English Focus Group

We would like to invite you and a friend to the next English Focus Group which will take place on January 18th at 8:30PM.

We will be discussing the importance of urban trees and the threats against them. Our guest speaker will be one of our newest Jerusalem Stakeholders & Oleh Chadash, Garry Schiff, a natural resources management consultant.

Our newest intern, Noga Rippen (see article below) will say a few words about the Jerusalem Green Fund’s new program concerning trees.

Please RSVP here to the Zoom event.

FIG

Excited to be presenting a collaboration between FIG Food Integrated Gardens with Halav Haalzman crew. The Ecstatic Tubishvat Kabbalisitic seder is being hosted at Muslala Rooftop farm breathable indoor space. 

We invite you to join our Jewish earth based community to embrace a unique kabbalisitic based seder. Awaken with the experience of an  ecstatic dance party in the  heart of Jerusalem.

This will be FIGs 10th year running the Kabbalistic fruit seder. This is going to be an epic night, weaving the somatic experience of shmita, embodying the tree of life, celebrating the fruits with meditative practices and dancing in the Jerusalem awakening the life force within. 

Click here to order tickets.

Romema 

Batel Spivack, the Sustainability Coordinator at the Romema Community Center, co-ran a workshop with a local Romema chef on “Cooking and Compost” for the teenage counselor girls. The evening featured hot vegetable soup, soft onion-bread, baked stuffed potatoes and mini quiche, and was just what was needed for a cold rainy winter night. Batel introduced the concept of composting organic materials from the kitchen and explained how their proper decomposition prevents dangerous greenhouse gases from being emitted into the atmosphere. Everyone left with a full belly and a fully curious mind.

Reishit School

In the framework of the Green Entrepreneurship program the 6th grade students began learning about the neighborhood, the challenges to the biosphere and urban renewal, and were introduced to our green map. They did an exercise in marking urban nature sites on  the map and expressed interest in taking part in its development!

In addition, we went on a tour of the neighborhood and visited various sites related to our Round Table activity in Kiryat Menachem, in order to get to know different green initiatives, and get inspiration for projects they can initiate.

We visited some community gardens and picked tea herbs. Everyone took just what they needed for a personal cup of tea, while talking about the meaning of Shemita, a respectful approach to food (and natural resources in general) and the concept of "taking what you really need and nothing more". At the end of the tour they made tea in class. We finished our tour at the Godjo, and of course they were very enthusiastic about the structure. The godjo sparked a conversation about how a vision is born and how it can be fulfilled.

Students have already started coming up with ideas for green initiatives, and will  be given the opportunity to present and develop them with our support and in cooperation with our partners in the Round Table team.

Park Bustania 

After months of planning and work on site with different groups of various ages and backgrounds under the professional guidance of our partner Raphael Hartman, the roof of our outdoor classroom is up! The roof has a small solar panel for lighting, and is covered with chicken wire for plants to catch onto, and will eventually be completely green.

The classroom will cater to a variety of schools, kindergartens and teen programs, and our weekly schedule is already pretty filled up. We are also working on a database of local program providers, who will conduct workshops and lessons for visiting groups. The idea is to be able to make environmental education materials available for visiting schools and groups, while providing opportunities for employment. 

In order to cater to the various needs we will be hosting a Public Participation meeting this month where the various ‘stakeholders’ can give their input on the interior design and surroundings of the classroom.

Rashut HaRabim

Rashut HaRabim is a Jerusalem-based network of 35 Jewish-Israeli organizations (secular, traditional and religious), who work together to make the public domain of Jerusalem more tolerant and open to all. Recently Rashut HaRabim joined the Sustainable Jerusalem Lobby!

The cooperative is located in the Beit Giora building (which belongs to the municipality)  in Kiriyat Hayovel. With the support of the Jerusalem Foundation the patio was transformed into a Garden Co-op where activities happen for the greater community of teens, lone soldiers that live on the premises, staff of all the member organizations, volunteer groups and the community at large. This year, together with the Jerusalem Green Fund, the garden is being managed by  Esther in close cooperation with the wonderful team on site.

In the garden people meet in order to get their hands dirty, talk about tolerance and take on social and environmental responsibility, with an emphasis on cross-sectoral programming on Judaism and sustainability.

Urban Tree Prtection Program

In December, thanks to a modest grant from the Sheli Foundation, Noga Rippen joined the JGF team as a student intern for the current academic year, to coordinate our new program protecting urban trees, in the spirit of the decision made at last year’s Annual General Meeting by our Jerusalem Stakeholders.

