Last chance to help us make Israel a greener, environmentally healthier land: Until the end of April you can vote online for the upcoming World Zionist Congress. The results determine, among other things, the division of power at the Jewish National Fund’s international board.

For the past decade I have sat on the JNF board, largely because of the support and intervention of the Green Zionist Alliance – a wonderful group of young environmentalists who decided to get involved and improve Israel’s environmental performance. This support has allowed me to represent them and pursue any number of important green initiatives which include:

· creating new sustainable forestry policies for the JNF,

· putting bike lanes on the organization’s agenda,

· creating a brand new “affirmative action” program to systematically reach out to Israel’s Arab minorities to finance environmental projects,

· increasing the organizational commitment to green building and solar energy,

· leading the fight to prevent JNF funding over the green line,

· expanding funding for forestry and agricultural research as well as river restoration projects, and

· fighting for good government and transparency.

There is a lot more that needs to be done. Whether or not I can continue depends on whether the “GZA” – or Aytzim as they call themselves these days gets enough votes. It only takes ten dollars to register and 3 minutes online to vote. (The polls close this Thursday April 30th). Here’s a link to Vote Green Israel: www.worldzionistcongress.org

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. And thanks to all of you who have already voted green for the support. – Alon Tal

(Considered by many to be the leading environmentalist in Israeli history, Alon Tal is a co-founder of the Green Zionist Alliance)

That’s why I am proud to be part of the Green Israel slate for elections of the World Zionist Congress.  If you care about the environment in Israel and have not yet voted in the election, your vote can make a difference in a greener Israel.  You can vote here: https://myvoteourisrael.com/

The vote costs $10, which pays for the cost of the election only.  All Jews are eligible to vote.  The election ends on April 30.

Here’s a little more information about the WZC and the Green Israel slate:

The World Zionist Congress exists to give Jews in the diaspora a voice in Israeli affairs.  Before 1948, the World Zionist Congress was the pre-state parliament of what would become Israel.  After Israel was established, most of its powers were taken over by the Knesset (Israel’s parliament).   But since all Jews have a stake in what happens in Israel, the WZC was retained to give diaspora Jews a voice.

The WZC retains considerable influence over several important institutions, including the Jewish Agency (which is involved in immigration), and the Jewish National Fund.  The JNF, which most people know as the organization that plants trees in Israel, owns 13% of the land in Israel.  Despite the identical name, the JNF in Israel is a separate legal entity from JNF in the United States.  It is the de-facto national forestry service of Israel.

Since its creation in 2001, with just a couple of seats, the Green Israel slate has passed seven laws at the Congress.  It has been able to use its position to appoint sustainability-minded members to the board of JNF in Israel, designate new nature preserves, quadruple the number of trees planted, and establish hundreds of miles of bike trails throughout the country.

You can see the slate platform here: https://vote.election-america.com/azm/bios/Green_Platform.pdf

And here is the Green Israel slate: https://vote.election-america.com/azm/bios/Green_Slate.pdf

If you care about Israel’s environment and would like to see it protected, please join me in supporting the Green Israel slate as the WZC election comes to a close.  Make sure to cast your vote by April 30!

Just weeks ago, many American Jews were deeply upset by reports of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s last minute appeal to Jewish voters to come to the polls to counter the strong turnout by Arab Israelis.  The prime minister of Israel should represent the nation’s highest ideals, not purposely exacerbate ethnic tension and undermine Israel’s democracy.

Netanyahu apologized after the election for his remarks, but the problems facing the Arab minority in Israel remain.  Despite their strong showing in the election, the Arab parties’ influence in the Knesset is likely to be limited.  Discrimination will continue and the principle of equality for every citizen will be undermined.

Israeli Jews often seem surprised by the depth of concern that American Jews show for Arab Israelis.  But the situation of Arabs in Israel speaks to us.  We know what it is like to be in the minority.  We are grateful for the welcome we have received in America.  We take pride in the way we have fought to be accepted as Americans, and how our success has opened the way for other immigrant groups.  We see a parallel between our experiences and those of Israel’s Arab minority.

Is there anything we can do from here to ease the tension between Arabs and Jews and strengthen Israel’s democracy?

The answer, surprisingly, is yes.  Because as American Jews, we can vote for the World Zionist Congress that in turn selects the leaders of the Jewish National Fund in Israel.  Like other Israeli institutions, the JNF could do much better in meeting the needs of Arab citizens. Our votes can make that happen by putting the right leaders on the board of directors of the JNF.

Environmental activism is one of the bright spots in relations between Arab and Jewish Israelis.  Despite the lack of official support, there are many grassroots efforts to work together to protect shared resources and improve the quality of life for all.  Alon Tal and Orr Karassin, the Aytzim (Green Zionist Alliance) representatives on the board of directors of JNF in Israel, have been leaders of many of these efforts.

Thanks to Tal and Karassin, the JNF is changing.  Recognizing its past mistakes, the JNF has hired Ralab Majadlah, a former member of Knesset and Israel’s first Arab minister, as an advisor.  JNF’s Land Development Committee has decided to prioritize projects in the Arab sector and has budgeted one million shekels to help Arab municipalities prepare the detailed plans required to receive JNF funding.  Several projects are now moving ahead, including a bike lane in Rafah — the first such resource in an Israeli Arab community; restoration of a stream in Rahat, the second largest city in the Negev and the largest Bedouin city in Israel; and a stream restoration initiative that will connect the Arab city Sakhnin with Jewish communities in the Galilee.

American Jews put Tal and Karassin on the JNF board of directors by voting for the Green Israel slate in past elections for the World Zionist Congress.  By voting now, we can affirm the new direction taken by the JNF, increase the number of change-makers on the board, and take another big, green step toward peace and understanding between Israeli Jews and Arabs.

Whether or not Prime Minister Netanyahu goes beyond apologies to repair the damage done to Israel with his campaign rhetoric, we can do our part by voting green in elections for the World Zionist Congress.

You can support the Israel you want to see. All American Jews can vote in the World Zionist Congress election going on right now. One of the most common questions, we get is why it costs $10 to vote. As Mirele Goldsmith, a Green Israel slate member answers: “The American Zionist Movement has contracted with an independent company to run the online election.  This is to insure that the election is fair.  The registration fee is being used exclusively to pay for the election.  It is not a donation to the WZO.  I wish there was no fee, but it is a small price to pay to make a real difference in the future of Israel.”

Green Israel Platform: Peace for All • Green Energy • Sustainable Development • Diaspora Relations • Air Quality • Ecological Ecology • Animal Rights • Food Justice • Water Conservation • Schmita • Recycling • Encourage Environmental Start-Ups

Green Israel Slate: Eli Bass, Ellen Bernstein, Fred Scherlinder Dobb, Karin Fleisch, David Fox, Matthew Frankel, Ilana Gauss, Brett Goldman, Mirele Goldsmith, Wendy Kenin, David Krantz, Frances Lasday, Evonne Marzouk, Hody Nemes, Morgan Prestage, Shira Rosen, Richard Schwartz, Jacob Schonzeit, David Sher, Garth Silberstein, Marc Soloway, Lawrence Troster, David Weisberg, Eric Weltman, Laurie Zoloth

Please vote Green Israel. Go to http://jewcology.org/2015/03/votegreenisrael/ or worldzionistcongress.org for more info.

Over the past few weeks I’ve learned that politics is a tough business. As a candidate for the Green Israel slate, running for the World Zionist Congress, I’ve gained a lot of respect for anyone willing to put themselves out there on the campaign trail.  My potential voters are asking a lot of hard questions.  Fortunately, I have the answers.  Here are the 5 questions I get most often.  I hope the answers are compelling enough to get you to click and vote for Green Israel.

What is the World Zionist Congress?  What can it possibly do?

The World Zionist Congress exists to give Jews in the diaspora a voice in Israeli affairs.  Before 1948, the World Zionist Congress was the prestate parliament of what would become Israel.  After Israel was established, most of its powers were taken over by the Knesset (Israel’s parliament).   Since all Jews have a stake in what happens in Israel, the WZC was retained to give diaspora Jews a voice.

The WZC retains considerable influence over several important institutions.  These include the Jewish Agency (which is involved in immigration,) and most important for our purpose, the Jewish National Fund.  The JNF, which most people know as the organization that plants trees in Israel, owns 13% of the land in Israel.

With so much control over land, the environmental policies of the JNF have tremendous influence in Israel.  The composition of the WZC determines the makeup of the board of the JNF.  Today, through the WZC, the Green Israel slate — supported by Aytzim and its projects, the Green Zionist Alliance, Jewcology, and Shomrei Breishit: Rabbis and Cantors for the Earth — has named two of Israel’s leading environmentalists to the JNF board.   Alon Tal and Orr Karassin have pushed JNF to take the lead on a number of environmental issues, including taking stands for the protection of open space and against fracking.  The Green Israel slate must be reelected to continue to influence the JNF.

