How do we live as Jews, caring consciously and spiritually about the environment? I’ve done a lot of thinking about this matter, but the best speech that I ever heard on it was a presentation given at the 2009 ROI Summit.
The presenters have kindly agreed to share their speech with you on caring about the environment and living a Jewish life.
“Environmentalism just makes sense. We all live on this planet and need its resources to thrive and survive. As Jews, environmentalism is rooted in our history, our religion, and our values.
Climate change, over-consumption, mass species extinction — these are happening now. And it’s not just about the Earth anymore. It’s about preventing massive…human…suffering.
But it’s going to be alright – probably – IF we adapt, as we are so good at doing. We already have all the solutions we need to make significant change.
We need to stop thinking of Jewish environmentalism as a separate category and focus on creating a healthier world for all – because, in the process, we’re going to strengthen Jewish communities and identity.
The Jewish imperative for environmentalism isn’t marginal – it’s our most core, mainstream and familiar values and traditions.
Shabbat- is an ecological treasure! A day to rest from shopping, manufacturing, driving!
Kashrut (keeping Kosher)- the idea that what we eat matters, that it’s upon us to minimize suffering of animals! We need to update this to take responsibility for the full impacts of what we eat, the stuff we buy, and what we put into landfills. We vote with our dollars and with our forks for the full story of our food and our stuff.
Brachot (the blessings over our food)- invite mindfulness of where our food comes from. To bless food we have to figure out whether it grew from the ground or a tree; from there it’s a short step to thinking of how it was raised, whether the people involved in getting it to us were paid a fair wage, whether its story helped or hurt our environment.
— Keep reading for a list of Jewish environmental organizations —
Founder and president of San Francisco-based Institute for Jewish & Community Research (IJCR), Dr. Gary Tobin passed away on July 6, 2009 at age 59.
Dr. Tobin was an innovative teacher, writer, researcher, and community builder who worked courageously and passionately to help the Jewish people grow and thrive.
In all his work, Dr. Tobin challenged the status quo of institutions for which he cared deeply yet always believed could be better.
Whether it was the Jewish federation system, American academia, or the State of Israel, Dr. Tobin was never afraid to challenge and provoke, always expecting better and more. He believed the greatest expressions of affection came not through blind praise but through thoughtful criticism and unlimited optimism for the things that meant the most to him.
At his last Passover Seder, Dr. Tobin reminded his family that the Jewish people entered the Promised Land without their leader Moses. Dr. Tobin worked tirelessly to coach his team of colleagues at IJCR. He wanted his work to live beyond him, not for the sake of his own legacy but for the sake of the greater good he always pursued. The Institute for Jewish & Community Research will continue to advance his visionary research.
“The Future of Israel lies in the Negev.”
~ David Ben-Gurion, first prime minister of Israel
If you aren’t intimately familiar with Israel, you may not realize that the country is divided into two cultural and geographical spheres: the Center and the Periphery.
The Center, composed of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and their environs, are densely populated hubs of activity. The Periphery: the Galilee, Golan Heights, and Negev Desert, are more agricultural areas outside of the Center’s reach. This segmentation is critical to understanding the Israeli mindset when it comes to how we perceive each other.
Today YNet Newsbroke the story that Be’er Sheva is set to become home to Israel’s largest mall. With a projected budget of 700 million NIS (approx. $180.5 million) and a three-year timeframe, the mall aims to be not only a commercial center, but a nexus of social activity. Upon its completion, the mall will house clubs for youths, seniors, soldiers, and feature a children’s play area.
Additionally, the new center will be the first green mall in Israel with the following environmental considerations:
Solar paneling on the roof for energy conversion
Pools for collecting rain water and condensation from air conditioning to be reused for irrigation
Green park to be built near mall with connecting bicycle paths around the mall’s periphery
—– Read more about the mall’s environmental impact and plans for Be’er Sheva’s development—–
I had the honor and privilege of attending this year’s ROI Summit in the New Media Track. It’s been hard for me to put into words the value and inspiration that I was gifted there, so instead of gushing about it, I’ll start by introducing you to four women I met who inspired me.