Trees contribute to and are important for the quality of urban life and for the environment itself. In spite of this, in many cities across the country, including Jerusalem, thousands of trees are being cut down per year as a result of poor planning and management. In this program, Jerusalem Stakeholder Yisrael Galon, will guide a team together with the Jerusalem branch of Saving the Trees, (NGO), prepare up-to-date information for urban residents, give workshops and training sessions to become “Urban Tree Guardians.” The team will think of new and creative action plans in order to protect the trees of our city, and engage in cooperation with Urban Tree Guardians from other cities in Israel. You are welcome to join us and take action! Email Noga.

Check out the new page dedicated to this project on our website.

Into the Future: Linking Sustainable Development Goals to the goals of the  Jerusalem Green Fund, 

by Stakeholders Linda B Blackmore of London & Eileen F Steinberg of Jerusalem 

We think of the world as a family ready to reimagine and shape our future and the future of  generations to come. The United Nations General Assembly’s (UNGA) 17 Sustainable Development Goals (also known as the SDGs) were agreed upon by 193 member nations in 2015. These goals  will be revisited in 2030. 

The Jerusalem Green Fund’s goals are similar to those set by the United Nations, the most relevant in regards to Tu BiShvat being #15 LIFE on LAND. Last year, the stakeholders who attended our 2021 Annual General Meeting decided that a plan to address urban trees should be on the agenda as a top priority in the following year’s areas of activity.

Here are a few examples of our very special blend of  cooperative philanthropy and creativity on the subject of trees, which takes a different form during the Jewish year of Shmita (The Sabbatical for the land). 

• The new program on trees as presented in this newsletter

• The Sustainable Jerusalem Lobby’s participation in ongoing strategy meetings with the City Engineer on the topic of protecting trees

• The care for trees and continual activity in all our community garden projects, and the list goes on….  

Stay tuned for the next newsletter when we will highlight another of JGF’s endeavors to “Think Global Act Local”. 

We invite you to become a part of JGF’s efforts in any area that calls to you. Visit our website or email Eileen here. 

Noga Rippin

Noga Rippin grew up on Moshav Beit Yehoshua, became a young hiking guide at the Sde Boker Field School and there fell in love with nature, the desert and began her path to becoming an environmentalist. In recent years she has worked in education, guiding in the outdoors and has traveled both around Israel and the world. Last year Noga moved to Jerusalem and here she was exposed to the notion that urbanism and environmentalism can go together. She became active in various initiatives like “Food Rescuers,” and participated in the municipality’s course on Sustainability & Leadership. After one semester at the Arava Institute, she decided to begin her studies at the Hebrew University in Geography and Environmental Science. Noga joined the Jerusalem Green Fund as a scholarship-intern in the framework of the student village where she lives. She was looking for a place where she could give of her time and work in her field of interest; to preserve the green and nature of Jerusalem and connect to its residents. Noga has joined and is coordinating the Jerusalem chapter of “Saving the Trees” and hopes she will be able to push the important subject of trees further in the city!

Yitzchak Izraeli

Yitzhak Izraeli began spearheading a fight to preserve a portion of the Jerusalem Forest from a massive building project at the edge of his neighborhood of Har Nof just around two years ago. One day he found an official public notice floating in a puddle after the rain, notifying local residents that a new school complex would be built at the end of their cul de sac. Yitzhak immediately began to garner support to fight the plan and to inform his neighbors.

As in any good campaign, Yitzchak opened a Facebook page to manage the campaign and keep everyone informed. He met people who cared, like the Jerusalem branch of Saving theTrees and of course, Naomi Tsur who spoke of the Sustainable Jerusalem Lobby, which takes on fights just like this. Yitzhak immediately brought his action committee into the lobby and became a Jerusalem Stakeholder. 

At a later date Naomi took members of the board of the Har Nof Community Center for a tour of the area of dispute in the Jerusalem Forest, along with active residents, to demonstrate the facts on the ground. If this building plan actually goes through, more than 1,000 trees will be cut down, G-d forbid!

Yitzhak, together with the Sustainable Jerusalem Lobby, continues to push the municipality to discard the plan, although they are not yet willing. The property is zoned as municipal land and technically could be used for a school, however none of the proposed building plans have been approved legally. The ecological significance of this section of the forest is great as it is a natural corridor for wildlife, connecting the #16 Road project and southward. 

Now that Yitzhak has retired from a 40 year career in aeronautics and engineering for Israel’s defence, he has the time to defend Jerusalem’s trees!