I’m not a Zionist, so why would I vote?

When I agreed to join the Green Israel slate, I anticipated that potential voters would assume that the WZC was an antiquated and irrelevant institution.  Somehow I didn’t realize how many Jews are uncomfortable with the terms Zionist and Zionism themselves.  My answer is simple.  Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish People.  It achieved its initial aim when Israel was established.  But no country is perfect.  Fortunately, there are ways we can help to make it better.  Voting in the WZC elections is one way.

I’m not so comfortable with the JNF either, so why should I support it? 

The JNF is a large, politicized, bureaucratic organization that is part of Israel’s establishment.  I don’t agree with everything that the JNF does.  That’s exactly why I’m on the Green Israel slate.  Because people voted for the Green Israel slate in past elections, there have been major improvements in how the JNF does business.  It has adopted significantly better policies on forestry, stream restoration, and soil reclamation.  JNF is taking the lead on green infrastructure such as bike lanes, solar energy, and wastewater reclamation.  Now JNF’s Sustainable Development Committee, chaired by Alon Tal, has established a program to prioritize quality of life improvements in Arab communities that have long been neglected by the JNF.  The JNF has power, and we can leverage that power by voting.

Why do I have to pay to vote?

The American Zionist Movement has contracted with an independent company to run the online election.  This is to insure that the election is fair.  The registration fee is being used exclusively to pay for the election.  It is not a donation to the WZO.  I wish there was no fee, but it is a small price to pay to make a real difference in the future of Israel.

In the last few weeks I have asked hundreds of people to vote for me.  In the last election, it only took 500 seats to get a seat at the WZC.  That means that every single vote matters.  Please vote right now at worldzionistcongress.org.

An election has started that gives you a chance to have a say about Israel’s environmental future. While most Jews are unaware of it, they are entitled to a voice about Israel’s future. That voice is the World Zionist Congress, which meets every four years in Jerusalem with the mandate to fund programs and create policies that will help achieve the goals of the Jewish People.  The Congress was initially set up by Theodor Herzl and led directly to the establishment of the State of Israel.  It has been a partner with the Government of Israel since that time but sadly, very few Jews know that they have a chance to speak up through their vote. if you are Jewish and over 18 years of age, you can make your voice heard by voting!

The voting takes place from January 14, 2015 through April 30, 2015.  Every Jewish person over age 18 is entitled to vote for the slate of his or her choice.  As with the first Zionist Congress held in 1897, there is a nominal charge to vote ($5 for persons under the age of 30 and $10 for those above the age of 30).  The charge is used to defray the costs of the election.

The 37th Zionist Congress will meet in October 2015 and will include 525 delegates representing Jews in many nations around the world. The United States will field 145 delegates who represent a variety of political organizations.  My slate is called Green Israel, which includes Ayztim–Ecological Judaism;, the Green Zionist Alliance, Jewcology.org, and Shomrei Breishit. We are focused on taking action to protect Israel’s environment, increase the country’s use of renewable energy, and to help Israel become a global leader in sustainable practice.

Why Vote for Green Israel?

Many groups will be competing to participate in the 37^th World Zionist Congress but few can have the impact that Green Israel can. While competing groups would like to have their voice heard on political issues involving Israel and its foreign or religious policy objectives, they may not have any significant impact because the Israeli Knesset has exclusive control over these issues. The Green Israel slate can make a difference on issues regarding land since the World Zionist Organization controls the Jewish National Fund, which owns over 14% of the actual land of Israel. What is done on that land (which includes nature preserves as well as cities) can be directly influenced by the World Zionist Congress. In other words, Green Israel can make a real impact and not just a symbolic one. We can create more environmentally friendly practices and help Israel be more energy independent if we can garner enough votes.

The Green Zionist Alliance (GZA) is the first environmental group to ever participate in the World Zionist Congress. Now Green Israel, which has become the umbrella slate for Aytzim, the  GZA and our other Jewish environmental partners, has been embraced by all streams of the Zionist movement — left to right, secular to religious, Reform to Orthodox. From the early Zionist pioneers to Israel’s modern environmental, water-saving, and renewable energy technologies, ecological sustainability has been a fundamental tenet of Zionism. Those who love the land of Israel must work to protect it. Voting for the Green Israel slate will help ensure that environmental sustainability stays at the forefront of Israel’s future.

To learn more about GZA’s past work and past legislation as well as about the resolutions we are planning to bring to the 37th Congress, please see: http://www.aytzim.org/congress .

Please vote for a green Israel by voting for the Green Israel slate at: http://worldzionistcongress.org .

GreenFaith  (http://greenfaith.org/):  GreenFaith has an amazing fellowship program for faith leaders and certification program for houses of worship.  As they state on their website, “The GreenFaith Fellowship Program is the world’s only comprehensive program to prepare lay and ordained leaders from diverse religious traditions for religiously based environmental leadership.”  I highly recommend both the fellowship and certification program and encourage you to click on the link to learn more.   GreenFaith also took a leadership role in the recent  People’s Climate March in NYC, an event which garnered international attention.

Interfaith Power and Light (http://www.interfaithpowerandlight.org/):  A national organization that has chapters in many states.  Generally the various state chapters are very interested in collaboration and can be a wonderful resource in connection with environmental advocacy and education.

The Forum on Religions and Ecology (http://fore.research.yale.edu/): An excellent resource for both materials and learning opportunities.  As stated on the website, “with its conferences, publications, and website it is engaged in exploring religious worldviews, texts, ethics, and practices in order to broaden understanding of the complex nature of current environmental concerns. The Forum recognizes that religions need to be in dialogue with other disciplines (e.g., science, economics, education, public policy) in seeking comprehensive solutions to both global and local environmental problem.”

Evangelical Environmental Network (http://creationcare.org/blog.php?blog=1):  This group termed the phrase “Creation Care” which I personally love. Although the group is mostly focused on Evangelical Christians, the blog link I provided can be a good resource as the blog is updated and conveys various events taking place through the EEN.

Green Muslimes (http://www.greenmuslims.org/about/):  Mostly active in the DC area, this is a great website to learn how the Muslim community is addressing environmental issues.

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.

I started with Jewcology while working with an organization called Faiths United for Sustainable Energy, which unfortunately had to close its doors a few years back.  Though that organization I was able to meet a wide range of people affiliated with various religious organizations who cared deeply for the environment.  Through FUSE, individuals from different religious backgrounds were able to come together and collaborate in an effort to be good stewards of the planet.  I think the same applies to Judaism as, which is a very large tent containing a wide range of viewpoints.  If we as Jews can come together in order to share and exchange ideas, thoughts, and experiences in connection with  environmental  advocacy, activities, events, and Jewish teaching, we can create an even stronger Jewish environmental movement, in hopes of passing down a more sustainable world to the next generation, like my new son.

Please feel free to comment on this post or send me emails directly and I am always happy to discuss.  After all, that is the entire purpose of Jewcology.

I wish everyone a happy and sweet New Year.

We ask: How have I changed? What have I done? What do I wish I had done? What do I hope to do in the future? How has the world changed? How did I impact the world? How do I want to impact it? 

It is time for heshbon hanefesh, examining our hearts and souls, determining where we’ve been and what we’ve done and what we wish to do better in the future. It is time for teshuvah, turning and re-turning to G!d. It is time for us to begin to make atonement for the things we wish we had or hadn’t done, and renewing ourselves, to do all we can to get ourselves to change.

To aid us on our journey, Ma’yan TIkvah is once again offer you a series of Earth Etudes for Elul for most of the days of the month of Elul. Each of the Etudes connects in some way to the Earth and to teshuvah, reminding us that we cannot disconnect ourselves from all that surrounds us, reminding us that we are part of an intertwined whole that is so incredibly diverse and rich and amazing, reminding us that we are not alone. And since this coming year, 5775, is a shmitah year, the one year in seven that the Torah commands that we let the Earth rest, our debts be forgiven, and our relationships renewed in special ways, some of our writers will focus on this Shabbat year for the Earth.

As you journey through the month of Elul, may you go from strength to strength, and may you find new ways to be in relationship to yourself, your loved ones, the Earth, and the One Source of All.

Chodesh tov – have a good month, and welcome to the Earth Etudes for Elul

Rabbi Katy Z. Allen

Earth Etude for Elul 1 – The Shmita Year

by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen

In the Torah, we find three cycles of seven that mark the Jewish way of being in the world: Shabbat, a day of rest for humans and animals after six days of work, shmita, a year of rest for the Earth and the community after six years of agriculture and economic interactions, and the Jubilee Year, the end of seven cycles of shmita, the year of freedom.

