Pesach 2010

This week Jews all over the world are cleaning up their homes in preparation for Pesach. Cleaning has many aspects, both literal and metaphoric, so Pesach is a good time to think about reducing, reusing, and recycling. This is our opportunity to examine how we can “clean” our planet as well as our homes. Fortunately, our Jewish tradition leads us to environmental awareness through the basic ethical principle Bal tashkhit, do not destroy.

The impetus to protect the environment has spread throughout Israel, starting with educational initiatives from early childhood centers through college students. One example is Green Course, which is the nationwide student environmental organization in Israel that has over 6,000 volunteers in 26 chapters in universities and colleges across the country. Green Course is committed to promoting environmental awareness and training environmental leaders of the future. The environmental imperative is found within the country’s largest organization, the army, as well. Annual environmental awards are granted to Israel Defense Forces units, and the competition encourages a world of innovative technologies and activities in areas as diverse as waste recycling, energy, fuel and water savings, as well as enhancing the appearance of army bases.

The coalition of Israeli environmental organizations includes:

• The Council for a Beautiful Israel, active in promoting environmental awareness, protecting the natural beauty of Israel, preserving historical sites, promoting the rehabilitation of run-down urban areas and developing public recreation sites and gardens
• Friends of the Earth Middle East, a consortium of Egyptian, Jordanian, Israeli and Palestinian environmental non-governmental organizations that work jointly to promote sustainable development in the Middle East
• For Bicycles, a local association for the promotion of bicycles as a means of transportation in Israel's cities
• Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership, integrates environmental ethics into Jewish and Israeli education through seminars, teacher training, curricula development, and research
• Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI), the largest environmental organization in Israel, which advocates environmental protection and offers a wide variety of educational programs and tours

A wonderful example of the change in environmental consciousness in Israel is Hiria, a former garbage dump that began operation for the greater Tel Aviv region in 1952. Today, Hiria is a symbol of renewal and rejuvenation. A new park is being built on the grounds of the dumpsite. Once, garbage trucks arrived daily, carrying thousands of tons of garbage for burial with no sanitary measures. Today, waste is sorted and recycled, and the methane gases emitted are harnessed and converted into energy, which will be used for building and maintaining the park.

Green Community Centers promote environmental awareness and protection in their centers and in the community. More and more, community centers are becoming "green" in the type of programming they offer, in the materials they use, in their use of energy and alternatives, and in their overall message and appearance. 

In the past, when I used to throw away all the hametz we had left before Pesach, I always felt bad about wasting good food. In recent years, I give all of our leftover hametz to needy families to be stored for the week of the holiday, and then to be consumed after Pesach. It is allowed to store hametz for the week of Pesach, to be used by poor families. Another way to observe bal taschit, to reduce waste, help the environment, and other families as well.

Happy Pesach!

Enjoy this wonderful clip: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bgeX_8tBCY&amp;feature=player_embedded>