Green Mezuzah
Synagogues across America are exploring ways to go “greener.” They are conducting energy audits; drawing up recycling and renewable guidelines; expanding their school and bnai mitzvah curricula to include lessons in sustainability; highlighting the green elements of our holidays and traditions, and more.
In addition to these organizational efforts, synagogues are searching ways to help their members become “greener” in their homes and personal lives. That is why we created the “Green Mezuzah” Project. This is a year-long learning and action-oriented program designed for individuals and families interested in strengthening their sense of awe and commitment to the natural world, understanding Judaism’s essential “green” teachings, and reducing their environmental footprint.
The congregation organizes “green havurot” that come together for monthly meetings where participants share lunches or dinners (often potluck), and learn about the fundamentals of sustainability and the vocabulary and ways of Jewish green values, teachings, and behavior. This program condenses the overwhelming and sometimes cumbersome information about sustainability and environmentalism (both general and Jewish) into compact, accessible categories that can inform, motivate and guide participants’ decisions, values and behavior. Throughout the year, the families work to reach their targeted goals of energy, consumption and waste reduction. Together, they develop and support each other’s strategies and behaviors that can help them reach their goals.
The program requires a coordinator for each havurah, one or two teachers (mastering both the discipline of sustainability and the Jewish sustainability imperative), and a havurah of approximately 10 individuals or households committed to this year-long project. The “Green Mezuzah” Project will provide a full curriculum with readings, texts and questions to guide the learning and experiential process.
5770 is our pilot year. Participating synagogues are part of our inaugural test community and will offer us feedback, advice and assessment along the way on how to improve this program.
The curriculum will ultimately be posted on the web, allowing for on-going improvements, additions, and updates that will keep the project current and lively.
For more information, contact Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin (ncardin@comcast.net)