Does a day of rest each week have meaning to you? For many of us, such a frequent and regular segment of time to set aside for rest can be a challenge. Then what about a year of rest? That is even harder to wrap our brains around! What would it mean in today’s world to have a year that is set aside to be experienced differently than the previous six years and the upcoming six years? For the land around us and for the way we interact within our communities?

To give us a start in thinking about this complex idea as we enter into the month of Elul, here are the Biblical texts* that form the core teachings of Shmita, in some cases set in the context of the verses around it. I invite you to read, to consider, and to process these verses.

1  You are not to take up an empty rumor. Do not put your hand in with a guilty person, to become a witness for wrongdoing.

2  You are not to go after many people to do evil. And you are not to testify in a quarrel so as to turn aside toward many-and thus turn away.

3  Even a poor-man you are not to respect as regards his quarrel.

4  Now when you encounter your enemy’s ox or his donkey straying, return it, return it to him.

5  And when you see the donkey of one who hates you crouching under its burden, restrain from abandoning it to him- unbind, yes, unbind it together with him.

6  You are not to turn aside the rights of your needy as regards his quarrel.

7  From a false matter, you are to keep far! And one clear and innocent, do not kill, for I do not acquit a guilty-person. 8  A bribe you are not to take, for a bribe blinds the open-eyed, and twists the words of the righteous. 9  A sojourner, you are not to oppress: you yourselves know well the feelings of the sojourner, for sojourners were you in the land of Egypt.

10  For six years you are to sow your land and to gather in its produce,

11  but in the seventh, you are to let it go [tishm'tenah] and to let it be [u'nitashta], that the needy of your people may eat, and what remains,  the wildlife of the field shall eat. Do thus with your vineyard, with your olive-grove.  – Exodus 23.1-1

 

1  The Lord spoke to Moshe at Mount Sinai, saying: 2  Speak to the Children of Israel, and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land is to cease, a Sabbath-ceasing to the Lord.

3  For six years you are to sow your field, for six years you are to prune your vineyard, then you are to gather in its produce,  4  but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of Sabbath-ceasing for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord: your field you are not to sow, your vineyard you are not to prune, 5  the aftergrowth of your harvest you are not to harvest, the grapes of your consecrated-vines you are not to amass; a Sabbath of Sabbath-ceasing shall there be for the land! 6  Now the Sabbath-yield of the land is for you, for eating: for you, for your servant and for your handmaid, for your hired-hand and for your resident-settler who sojourn with you;  7 and for your domestic-animal and the wild-beast that are in your land shall be all its produce, to eat.  – Leviticus 25.1-7

1 At the end of seven years, you are to make a Release [shmita]. 2  Now this is the matter of the Release: he shall release, every possessor of a loan of his hand, what he has lent to his neighbor. He is not to oppress his neighbor or his brother, for the Release of the Lord has been proclaimed!…

7  When there is among you a needy-person from any-one of your brothers, within one of your gates in the land that the Lord your G!d is giving you, you are not to toughen your heart, you are not to shut your hand to your brother, the needy-one.

8  Rather, you are to open, yes, open your hand to him, and are to give-pledge, yes, pledge to him, sufficient for his lack that is lacking to him. 9  Take-you-care, lest there be a word in your heart, a base-one, saying: the seventh year, the Year of Release, is nearing- and your eye be set-on-ill toward your brother, the needy-one, and you not give to him, so that he calls out because of you to the Lord, and sin be incurred by you. 10  You are to give, yes, give freely to him, your heart is not to be ill-disposed in your giving to him, for on account of this matter the Lord your G!d will bless you in all your doings and in all the enterprises of your hand! 11  For the needy will never be-gone from amid the land; therefore I command you, saying: You are to open, yes, open your hand to your brother, to your afflicted-one, and to your needy-one in your land!  – Deuteronomy 15.1-2, 7-11

 

18  You are to observe my laws, my regulations you are to keep, and observe them, that you may be settled on the land in security,  19  that the land may give forth its fruit and that you may eat to being-satisfied, and be settled in security upon it. 20  Now if you should say to yourselves: What are we to eat in the seventh year, for we may not sow, we may not gather our produce?

21  Then I will dispatch my blessing for you during the sixth year so that it yields produce for three years; 22  as you sow the eighth year’s seeds, you shall eat of the old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall be able to eat what-is-old.  – Leviticus 25.18-22

 

10  And Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of Shmita, at the Festival of Sukkot,  11  when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your G!d at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.

12  Assemble [hakhel] the people, men, women, and children, and the travelers within your towns, that they may hear and that they may learn; and they will have awe before the Lord your G!d, and guard all the words of this Torah, and to act upon it,  13  and that their children, who have not yet known it, may hear and learn and have awe before the Lord your G!d, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.   – Deuteronomy 31.10-13

What do these verses inspire in us? What thoughts come to mind? How would YOU want to observe the shmitah year? What kinds of changes would this require?

May we each find the strength, the courage, and the will to make the changes needed in ourselves that will help the world to be a better place, from our hearts to the farthest point on the planet, from our homes to the deepest wilderness.

May it be so.

*Translations are from The Hazon Shmitah Handbook, by Yigal Deutscher, Anna Hanau, and Nigel Savage.

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.

Contemporary ballet and environmentalism are not topics that often go hand-in-hand. That is until you meet Israel’s Vertigo Dance Company. The dance group’s unique approach to ecological activism is the inspiration for my new film Renewal.

Dance is one of Israel’s most impressive art forms, and it engages people worldwide regardless of language. Renewal is an opportunity for new audiences to learn about a unique and powerful aspect of Israeli culture, and gain new perspectives on dance and environmentalism.

The documentary profiles Vertigo, a world-renowned Jerusalem-based dance company that builds an Eco-Arts village to embrace a more sustainable lifestyle. The process of becoming green forces the dancers and their families to reconsider their art, their values, and their place in the Holy Land.

Renewal demonstrates creative ways to make art in a sustainable fashion, but many ask, how exactly can Vertigo make dance green? Well, here are four examples:

(1) Sustainable stagecraft

One of Vertigo’s famous pieces The Birth of Phoenix featured in the film is performed on a recyclable, portable stage space. This unique performance space redefines the concept of traditional theater with electric lights, and allows the company to bring their performances to communities in outdoor spaces across the globe.

(2) Sustainable rehearsal space

The company has created a rehearsal studio on the Eco-Arts village based on the tenets of permaculture design. They have refurbished abandoned chicken coops, and renovated them using natural clay, mud, and local recycled wood. The studios have huge windows bringing in natural light, allowing the company to create while being surrounded by nature.

(3) Sustainable living space

Life mimics art. Since building the Eco-Arts Village, the directors of the dance company and their families live onsite on the eco-arts village, and have integrated sustainable practices into their personal lives including composting, carpooling, gray water recycling, and permaculture gardening.

(4) Ecological education

The dance company performs choreography that raises awareness of global environmental issues creating platforms for dialogue and discussion. They offer classes on clay building and permaculture design for both adults and children.

The Vertigo Dance Company are artists trying to reduce their carbon footprint in any way that they can. They express their love for the earth in both the themes of their dances and the materials under their feet.

The film is a celebration of the earth, and exemplifies how the passion to live greener has touched people worldwide in very different walks of life.

Sounds interesting, right? Go check it out! Learn more about Renewal, see the trailer, and join my film campaign:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/renewal-a-film-about-art-and-ecology/x/1085614

Baruch Sienna, a Jewish environmental educator, will be leading an amazing nature/environmental tour to Israel this Feb. 26-Mar. 7, 2013. We will be hiking, birdwatching, and visiting (and eating at) organic farms, learning from environmental organizations about water pollution/restoration, waste/recycling, and alternative energy initiatives in Israel. The places we are visiting are awesome.

For a full itinerary, visit www.arzaworld.com, or call toll free: 1-888-811-2812 to register or for more information.

Email: israel.naturally2013@gmail.com.

When: Sept. 7 — 9, 2012

Where: The Green Mountains of southern Vermont, just ~3½ hours drive from New York or Boston

Join us as we revel in the beauty of early fall in the Green Mountains of southern Vermont. Enjoy a Shabbat outdoors with warm days and cool nights. Learn about environmental challenges facing Israel as well as Jewish perspectives on global environmental issues. We will paddle to a secluded campsite on a mountain lake where we will relax, reflect, study and pray.

Click here for more information
and to register!

Click here to continue reading this article.

A small group of Israelis and Palestinians are working together to create an organic farm- a piece of land where both sides will aspire to respect each other and the Land that is our common source- of life and strife. Please check out the video and campaign on http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/95349?a=552277 . We are trying to raise our seed money for the first years planting and programming on-line. And contact us about ways to become involved and come visit when you are next b'Aretz.

with respect,

Shaul and Ziad

Dear Friends,
A few weeks ago , I traveled with the Israeli delegation to The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The conference, titled “The Future We Want,” was an opportunity to evaluate the global progress on environmental issues since the last summit in 1992 and to commit to future changes. An amazing cross-section of humanity – heads of state, tribal kings, medicine women, and ordinary activists like me – gathered from all corners of the earth to discuss how to reduce p¬overty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection across the planet.

