Valentine’s may be a sappy (and sometimes stressful!) Hallmark holiday – but we think it’s pretty great to have a day entirely devoted to spreading the love. Unfortunately, the business of showing and sharing our love isn’t always so peachy. Nearly 80% of the cut flowers sold in America are grown in South America and Africa – often by exploited workers. Meanwhile conventional cocoa bean production, which helps to produce those iconic heart-shaped boxes of chocolate, shares a similarly sketchy reputation.
So this year – whether you’re blissfully in love, or fixin’ to head out on the town (or stay in and watch a romcom) with friends – rock Valentine’s Day by sharing sustainable and fairly traded tokens of your affection. Here are some easy, last-minute ideas:
One World Flowers: Surprise your sweetie with a bouquet of beautiful fair trade certified flowers.
Organic Bouquet: The flowers from this eco-friendly company come with an added bonus – each bouquet you order helps support a non-profit like the Global Fund for Women, The American Lung Association and The National Wildlife Foundation.
Equal Exchange chocolate: Show how much you really care with a bar of chocolate caramel crunch from this fair trade company.
Happy Monday! Hopefully you’re recovering from your Grammy Award-watching party. To get your week going, here’s your weekly roundup of service-related stories from around the web:
NBC featured a heartwarming video about a 105-year old woman in Miami named Dorrie Aber Noyek, who continues to make volunteering a priority in her life.
HandsOn Blog reminds us that February is “national canned food month” – an opportunity to make hummus from those canned chickpeas in your pantry, and also to donate food to your local pantry.
The Forward reported about ZAKA, an Israeli medical and rescue organization that recently launched an interfaith emergency rescue program with Muslim and Christian counterparts.
Sustainablog posted a fascinating infographic about water: specifically where we get it, and how we use this crucial resource.
The Jewish Week published an article about the Magen Tzedek, a new “Seal of Justice” that assures customers that the food and other products they buy are made with good ethics in mind.
Ears: the most powerful tool for effective service. Photo by Alberto.. via CC
Shabbat Service is a weekly bit of Torah-inspired do-gooding, brought to you by Repair the World and our grantee-partner American Jewish World Service (AJWS). Read on to see how these ancient stories can apply today. Seem far fetched? Check it out:
The story: In this week’s parsha (Torah portion), Yitro, Moses receives an unexpected visitor. Yitro, a priest of Midian (and Moses’ father-in-law) visits him to check out Moses’ leadership of the newly freed Israelites. After surveying for a bit, he ultimately delivers the following critique: “The thing which you are doing is not good.” Considering Yitro does not live amongst the Israelites, it’s a pretty bold statement for him to make. And yet, as an elder and Moses’ father-in-law, he also offers his viewpoint from a place of authority.
The takeaway: According to this week’s AJWS author, Adina Roth, Yitro’s status as an insider/outsider offers “a powerful model for global justice work.” When working with people outside of our own community, especially on justice issues, it can be all too easy to make sweeping assertions about how to fix things based on limited observation. Instead, Roth writes, “we need to visit [people's] communities and listen to their stories” before we can truly help. In other words, as volunteers and as advocates for change, it is imperative to keep a sense of humbleness and a pair of open ears.
The “to-do”: More and more, justice and human rights organizations are beginning to understand that, in order to make effective change they must listen carefully to and work directly with the people they are helping. No organization understands this better than American Jewish World Service, which collaborates closely with on-the-ground partner organizations in all of the countries they assist – from Ethiopia to El Salvador. Get involved with AJWS through one of their service learning programs, or make a donation to support their global service work.
Read the full Torah commentary, on which this excerpt is based, over at AJWS’ website.
Teens at last year's Jewish Multiracial Network retreat.
February is Black History Month – a month dedicated to celebrating the achievements of black Americans, and recognizing the central role they have played in U.S. history. The month honors leaders and heroes in every field from civil rights activists like Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr. and politicians like Barbara Jordan, to scientists like George Washington Carver and beloved writers like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston.
More recently, the month has taken on additional meaning by becoming a time to celebrate today’s young black leaders who continue to make history every day. Take, for example, The Root’s Young Futurists contest, which each year highlights the achievements of 25 young black innovators from around the country – from a 17-year old pilot to a teen media mogul and an clean air activist.
Celebrate Black History Month by partaking in some of the following activities:
Museum hopping: Take yourself, friends, and/or your family to a science, art, history, sports, or fill-in-the-blank museum to learn about all the tremendous contributions of African-Americans.
Educate yourself through a Bio-Doc: In honor of Black History Month, Biography TV is dedicating their line-up to honor some of the great African Americans of our time. Don’t have a tv? No worries! Watch full episodes on their site, like this one of Barack Obama.
