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January 22, 2014 | 21 Shvat 5774
In this issue
From the JGF Director
Going Green - Together 
Free to Flourish, Free From Debt
Calendar
ReSources You Can ReUse!
Mission
The Jewish Greening Fellowship, a program of Hazon, aims to cultivate environmental change leadership, reduce the environmental impacts of Jewish organizations in the New York area and generate meaningful responses to global climate change while strengthening Jewish life.
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New York City Park Rangers are eager to introduce children, families, and adults to the natural wonders in your own backyard.  Last summer the Park Rangers brought The Natural Classroom to the Riverdale Y Sunday Market with the help of a JGF Alumni Grant. 

 

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Put the Shmita (Sabbatical) Year
on Your Calendar
Mirele B. Goldsmith, JGF Director
 

Have you ever dreamed about taking a sabbatical?  Well now is your chance.  Next year is the Sabbatical year, the Shmita, that the Torah commands us to observe every seventh year.   But before you sign up for a cruise, take note that the Shmita of the Torah is not a year off.  It is a year to reset our relationship to the earth and to each other.  It is the original prescription for sustainability.  Shmita calls on us to build communities that are healthy and just in three ways - socially, environmentally, and economically. 


With just a few more months until Rosh Hashanah 5775, now is the time to start thinking about how your community will observe the Shmita year.  Here are seven ways to get started:

 

1.  Let everyone know that Shmita is coming.  A countdown clock is ticking in the main lodge at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center

 

2.  Start learning with your leaders.  Bring a text about Shmita to your next Green Team, staff, or social action committee meeting.   Go to ShmitaProject.org for  resources.

 

3.  Introduce Shmita to your community.  At Solomon Schechter of Long Island, Rabbi Joshua Rabin prepared a Tu B’shvat seder on the theme of Shmita.  Student members of the Environmental Club led their classmates in learning about annual and perennial plants, and the importance of sustainability in agriculture.  In February, students and faculty at the Jewish Theological Seminary will participate in a Day of Learning about Shmita.

 

4.  To give the land a rest, the Torah calls for Shmitat Ha’adamah (the sabbatical of the land.)  During Shmita no crops are planted.  If you don’t have any fields to fallow, what else can you do to care for the earth?  Kane Street Synagogue held a kiddush lunch & learn on the topic of Shmita and fracking, the controversial method of drilling for natural gas and oil.

5.  Shmitat Ksafim (the sabbatical of money) is the commandment that lenders must cancel all debts in the Shmita year.   With no crops to harvest, farmers have no income and can’t pay their debts.   Shmitat Ksafim teaches us that a healthy economy depends on a healthy planet and healthy people.  What can you do?   Slow Money can help you invest in sustainable agriculture, timebanking enables community members to share skills and talents without exchanging money, and Green America  helps you support sustainable businesses.

6.  To survive the Shmita year, our ancestors had to live on wild and perennial foods.  Is there wild food going to waste in your neighborhood?   You can harvest that fig tree in the backyard to provide food for needy neighbors.   Green Map provides everything you need to map untapped food resources, including a curriculum for teens.  

7.  The Shmita of the Torah can only be observed in community.  For this reason, the Torah assumes it will be applied only in the Land of Israel.   In our globalized age, Shmita is an opportunity to build ties with the social justice and environmental movement in Israel.  MK Ruth Calderon recently chaired a discussion about Shmita in the Knesset.  And the Israeli Shmita Project released an inspiring video.  The 14th Street Y invited Dr. Jeremy Benstein,  an Israeli environmental leader, to speak about Shmita and Israel’s environmental movement.  How can your community partner with Israel to celebrate the Shmita year?

Don’t wait.  Now is the time to put the Shmita year on your calendar. 

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Going Green Together 
Adeline Medeiros,  Director - Brooklyn Initiatives, The Center for Community Leadership at JCRC-NY, Greening Fellow

When I first started the Jewish Greening Fellowship and took an inventory of all the changes that had to be made around our office, it was overwhelming. There were infrastructure updates, policies to be written, office culture to be changed, a larger building management team to get on board, and the integration of greening into our community work. How on earth was I supposed to do this on my own?

