

בכל מושבותהם in all of their habitats.

ואז ישוב עץ החיים Then the Tree of Life will be restored

לאיתנו הראשון to its original strength,

ונראתה הקשת בענן and ‘the bow will appear in the cloud’

שש ומתפאר בגוונין joyful and beautified with its colors,

ותזכנו אנחנו וצאצינו so that we and our descendants may merit

לישב ימים רבים על האדמה to live many days on Earth,

כימי שמים על הארץ like days of the Skies over the Land.

More thoughts on the Rainbow Covenant:

According to Kabbalah, Rainbow Day is also the day of Malkhut in Yesod, a unity of masculine and feminine that represents a milestone on the way to the revelation of Shavuot. For us, it can represent a chance to commit ourselves to the rainbow covenant, to turn from actions that destroy the earth, to turn our lives away from unraveling earth’s climate and the web of life, from diminishing earth’s abundance.

The rainbow signified a new covenant between God and the land. It’s time for us to imagine a new covenant between humanity and the Earth, including the land and the seas, one that we start to live by as we change our lifestyles and habits. We can use the covenantal vision of the Shmitah year in Leviticus 25 to help guide our steps. And maybe next year it will be time to celebrate that new covenant.

Rainbow Day is pregnant with ritual possibilities related to the elements, to the midpoint between equinox and solstice, to the time between the fire of Lag B’Omer and the fire of Sinai, to global warming, to healing the waters, to the growing wheat crop in the land of Israel, and to all the meanings related to the journey from freedom to revelation. And rainbows are a symbol of diversity: the diversity of colors, of people, and of all life.

♦ Here are some of the organizations that have contributed resources (starred organizations are members of the Green Hevra):

neohasid.org* The Shalom Center* The Teva Learning Alliance* Jewish Farm School* Kayam Farm* Religious Action Center*Green Zionist Alliance*

Thanks also to: Isabella Freedman Retreat Center* Jewish Reconstructionist Movement* Eden Village Camp* Organic Torah Tikkun Schechter Day School Network EcoJews of the Bay Green Zionist Alliance* Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life* Jewish Greening Fellowship* Hazon* Urban Adamah* Wilderness Torah* Adamah*

The beautiful illustration below is “Noah & Naamah” ©1998 by Ilene Winn-Lederer; Prints may be ordered at: http://www.winnlederer.com/finearts/prints2/noah.html or via email to: ilene@winnlederer.com

♦ Jewish Lights is offering a 20% discount on the two versions of Sandy Eisenberg Sasso’s book about Naamah. Naamah, Noah’s Wife, ages 0-4 and Noah’s Wife: The Story of Naamah, ages 4 and up.

Download the Rainbow Day Curriculum!

⇒ Curriculum Table of Contents:Contents (version 4.2):

The Rainbow Blessing

1. Teach the Rainbow blessing and blessing for the trees

Texts from Tanakh

2. The Rainbow covenant in Genesis
3. A Tale of Two Covenants: Rainbow and Shmita
4. Hoshea 2:20 and the Messianic covenant

Songs:

5. A song for Hoshea 2:20

More Texts from Tanakh
6. Ezekiel, and a Kabbalistic interpretation of the rainbow

Midrashim: interpretations of the rainbow sign

7. Noah and environmental responsibility
8. Flood, Ark and Rainbow, R. Arthur Waskow (also for Lag B’Omer)
9. Human responsibility, R. Shlomo Riskin
10. The diversity and unity of all life, R. Shimshon Rafael Hirsch
11. On human moral development, R. Avraham Yitzhak Kook (link)

Biodiversity

12. Learn about biodiversity (link)
13. Pick a rainbow!
14. Study endangered species (focus on frogs)

Science, Culture and Art

15. How many colors are in a rainbow?
16. Do other animals see colors the way we do?
17. Colors and dyes
18. The science of rainbows
19. Art projects
20. Poetry!

