{"id":34413,"date":"2020-03-13T03:51:51","date_gmt":"2020-03-13T10:51:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=34413"},"modified":"2020-03-12T16:37:48","modified_gmt":"2020-03-12T23:37:48","slug":"a-focus-on-the-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2020\/03\/13\/a-focus-on-the-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"A focus on the environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Transportation and sustainability consultant Tanya Paz, centre, participates in Tu b\u2019Shevat Circle: Teachings from the Earth, an event spearheaded by Or Shalom Synagogue in partnership with Jewish Family Services, JQT Vancouver and UNIT\/PITT Society for Art and Critical Awareness. Or Shalom\u2019s Rabbi Hannah Dresner is seated on the stool to Paz\u2019s right. (photo by Matt Hanns Schroeter)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

More than two dozen individuals whose work involves food security and climate change issues met on Feb. 9 for Tu b\u2019Shevat Circle: Teachings from the Earth, an event spearheaded by Or Shalom Synagogue in partnership with Jewish Family Services, JQT Vancouver and UNIT\/PITT Society for Art and Critical Awareness.<\/p>\n

Those who gathered work or devote time to such organizations as Grandview Woodland Food Connection, Sustainabiliteens, Coquitlam Farmers Market and Extinction Rebellion. They came together to explore various topics, including how their Jewishness intersects with their work in secular organizations, envisioning a sustainable world and the Jewish community\u2019s role in social justice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI noticed that so many of these organizations are spearheaded by young Jews and felt it important to create an opportunity for them to see one another and recognize this aspect of kinship in their work \u2026 and whether this commonality enhances the work, draws them into kinship or stimulates any collaboration,\u201d said Or Shalom\u2019s Rabbi Hannah Dresner.<\/p>\n

Or Shalom brought on Carmel Tanaka to organize a gathering. Through meetings with young adults and stakeholder groups, Tanaka met a number of people whose careers relate to food security and social justice, but most weren\u2019t working for Jewish organizations nor were they connected to one another within a Jewish context. She and Dresner agreed it was worth bringing them together to see what conversations would blossom.<\/p>\n

Tanja Demajo, chief executive officer of Jewish Family Services, said JFS provided funding for the event because they believed in the value of the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of Jewish and young Jewish people who are interested in food security and questions of accessibility, which is very interesting from a perspective of \u2026 whether this work is modulated by [Jewish] values and how this translates to day-to-day practice,\u201d she said. \u201cAt the end of the day, it didn\u2019t really matter if the different participants were working in a Jewish or non-Jewish community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some attendees revealed that, for them, being Jewish is secondary to their focus on environmental issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe room was full of people who identify in varying degrees with their Jewishness and, for some, it\u2019s an important aspect of their identity and, for others, it isn\u2019t integral,\u201d Tanaka said.<\/p>\n

Dresner spoke to the indelible connection between environmental action and Judaism. \u201cIn my understanding of Judaism, saving our world is at the heart of what it means to have a Jewish spiritual life,\u201d she said. \u201cCreative energy, or the vitality of spirit, is always flowing toward us. It\u2019s what I\u2019d call the \u2018world that\u2019s always coming,\u2019 or the ongoing nature of creation. We can encourage and aid this vitality, helping to direct it where most needed, or we can impede the flow. When we are selfish and impede creative flow, the result is a deprivation of generative spirit, spirit denied to corners of creation, and we see results like species blinking into extinction.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rabbi wants to spend more time with young Jews working in social justice. \u201cThe Judaism I believe in mandates their work as the highest mitzvah of our moment,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a misconception born of the compartmentalized Judaism in which many of us were raised not to understand that attention to the environment is a Jewish priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aaron Robinson, chair of Grow Local Society Tri-Cities, a food security group that runs the Coquitlam Farmers Market, said his work for the organization won\u2019t ever have a Jewish mandate, but his Judaism is tied into what he does. \u201cPersonally, I can never underestimate the role that Jewish values play in the way I see the world, especially when it comes to tikkun olam,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cI guess it\u2019s become engrained in me, but it was nice to bring it back to the surface to see, wow, there is this Jewish connection to all this work that we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robinson appreciated the opportunity to connect with other Jews working in similar fields and hopes the conversations will continue.<\/p>\n

Some people discussed not feeling supported by the Jewish community to undertake the work they do within a Jewish context. Tanaka said she believes the Vancouver Jewish community hasn\u2019t focused attention on these issues until recently, citing the 2019 climate march and protests as a galvanizing factor, and said it\u2019s time for the local community \u201cto support young Jewish adults who are doing this kind of work \u2026 because these are Jewish issues at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some at the event suggested funding for environmental advocacy was needed. Dresner said there was also a desire for bridge building. \u201cThey seem to be asking for an arm of organized Jewish community to create some occasional containers for their gathering, just to share within the hybrid of their niche or to explore potential collaborations,\u201d she said. \u201cOr Shalom will be looking at finding funding to continue holding this group and its outgrowth in a loose, nurturing embrace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Demajo said the JFS food security program has already benefited from the event. \u201cBeing exposed to more city-wide programs and initiatives and being exposed to all different voices gives a different perspective to JFS,\u201d she said, \u201cbecause it opens up new ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shelley Stein-Wotten <\/strong>is a freelance journalist and comedy writer. She has won awards for her creative non-fiction and screenwriting and enjoys writing about the arts and environmental issues. She is based on Vancouver Island.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Transportation and sustainability consultant Tanya Paz, centre, participates in Tu b\u2019Shevat Circle: Teachings from the Earth, an event spearheaded by Or Shalom Synagogue in partnership with Jewish Family Services, JQT Vancouver and UNIT\/PITT Society for Art and Critical Awareness. Or Shalom\u2019s Rabbi Hannah Dresner is seated on the stool to Paz\u2019s right. (photo by Matt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[8332,7677,3203,2845,9750,4791,7703,218,5371,22,8474,1959,8648,3753],"class_list":["post-34413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-aaron-robinson","tag-carmel-tanaka","tag-climate-change","tag-environment","tag-food-security","tag-hannah-dresner","tag-jfs","tag-judaism","tag-justice","tag-or-shalom","tag-tanja-demajo","tag-tikkun-olam","tag-tu-bshevat-2","tag-youth"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}