It was truly an honor to represent Israel and Teva Ivri in this colorful, inspiring forum.

During preparations for the summit, I was surprised to find that the Israeli delegation had no “Jewish flavor.” Although we would be arriving in Rio with a strong platform for social and environmental change, it contained no hint of Jewish stewardship values. In response, Teva Ivri asked some of Israel’s leading academics, educators, and activists to compose a Jewish-Israeli position paper on Sustainable Growth – the summit’s central topic.

Weeks of lively discussions and in-depth learning produced a unique overview of Jewish laws and values that address the question of sustainable growth and development. The paper, which outlines both ancient and modern Jewish-Israeli approaches, was well received both in Israel and in Rio. It was presented at the following Israeli conferences ahead of Rio: Sustainability Today and Tomorrow (Ministry of Environment), A Jewish Approach to Sustainable Development (Bar Ilan University and Teva Ivri ), and Judaism and Environment (Lipschitz College). In Rio, hundreds of copies were distributed to attendees from every corner of the earth.

Teva Ivri’s presence also made an impact on the Jewish community in Rio. Teva Ivri was the only organization that made contact in advance to spearhead a community event in cooperation with Rio-based environmental groups, Bnei Akiva, and Hillel. As a result, our position paper was translated into Portuguese! I also had the chance to present the paper during a focus group session about major world religions as agents of social-environmental change. The Jewish perspective resonated deeply with other participants and contributed much to the conversation.

Unfortunately, Rio +20 ended with little governmental consensus around practical issues. As US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated, "Governments alone cannot solve all the problems we face…from climate change to persistent poverty to chronic energy shortages." After Rio, I believe that grassroots, local sustainability efforts are more important than ever. Here at Teva Ivri we will continue to develop an Israeli environmentalism that is firmly rooted in Jewish sustainability values, in hope that we can be a model for all other nations and cultures.

Einat Kramer,

Director Teva Ivri.

• NOW IN ENGLISH: The 36-page translation of the KKL-JNF report.
• The 34-page Hebrew-language KKL-JNF report.
• Letter from Dr. Orr Karassin of the Green Zionist Alliance to the Ministry of Energy and Water (in Hebrew).
• More resources on fracking in Israel.
• Help support the work of the Green Zionist Alliance.
  

Cross-posted from GreenZionism.org

by Einat Kramer, Director – Teva Ivri

One of the most “Israeli” phenomena that I know is the bonfires of Lag B’Omer. Immediately after Pesach, even before the

clean spring scent fades in the heat of the summer, the streets of our country are filled with children looking for firewood. They are everywhere; in forests, building sites, and among the garbage cans, they collect wood (or anything resembling wood), hauling it off in “borrowed” supermarket carts to their secret hiding place and guarding it fiercely until the holiday.

Shortly after Independence Day, the energy of the firewood hunt goes up a notch. At this point, you can see parents recruited, often against their will, to the work of collecting. This tends to widen the scope of firewood supply to include natural woodlands and national parks. Often, healthy live trees pay the price of this frenzy.

On the eve of Lag B’Omer, starting in the morning hours, children and their parents begin the careful labor of building the bonfire. Boards, broken furniture, cartons, branches, and other items of unidentifiable origin, are piled up high, with an effigy of the “bad guy” at the very top. (In my family we burn an effigy of Haman, but I have seen a variety of other certifiable bad guys perched on top of bonfires.) With nightfall, the ecstasy peaks as gallons of lighter fluid are poured onto the wood piles, sending flames into the sky. The congregation of rosy-cheeked children accompanies the blaze with patriotic hymns and other heartfelt songs…

OK, enough with the satire…

Not everyone remembers the reason for the big party – it is the day on which, according to tradition, the Bar Kochva rebellion began to look good for the Jewish warriors (despite their ultimate failure). The plague that killed Rabbi Akiva’s students finally ended, and great spiritual secrets were revealed to Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai on his deathbed. All of these are celebrated together with an evening of bonfires, baked potatoes, and marshmallows.

Another thing that people tend to forget is the damage caused by the above-described festivities. Lag B’Omer is a day on which the levels of air pollution in our small country rise exponentially; due to the burning of processed and/or fabricated wood products, the air is filled with carcinogenic particles (dioxins). The morning after, abandoned fires often spread into surrounding fields and forests. Never mind the mountains of trash left in the area long after the smoke clears…

These phenomena have led various well-intentioned environmental agencies to call for banning the custom of lighting Lag B’Omer bonfires altogether. I do not support this view. In my opinion, it is fine to connect one day of the year to the element of fire that is within us and to the wonders of sitting around a fire – especially when relating to a tradition that apparently dates back to the 1300’s. And especially when it is relatively easy to reduce the environmental damages and still celebrate with song and joy.

Tips for a (Relatively) Environmentally-Friendly Bonfire:

Small is Beautiful – Who said we have to build giant bonfires? A small bonfire creates an intimate atmosphere, requires less wood, and creates less pollution.

Make New Friends – Instead of making a separate fire for each little “clique” of friends, build one for each class, grade level, or neighborhood block. This conserves wood, expands social circles, and builds community.

Respect Nature – The burning of plastic, tires, fabricated wood, and processed wood releases carcinogenic dioxins into the air. Take care to burn only natural wood, not painted furniture or treated plywood. And of course, leave the live branches on the live trees! your bonfire

Safety First – Be sure to bring enough water to extinguish your bonfire completely at the end of the night. This prevents unwanted wildfires.

Leave No Trace – The remains of food, plastic, and other garbage left outside present not only an eyesore to people, but also a danger to local wildlife. Wild animals can choke on plastic bags as they try to extract food scraps from them, cut themselves on sharp cans, and become sick from ingesting food cooked in poisonous wood fires. Clean up your bonfire area! Send an additional clean-up crew in the morning to verify in the daylight that the area is clean.

What else? Invite to your bonfire the person you don’t know well and never invite anywhere (yes, another connection between Environment and Society…); avoid using disposable utensils; avoid excess meat consumption, and…remember the teachings of Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai!

Last year so many people jammed into the country’s de-facto national-park system, run by KKL-JNF, that parks were closed because they reached capacity. So, how many people was that, you ask? About one in every five Israelis — more than 1.5 million people — which is also about the same number of trees that have been planted in Israel since 2007 because of the work of the Green Zionist Alliance. That’s right, we’ve gotten a million-plus trees planted in the last five years.

Of course, as those who remember the recent Carmel fire know, it’s not just planting trees that matters, but the type and diversity of trees. That’s why one of the first things that we did after we first participated in our first World Zionist Congress was adding more trees to the planting mix. Thanks to our work, more varieties of trees are being planted today than the classic pine — and that includes trees suitable for semi-arid climates.

But when Israelis head outdoors today, it won’t just be the trees that they’ll be enjoying — many will be biking on some of the hundreds of miles of bike trails that have been built across the country because of the Green Zionist Alliance. That includes the Kinneret Circumference Trail, the Trans-Israel Bike Trail and many others — the list gets longer every year as our work gets more and more bike trails built and expanded.

Today Israelis also are enjoying both the nature reserve in Nes Tsiona, an open space in between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and the Samar sand dunes, near Eilat — both of which have been preserved because of the work of the Green Zionist Alliance.

This Yom Ha’atzmaut, give Israel an environmentally friendly birthday gift: Join the Green Zionist Alliance and help green Israel. Then go outside.

Cross-posted from GreenZionism.org

Rabbinic teachings on Yishuv Eretz Yisrael (settling the land of Israel) highlight the common Jewish duty to live sustainably. Our Sages made short-term sacrifices in order to preserve their resources, actions we should emulate to help us find ways for today's reality on the Land.

See all Sustainability in the Land of Israel Materials!

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These materials are posted as part of Jewcology’s Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, in partnership with Canfei Nesharim. Jewcology thanks the Shedlin Outreach Foundation and the ROI community for their generous support, which made the Jewcology project possible.

See all Core Teaching Sustainability in the Land of Israel Materials!

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Enjoy this Hebrew/English source sheet and study guide on the topic of Sustainability in the Land of Israel. Discussion questions provided!

These materials are posted as part of Jewcology’s Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, in partnership with Canfei Nesharim. Jewcology thanks the Shedlin Outreach Foundation and the ROI community for their generous support, which made the Jewcology project possible.

See all Core Teaching Sustainability in the Land of Israel Materials!

Learn more about the Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment!