Manuela Zoninsein, a journalist in Beijing and current Presentense Fellow, seeks to connect Chinese farmers with Israeli agricultural technology. She is in the process of creating Sustain, a newsletter that will “track the evolution of agricultural technology and techniques worldwide”
Nicole Hyman’s goal is create a confluence between citizen media and mobile technology (namely cellphones). A South African strongly influenced by the Rwandan genocide, Nicole strives to provide Jewish bloggers with a way to use mobile media to promote and support Israel
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. Susanne Goldstone Rosenhouse is the voice behind Jewish Tweets, Twitter’s most popular Jewish presence with over 3,800 followers. Susanne utilized her social media expertise to found ParnasaFest, a grassroots network helping Jews find meaningful employment within the Jewish community
Ziva Haller Rubenstein works for the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem. Her goal is to help make the Jewish Agency’s website more accessible and user friendly across languages, countries, and cultures. Ziva also blogs at the Designist’s Dream (de-Sign-ist, get it?) about sustainable art and design in Israel
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—– Read More About The New Jew’s New Directions —–
In my few moments of spare time a day, I’ve been experimenting with the effect of Twitter’s microblogging. What have I learned? The primary thing that you need to know is that the world of Twitter is wide open to new participants, whether individuals or foundations. It’s a great way to catch the eyes and ears of people who matter and to drive traffic to your blog.
In the last few days I came across a number of stories that I had to share with you– they are that exciting.
“10 Twitter Tips for Nonprofits” by Heather Mansfield of Change.org (@changedotorg). The only point I disagree with is Mansfield’s advice that you should provide value to your followers instead of ‘chit-chatting.’ As with any social media platform, I believe it is key to imbue your tweets with a sense of personality so that you readers feel a personal connection and investment with you as an individual. This is also why I advocate that foundation accounts are headed by a single person whose name is cited. People want to talk to people.
“Nonprofit Groups Outpace Businesses in Adopting Social Networking Tools” by Peter Panepento of TheChronicle of Philanthropy (@philanthropy). Among the findings of the UMass-Dartmouth study are that 89% of nonprofits are using some form of social media and that 57% have blogs. These numbers, which may strike some as surprisingly high, are a logical result of the low barriers to entry of social media in this cut to the bone economy.
Jared Cohen
“State Department Atwitter Over Young, Jewish Tech Tutor” by Allison Gaudet Yarrow of The Forward (@jdforward). The best part of this article is the Stephen Colbert interview with our subject, Jared Cohen, who points out that 60% of the Middle East’s population is under 30, and that they are the most accessible, impressionable, and those with whom we have the greatest opportunity to connect. Interestingly, Cohen’s own Twitter page is fairly average (@Jared_Cohen). I guess when you are the youngest member of the State Department’s Policy Planning Team, self promotion isn’t the first thing on your mind.
— Keep Reading for Highlights on Young Jews Connecting Through Twitter and Israeli Billionaires, As Well as Quick Hits & Hot Links — Read the rest of this entry »
On Tuesday, April 28th, the United Jewish Communities website will be darkened for 24 hours in honor of Israel’s Day of Remembrance (Yom HaZikaron).
The UJC writes:
“Just as every Israeli has been touched by war or terrorism, Yom HaZikaron joins every Israeli and our worldwide Jewish community in a powerful moment of unity and peoplehood. We are one people, with one destiny.”
Here is a video showing what it is like to be in Israel while the sirens of remembrance sound. The UJC’s commemorative video for Yom HaZikaron can be viewed here.
—– Read More About Defending the Nation of Israel ——
Israel has a new program for Americans and native English speakers: the Israel Teachers Corps.
Modeled on Teach For America, the Israel Teachers Corps seeks to train Americans and new English speaking immigrants to teach in Israel’s disadvantaged schools for one year. Perks include Hebrew language instruction and housing assistance. The criteria are:
“A minimum of one semester of informal or formal educational experience, commitment to service, the Jewish community, and a desire to take on new challenges.”
I don’t like to criticize Israeli or Jewish initiatives intending to do good, but I can’t keep mum on this one. As you know from reading The New Jew, I was an 8th grade teacher for Teach For America in a severely disadvantaged school in Phoenix, Arizona. It was not a positive experience.
Although Teach For America (TFA) has seen significant success, it has many notable weaknesses as well. Based on this description of criteria, the Israel Teachers Corps seems vulnerable to these same problems.
On the eve of Passover 5769, Jews around the world celebrated the Blessing of the Sun (Birkhat HaChama).
Here are some photographs from around the world of the festivities. I’ve chosen and arranged them intending to give you a feeling of the celebrations as they were happening. You will get the most value out of these images by viewing each set as a unit rather than scrolling through to see all the photos together. Enjoy!
