By Rabbi David Seidenberg “I have set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and the Earth.” (Genesis 9:13) Millennia before Kermit the Frog sang about the Rainbow Connection, the very first Rainbow Day marked the connection between God and all animals. The biblical flood began on the 17th of the second month, exactly one lu... read more.
See this article on Tikkun Olam and Jewish Environmental Education, published recently in the journal Jewish Educational Leadership, a publication of the Lookstein Center for Jewish Education. Click here or go to http://www.lookstein.org/online_journal.php?id=441 read more.
For anyone interested in Bible study, nature, the environment or religion, this unique and valuable resource elucidates the connections between Judaism and the natural world. The Natural Bible explores how religious environmental values can help us have a healthier relationship with the earth... read more.
The eighteenth topic in the Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, The Glory in Creation: Valuing Biodiversity! We live in an amazingly diverse world, with approximately 8.3 million unique species described by scientists, and likely twice that number that have not yet been discovered. Jewish sources teach that G-d has joy in the diversity and continuity of creation, ... read more.
Tu Bishvat which takes place later this month has become over the last 40 years the Jewish Earth Day. Whatever its origins, Tu Bishvat is the most likely time that synagogues “do” Jewish environmentalism. And while this is a good thing, it tends to isolate the environment as an issue like any special Shabbat program that happens once a year. And while the present Jewish envir... read more.
The fifteenth topic in the Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, Toward a Wiser Use of Energy released! One of the most significant sustainability challenges of our time is how we produce, use, and relate to energy. Today’s energy technologies have greatly increased material standards of living among human societies. But they also have d... read more.
The fourteenth topic in the Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, Let the Land Rest: Lessons from Shemita, the Sabbatical Year released! Shemita, the Sabbatical Year, comprises a number of the 613 commandments (mitzvot) of the Torah . With today’s environmental challenges, these mitzvot may be more relevant and needed today than at any time in Jewish and world... read more.
Conferences offer the opportunity to meet new people, exchange ideas and learn about new developments in your fields. They also tend to be very wasteful of natural resources — but they don’t have to be. The following tips would help to green conferences of all sizes — even ones as large as the World Zionist Congress and the Jewish Federations’ General Assembly. &n... read more.
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 ... read more.
The thirteenth topic in the Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, We are How We Eat: A Jewish Approach to Food and Sustainability released! Rebbe Nachman of Breslov identifies the desire for food and drink as the central desire of the human being, and the one from which other desires emanate. In Rabbi Tzadok Hacohen’s “A Treatise on Eating,” he cit... read more.
Close