Israel

Libi b’mizrach, v’ani b’sof ma’arav -- “my heart is in the East, yet I am in the uttermost West,” lamented medieval poet Yehuda HaLevi. To a greater or lesser extent, this describes all of American Jewry today -- even as we go about our lives with our own community’s challenges to face, we also face east, looking toward our ancestral homeland which continues to tug at our heartstrings. Wherever we may fall along the Zionist spectrum, American Jews cannot turn away from the reality of, the challenges with, and the connection to Israel.

This is true for Jewish environmentalists in at least equal measure. In fact, given the centrality of Israel to Jewish conceptions about the sacredness of land -- it was, after all, in Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel) where the Jewish ‘land ethic’ first took root -- environmentalists are if anything more likely to feel the connection. So how do we act on it? As a posting on the COEJL website offers:

Top 5 actions you can take to help protect Israel's environment

1. Educate yourself and your community about the challenges facing Israel's environment.
2. Host a fundraiser. Grassroots Israeli environmental organizations need your support.
3. Organize a synagogue or youth group environmental mission to Israel. Visit sites of environmental interest and concern, meet activists and learn about their campaigns. Brainstorm ways that you can join and support local programs.
4. Volunteer your time. Before a visit to Israel, inquire about volunteer opportunities and internships. Or ask environmental groups how you can help from a distance.
5. If you are a student, consider attending a semester or year at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies or look into an environmental birthright trip through JGEN, the Jewish Global Environmental Network.

That’s a great start, and the list only continues to expand. Work with the folks on the Israel committee (if there is one; otherwise, with anyone who is interested in the subject) to incorporate environmental themes into your synagogue’s Israel programming, including the adult education component. Learn about the draining of the swamps, the planting of inappropriate species, and the overuse of water when studying Israel’s challenges and shortcomings; balance that with lessons on 1950’s successes in protecting wildflowers, and current successes in curbing pollution through legislative and judicial activism. When you study Jewish connections to Israel, start with the Eretz/land itself; there’s a year’s worth or more of Talmud Torah curriculum on this subject alone. And once familiar with Israel and the environment in classical and modern times, get active! A whole host of Israeli environmental groups -- and a new raft of trans-continental initiatives spanning both sides of the Atlantic -- could use your involvement and your support.

Some helpful resources include: The Flip Side of Zionism's Success: Israel's Environmental Woes. This article by movement-builder (and American immigrant) Alon Tal summarizes the ecological history of the Zionist enterprise; written a few years ago, it now also summarizes his important 2002 book on the subject, Pollution in a Promised Land: An Environmental History of Israel, which is required reading for all eco-Zionists.

A huge number of links to Israeli environmental organizations can also be found here on the COEJL website.