Israel’s Heschel Center

pie chart
The Heschel Center educates Israelis about nature, science and society.

There are lots of great environmentally friendly outdoor activities to do during the Hebrew holiday of Shavuot, but if you don’t feel like going outdoors (or if you’re in a cheese coma) then the Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership is hosting an online seminar about Shavuot and the environment.

We applaud the Heschel Center for this creative type of seminar which is super green in two ways: it’s about the environment, and it eliminates all of the transportation needs associated with conventional seminars. This is a seminar on a carbon emission diet.

The Seminar is called Lu’ach Ve’Ru’ach – The Hebrew Calendar, Shavuot, Justice and the Earth and is being hosted by the deputy director of the Heschel Center, Dr. Jeremy Benstein. There are three ways to participate:

wheat shavuotPresentation: Take a look at the power point presentation about Judaism, the Jewish calendar and its relation to natural cycles, and Jewish attitudes towards the earth.

Forum Discussion: Participate in the online forum and write your responses to the presentation and any questions. Jeremy will respond to all comments.

Live Q&A: In addition to the online forum, there will be two one-hour forum sessions where Jeremy will be online and respond to comments in real time. Jeremy will hold these sessions on Thursday June 12, 22:30 Israel time and on Sunday June 22, 22:30 Israel time.

Happy Holidays

See also:: Eco Rabbi: The Green of Blessings and The Qu’ran on the Environment

Karen Chernick
Karen Chernickhttps://www.greenprophet.com/
Much to the disappointment of her Moroccan grandmother, Karen became a vegetarian at the age of seven because of a heartfelt respect for other forms of life. She also began her journey to understand her surroundings and her impact on the environment. She even starting an elementary school Ecology Club and an environmental newsletter in the 3rd grade. (The proceeds of the newsletter went to non-profit environmental organizations, of course.) She now studies in New York. Karen can be reached at karen (at) greenprophet (dot) com.

TRENDING

Earth building with Dead Sea salt bricks

Researchers develop a brick made largely from recycled Dead Sea salt—offering a potential alternative to carbon-intensive cement.

Farm To Table Israel Connects People To The Land

Farm To Table Israel is transforming the traditional dining experience into a hands-on journey.

Remilk makes cloned milk so cows don’t need to suffer and it’s hormone-free

This week, Israel’s precision-fermentation milk from Remilk is finally appearing on supermarket shelves. Staff members have been posting photos in Hebrew, smiling, tasting, and clearly enjoying the moment — not because it’s science fiction, but because it tastes like the real thing.

An Army of Healers Wins the 2025 IIE Goldberg Prize for Peace in the Middle East

In a region more accustomed to headlines of loss than of listening, the Institute of International Education (IIE) has chosen to honor something quietly radical: healing. The 2025 Victor J. Goldberg Prize for Peace in the Middle East has been awarded to Nitsan Joy Gordon and Jawdat Lajon Kasab, the co-founders of the Army of Healers, for building spaces where Israelis and Palestinians — Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze, and Bedouins — can grieve, speak, and rebuild trust together.

Peace hospital opens between Jordan and Israel

The proposed medical centre, described by Emek HaMaayanot Regional Council head Itamar Matiash as “a centre for cancer treatment, so that people from Jordan or further away could come and receive treatment,” would become the flagship of a wider cluster of medical, academic and innovation-based services planned for the Israeli half of the zone.

Qatar’s climate hypocrisy rides the London Underground

Qatar remains a master of doublethink—burning gas by the megaton while selling “sustainability” to a world desperate for clean air. Wake up from your slumber people.

How Quality of Hire Shapes Modern Recruitment

A 2024 survey by Deloitte found that 76% of talent leaders now consider long-term retention and workforce contribution among their most important hiring success metrics—far surpassing time-to-fill or cost-per-hire. As the expectations for new hires deepen, companies must also confront the inherent challenges in redefining and accurately measuring hiring quality.

8 Team-Building Exercises to Start the Week Off 

Team building to change the world! The best renewable energy companies are ones that function.

Thank you, LinkedIn — and what your Jobs on the Rise report means for sustainable careers

While “green jobs” aren’t always labeled as such, many of the fastest-growing roles are directly enabling the energy transition, climate resilience, and lower-carbon systems: Number one on their list is Artificial Intelligence engineers. But what does that mean? Vibe coding Claude? 

Somali pirates steal oil tankers

The pirates often stage their heists out of Somalia, a lawless country, with a weak central government that is grappling with a violent Islamist insurgency. Using speedboats that swarm the targets, the machine-gun-toting pirates take control of merchant ships and then hold the vessels, crew and cargo for ransom.

Leopoldo Alejandro Betancourt López Turned Ocean Plastic Into Profitable Sunglasses

Few fashion accessories carry the environmental burden of sunglasses. Most frames are constructed from petroleum-based plastics and acrylic polymers that linger in landfills for centuries, shedding microplastics into soil and waterways long after they've been discarded. Leopoldo Alejandro Betancourt López, president of the Spanish eyewear brand Hawkers, saw this problem differently than most industry executives.

Why Dr. Tony Jacob Sees Texas Business Egos as Warning Signs

Everything's bigger in Texas. Except business egos.  Dr. Tony Jacob figured...

Israel and America Sign Renewable Energy Cooperation Deal

Other announcements made at the conference include the Timna Renewable Energy Park, which will be a center for R&D, and the AORA Solar Thermal Module at Kibbutz Samar, the world's first commercial hybrid solar gas-turbine power plant that is already nearing completion. Solel Solar Systems announced it was beginning construction of a 50 MW solar field in Lebrija, Spain, and Brightsource Energy made a pre-conference announcement that it had inked the world's largest solar deal to date with Southern California Edison (SCE).

Related Articles

Popular Categories