Attend a storytelling: Storytelling, the oral tradition of passing down tales from generation to generation, has kept cultural heritage alive for centuries. In honor of this tradition, many African-American storytellers are performing during the month of February. Check out your local library or community center to find an event near you.
Over the last decade, the ideas of eating local, supporting small farmers and growing one’s own produce have skyrocketed in popularity. But for the 46 million Americans who depend on food stamps (now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – or SNAP) to put food on their tables, finding access to sustainable, healthy food can be a challenge.
Now, a program called SNAP Gardens is helping to make growing one’s own food a little easier. Thanks to a little-known amendment to the Food Stamp Act, SNAP benefits can be used to purchase seeds and plants for home or community gardening. (Pretty cool, right?) SNAP Gardens works to raise awareness and empower people to “Grow their Food Stamps” into fresh, delicious food. Find out more here:
SNAP Gardens founder, Daniel Bowman Simon, has a history of creating successful food programs – most recently the White House Organic Farm project, which played a part in inspiring the educational food garden planted at the White House. SNAP Gardens takes the ideas of healthy, fresh food for all from the White House to the streets (and more specifically gardens) across the country. Daniel took the time to let us know how it works, and how people, schools, and synagogues can help their effort. Read the interview below the jump:
The incredible canopy of the Muir Woods. Photo by Justin Kern via CC
New Year’s Eve may have recently passed, but on the Jewish calendar it is New Year’s all over again! Tomorrow we celebrate Tu Bishvat – the 15th of the Jewish month of Shivat which, according the Talmud, is the ‘Rosh Hashana L’Ilanot’ or the ‘New Year’ for Trees.’ The holiday marks the start of the fruit bearing cycle for trees in the land of Israel, celebrating the transition from winter to spring, and the time period when the sap inside trees is beginning to flow (even though, on the outside, the trees still look dormant in their winter sleep-fest.)
The arrival of Tu Bishvat reminds us of our inherent connection to the natural world. In the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve were told in the Garden of Eden to be stewards of nature, and to care for the natural world. Nature, we learn from their story, is about more than pretty vistas and resources – it is a Divine creation and valuable all by itself. There is a midrash (story) that says an angel hovers over every blade of grass telling it to grow.
This value is also expressed through the mitzvah (commandment) of ‘Bal Taschit,’ which prohibits against purposeless destruction or wastefulness of nature. According to the Torah, during times of war, the ancient Israelite army was forbidden to cut down the fruit trees around an enemy city to make arms, because it would is considered a form of unnecessary wasting. ‘Bal Taschit’ does not just apply to fruit trees during times of war, but at all times and places, to trees, water, air, and the rest of the natural world.
This year, celebrate Tu Bishvat by eating fruits and nuts – and also through tree centered and environmental service! Here are some ideas to get you started:
Attend a Tu Bishvat Seder or Party like this one that the New York Jewish environemntal organization, Hazon, is throwing – or this one, being hosted by Repair the World grantee-partner Urban Adamah in Berkeley, California.
Plant a tree! What better way to celebrate the holiday of the trees? Plant one in Israel through JNF, or plant one in your own backyard!
Think globally, eat locally. Join a community supported agriculture (CSA) program through Hazon, find local farmers markets via Local Harvest, or donate the excess produce you grow in your backyard to Ample Harvest.
Let us know how you’re celebrating the New Year for the Trees by tweeting @repairtheworld!
Happy Monday, or should we say, happy day after the Super Bowl? Hopefully you enjoyed the afternoon of cheering, snacking, and commercial watching. To get you just as revved up for the rest of the week, here is your weekly round up of service-related posts from around the web.
The Huffington Post published a touching essay remembering Ayelet Galena – the inspiring two-year old who recently lost her fight with a rare bone marrow disorder, but touched the hearts of thousands and meanwhile inspired many more to get swabbed as bone marrow donors.
The Huffington Post also shared an interesting article that reported that 2011 charitable giving outpaced economic growth.
The Nation posted an op-ed by Amy Schiller about the past week’s biggest health care story (re: The Susan G. Komen Foundation and Planned Parenthood) and how it was ultimately good for the feminist movement.
The New York Times shared an unusual animal welfare story about the New York City residents who look out for the health of the city’s most controversial bird: the pigeon.
GOOD posted an article and video about Ellen DeGeneres’ financial gift towards a Pennsylvania school that cannot afford to pay its teachers (who, heroically, had pledged to work for free.)
To end things on a fun DIY note, GOOD also posted a how-to article for making homemade, recycled and adorable vases out of everything from twigs to used lightbulbs.
Repair the World works to inspire American Jews and their communities to give their time and effort to serve those in need. We aim to make service a defining part of American Jewish life.
