Jewish Environmental Resources
Jewish Environmental Resources
For articles, lesson plans, Jewish source sheets, and other resources in Hebrew please click here.
Israel
For information about lectures, tours, and workshops provided by independent environmental professionals, please see the English section of the Professional Database on our Hebrew site.
If you would like your organization to be featured on this page, or if you want to change your organization’s information, please write to us at info@tevaivri.com.
Israel Experience Programs - Study/Travel/Volunteer
- The Eco-Activist Beit Midrash
The EABM is an integrated learning/service program introducing English-speaking Jews from around the world to Israel and Judaism in a green way. Through volunteering, site visits and presentations, EABM participants meet the Israeli environmental movement from the ground up. The EABM staff open the tremendous texts of Jewish learning by exploring the questions resting at the heart of the environmental crisis. Ages 20 and up. On-going outings around Jerusalem in addition to two-week and month-long programs.
Yeshivat Simchat Shlomo, Jerusalem, Facebook group: Eco-Activist Beit Midrash
- Eco-Israel
Eco-Israel offers English-speaking young adults, ages 20-30, a 5-month opportunity to develop a deep, personal relationship to the landscapes and cultures of Israel. Through organic soil cultivation and food production, communal living and learning, the Eco-Israel project aims to cultivate a new land ethic in Israel, renewing the Jewish people's unique relationship with our natural surroundings.
- Derech Hateva – Jewish Outdoor Educational Programs
Derech Hateva's offers Jewish teens and adults the opportunity to experience the wonder and excitement of the outdoors, and to facilitate meaningful adventures for exploring and engaging with the people and Land of Israel. Short and long-term programs available.
- Berot Bat Ayin
Classes and seminars which interweave textual Torah classes on halachot of gardening, Torah and the environment with hands on classes in the gardens of B'erot, meditative movement, & herbal workshops.
- Lotan Center for Creative Ecology
Green Apprenticeship: Training Program in Practical Ecology, Permaculture Design Course, and Ecovillage Design Curriculum; Peace, Justice, and the Environment College Semester. Programs focus on general environmental ethics (not Jewish per say) but participants are woven into the life of the kibbutz, an intentional cooperative community based on the principles of liberal, egalitarian Judaism
- The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies
AIES is the best way to learn about Israel’s environmental challenges and solutions, and a challenging but meaningful way to explore your Jewish and Zionist identity in a multicultural setting. Kibbutz Ketura is pluralistic in its vision and practice, and will make efforts to accommodate Jewish observance of all kinds.
Tours, Seminars, and Lectures for Tourists and Students
- The Society for the Protection of Nature (Jerusalem Branch)
Ru'ach HaSviva – The SPNI Center for Jewish Environmentalism Offers unique tours and seminars which combine hiking/walking, Jewish learning, contemporary environmental topics, and eco-volunteerism in Jerusalem. Half and full-day tours.
- Keren Kolot Seminars
Dedicated to studying the many voices within the Jewish tradition and to learning the remarkable lessons of the desert. Seminars range from two hours to two weeks.
Kibbutz Ketura, Southern Arava
- The Heschel Center for Environmental Leadership and Learning
Promotes sustainability through innovative education and activism. Sustainable Food Tour, Heschel-Hazon Hike, Custom Seminars.
- The Jewish Climate Initiative
A catalyst for development of effective responses to the global climate crisis through the promotion of innovative science, technology and ethical leadership. JCI promotes its work in these fields through conferences, seminars, books and other publications and a continuously updated website.
- Pinat Shorashim – The Center for Pluralistic Education
A park dedicated to peace and the environment, rooted in Jewish sources and Jewish soil. Seminars, workshops, tours.
Kibbutz Gezer
www.pinatshorashim.org.il- Neot Kedumim Biblical Landscape Reserve
- Endeavors to re-create the physical setting of the Bible in all its depth and detail. Far more than a "garden"
showing various biblical plants, Neot Kedumim embodies the panorama and power of the landscapes that helped shape the values of the Bible and provided a rich vocabulary for expressing them. Self-guided and professional tours, events.
- Shomera – For a Better Environment
Walks and activities in the Jerusalem Forest, for all ages. Programs incorporate Jewish thought about the natural world and the considerate use of its resources.
Israel-Diaspora School and Community Partnerships
- The Society for the Protection of Nature (Jerusalem Branch)
Ru'ach HaSviva – The SPNI Center for Jewish Environmentalism Offers unique tours and seminars which combine hiking/walking, Jewish learning, contemporary environmental topics, and eco-volunteerism in Jerusalem. Half and full-day tours.
- Sviva-Israel
Israel Eco-Connection – International and web-based projects connect young Israelis with each other and with their global peers through Jewish-environmental programming that contributes to their Jewish identity and pride in Israel. Programs build connections that will ensure Israel’s future as an environmentally sustainable home for the Jewish People.
Leadership Training, Community Activism, and Education
- Teva Ivri
Green Communities – Consultations for communities interested in greening their community centers, synagogues, and other neighbourhood institutions
Greening Schools – Consultations for educational institutions interested in promoting environmental values from the perspective of Jewish heritage
Jewish Environmental Leadership – Courses for educators, community leaders, and tour guides.