Grapes, Goats, and Open Spaces: Sustainability in Settling the Land of Israel

By Rabbi Yonatan Neril [1]

At different times in history, Jews have engaged in growing crops, tending fruit trees, and shepherding animals in the Land of Israel. These activities were critical to provide food to sustain Jews living in the Land. Yet they also may have presented challenges to environmental sustainability in the Land of Israel. Jewish tradition can teach us about sustaining the Land over time, both in pre-modern times and today.

The Jewish people have been around a long time—3747 years since Abram and Sarai came to Israel,[2] of which over 1500 years involved significant settlement in the Land of Israel.[3] How did they manage to live in the Land of Israel for so long? While the Torah teaches us that Divine Providence (in response to the people following the commandments) played the fundamental role, the Oral Tradition as redacted in the Mishna[4] also provides instructive guidelines for living in the Land of Israel.[5] These teachings can inform us about living sustainably on the Land over a long period of time.

Before the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E., the Jewish and gentile population expanded to about 2.1 million inhabitants.[6] During the period before and after the destruction of the Second Temple (20 C.E. to 200 C.E., also known as the Mishnaic period), the people living in the Land of Isarel were fed in good part from grain, wine, and oil produced in Israel.[7] At this time and for centuries afterward, most Jews still farmed the Land.[8] The central role of agriculture to the Jews in Israel is reflected in one of the six tractates of the Mishna—Zera'im (seeds)– being about the Torah laws of agriculture in Israel.

During the Mishnaic period, several threats to Jewish farming developed at multiple levels of the farming process—the leaves and fruit of the crops; the wood of fruit trees; the land available for farming, orchards, and grazing; and the fertility of the soil itself. The Mishna contains rulings that protect against these threats to continued Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel.[9] Here we will explore several of these laws, most of which were enacted for the sake of "settling the Land of Israel" (yishuv Eretz Yisrael).[10]

Voracious Goats

The Torah often describes the Land of Israel as "a land flowing with milk and honey."[11] The Talmud interprets this to mean “milk flows from the goats' [udders], and honey flows from the dates and the figs.”[12] From this one can understand the significance of goats and shepherding to Israeli society. For example, the Sages teach how herders would take their flocks for grazing for a six-month period between Pesach and the beginning of winter, and how some herders would keep their flocks in pasture-land year-round.[13] Professor Gedalyahu Alon, in his noted history of Mishnaic and Talmudic times, writes that some herders raised flocks of sheep and goats in great numbers.[14]

Yet goats and sheep are voracious herbivores, and the rabbis in the times of the Mishna and Talmud witnessed the impact these animals had in devouring crops in fields. For example, the Talmud records an incident in Babylonia of goats eating a farmer's crops: “Some goats [went into a field] in Nehardea [and] ate some peeled barley [which they found there]. The owner of the barley went and seized them, and made a heavy claim on the owner of the goats.”[15] Rashi comments on this passage that goats have an exceptional appetite.

In response to the threat to crops posed by goats and sheep in the Land of Israel, the Mishna prohibited raising goats and sheep in agriculturally-productive parts of Israel.[16] The Mishna states, “It is not right to breed small cattle in the Land of Israel.”[17] According to Rashi (France, 1040-1105 C.E.),[18] the Mishna aimed to ensure the fulfillment of the mitzvah (command) of settling the Land of Israel (yishuv Eretz Yisrael). The flocks were entering farmers' fields and eating agricultural crops– therefore they were prohibited. Tosofot Yom Tov explains the view of several commentators that a goat could not be kept even within an individual’s house, since the Sages were stringent on 'settling the Land of Israel' – even concerning a person harming their own crops.[19] This enactment was also adopted by the Rabbis in Babylonia for the Jewish community there,[20] which in the times of the Talmud replaced Israel as the most sizable Jewish community in the world. Furthermore, the Talmud prohibits freely grazing oxen and cows as well.[21]

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and his sons were all shepherds, as were the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Menassah. Furthermore, the Torah many times praises the Land as abundant in goat's milk. Nevertheless, the Mishna prevented these animals from harming farmers' crops by preventing Jews from raising them in settled parts of Israel. Clearly, the problem was widespread and understood as causing significant damage, leading the sages to place severe limitations to protect crops and the land.

Fruit Trees, or Temple Firewood?

Each day in the Temple in Jerusalem a significant amount of wood was burned,[22] in fulfillment of three different commandments.[23] Despite the substantial need for wood for use in the Temple,the Mishna prohibited using olive wood, grapevines and fruit-bearing fig trees and date palms for this purpose.[24] By preventing their use in the Temple, this law protected these trees from being cut down for this purpose.

According to the view of the Talmudic sage Rav Acha bar Ya'akov[25], the reason was because of the settlement of the Land of Israel (Yishuv Eretz Yisrael). The commentator Mefaresh explains: "what is the meaning of 'because of the settlement of the Land of Israel? Since if they would burn the olive trees and grapevines, there would not be found wine to drink or oil to anoint with, and the Land of Israel would be destroyed."[26]

Mefaresh seems to understand that burning olive trees and grapevines as firewood—even for the holiest of fires in the Temple—would diminish the availability of olives and grapes for human consumption. It appears that the Mishna was concerned that the scale of fruit-tree cutting would be so great as to make the Land of Israel unfit for human settlement. About olives, Rabbi Louis Rabinowitz writes that “its supreme importance lay in its valuable oil, valuable because it not only was the main source of essential fats but had the added value that it could be preserved indefinitely without going rancid.”[27]An Israel stripped of its two most productive, climate-appropriate species—olive trees and grapevines—would not be able to sustain a robust population depending on the fruit of its soil. Therefore the Sages forbid cutting down these species for Temple firewood. This law preserved the economic and agricultural viability of Jewish settlement.

In modern and historical societies throughout the world, the cutting of trees has caused dramatic environmental damage, leading to pollution, flooding, and desertification, reducing available tree resources (such as grapes and olives), and causing inhabitants to have to travel great distances to find additional wood for construction, cooking and heat. In modern times, the scale of tree-cutting, including of fruit trees, far eclipses that of the Mishnaic era. A recent book, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, details the cycle of wood cutting and the stress it causes subsistence farmers in Africa today.[28] Our Sages sought to prevent such damage in ancient Israel with their decrees.

Preserving Farmland and the Fertility of the Soil

In addition to protecting crops and wood, Jewish tradition for life in the land of Israel also seeks to preserve farmland itself. Jewish law requires that land be designated for specific essential purposes—food production, animal grazing, open space, and urban areas. One example concerns the mitzvah of maintaining open space (migrash) around the cities of the Land of Israel. The Torah commands that open spaces be established around the 42 Levite cities.[29] The Sages understood that all Jewish cities in Israel should observe this command.[30] In addition, the Mishna contains a further ruling —for the settling of the Land of Israel (yishuv Eretz Yisrael) – forbidding turning farmland into open space and vice versa, or open space into cities and vice versa.[31] Rashi explains that the law aimed to maintain a proper balance of farmland for agriculture, greenbelt for aesthetics, and city for settlement. He continues that the reason farmland cannot be made into a greenbelt is so as to not reduce the area available for sowing crops.

The phenomenon in Israel of converting farmland and open space to suburban housing and offices might be forbidden or at least discouraged based on this Mishna and Rabbinic commentaries on it. While the topic of Jewish sustainable urban planning is beyond the scope of this teaching, the Sages clearly saw the need to preserve balance in settlement in the Land of Israel. The reason appears to be out of concern for sufficient farmland and grazing area, over the long-term, to supply millions of people living in the Land. The Oral tradition demonstrates an understanding of the long-term needs of providing land and food to the inhabitants, rather than the short-term pressures that might have encouraged the “redistricting” of land for different purposes.

Another related example is a Rabbinic decree to protect the land of a person who was taken captive. The rabbis prevented the temporary user of the captive person's land from exploiting the land in a way that might weaken the land's fertility. The source for this ruling is the Talmud, which says that "the Rabbis made a decree in order that [the tenant] would not degrade it [the field]."[32] Under this decree, the tenant who was working the field of his captive relative is considered as a sharecropper (aris) on the land. Such a person works a field for its owner and receives a portion of the produce in return.

The Sages’ ruling established the legal status of such a tenant as a person who is invested in the long-term fertility of the field. Otherwise, without knowing when the captive might return, this short-term farmer had a short-term incentive to extract produce and profit from the field without investing in its long-term sustainability. As Rashi explains, the Sages’ decree prevents a situation in which the relative will likely "not fertilize the land with manure and he will plant incessantly and cause the land to deteriorate.” [33]

Here the concern is not for the sustainability of the Land of Israel in general (yishuv Eretz Yisrael) but the soil fertility of the land of an individual Jew who has been taken captive. This concern for soil-fertility is particularly significant in light of the Pulitzer-prize winning author Dr. Jared Diamond's linkage of soil fertility to the long-term sustainability of societies, and its lack as a key factor in their decline.[34]

Lessons in Long-Term Thinking

These four decrees present an ancient Jewish environmental sustainability—living in a way that does not unduly deplete the natural resource base on which we depend.Informed by an understanding of the impacts of sheep and goats, fruit-tree-cutting, urban growth, and exploitative farming, the Oral tradition legislated a responsible path which would sustain the Land for the long-term. Our Sages acted decisively to prevent damages, even when their choices seemed contrary to short-term motivations such as wood for the Temple or preserving Israel as a place of “milk and honey.”

