GREENING SYNAGOGUES RESOURCES

Adult Education Models

Examples of Adult Education on eco-Judaism abound. Many ready-to-go shiurim / lessons can be found right here. For sustained courses, we offer here two examples. One, a six-part series on Israel, Judaism, and the Environment, took advantage of local individuals (in the DC area) with knowledge about specific parts of this question, and wove their presentations together so that participants ended up with a fairly full picture of the topic. The other, a ground-breaking initiative marrying sustainable agriculture with urban Jewish life and education, has Manhattan Jews picking up organic produce from a Long Island farm while learning about Judaism and the Earth:

I. Six-Part Series on Israel, Judaism, and the Environment
Congregation Beth El, Bethesda MD, Fall 2003

Course description:

Judaism, Israel and the Environment

Our tradition has always valued the environment, but the development of the modern state of Israel has given rise to many serious environmental challenges and conflicts. In this course we will explore our religious foundation for environmental protection, examine the historical context in which Israel's environmental problems have evolved and learn about the contemporary pressures on the environment relating to land, air and water. We will also consider how environmental issues affect and are affected by efforts at Arab-Israeli co-existence. The course will culminate with a synthesis and discussion regarding Israel's environmental future.

Session one: Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb, and Stephanie Firestone: Overview, and Jewish Perspectives
Session two: Abraham Silver: Historical, political and social context
Session three: Ilana Preuss: Land issues
Session four: Joel Greenblatt: Air quality issues
Session five: Karen Hudes and Barry Elman: Water issues
Session six: Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb and Stephanie Firestone: Israel's environmental future

This course is being offered in conjunction with Shomrei Adamah (Hebrew for "Guardians of the Earth"), the non-profit Jewish environmental organization of the greater Washington, DC area.

II. Community Supported Agriculture at Ansche Chesed, with Hazon, NYC, 2004

Article from The Jewish Week, New York, May 8, 2004
(see sections we've put in bold, highlighting the educational elements of the project):

(05/28/2004)
The Greening Of Ansche Chesed
Upper West Side shul, Hazon to pioneer ‘eco-kashrut’ cooperative so Jews can go organic.
Julie Wiener - Staff Writer

This summer, when Bruce Kahn heads out to pick up organic fruits and vegetables, he won’t end up in a grocery store or farmer’s market. He’ll go to synagogue.

Kahn and approximately 50 other Upper West Side residents — mostly Jews — will be participating in what is believed to be the first synagogue-based “community supported agriculture” program, or CSA.

Organized by Congregation Ansche Chesed, which is Conservative, and Hazon, a Jewish environmental group best known for its bike-athons, the CSA forges a partnership between eco-conscious Manhattanites and a young Jewish farmer on Long Island.

The new CSA is part of a small “eco-kashrut” movement of Jews who see sustainable agriculture and compassionate treatment of farm animals as natural, modern-day extensions to traditional Jewish dietary laws. Consider the following developments in recent years:

• Two North American businesses now distribute kosher free-range organic poultry. Wise Kosher Poultry, based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and run by a Satmar mother of 11, is planning to expand to offer kosher free-range organic beef as well.
• Twelve Jews in their 20s will spend this summer as “fellows” on a new organic farm under the auspices of the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center. Fellows will combine working in the fields with Jewish learning.
• A group of Chabadniks living in Amherst, Mass., founded Eretz Ha’Chaim, a Torah-observant organic farm and co-housing community. The farm sponsors an annual festival and plans to create an educational center for children and adults.
• Organic foods are becoming increasingly visible at Kosherfest, the annual kosher foods trade show. “I’ve heard from many [kosher foods] retailers that consumers are asking for organic products,” said Menachem Lubinsky, who runs Kosherfest. “Many large retailers like Shop-Rite put their organic and kosher aisles close together with the thought that there’s crossover.”

Independent of that, kosher foods are also increasingly popular even among non-Jews. Both markets have benefited from a widespread perception that their foods are healthier.

Called “Tuv Ha’aretz,” Hebrew for “the good of the land,” the Hazon-Ansche Chesed CSA is open to the public.