The blessing on the sun (birkhat hachama) is said at the beginning of the 28 year Jewish solar cycle, celebrated next on April 8, 2009/14 Nisan, 5769, when Jews believe that the sun returns to its exact place at the time of its creation. We commemorate it tomorrow for the 206th time.
The Sun Blessing is shared with other natural phenomena, such as lightning, comets, meteors, and upon seeing “wondrous natural topography, such as great mountains, rivers, and vast wilderness.”
The 2009 Charles Bronfman Prize shines its light on the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP), a national network of free, college preparatory charter schools designed to give kids from disadvantaged backgrounds the best possible education.
As a former public school teacher, I hold KIPP in the highest regard. Founders Michael Feinberg and David Levin are accomplishing what everyone else hopes to achieve. They are the go-to address for social innovation in inner city public education.
Proof from the statistics:
100% of KIPP 8th graders outperformed district and state averages on math, reading, and language arts tests
80% of KIPP students matriculate to college (average for low income students is 20%)
Replicating the Model
So how do they do it? What’s the KIPP model and how can other schools replicate it?
The good news is that KIPP is specifically designed to be a replicable.As former Teach For America teachers, Feinberg and Levin sought to design a system of schools specifically for urban, underserved populations that would output highly educated students destined for college.
—– Read more to find out the components of a KIPP education and its Israel connection —–
Remember my post on How We Market Ourselves in Times of Crisis? You’re about to get an up front and personal look at one Jewish organization’s back pedaling after a major political gaffe.
On Friday, the Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA)sent out an e-mail to its constituents asking for $50 donations to support its service. No problem, right? We all get plenty of those these days. But this one was different. In an apparent need to separate themselves from others sources of news delivery, JTA President Elisa Spungen Bildner wrote:
“JTA tells the story, so that our community stays informed. At this moment, JTA’s ability to tell these stories is threatened by the realities of the economic downturn. And, in the chaos of the information age in which we live, it is even harder to find the trusted voices on which we rely for independence and accuracy.
Without a strong JTA, the storytelling will be left to bloggers, twitterers, and non-professionals. Is this the best way for our future Jewish stories to be told and recorded?“
The emphasis is their own.
The Lion, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man– Or, Bloggers, Twitterers, and Non-Professionals
Come again? Bloggers, Twitterers, and non-professionals? First of all, to equate Twitterers and bloggers is an insult. Without belaboring what should be an obvious point, users of Twitter communicate in 140 character missives, while blogs are intended to be well-researched, interesting conduits for conveying information and opinions. This is especially true in the Israeli and Jewish blogospheres, where the quality is particularly high.
And non-professionals? If we are defining a professional as someone who works for money, then yes, the JBlogosphere is filled with non-professionals, but this doesn’t make them any less committed. I see plenty of my blogging colleagues churning out up-to-the-minute content of the highest caliber on a daily basis.
—– Read More About Jews, Blogging, and the JTA’s Social Media Connections —–
Sometimes you come across a program that seems too good to pass up. B’nai Brith Youth Organization’s new Professional Development Institute combines a free MBA (FREE), ongoing professional develoment, and the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of Jewish youth. In their own words, here is the information:
“Make a difference in the Jewish community while furthering your professional development and earning a free MBA with BBYO. This spring BBYO will be admitting 10 to 12 professionals into its Professional Development Institute (PDI), a three year program where, in addition to doing leadership development work with Jewish teens in one of many communities across the country, participants will receive an MBA from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and a Certificate in Informal Jewish Education from Hebrew College in Boston.
During the three years of the program, the participant will receive a full-time competitive salary, health/retirement benefits, a professional mentor, travel opportunities and an MBA from a top 20 business school at no cost to the professional. While in the program, they will work for an organization that has enriched the lives of Jewish teens for more than 80 years and has been recognized as an employer of choice by its employees.”
Who could say no? I love to see Jewish organizations offering programming to cultivate young leadership and make entry into the Jewish professional world more accessible and affordable. Well done, BBYO. We’ll be expecting big things from your graduates.
Here’s a quick news alert to make your lives a little easier. Did you know that Google has a new customized search engine for philanthropy? Let’s test it out.