- The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel - Jerusalem
Jewish Environmental themes interwoven with community building and sustainable living through Community Gardens Project, Garin Dvash (Service Year), and the Jerusalem Green Map
- Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership
Dedicated to building a sustainable future for Israeli society - environmentally, socially and economically - through education and reflective activism. Projects include: Environmental Fellows Program, Media Project, Green Schools Network, Capacity Building for Sustainable Economies, Maof: Civil Society Leadership, Health and Environment Forum, and more.
- Sviva-Israel
Teva B’Kef – Young women gain skills to understand the basics of environmental awareness and learn to run environmental programs with young children The Environment in Jewish Thought and Law - A scholarly journal featuring academic papers by rabbinical scholars, presented annually at a conference in Jerusalem
- Shomera – For a Better Environment
Engages local community in grey water recycling, forest protection, urban gardening, and environmental education
- The Good Energy Initiative
The GEI is a social venture investing revenues in non-profit socio-environmental activities, being the single body focused on voluntary carbon offsetting in Israel.
Leading Israeli Environmental Organizations
- Israel Union for Environmental Defense (Adam, Teva, v’Din)
IUED pioneered the use of legal advocacy as a means of safeguarding Israel's environment, and pursues focused projects in four key areas: air pollution prevention, drinking water safety, solid waste management, and accessible open spaces.
- Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership
The Heschel Center is dedicated to building a sustainable future for Israeli society - environmentally, socially and economically - through education and reflective activism. Our strategies include leadership development, education, working with government and non-government organizations, and fostering activism and community-based projects across all sectors of Israeli society.
- Megamah Yeruka (Green Course)
Green Course, the national student environmental organization in Israel, has over 6,000 volunteer students in 24 chapters in universities and colleges across Israel. The largest environmental volunteer organization in the country, Green Course focuses on national and local campaigns, greening university campuses, and promoting environmental education.
- Arava Institute for Environmental Studies
The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (AIES) is a regional center for environmental leadership. By encouraging environmental cooperation between peoples, the Arava Institute is working towards peace and sustainable development on a regional and global scale. The Institute is home to academic programs, research and public involvement.
- Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI)
SPNI is Israel’s oldest and largest membership-based organization. Best known to the public for guiding hikes and managing nature reserves, SPNI is also active in political and environmental improvement efforts, and has become a leader in the field of urban sustainability.
- Friends of the Earth, Middle East
Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) is a unique organization that brings together Jordanian, Palestinian, and Israeli environmentalists. Their primary objective is the promotion of cooperative efforts to protect our shared environmental heritage.
- Keren Kayemet L'Yisrael (KKL)
KKL is responsible for managing much of Israel’s landscapes, including the forests. It works closely with governmental bodies on plans to develop the country.
In the Diaspora
- The Teva Learning Center (US)
The Jewish Farm School (US)
- COEJL
Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (US)
- Canfei Nesharim
Environmental Awareness in the Orthodox Community (US)
- Hazon
Jewish Environmental Initiatives (US, with some programs in Israel)
- Torat HaTeva
The Jewish Nature Center of Canada
- The Green Zionist Alliance
Diaspora communities working for environmental change in Israel
- The Big Green Jewish Website
Connecting Judaism and the Environment (UK) The Noah Project
- JNF
The Jewish National Fund
Food for Thought – Selected Reading List
- Pollution in a Promised Land: An Environmental History of Israel
by Alon Tal (University of California Press, 2002)
A leading Israeli environmental activist surveys Israel's environmental challenges and the history of the environmental movement in Israel.
- The Way into Judaism and the Environment
by Jeremy Benstein (Jewish Lights, 2006).
A sensitive and thought-provoking introduction by a pioneer in Jewish environmental education.
- Torah of the Earth: Exploring 4,000 Years of Ecology in Jewish Thought
(2 volumes)
ed. Arthur Waskow (Jewish Lights, 2000). A collection of articles clustered chronologically, dealing with texts and issues from the Biblical period to our own.
- Trees, Earth, and Torah: A Tu B'Shevat Anthology
Publication Society, 1999). Despite the subtitle, this collection is of interest every day of the year.
- Ecology and the Jewish Spirit: Where Nature and the Sacred Meet
ed. Ellen Bernstein (Jewish Lights, 1998). Yet another collection of thought-provoking essays.
Splendor of Creation: A Biblical Ecology by Ellen Bernstein (Pilgrim Press, 2005). Important commentary on Genesis from one of the founders of the Jewish environmental movement.
- Spirit in Nature: Teaching Judaism and Ecology on the Trail
by Matt Biers-Ariel, Deborah Newbrun, and Michal Smart (Behrman House, 2000).
Wisdom and activities for the woods and wilderness.
- A Wild Faith: Jewish Ways into Wilderness, Wilderness Ways into Judaism
by Rabbi Mike Comins (Jewish Lights Publishing, 2007).
A rich insight into Jewish vocabulary and practice designed to translate the experience of wilderness into a life of purpose and meaning.