“This is being created within, by and for the Jewish community using Jewish institutions, Jewish language and relating to the Jewish calendar, and yet at the same time it’s a world issue, a human issue where our food comes from,” said Nigel Savage, executive director of Hazon.

Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky of Ansche Chesed said one of the reasons he wanted to bring the project to his congregation was to foster “consciousness of the sanctity of these things I take into my body to make me alive and whole.”

“I love kashrut. It’s terrific and important, but also can be a little obsessive and insular in contemporary life,” Rabbi Kalmanofsky said, noting that the CSA project may make kashrut observance more meaningful to people.

The rabbi is also hoping the project will attract those not normally interested in synagogues.

“For someone who may not associate these kinds of projects with a Jewish institution, I hope they’ll see that people are thinking about these things in a Jewish context as well,” he said. “Someone may be alienated by synagogues but think, ‘Hey, good things are going on here.’”

CSA members buy shares in Garden of Eve, a certified organic farm in Aquebogue, N.Y., run by 31-year-old Eve Kaplan.

From Shavuot until Sukkot, shareholders pick up packages of seasonal produce every Wednesday at Ansche Chesed. Any leftover food will be donated to local homeless shelters.

The group will host several activities at the farm, including a fall harvest festival during the week of Sukkot.

Rabbi Kalmanofsky said the CSA will heighten awareness of Judaism’s agricultural roots.

“So many of our holidays and practices are agriculturally related,” he said. “We’re not going to all go become farmers now. Obviously we’re very urban people, but the prospect of bringing a sharper awareness of agriculture back into Jewish practice is a very positive thing for New York Jews.”

Ansche Chesed also plans to offer text-study classes on topics relevant to the farm, and people there are also exploring ways to involve the Hebrew school and youth activities in the project.

“It’s going to be a great role model for kids going out there in the summer,” Savage said. “Not only will they be picking and planting their own food, but also seeing a Jewish farmer who’s doing this.”

Kaplan, a New Jersey native who holds a master’s degree in conservation biology and sustainable development from the University of Wisconsin, started the farm two years ago with her fiancé, Chris Walbrecht.

As one who has always “connected more strongly to the spirituality of the outdoors and nature than traditional ritual,” Kaplan said she is “excited to be part of helping to bring that kind of spirituality back into modern Judaism, to bring the country to people who live in the city.”

Rabbi Kalmanofsky emphasized that while he is encouraging congregants to join the CSA, he is not saying that conventional produce is treif, or unkosher.

“People shouldn’t get the feeling that if they don’t totally revolutionize their lives they’re not doing a mitzvah,” he said. “The fact that you may not be the ultimate environmentalist doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do the best you can. This is an opportunity for people who participate to do a little bit better, to be a little more responsible, healthier and richer in that respect.”

But why join a CSA when organic produce is readily available at city green markets, Fairway and the new flagship Whole Foods store just 40 blocks south of Ansche Chesed?

Proponents claim that eliminating the middleman is cheaper for consumers and provides more financial stability for small farmers.

“People who join it will spend a lot less on organic produce than if they bought it at Fairway,” said Savage. “And nothing goes to waste. Any food that doesn’t get picked up on a Wednesday we’ll take to a homeless shelter.”

Kaplan said CSA members help preserve open space.

“Any rural area within 100 miles of a large city, particularly New York City, is under tremendous pressure to develop open land,” she said. “There is a lot of pressure on farmers to sell their farms to developers. Programs like CSA’s help to preserve farmland by providing more markets for local goods.”

For Bruce Kahn, who works in finance developing an environmental investment fund for Smith Barney Citigroup, CSAs are a way to make friends and “give people a connection to the farm.”

“You almost belong to the farm,” he said, noting that he belonged to a CSA as a graduate student in the Midwest. “If you want to spend a weekend doing some farm work and getting your fingers dirty, you can.”

For more information about the CSA, go to www.hazon.org. Membership is $450 for a full share or $225 for a half-share. A limited number of $180 memberships are available for low-income people.