I soon realized I couldn’t and I didn’t have to. My experience in JGF has helped me connect with my coworkers in a new way. Prior to my involvement, I had no idea how many of our staff members gardened, composted, and shopped at their local farmer’s markets. I didn’t know that our office manager had fought to equip our office with reusable dishes and a dishwasher two years ago, unsuccessfully. But now we had a secret weapon: We had a team to get behind the cause!

From our first green team meeting to our official greening kick-off, I’ve been supported, encouraged, and emboldened by my eco-minded coworkers. The overwhelming work I was first faced with became manageable with their involvement. Now, although I’m the official greening fellow, we have multiple staff who lead different projects in the office.

There’s Rachel, who is hosting our first “lunch ‘n’ learn” for staff on the topic of composting. And Jennifer, who orders supplies for the office, has taken the initiative to send out excited updates about our new green supplies.  She shares the thought process behind environmentally-conscious purchasing.  And then there are all the staff members who send others back to their desks to get their reusable dishes during our family-style holiday lunches.

I’ve come to realize that this work cannot be done on our own. Not only does the involvement of others achieve more, but it makes the experience richer. A big part of environmentalism is community and I’ve found mine at the JCRC.

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Free to Flourish, Free From Debt
 

Uri L’Tzedek, an Orthodox social justice organization, believes that by renewing Shmita (the sabbatical year,) Jewish communities can empower people financially and change the national conversation around debt.  “The Torah doesn’t assume debtors are necessarily bad or irresponsible,” Rabbi Ari Hart explains. “We know that today many people are stuck in debt, often through no fault of their own because of things like unexpected medical bills, or job loss.  Over 50% of the people who declare bankruptcy in this country do so because of medical debt. The Torah teaches that people should be freed from debt that is crushing, oppressive, emotionally and spiritually draining, and that can even lead to suicide.”

In ancient times, people became slaves because they couldn’t pay their debts.  The Torah hates slavery.    Shmitat Ksafim (the sabbatical for money,) the law of Shmita which requires that lenders release borrowers from debt, was the way out.  Everyone had a fresh start in the seventh year.

Uri L’Tzedek, in partnership with Connect to Care, recently piloted a workshop on Financial Literacy and Empowerment at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale.  Participants learned about credit scores, budgeting, and how to educate children about money.  They also learned about Shmitat Ksafim, and the Torah’s perspective that debt is not an individual problem.  It is something that is of concern to the community as a whole.  “By doing it in synagogue,” Ari explains, “we are sending the message that debt is not just an individual problem, but is something that needs to be looked at system wide.” 

In the upcoming Shmita year, Uri L’Tzedek plans to deliver financial literacy workshops across the country.  These workshops will help individuals, and they will also open up a conversation about how to build an economy that enables people, communities, and the earth, to flourish. 

Calendar
 

Thursday, February 27, 2014
8:30 am - 5:00 pm
Speak Up! Advocacy for Greener Communities
Training Day for JGF Fellows

Tuesday, March 4, 2014
8:00 pm - 9:15 pm
Integrating Social Action and Greening
Webinar for JGF Board Fellows and Green Team Members

Monday, May 12, 2014
9:00 am - 12:00 noon
How to Make Lasting Behavior Change: An Introduction to Community Based Social Marketing
Open to All
Workshop in collaboration with the Wiener Educational Center of UJA- Federation of New York

ReSources You Can ReUse!

Send a group of teens to the Youthbridge Teen Summit on March 7, 2014 to launch their own environmental justice project.

Contact the Chas. C. Hart Seed Co. to request a donation of free seed for your garden. 

Bring Teva to your community for a winter eco-workshop (Jan-March) on Recycled Paper-making, Worm Bin Exploration, or Recycled Musical Instruments.  Spring outdoor workshops, which can be held in a park near you, include Meet a Tree, Shma Sound Map, and Food Pickling & Preservation.  Staff training and consultation are also available.  Contact Yishai.Cohen@hazon.org.

Aharon Ariel Lavi is a founder of Garin Shuva A Jewish Eco-Mission-Driven Community in the Negev.  He speaks on Judaism, economics, social justice, and environmentalism.  He is currently a Tikvah Fund Fellow in New York.  Contact arilavi@gmail.com

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