Testing Google’s Philanthropy Search Engine
As an experiment, I type “Jewish” into the philanthropy search engine for the following top five hits:
Not a bad haul, although in the future, I’d like to see a Jewish philanthropy blog getting big hits on the first page. The first blog hit is Philanthropy 2173at #7. The JTA’s Fundermentalist, authored by Jacob Berkman, comes in as the first Jewish blog reference at a respectable #8, having been scooped by The Chronicle of Philanthropy for last weeks’ coverage of the 2009 Jewish Funder’s Network conference. This, however, does not meet my criterion for an independent blog hit, “independent” meaning a blog not connected to a foundation, and “hit,” meaning a link to the blog itself. So I keep scrolling.
—– What a Cliff Hanger. Read on to Find Out If a Jewish Blog Makes Google Philanthropy’s Top Hit List —–
News reports circulated yesterday from Iran that blogger Omid Reza Misayafi had died in prison. Misayafi, who blogged primarily about music and culture, was jailed by authorities after posting a number of entries criticizing the Iranian government. As a fellow blogger, it is impossible not to echo the thoughts of the Committee to Protect Bloggers: “They Killed One of Us.”
According to Hamid Tehrani, an Iranian blogger and activist who writes (as I do) for Global Voices Online, Misafayi was 29-years old. Sentenced to two and half years for “insulting religious leaders, and engaging in propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran… [he] was still awaiting an additional trial for insulting Islam.”
The Committee to Protect Bloggers lists an unconfirmed timeline of events leading to Misayafi’s death. Apparently a fellow inmate alerted the authorities on Wednesday that Misayafi was a suicide risk. The timeline reports that Misayafi, who had allegedly swallowed an excess number of prescrition sedatives, was seen by a doctor and deemed to have a critically slow heartbeat. Prison authorities said that he was “faking” and Misayafi’s death shortly thereafter was declared a suicide.
Upon hearing of his passing, Misayafi’s sister, Masoumeh Mirsayafi* called it “very suspicious.” She told Radio Free Europe:
“I even asked him a few days ago how often he took the tablets. He told me: ‘every morning and evening, when it is time to take the tablets, we ask the prison clinic and they give us our tablets.’ I find it hard to believe how he had [so many] tablets as to commit suicide by overdose.”
—— Keep reading to learn more about freedom of speech on the internet and what you can do to help —–
I am in the United States for the first time in several years and as expected, the hot topic of conversation is Bernie Madoff. Theories abound but few answers seem apparent. Here are some of the questions that I’ve heard around the Hanukkah table. I’m interested to hear your thoughts.
How did this happen? Why was no one monitoring? Isn’t the whole point of overhead organizations to prevent something like this from occurring ?
How could so many organizations run by smart people fall for this scheme? (One person said that foundations had to “beg Madoff to take them on”)
Did Madoff make any money out of this himself? What was the goal of the whole operation?
Who knew? What did they know? When did they know it? Could Madoff possibly have pulled this off alone?
How long had this been doing on?
Is Madoff a sociopath?
How will this affect the Jewish world? Israel?
How will the Jewish world recover? How long will it take?
Was Madoff anti-semitic? How could he rip out the knees of people and foundations he personally supported? Not only did Madoff’s own family foundation suffer major losses, but so did the foundations of those he knew personally, as well as at least one foundation that he was connected to by marriage
How much of a loss will the government suffer from the Madoff scheme? Economists estimate that the government will lose millions from adjusted back taxes and future income drops, but exact figures are unknown. Foundations who claimed income on their taxes according to Madoff’s investments can now adjust it according to real income earned and regain some of their money. Also, as foundations and philanthropists will have less income, they will be taxed less, costing the federal government more
What is an appropriate punishment for Madoff?
Why doesn’t Madoff’s punishment (free movement during the day, house arrest) reflect the severity of his crime?
– Read more on Birthright and Charles Ponzi himself —
“Environmentalism just makes sense. We all live on this planet and need its resources to thrive and survive. As Jews, environmentalism is rooted in our history, our religion, and our values. 
Posted by Maya Norton ![Dr. Gary Tobin [Image]](https://swap.stanford.edu/was/20100322163935mp_/http://thenewjew.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/tnj_garytobinzl_9jul09.jpg "Dr. Gary Tobin [Image]")
Posted by Maya Norton ![New B"S Mall [Image: YNetNews]](https://swap.stanford.edu/was/20100322163935mp_/http://thenewjew.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/tnj_newmallbs-ynet_6july09.jpg "New B\"S Mall [Image: YNetNews]")
Posted by Maya Norton 