While quite progressive in Mishnaic and Talmudic times, in our times these specific laws carry little practical significance.[35] The Temple is not standing, Jewish shepherds are few in number,[36] and no relatives farm the land of a farmer taken captive. Nonetheless, these laws, in providing us clues as to how the Jewish people lived on the Land for so long, underscore the importance of national thinking and planning for sustainability, and elucidate Jewish values which may help us address current and future challenges.

In Israel today, it is not goats but water scarcity that presents a sustainability challenge. The current population is likely about five times larger than it was at its peak before the Temple was destroyed. The state of Israel struggles with ensuring water access to ten million inhabitants west of the Jordan River. Per capita water consumption has also multiplied, due to the ease and cheapness of piped-water.[37] Israel’s main aquifers and the Sea of Galilee have dipped below their red lines in recent years, endangering water quality.[38] This water scarcity poses a challenge to Israeli agriculture, which today depends on significant quantities of water for irrigation. Beyond Israel, countless millions of people worldwide face the challenge of access to high quality fresh water for their daily needs and their farms.

Today, billions of people seek a daily portion of grain, fruit, and sometimes meat. The cost of providing it to them is only just beginning to be understood. As individuals and as a larger society, what can we do to promote long-term sustainability for ourselves and our children?

The ancient wisdom of our tradition can provide some clues to help us find ways to sustain ourselves on the Land. A number of projects in Israel seem to build upon this wisdom and apply it to our times. For example, an innovative, experimental project underway in Israel purifies and recycles waste-water from mikvehs (ritual baths) for use in irrigation. The project may be expanded to recycle water from sinks and washing machines. Such reuse of water may be one way to encourage more wise use of this precious resource, in Israel and beyond.[39]

Ultimately, the four decrees mentioned concern either preventing damage to another or addressed a sustainability problem by restricting one aspect of resource use in order to ensure long-term needs. As individuals, we would do well to consider today whether there are areas of our consumption where we could prioritize long-term needs , especially in our choices for using energy, water, food, and consumer products, each major contributors to today’s sustainability challenges.

The Rabbis' understanding of these decrees as linked to yishuv Eretz Yisrael is striking. It underscores that settling the Land of Israel is not only about the commandment incumbent upon individual Jews, but the greater communal responsibility for settling sustainably. And it is not just about settlement of the Land now, but also sustaining it for future generations. We must live on the earth in a way that lasts for generations by maintaining its natural resource base.

In his commentary to the decree on the tenant farmer (our fourth source), Rashi invokes the language of Genesis 2:15: “Now the Lord God took the man, and He placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to guard it.”[40] According to the Jewish mystics, the Garden of Eden is much more expansive than we think. As Sefer Habahir teaches, “Rabbi Amorai asked: Where is the Garden of Eden? It is on earth.”[41]

At a deeper level, these enactments and sustainable living are not just about ensuring our own survival, as important as that is. They enable us to fulfill the Divine mandate for stewardship of this planet with which G-d entrusted us. May we embrace sustainable living as an act of profound religious significance, and merit to live once again within a Garden of Eden on this planet Earth.

Rabbi Yonatan Neril is founder and director of Jewish Eco Seminars, which engages and educates the Jewish community with Jewish environmental wisdom. He has worked with Canfei Nesharim for the past six years in developing educational resources relating to Judaism and the environment.

These materials are posted as part of Jewcology’s Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, in partnership with Canfei Nesharim. Jewcology thanks the Shedlin Outreach Foundation and the ROI community for their generous support, which made the Jewcology project possible.

See all Core Teaching Sustainability in the Land of Israel Materials!

Learn more about the Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment!

[1] The author thanks Evonne Marzouk for her insights and editorial comments in developing this article.

[2] In the year 2023 in the Jewish calendar or 1737 B.C.E

[3] Joshua led the Jewish people into Israel in 2490 (Jewish calendar) or 1270 B.C.E, where they remained (aside from the 70-year Babylonian exile) in significant numbers for about 1600 years (until about 400 C.E., when the Jewish population continued a centuries-long decline).

[4] The Mishna was codified by Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi about 200 C.E.

[5] According to the Ramban (Nachmanides, Spain, 1194-1270), the Torah commands that Jews settle the Land of Israel He counts settling the Land of Israel among the 613 commandments (Ramban to Sefer Hamitzvot, positive mitzva #4, and Ramban to Bamidbar 33:53.). The Midrash states that this includes planting trees and crops in the Land. (Midrash Bereshit Raba, chapter 64.)

[6] About 30% of this total were non-Jews. This estimate was given by Dr. Meir Bar Ilan, senior lecturer, departments of Talmud and Jewish History, Bar Ilan University, personal communication, March 2010. This estimate is based on the past several decades of research, following Byatt, Anthony (1973) "Josephus and Population Numbers in First-century Palestine", in: Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 105, pp. 51–60. That article provides a spectrum of about twenty scholarly opinions ranging from between below one million inhabitants and above six million inhabitants.

[7] “The Period of the Second Temple,” by Professor Menahem Stern, in A History of the Jewish People, ed. Ben-Sasson, Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, MA, 1976, p. 268-70. Prof. Stern notes that during the end of the Second Temple era, “the economy of Palestine continued to be based on agriculture, as it had been throughout antiquity…The three main crops, as in earlier times, were grain, wine, and olives. In normal years the country supplied sufficient grain to meet its own needs and even to export some…Next to agriculture in economic importance among the Jews of Palestine were animal husbandry [i.e. raising cattle, sheep, and goats] and fishing.” Prof. Gedalyahu Alon concurs that the three main aspects of the economy were agriculture, fruit orchards, and animal husbandry and that Israel was usually self-sufficient and even a net-exporter of grain. He proves this from several Rabbinic and historical texts (Toldot Hayehudim B'Eretz Yisrael B'Tkufat Hamishna v'ha'Talmud, p. 99). See also Tractate Bava Metzia 107a on Rabbi Yochanan teaching to divide one's holdings between grain, olive trees, and grapevines.

[8] Ibid, “The Period,” p. 232, 268, and 344. See also The Talmud: A Reference Guide, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, Random House: NY, 1989, p. 16.

[9] It is also possible that the laws contained in the following Mishnaot were intended primarily to prevent damage to a farmers' crops or soil, since preventing damages to others is a prime concern of the Torah and the Sages.

[10] These decrees apparently sought to ensure at a societal level the fulfillment of the mitzva incumbent on each individual Jew of settling the Land of Israel.

[11] Dr. Akiva Wolff notes that the Torah uses this expression sixteen times, including in Deuteronomy 31:20. It appears an additional fifteen times elsewhere in Tanakh. Dr. Wolff explores the environmental linkages of the following decree on goats and sheep in his article on the Torah portion of Vayeilech in Canfei Nesharim's Eitz Chaim Hee series, available at www.canfeinesharim.org.

[12] Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Ketubot 111b

[13] Tosefta Beitza 4:11, Talmud Yerushalmi, Beitza ch. 5, Bablyonian Talmud, Tractate Beitza 40a

[14] Toldot Hayehudim B'Eretz Yisrael B'Tkufat Hamishna v'ha'Talmud, p. 101-2

[15] Tractate Bava Batra 36b and Rashi there.

[16] Mishna Bava Kama 7:7, Rambam Hilchot Nizkei Mammon 5:2. Forests and desert areas were exempt from this decree.

[17] Translation adapted from Soncino edition.

[18] To Bava Kama 79b. The Talmud there and on p. 80a discusses qualifications to this decree, and also mentions spiritual dangers to going against this decree.

[19] Commentary to the Mishna explaining the views of Rabbi Ovadia Bartenura, Tosafot, and Rosh.

[20] Tractate Bava Kama 80a, according to Rav Yehuda.

[21] Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin 25b

[22] Tractate Yoma 4:6

[23] These were the burning of the Tamid offering and those portions of the sacrifices offered on the altar, the burning of the incense, and maintaining the Eternal flame day and night.

[24] Mishna Tamid 29a and Talmud there. In the Talmud there and in the Tosefta to Menachot 9:14, Rabbi Elazar includes five additional trees in this decree, including sycamore, carob, and date-palm.

[25] A third or fourth century Babylonian Amora (Talmudic sage) from the academy at Sura. His view is embraced by the Rambam in Hilchot Isurei Mizbeach 7:3.

