How Green Was My Shul
One of the things I treasure about Judaism is how well our Rabbis understood the needs of the world. For example, we think that environmental awareness is a modern concern, but Jewish law and teaching has long reflected an arareness of human responsibility for nature. In Ecclesiastes Rabbah, God shows newly-created Adam around the Garden of Eden and says to him: “See my works, how lovely they are, how fine they are. All I have created, I created for you. Take care not to corrupt and destroy my universe, for if you destroy it, no one will come after you to put it right.”
How true those words ring in today’s world, where the human impact on the environment has reached critical proportions. We can all help by being aware of our impact on the Earth. You may not know it, but for a number of years Beth David has been working to reduce our carbon footprint (which also has the happy by-product of saving money) and to recycle as much as possible.
Steve Schlosser has long been our champion on energy use. Over the past few years we have converted to double-pane windows, changed to motion-activated light switches, swapped in high-efficiency air conditioning and heating, modernized the kitchen, put in LED lighting in the sanctuary, and installed a solar array. The overall impact has been to reduce electrical expense from $40,000 in 2000 to $ 17,000 in the last fiscal year. We also reduced gas use from $5000 in the prior fiscal year to $3500 in this one and this should go down even further in the next fiscal year.
Much of this was accomplished at no net cost to the congregation, thanks to donations by the Batson, Skilken, Karel and Reubusch families. The solar project benefitted from the volunteer efforts of Steve Schlosser, Gene Tenberg, and Michael Schaffer.
By the way, when you see Beth David on a sunny summer day, know that our solar panels are generating significantly more electricity than we use and we will get credit for it during the winter months.
On another front, we have shifted our disposable plates and utensils to compostable materials, and we recycle extensively. Soon you will see new bins all over the building. They are color-coded: black is trash that can’t be recycled, green is food and compostables, blue is recyclables (paper, plastic, metal, etc.). Everything will be clearly labeled so that you will know what goes where. We are also benefitting from being part of a pilot composting project by the city of Saratoga.
Our Religious School principal Iris Bendahan has been another environmental champion. The school has included “Teva (nature) Tips” in the curriculum. There are other curricular units on this topic, and, of course, Tu B’Shevat provides an annual focus on nature and God’s creation. On the last day of school we were treated to a video starring Iris, produced by student Mayer Adelberg, on various tips for conservation (see link below).
By the way, to the extent that all our efforts reduce petroleum consumption in one form or another, it’s good to remember that a penny saved on oil is one less penny that goes to anti-Israel regimes.
So Beth David is doing its part in being a responsible environmental citizen. I hope that knowing this brings you some satisfaction, and will inspire you to look around your house to see what you can do.
Some resources:
The video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5lp4dD4dMc&feature=player_embedded
COEJL is a venerable Jewish environmental organization: coejl.org
Hazon is a newer organization with an interest in food and sustainability: www.hazon.org
The United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism has compiled information, including recent resolutions: http://www.uscj.org/The_Environment7780.html
Ismar Schorsch, the previous Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, had a passionate interest in the environment. Here is one piece that he wrote: http://www.coejl.org/learn/je_schorsch.php