Planting the dream
On a sunshine-filled San Francisco day, more than 70 volunteers planted trees and celebrated the Federation’s first ever tikkun olam-inspired Tu Bishvat event. Munching on raisins, almonds, and dried figs – the Jewish Arbor Day’s traditional snacks – volunteers worked with the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department to plant more than 70 trees on the grounds of Alemany Farms, the city’s largest agricultural public space. Digging in the dirt to the sounds of Jazz Mafia, who marched through the scene playing energizing versions of Oseh Shalom and the classic Yiddish tune Bei Mir Bist Du Schon, a capacity number of volunteers put their Jewish values to work. For a new generation of socially-conscious Jews, Tu Bishvat has become a symbol of environmental activism and greening the earth. It’s also known as the “birthday of the trees.” So what better holiday to kick off the Federation’s own birthday of sorts – the Centennial celebration!
The Tu Bishvat event was also an opportunity for the Federation’s Acting CEO Jennifer Gorovitz to publicly commit the Federation’s support, in its 100th year, to finding ways to partner with the emerging green community. Gorovitz participated in the day’s closing ceremony, in which leaders of Green organizations came together to plant a Live Oak. The ceremony was made all the more electric by the sounds of Hot Buttered Rum’s Nat Keefe and Tarnation’s Paula Frazer. Speaking to the crowd on January 31, 2010, Ilana Gauss, chair of EcoJews of the Bay, said that her dream was to collectively grow EcoJews into “a strong virtual Jewish environmental community and resource center.” Jonathan Axelrad, co-chair of the Jewish Response to the Energy Challenge conference said, “My green dream for 2010 is that the Jewish community will use its collective effort to help in energy retrofitting and solarizing our community institutions, finding ways to promote the development of promising clean technologies in the U.S. and Israel, and using our political voice to advocate for changes that promote clean energy.” Also speaking were Josh Becker, founder of New Cycle Capital, Full Circle Fund, and Anne Schukat, contributor to The Economist’s Technology Quarterly. Schukat said, “My green dream for 2010 would be to see more political leaders come together to support a global carbon tax to combat climate change.”
It was a beautiful and inspiring day, and was only the first of many opportunities for next generation Jews to come together in support of environmental justice. Stay tuned!