[26] Commentary of an unidentified Rishon (writing between 1000 and 1400 C.E.) which appears in place of Rashi, to Tractate Tamid, 29b. See Perushi Harishonim for the commentary of the Ra'avad, which also address yishuv eretz Yisrael.

[27] Torah and Flora, Sanhedrin Press, New York, 1977, p. 46. Rabbi Rabinowitz was the chief rabbi of South Africa.

[28] By William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer. The book is an autobiography by Kamkwanba about growing up in Malawi.

[29] Numbers 35:2,3

[30] Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Baba Batra 24b, and Arachin 33b, and Rambam, Hilchot Shmittah V'Yovel 13:5

[31] Torat Cohanim, Behar 6, Mishna Arachim 33b, and Bava Batra 24b. Tosofot Yom Tov to the Mishna in Arachin explains that Rashi and the Rambam understand the halakha to be like the first view in the Mishna that this law applies to all Israelite cities.

[32] Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Bava Metzia 39a

[33] Rashi to Bava Metzia 38b. See also Rashi to 39a where he gives a slightly different explanation. In his work Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, Prof. Oded Borowski details numerous allusions in the Tanakh to use of manure to restore soil fertility, and understands that it was a common practice in Biblical Israel. American Schools of Oriental Research: Boston, 2002, p. 145-8

[34] Collapse, Viking Publishers: New York, p. 489-90

[35] Perhaps the only one with widespread applicability is that on farmland, open space, and urban area, but the reasons why it is not observed today are beyond the scope of this piece.

[36] Regarding the applicability of the decree of Jewish sheep-herders today, see the Talmud, Tractate Baba Kama 79b that one can raise sheep in pens in Israel. See also Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 409:1 that is is permitted to graze sheep freely in Israel. Many 20^th century halakhic authorities wrote responsa on this issue at a time when fields are common to Jews and therefore damage is possible from sheep and goats.

[37] For more on the topic of water use in the land of Israel, see the Jewcology water article written by this author.

[38] Summer 2008, from Israeli Ministry of the Environment, www.environment.gov.il and Adam Teva v'Din, www.adamteva.org.il

[39] Haaretz, June 2, 2009, “Experimental program to recycle waste-water tries to get God, Mother Earth on the same page” by Zafrir Rinat, online at www.haaretz.com . The article describes a project of the Jewish environmental organization Shomera.

[40] Rashi uses the same language of 'to work and to guard' in describing a relative farming a captive's field.

[41] The Book of Illumination, 2:31, attributed to Rabbi Nehunia ben haKana. It is considered as one of the most influential source of Kabbalistic teachings.

Sustainability in the Land of Israel

By Rabbi Yonatan Neril [1]

Abraham and Sarah came to Israel over 3700 years ago.[2] Since then, significant populations of Jews have spent over 1600 years living in the Land of Israel.[3] For much of this time, Jews have been involved in growing crops, tending fruit trees, and shepherding animals, activities critical to providing food to sustain those living in Israel. Yet they also presented challenges to environmental sustainability in the Land.

How did Jews manage to live in the Land for so long? While the Torah teaches that Divine Providence (in response to the people following the commandments) played the fundamental role, the Oral Tradition as redacted in the Mishna[4] also provides insights.[5]

The time period of the Mishna, before and after the destruction of the Second Temple (20 CE to 200 CE), was a period of increased demand on the natural resources of the Land of Israel. During this time, historians estimate that the Jewish and gentile population expanded to about 2.1 million inhabitants,[6] fed in good part from grain, wine, and oil produced in Israel.[7]

One important feature of this ancient economy was the shepherding of small cattle (goats and sheep). The Torah often describes the Land of Israel as "a land flowing with milk and honey,"[8] interpreted by the Talmud to mean “milk flows from the goats' [udders], and honey flows from the dates and the figs” (Tractate Ketubot 111b). Consumption of goat milk was important in Biblical and Mishnaic Israel. Historians note that some herders raised flocks of sheep and goats in great numbers.[9]

Yet goats and sheep are voracious herbivores. The rabbis in the times of the Mishna witnessed the impact these animals had, entering farmers' fields and eating agricultural crops. In response to the threat to crops posed by goats and sheep in the Land of Israel, the rabbis prohibited raising goats and sheep in agriculturally-productive parts of Israel (Mishna Bava Kama 7:7).[10] Clearly, the problem was widespread and understood as causing significant damage, leading the sages to place severe limitations to protect crops and the land. According to Rashi (France, 1040-1105 C.E.),[11] this was done to ensure the fulfillment of the mitzvah of settling the Land of Israel (yishuv Eretz Yisrael).

This decree presents an ancient Jewish approach to environmental sustainability—living in a way that does not unduly deplete the natural resource base on which we depend. Informed by an understanding of the impacts of sheep and goats, the rabbis of the Mishna legislated a responsible path which would sustain the Land for the long-term, even when their choices seemed contrary to short-term motivations like benefiting from goat's milk and sheep's wool.

In Israel today, it is not goats but water scarcity that presents a sustainability challenge. The current population is likely about five times larger than it was at its peak before the Temple was destroyed. The state of Israel struggles with ensuring water access to ten million inhabitants west of the Jordan River. Per capita water consumption has also multiplied, due to the ease and cheapness of piped-water.[12]

The ancient wisdom of our tradition can provide some clues to help us find ways to sustain ourselves on the Land. The rabbinic decree concerning sheep and goats addressed a sustainability problem by restricting one aspect of resource use in order to ensure long-term needs. Several ongoing projects seem to build upon this ancient wisdom and apply it to today. For example, one innovative, experimental project underway in Jerusalem seeks to purify and recycle waste-water from mikvehs (ritual baths) for use in irrigation. The project may be expanded to recycle water from sinks and washing machines. Such reuse of water may be one way to encourage more wise use of this precious resource, in Israel and beyond.[13]

As individuals today, we would do well to consider today whether there are areas of our consumption where we could prioritize long-term needs, especially in our choices for using energy, water, food, and consumer products, each major contributors to today’s sustainability challenges.

The Rabbis' understanding of this decree as linked to yishuv Eretz Yisrael (settlement of the Land of Israel) is striking. It underscores that settling the Land of Israel is not only about the commandment incumbent upon individual Jews, but the greater communal responsibility for settling sustainably. And it is not just about settlement of the Land now, but also sustaining it for future generations. We must live on the earth in a way that lasts for generations by maintaining its natural resource base.

These laws, in providing us clues as to how the Jewish people lived on the Land for so long, underscore the importance of national thinking and planning for sustainability, and elucidate Jewish values which may help us address current and future challenges. May we embrace sustainable living as an act of profound religious significance, and merit to live long on the land.

Rabbi Yonatan Neril founded and directs Jewish Eco Seminars, which engages and educates the Jewish community with Jewish environmental wisdom. He has worked with Canfei Nesharim for the past six years in developing educational resources relating to Judaism and the environment.

These materials are posted as part of Jewcology’s Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, in partnership with Canfei Nesharim. Jewcology thanks the Shedlin Outreach Foundation and the ROI community for their generous support, which made the Jewcology project possible.

See all Core Teaching Sustainability in the Land of Israel Materials!

Learn more about the Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment!

[1] The author thanks Evonne Marzouk for her insights and editorial comments in developing this article.

[2] In the year 2023 in the Jewish calendar or 1737 B.C.E

[3] Joshua led the Jewish people into Israel in 2490 (Jewish calendar) or 1270 B.C.E, where they remained (aside from the 70-year Babylonian exile) in significant numbers for about 1600 years (until about 400 C.E., when the Jewish population continued a centuries-long decline).

[4] The Mishna was codified by Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi about 200 C.E.

[5] According to the Ramban (Nachmanides, Spain, 1194-1270), the Torah commands that Jews settle the Land of Israel. He counts settling the Land of Israel among the 613 commandments (Ramban to Sefer Hamitzvot, positive mitzva #4, and Ramban to Bamidbar 33:53.). The Midrash states that this includes planting trees and crops in the Land (Midrash Bereshit Raba, chapter 64).

[6] About 30% of this total were non-Jews. This estimate was given by Dr. Meir Bar Ilan, senior lecturer, departments of Talmud and Jewish History, Bar Ilan University, Israel, personal communication, March 2010. This estimate is based on the past several decades of research, following Byatt, Anthony (1973) "Josephus and Population Numbers in First-century Palestine", in: Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 105, pp. 51–60. That article provides a spectrum of about twenty scholarly opinions ranging from between below one million inhabitants and above six million inhabitants.