Liturgues and Prayers

21. Rainbow prayer for creation, R. David Seidenberg
22. Between the Fires, R. Arthur Waskow
23. Council of All Beings (link)
24. A mikveh meditation, Carol Rose

Current Issues

25. Climate change
26. Keystone XL Pipeline
27. Hydrofracking
28. Fracking in Israel
29. Get active on the Farm Bill!
30. Don’t use triclosan!
31. Tzedakah and justice

Seed Saving, Harvests and Gardens

32. Seed saving and Naamah
33. Read Naamah: Noah’s Wife by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso
34. For the Omer: plant a “grainbow”!
35. Eli Rogosa’s story about finding an ancient wheat
36. “L’Dor V’Dor” seed saving workshops (link)
37. Plant a rainbow garden (link)
38. Count the omer! (link)

The Seven Noachide Laws

39. The seven colors of the rainbow and the seven laws
40. More study — articles by Rabbi Everett Gendler and Calvin DeWitt

The words from the song video are from Hoshea 2:20 (refresh the page if you can’t see it). They are about the messianic rainbow covenant that is yet to come:

V’kharati lahem brit bayom hahu im chayat hasadeh v’im of hashamayim v’remes ha’adamah v’keshet v’cherev umilchamah eshbor min ha’aretz v’hishkavtim lavetach

On that day, I will make a covenant for them with the beasts and the birds, with all creatures that walk on the Earth, that bow and sword and battle will disappear from the land, so that all may safely rest.

You can also hear another exquisite version of this song by Amen (Gaby Meyer and Amir Paiss) here!

Since becoming a Master Composter (NY Department of Sanitation, Bureau of Waste Prevention, Reuse and Recycling) , I have led many workshops featuring The Compost Heroes. A format that has worked well for me has been to read the book, asking for lots of audience participation, followed by a hands-on program, such as giving a vermi-composting worm bin demo, or actually setting up a compost system for the participants at their location.

I have been privileged to be invited to present programs at NYC Public Schools, NYC libraries, NY Hall of Science, Queens Botanical Gardens, Savannas Nature Preserve, Village Green Environmental Education School in Florida, Greenmarkets, bookstores, etc.. A "Be a Compost Hero" program was awarded a 2011 NYSERDA grant to lead a compost education program and set up a compost facility at P.S. 174 in Queens, NY.

It is my hope that other environmental activists/educators/parents will adopt The Compost Heroes as part of their activities. There is also The Compost Heroes Coloring Book for younger children available on my website. I encourage educators to select specific pages for particular lesson plans and to duplicate those particular pages for the entire class.

I am very interested in feedback about this resource.

Reba
www.CompostHeroes.com

BabagaNewz.com teamed up with Jewcology.com to spread the word about Jewish environmentalism. We asked students in grades 3-8 to create print or multimedia artwork based on a relevant Jewish text about preserving the environment.

See the finalists in each category–print and multimedia–at http://babaganewz.com/envirocontest. Vote for your favorite in each category by May 23, 2011 and help us determine the grand-prize winners.

Finalists will each receive a water-powered alarm clock. Two grand prize winners, chosen by community voting from among the finalists, will receive a solar backpack, featuring a solar panel to charge handheld electronics like iPods, cell phones, cameras, and much more.

http://babaganewz.com/teachers/consumerism

Teach your students what Judaism has to say about preserving our environment using the lesson plan provided, then have students create artwork—print or multimedia—based on a relevant Jewish text of their choice. (See www.babaganewz.com/envirocontest for a list of appropriate Jewish texts.)

Your students could:

· See their artwork featured on BabagaNewz.com

· Receive a water-powered alarm clock if they’re one of ten finalists

· Receive a solar backpack if they’re one of two top winners

Print artwork may include a comic, two-dimensional art, a poster, an advertisement, and more. Multimedia artwork may include a video, cartoon, slideshow, slideshow with music, recorded skit, and so on.

Five finalists will be selected in each category—print and multimedia. Community voting on BabagaNewz.com will determine the grand-prize winners—one print and one multimedia. Ten finalists and two top winners will receive prizes!

Deadline: Friday, February 25, 2011

Must be in 3^rd through 8^th grade to enter.

Visit www.babaganewz.com/envirocontest for Jewish texts, complete contest rules, and entry information.

BabagaNewz.com is an innovative, educational web site for Jewish middle school students and teachers. Our perspectives are novel, hip, fun & thought-provoking!

Jewcology.com is the new web portal for the global Jewish environmental community – featuring a wide range of curriculum ideas, Torah teachings, and program suggestions on Jewish-environmental topics for your classroom and community.