[7] “The Period of the Second Temple,” by Prof. Menahem Stern, in A History of the Jewish People, ed. Ben-Sasson, Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, MA, 1976, p. 268-70. Prof. Stern notes that during the end of the Second Temple era, “the economy of Palestine continued to be based on agriculture, as it had been throughout antiquity…The three main crops, as in earlier times, were grain, wine, and olives. In normal years the country supplied sufficient grain to meet its own needs and even to export some…Next to agriculture in economic importance among the Jews of Palestine were animal husbandry [i.e. raising cattle, sheep, and goats] and fishing.” Prof. Gedalyahu Alon concurs that the three main aspects of the economy were agriculture, fruit orchards, and animal husbandry and that Israel was usually self-sufficient and even a net-exporter of grain. He proves this from several Rabbinic and historical texts (Toldot Hayehudim B'Eretz Yisrael B'Tkufat Hamishna v'ha'Talmud, p. 99). See also Bava Metzia 107a on Rabbi Yochanan teaching to divide one's holdings between grain, olive trees, and grapevines.

[8] Dr. Akiva Wolff notes that the Torah uses this expression sixteen times, including in Deuteronomy 31:20. It appears an additional fifteen times elsewhere in Tanakh. Dr. Wolff explores the environmental linkages of the following decree on goats and sheep in his article on the Torah portion of Vayeilech in Canfei Nesharim's Eitz Chaim Hee series, available at www.canfeinesharim.org.

[9] Toldot Hayehudim B'Eretz Yisrael B'Tkufat Hamishna v'ha'Talmud, p. 101-2

[10] See also Rambam Hilchot Nizkei Mammon 5:2. Forests and desert areas were exempt from this decree.

[11] To Bava Kama 79b. The Talmud there and on p. 80a discusses qualifications to this decree, and also mentions spiritual dangers to going against this decree.

[12] For more on the topic of water use in the land of Israel, see the Jewcology water article written by this author.

[13] Haaretz, June 2, 2009, “Experimental program to recycle waste-water tries to get God, Mother Earth on the same page” by Zafrir Rinat, online at www.haaretz.com . The article describes a project of the Jewish environmental organization Shomera.

]]> https://beta.jewcology.com/resources/sustainability-in-the-land-of-israel-summary-article/feed/ 0 https://beta.jewcology.com/2012/04/clean-the-land-love-it-live-it-clean-it/ https://beta.jewcology.com/2012/04/clean-the-land-love-it-live-it-clean-it/#comments Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:47:00 +0000 http://jewcology.org/2012/04/clean-the-land-love-it-live-it-clean-it/

It’s happened to each and every one of us.

You’re at the beach in Tel Aviv, surrounded by white sand, blue sea, shining sun…and, of course, bronzed bodies. With the enthusiasm of a kid in a candy store, you run to the water and jump in. “This is just too perfect! This has to be a dream!” you think to yourself. You dip your head, envisioning yourself recreating one of those movie scenes where you emerge from the water with your hair slicked, basking in the Mediterranean sun.

Unfortunately, when you break the surface, you find yourself donning a hat…an empty Bamba bag that somebody threw in the water.

Not into the beach? May you have walked the streets of holy Jerusalem only to find cigarette butts strewn across the ancient stones? Perhaps you have hiked the green hills of the North and found yourself questioning if empty plastic bottles are a form of natural plant life that grows in the region? Or could it be that you have trekked through the desert and stopped questioning how deserted it was because there was enough garbage left on the trails to signal the existence of human life.

A few weeks ago, four Israel Government Fellows, non-Israelis who committed themselves to the State of Israel for ten months by contributing their unique talents in government ministries while living the Israeli life, were discussing this problem at Masa’s Building Future Leadership (BFL) Program in Jerusalem. After yearning to reclaim the land of our forefathers for millennia, how could we then return just to litter? They recognized that the only way to revitalize the land would be to reconnect the Jewish people to it. Only by taking the reins and leading by example could this vision of a cleaner, greener Israel become a reality.

Enter Clean the Land.

Clean the Land (CtL) is a social initiative with two simple components: a coordinated, annual, nation-wide trash pickup day, and, a mission to educate communities about recycling, sustainability and environmental protection.

The initiative aims to not only clean up the Land of Israel, but to instill within its people a respect for the land and to refresh their connection to it. CtL employs what the founders call a “village model” whereby leaders within the community accept the responsibility of organizing Clean Teams and sites. The concept behind this approach is twofold: 1) a far greater impact can be achieved when there are numerous coordinated satellite operations rather than a single massive clean-up, and 2) people will be more likely to join the effort when they are improving the places that are important to them as individuals.

The date for the inaugural Clean the Land Day will be Friday, May 18, 2012. We invite you to join us by leading a Clean Team or by joining one.

You can sign-up on our website at http://www.cleantheland.org/sign-up.html.

Most importantly, we encourage each of you to reach out to the people around you – family, friends, classmates, colleagues, congregation, city council, the guy who runs the falafel stand, etc. – and get them involved.

CtL’s motto is Love It. Live It. Clean It. Each of us came to Israel because, as the homeland of the Jewish people, it is the place we love. Because of that love, we came here to live Israel, not just experience it through the window of a bus. Now that we are living it, we believe it is our responsibility to take the initiative, set the example, and Clean the Land.

We’re looking forward to the day when we’ll be able to have that magical movie moment where we break through the water, walk the Old City, hike the Golan, or trek the Negev with no garbage in sight.

Join us. Clean the Land. Friday, May 18, 2012.

Have questions? Just want to express how excited you are to Clean the Lean? Email us at cleantheland@gmail.com or “like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cleantheland.

Along with the Council for a Beautiful Israeland Green Now, Teva Ivri has just announced the first “Greenest Synagogue Contest” ever held in Israel. By launching the contest during the pre-Passover season, we encourage Jews throughout Israel to examine our houses of prayer – synagogues – to see if they are conducting themselves with a sense of communal responsibility and a sense of protecting G-d’s world.

Although greening synagogues has become a popular way for Jewish communities in the United States and Europe to engage in environmental action, this is the first campaign of its kind in Israel. The contest aims to raise Israelis’ awareness about the links between Judaism and the environment and to encourage concrete change in Jewish institutions. Teva Ivri will provide information and guidance to synagogues starting out on the path to sustainability. Over the course of several months, participating synagogues will be evaluated based on their actualization of environmental and social justice values.

So what makes a synagogue green?

A green synagogue strives to:

• conserve resources in its activities and in the maintenance of its building.

• develop an inviting outdoor space for secure play and inspiring learning.

• be accessible to people with disabilities.

• engage in study of social-environmental issues, in theory and in practice.

• serve as a model of how humans take responsibility for G-d’s Creation.

As deputy director of the Council for a Beautiful Israel, Weitzman Mashiach, expresses:

“A synagogue is a focal point of life for all of us, whether it is daily, on Jewish holidays, or for Jewish life cycle events. In some communities, especially in smaller Israeli villages, it is the center of all communal experience. In galvanizing communities to green their synagogues, we are emphasizing that the institution that has guided the Jewish people for over 2000 years can be relevant to our efforts toward environmental protection and better quality of life.”

The contest has generated interest from a number of prominent religious leaders and educators in Israel. HaRav Yisrael Lau, Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv and former Chief Rabbi of Israel, will preside over the evaluation committee. The co-chair of the committee will be Professor Zechariah Madar, the head scientist of the Ministry of Education. The Association of Religious Councils in Israel will call upon religious councils throughout the country to actively recruit synagogues for the competition.

How can you get involved?

Teva Ivri is happy to provide guidance to any community in Israel looking to “go green.” We also invite Jewish communities from abroad to support their Israeli counterparts as they take on more environmental responsibility.

For more information on how to integrate sustainability values into your synagogue, or to share your synagogue’s “greening” experience, contact info@tevaivri.org.il.

Contest winners will be announced in October 2012 during Teva Ivri’s annual Shabbat Noach (Sustainability Shabbat) celebrations.

SAMAR SAND DUNES, Israel — A barbed-wire fence runs along the edge of the dunes here, but it's not to protect them — it's to keep people from accidentally walking across the country's border with Jordan. Not that Samar hasn't needed the protection — the government was poised to raze the dunes and turn them into concrete for hotels and sidewalks. But barbed wire would not have been strong enough to hold back bulldozers. No, the bulldozers were stopped by something far more powerful: You.

Thanks to the efforts of the Green Zionist Alliance, our partners in Israel and all of our supporters — you and all of the people who enable us as organizations to exist, everyone who made phone calls, wrote letters, made donations, protested at the dunes — everyone who both figuratively and literally stood in front of bulldozers' shovels — the Samar sand dunes have been saved from destruction. They will be preserved as a nature and recreational reserve.

You may know about Samar's endangered species and its rare ecosystem, but what, viscerally, makes the dunes so special? On a recent day here, I walked across the dunes photographing them so you too could see how extraordinary they are.

Check out the full slide show at GreenZionism.org: http://www.greenzionism.org/greenisrael/samar/235

Thank you again for helping to save Samar!